Drum up the Dawn by Kate Christie

Author:Kate Christie [Christie, Kate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-05-28T09:48:37+00:00

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Ava stared out her window. It was a cloudy Sunday morning, and the streets 20 stories below were emptier than usual. She hadn’t seen anyone since rising, nor had she spoken to a single soul. Somehow, though, she felt off-kilter.

Except her bad mood wasn’t exactly a mystery, was it?

Her phone vibrated on the breakfast bar beside her. Slowly, she turned it over, brow clearing as she saw Bea’s name.

“U better not be working thru the weekend!” her best friend had written.

Ava typed, “Nothing else to do around here.” Then she added a silly sad emoji and hit send.

“I bet there are plenty of people to do, tho.”

Ava laughed out loud at the characteristically cheeky response. Her amusement didn’t last long, though. Speaking of hot, unattainable women… Ava squinted at the text thread below Bea’s. Kenzie had sent her a message the previous day, inviting her out to dinner and drinks with the crew. Ava, surprised to hear from her after bolting from the pub the night before, couldn’t immediately decide how to respond. The text was still sitting unanswered in her inbox, taunting Ava with her own social awkwardness.

She didn’t want to ghost Kenzie; she liked her, probably more than she should. That was the problem, actually, because at some point, she was going to have to come out to Kenzie. She didn’t think Kenzie was homophobic, not when she obviously adored her gay sister and Sloane’s equally gay girlfriend. But even though it didn’t seem likely, Ava couldn’t stop worrying that Kenzie might respond badly. Having a queer sister was different from having someone you’d been actively friend-dating come out to you, and Ava wasn’t ready to lose her. Or, more accurately, she wasn’t prepared to be rejected. Because that was what it came down to, wasn’t it?

Either way, a confrontation was inevitable. While Ava didn’t advertise her sexuality publicly—mostly out of deference to her family’s wishes—she also didn’t hide it. After a lifetime of familial secrets and lies, the level of dishonesty required to live in a closet didn’t suit her. She was going to have to have The Talk with Kenzie, and sooner rather than later if Friday night was any indication.

But not right this second. Right now, she needed to flood her system with endorphins and then, unfortunately, she did have to pop upstairs and get some work done. She and Victoria were scheduled to attend a business luncheon the following day at the Guild House, a former church turned event space that happened to share a lobby with Hyperion Tower, and she wanted to read up on her fellow attendees ahead of time. The luncheon was supposedly a meet and greet for local business executives, but it was being hosted by Americans for Fairness in Tech (AFT), a national group committed to lobbying Congress to pass legislation that would allow humans to incorporate unpatented alien technology into their own designs with a one-time licensing payment rather than with the permanent royalties dictated by the Alliance.

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