Veridian Sterling Fakes It: A Novel by Jennifer Gooch Hummer

Author:Jennifer Gooch Hummer [Hummer, Jennifer Gooch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lake Union Publishing
Published: 2024-07-02T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY

The morning sky was dark on the trip over to Manhattan. Veri decided to take the ferry to midtown and walk up to the Pie Place from there. It was Halloween. On the ferry, she sat across from a dad Spider-Man with his kid, Groot. Groot kept staring at Veri until eventually she heard Spider-Man tell the kid to stop.

There was a 70 percent chance of rain, according to her weather app, and it was too cold to eat on the patio. Inside, the restaurant smelled like caramel and coffee, and Veri was glad she’d skipped breakfast at home. She spotted the blonde wig right away. Allison was sitting at a four-top in the middle of the restaurant. “Hey, Al.” Veri pulled off her beanie and leaned down to give her a hug. “I’ve been obsessed thinking about that mocha pie.”

“So good it’s a crime.” She smiled. It read the same across the back wall: THE PIE PLACE: SO GOOD IT’S A CRIME. “Plus, Jeremy still gives me a discount.”

“You talk like an Allison, yet you look like a Rachel Ritchie.”

Today she was wearing black leather pants and a black asymmetric cold shoulder top. Large chandelier faux-diamond earrings swung from each ear. On the back of her chair, Veri spotted a black fur coat. “That’s not real, right?” She sat down across from her.

“Hell no. I’d never wear a murdered whatever animal this is supposed to be.”

“Phew. I thought maybe Shrivel Dick gave you a real one.”

Allison didn’t laugh.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that; I’m sure his dick is fine.”

Allison wiped at her heavily made-up eye. “We might have broken up.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s got two dumbass kids who suck and don’t want him to marry me.”

“A story as old as time.”

“They’re grown men. Both of them are bald. I’ve seen pictures. So I might not be able to sublet my apartment to you.”

“It’s fine.” Veri shrugged. She unbuttoned her army coat and decided to stay quiet about her mother’s plans not to move now. “I’ll figure something out.” She grabbed the envelope out of her backpack and slid it across the table. “Rachel Ritchie hardly has to say anything this time. Just tell him everything he needs to know is in there. He doesn’t even need to open it in front of you.”

Inside the envelope were instructions on how to find the NFT on opensea.io. The NFT contained the information on the painting, which had been sourced by the “US Government Division of Art,” and was listed as private. It required a password, so Charles would be the only one who could access it, but first he’d need to open his own crypto wallet and send the finder’s fee to the anonymous crypto account (the new username that Derek made was filled with random numbers and symbols). Then, he would receive the NFT.

Derek had been surprisingly patient with Veri and her questions, and she guessed he must have been drinking. He was always nicer after he’d had a beer or two.

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