FOCUS

Amanda Arista

CHAPTER ONE

Chapter

She bit her nails as she waited for the computer to process the p value of the newest batch of mouse model data. She had a feeling about this one, like bird caught under her diaphragm. This was the one. She paced behind Lee as the infernal thinking hourglass just kept turning.

"What the hell! I could have done this in my head by now."

"You’re brilliant, not eidetic," Lee snapped back at her as he spun in his chair.  

She smiled. He was just as on edge about this as she was. This was big, this was like change the world big, not quite Nobel, but this was going to make a lot of difference to so many children out there. If this device worked on humans like it worked on mice, they would be able to bring cochlear bypass to impoverished nations across the world. Implants without the surgery. An entire generation of deaf children would be able to hear, to sing, if only this fucking computer would process a little faster.

"I’m getting a new computer with the rest of the grant money."

"This comes out significant, you’re getting a new lab with the grant money." Lee wiggled his thick eyebrows at her.

The computer chimed and she was frozen. What if it wasn’t significant? What if this wasn’t the batch? The bird in her stomach was suddenly a crow flying into windows.

Lee grabbed her forearm. "Take a deep breath."

She did as she was told and clutched her necklace. The sharp edges of the W dug into her palm and focused her attention. She only needed a p value less than 0.01.

"Zero point zero zero seven five."

She exhaled. Significance. Their little experiment was significant. They could take this to her chair and to the NIH and they could show everyone that she was right. That getting a PhD in Neuroscience in the middle of her medical school career wasn’t a waste and she might have just cracked a code for affordable synthetic sound.

She wanted to dance. She wanted to sing. She wanted to call Ian.

Ian.

"What time is it?"

"Six ten," Lee said as he opened the fridge in his office and grabbed the small bottle of champagne they kept there for such world changing results.

"Shit. Dinner reservations."

Lee winced. "Not again."

She grabbed the bottle and put it back in the fridge. "Tomorrow. We will go to the faculty club tomorrow and then the Windmill afterward and we will celebrate this properly."

She grabbed her purse form her desk, shoved her laptop into it, and grabbed her protein shake bottle. "But tonight I can’t be late for our anniversary."

As she ran out of her lab, signing goodbye to her deaf mice, she heard Lee yell down the hall. "Knock him dead, Dr Celio."

#

He looked down at his watch. She’d be home in five minutes and then it would take her seven minutes to get ready and then another forty to get to the restaurant. He’d better go ahead and bump the reservation.

Tuesday left her magnets on the coffee table and crawled up on his lap and grabbed at the phone.

"No honey. I need to make a call."

"No honey. I need to play monkey." She repeated her father as all two years olds repeated everything.

He sighed as the phone rang to the restaurant. This is what he got for marrying the smartest woman he’d ever met and then having a child with her. The smartest kid on the planet. Hopefully, Tuesday would get his timing and not her mother’s.

"Abacus," the restaurant finally answered.

"Hello, I have a reservation for two at seven thirty under Celio. Can we move that fifteen minutes?"

"No problem."

"Thank you."

He disconnected the phone and Tuesday grabbed it from his hand. He let the three year old open up her favorite app on his phone and jab her little finger at the screen to get the monkey to dance.

Ian ran his fingers through the little girls hair and re-did her bow.

The babysitter came back into the living room.

"Sorry about the delayed start," he said.

"No worries," Amber said as she dropped down on the other couch. "I still get paid, though, right?"

"Yes. I said six thirty to nine."

She nodded and turned to watch reruns on the TV that were going. Amber was a good kid that was studying communication at the local college and reinforced Wen’s sign language. They had only needed her services a few times in the past three years and it was looking like they were not going to need her services tonight if his wife didn’t walk in the door in three, two...

He could hear the garage door open.

Tuesday jumped off his lap. "Mommy, mommy, mommy, mommy," she giggled as she ran from the living room through the kitchen to meet her mommy in the laundry room off the garage.

"Love of my life!"

Ian stood as Ari walked into the living room, her nose buried deep into her daughters neck and Tuesday’s laughter reaching ear-piercing decibels.

His wife hide behind their daughters curls. "Don’t look at me in that tone of voice. I got some amazing news today."

"Can you tell me while you are changing?"

She looked down at her outfit. "Is this a fancy place?"

"Yes," he laughed. She knew full well it was a fancy place. It was their place. Ten years of it being their place. "Go change. I’m timing you."

"Yes, sir."

Carrying Tuesday on her hip, his wife marched up through their house to the bedroom.

He wanted to be angry with her. He wanted to tell her that she was inconsiderate when she did things like this, but he couldn’t. Her work was half of who she was and being a mother was the other half. He couldn’t fault her for being too passionate about what she did for a living. It was nice that one of them got to be. There wasn’t a lot of room for passion in the Mayor’s Office.

When he heard giggling again, he decided that he might need to speed the process up. He found the two snuggled up on the bed. Ari at least had her pants off.

"Please, Ari. Can you get ready?"

Ari pouted and got off the bed and walked into her closet.

"So what is this big news?" he asked.

Tuesday jumped on his back and he hoisted her up to tromp around the room. He could barely hear his wife’s answer over the fit of laughter in his ear.

She answered from the closet. "I’ll tell you over dinner. It can be one more thing to celebrate."

"Ten years of marriage isn’t enough to celebrate? We’ve made it longer than most celebrity couples."

"Only because Matt Bomer is gay."

"I thought he was married with kids."

"Haven’t you ever heard of a blended family?"

She walked out of the closet in a top that showed off the post baby rack and skinny pants that hugged that little cleft under her butt just perfectly. He tossed Tuesday on the bed and walked over to his wife.

"You know we could just stop at the Renaissance instead. Price would probably be the same."

Ari smiled as he slid his hands around her waist and inhaled behind her right ear. She still smelled like her perfume from that morning and maybe  a little wood bedding from the mouse cages, but it was still sexy as hell. Twelve years together and it was still her every time. Even the really late times.

"No. You planned this, now lets get going."

She grabbed a handful of makeup and jammed it into her tote. He was pretty sure there was a computer, extra shoes, and a stethoscope in there too. It could really be anything.  

They both grabbed Tuesday’s hands as she leapt off the bed and they walked down the stairs together.

"Doctor Celio, looking nice. Might want to grab a jacket. Its getting cold."

"Thanks, Amber." Ari went to get a coat from the closet and Ian settled Tuesday on the couch next to Amber. "She had dinner already, but a snack at eight or so shouldn’t hurt."

Amber nodded.

Ari walked back into the living room and made a beeline for her daughter. She knelt on the floor and looked into the little one’s eyes.

"I love you," she said and signed. "I’ll be back to tuck you into bed."

"I wuv you, Mommy."

Tuesday stuck out a cheek for Ari to kiss but instead she wrapped the toddler up in a huge hug. Which turned into a tickle war. Which turned into a giggle fest of Ari rolling around on the floor with Tuesday on top of her.

Both were breathless afterwards as Ari put the baby back on the couch.

Ian checked his watch. "We need to go, Ari."

"Kirby," she grumbled as she glared up at her husband.

She ran her fingers through her long black hair and placed one last kiss on the baby’s forehead.

Ian leaned over the back of the couch and took in one long breath of his daughters hair. Baby shampoo and cheesy mac. Best smell ever. He kissed the crown of her head and whispered. "I love you Tuesday."

"Bye bye, Daddy."

Chapter Two

"I miss her face," Ari said as she looked out the window.

"Its one night out. You will survive."

Ari sighed. "Do you think I work too much?"

"Do you feel that you work too much?"

Ian was always turning around her questions like that. Sometimes she wondered why he went into public service when he should have been a therapist with the way he liked avoiding questions so much. "I know that the ladies at the day care get to see Tuesday for six hours a day and I only get to see her for four at most."

"I am sure that every mother who has to drop her kids off at day care feels the same way. But its not the quantity of time, its the quality, and we’ve got quality down square, Ari."

She looked over at her husband. He still looked twenty-two, his boyish face had barely aged in the ten years they had been married. She felt like she increasing looked like her Grandpa Joe with the dark circles under her eyes that Sicilians tend to get and the few streaks of gray already in her curls that she meticulous dyed.

He reached out his hand to her and she curled her finger into his. "You are doing important work. You care passionate about what you do. Its just as important for Tuesday to see that as it is for you to cut her bread crusts off."

Ari frowned. "Does she ask for her bread crusts to be cut off?"

Ian chuckled. "No. She is very pro-bread crusts."

“This week."

"This week," he confirmed.

She looked back out of the car window. "Still don’t understand why we couldn’t bring her."

"Because we need Ian and Ari time. Not Mommy and Daddy time." Ian started doing his three block circling to find a parking spot because he never valeted. "And because this place isn’t exactly high chair friendly."

"She’s in a booster seat now and she might like sushi. She is my daughter."

"Or she might not. She is mine too."

"Do you want to drop me off so I can get the table?"

"Probably a good idea."

He pulled up to the curb and she hopped out to make sure they would still get their reservation.

She wiggled through the people standing around the door wondering why they weren’t at the bar like normal humans waiting for a table.

"How can I help you?" the hostess asked.

"Reservations under Dr A. Celio?"

The hostess looked at her list and then at the clock. They were right on time.

"I’ll have that ready for you in a few minutes."

Ari sighed. It was okay. Ian wasn’t even here yet.

"So Lee and I ran the numbers and they are significant."

Ian’s eyes widened. "That is awesome. So will it secure the grant this time?"

She nodded excitedly. "If this doesn’t, I’m just creating a sonic weapon an blowing up the NIH. The implications of this for human application are amazing. Kids like Tuesday would never have to have surgery, with a little help, we could work on the quality of synthetic sound. But because its not surgical, anyone could use it."

Ian smiled. "You are amazing, Mrs. Celio."

"You aren’t too bad yourself, Mr. Celio."

She leaned forward to kiss her husband. She didn’t care if it was mushy or if people looked. She had a handsome husband and she wanted everyone to know that he was hers.

"What did you do at work today?"

Ian sighed. It was not his favorite subject. "Well, while you were solving the cost gap for the hearing impaired, I was mediation a contract for the new park initiative that the Mayor wants to launch before the next election."

"Oh you know I like it when you talk dirty."

Ian raised an eyebrow. "Dyson."

She laughed.

"Laugh now, but your husband know more about sewers and water flow and power grids and it is going to come in handy someday."

"I’m sure it will, my love."

The waiter delivered their meals with a little extra flourish than necessary.

As she ate her sushi, she watched Ian dig into his chicken teriyaki, which he always ordered. Ten years watching him eat. Ten years of listening to his sighs when she was late. Ten years of knowing that he only told her half the things he was thinking.

And yet, for ten years he had stayed. Though the good times, and the bad times and the research years, and then the real bad times and then the Tuesdays. The glorious Tuesdays that brought their own little miracle. She couldn’t help but think of their angel, especially when she was able to eat with two hands and not have to cut everything into tiny pieces.

She put a huge piece of sushi into her mouth and chewed. Ah. Food that wasn’t drown in ketchup or cheesy sauce.

Ian’s phone chirped.

"I thought we had a no phone policy," she said as she looked down at her phone to make sure that Amber hadn’t needed anything. If he got to look, she got to look.

"It’s the office. There have been a series of ..."

Ari felt it. She’d been through a few earthquakes living in Irving, but this wasn’t an earth quake. This shook the windows, but the ground rumbled quickly.

"Explosions." Ian finally finished his sentence. His hand crept over hers as he looked around.

Ari thought of Wen. "Where?"

He shook his head. "Five in..."

That’s when the windows blew. Glass exploded through the windows and hot air carried screams back to their table.

Ian pulled her underneath table and she listened to the screams and debris as it fell around them like jacks, metal and glass and wood. Her body waited for the ball to drop, for another explosions.

Ian’s face was illuminated from his phone. "Dallas, Chicago, Berkley."

All the places she had lived. The lists of her friends in that area scrolled through her head like a Times Square Ticker.  Ari looked up at him. "What?"

One last explosion echoed around them and she buried her face into Ian’s shoulder. Ian wrapped his arm around her and she focused on breathing. She pushed away the screams and focused on the fact that she could breath.

Ian was texting with one hand. "I’m reporting the last two to Hanson."

"Which one is Hanson?"

Ian still had time to sigh at her. "The police liaison."

There was an eerie silence around the restaurant. "Is it safe?" Ari asked.

Ian shrugged. "The police instructed us to stay here."

"So we stay under the table? What about Tuesday?" She reached for her phone. "What do we tell Amber?"

"Reports don’t have any activity in Irving."

"We have to tell her something."

"Tell her to hide in your closet. Nothing is getting through your shoe collection."

Really. Funny at time like this? But that was Ian. The only time he was funny was because they had already been through life and death situations before. And they had survived. Barely

Ari dialed Amber’s number and the line didn’t connect. She looked down at the no signal. "Cell tower is blocked."

"iMessage through the wifi."

Ari sent the message as fast as she could. "We are okay. Get Tuesday safe in the closet. Grab the iPad. Will call when we can."

Ari waited for the three little dots to appear that Amber had gotten the message. That Tuesday was safe.

The three dots never came.

She took a deep breath. Tuesday was safe. She was twenty miles away from this, but the other locations itched at the back of her mind. Dallas, Chicago Berkley. All places close to her heart.

She pushed the grandiose thought away and looked up at Ian.

"I need to get out there. See if anyone is hurt."

Ian nodded and let her go. "I am right behind you."

Carefully, Ari crawled underneath the table and lifted up the table cloth. There was debris everywhere, but most of the others were under the tables as well. Go tables.

She pulled her bag over her chest and put her phone down her shirt to know the moment that Amber texted them back.

Ari stood and looked around. There was no movement on the streets. Others were slowly emerging from their tables.

"Stay low to the ground," Ian said as he pulled down on her arm.

Ari nodded and started scurrying from table to table. "Are you hurt? I’m a doctor."

She looked at a few minor cuts and told them that they would be okay. The hostess would not be okay. There was a major gash to her forehead and she was disoriented. Concussion.

Ari did what she could. She dug through her bag for a maxi pad and opened up a napkin to help put pressure on the wound. She sat the girl up and checked her pupil response with the flashlight from her phone. She was going to be okay. They were all going to be okay.

She crawled to the front window and looked out at the streets. Police lights filled the street and a squad car zoomed past the window. The explosion must have been to their east? Then what  blew out the windows?

The young man who had hit on her earlier crawled up next to her. "Are you okay, Dr. Celio?"

He reached out his hand to touch her and the sleeve of his jacket pulled up to reveal a circle tattoo.

Ari pulled away. "I’m fine."

The young man rested his hand on his leg. He wasn’t paying attention to the street. To the potential of other explosion out there on the street. His eyes didn’t leave her.

"Look, if you really want to help, grab a bottle of vodka and start cleaning wounds. I’ll be fine."

The young man seemed to shrink away, or she just got really caught up in watching a group of policeman slowly case the street. No guns drawn, just their flashlights as they moved slowly down the street.

Ian joined her. "Seven destinations. All downtown or Dallas. Not much destruction."

"Terrorists? Has the mayor’s office heard anything?"

"Not the season," Ian said as he put his phone back in his pocket. "Tried Amber again. Nothing."

"Think we could make a break for our cars."

Ian nodded. "There are several reasons I don’t valet. But we should probably get the police officers okay to evacuate."

Ari looked up at him. How in the hell was he so calm?