He found out from Lena.
Who found out from a gossip site.
Which meant it was confirmed.
Which meant it was real.
-----
Thursday morning.
He was in his office.
The committee's preliminary response to the legal challenge was open on his laptop — twelve pages of careful bureaucratic language that he had been reading slowly because precise language rewarded slow reading and because he had learned not to skim things that had teeth.
He was on page four.
His phone buzzed.
He picked it up.
Lena: did you know kendrick walker confirmed the engagement dinner? friday night? it's on THREE sites
He read it.
He read it again.
He set his phone face-down on the desk.
The committee response was still on his laptop.
He looked at it.
He looked at the same sentence on page four that he had been reading when the text arrived.
He read it again.
Then again.
He had read it four times now and could not have said what it said.
He closed the laptop.
-----
He was not surprised.
