I dash off a note back.
From: sethrubes@mail.me
To: bma445@nyu.edu
Date: Mon, June 22, 2020 at 2:46pm
Re: Subject: Internship
Hi Becky!
Wow, what a kind offer. I’m definitely going to take you up on it. We could use help with screening interviews, which we conduct over video chat. These are to help us ascertain whether we can help potential clients, or if we need to refer them elsewhere. I’m going to have our intake coordinator reach out to you to see if it’s a good fit. And I might have a few cases I could use some support on with research, if you’re interested in the legal side of things.
In the meantime, I’ll connect you with Molly.
All the best,
Seth
I open another window and start typing.
From: sethrubes@mail.me
To: bma445@nyu.edu; mollymarks@netmail.co
Date: Mon, June 22, 2020 at 2:48pm
Subject: Molly, meet Becky
Hi Molly and Becky,
I wanted to send you a note so you have one another’s contact info. I’ll let you take it away with introductions.
Happy writing!
Seth
Whew.
The miasma of failure hovering around me since I woke up this morning is dissipating in this sea of emails.
My inbox makes a friendly little ping, and the thread from Molly turns bold with a fresh message. There’s a paper clip icon—she’s attached something.
I open it.
I’m greeted by a picture of a baby whale mid-backflip in a sparkling turquoise sea.
From: mollymarks@netmail.co
To: sethrubes@mail.me
Date: Mon, June 22, 2020 at 2:53pm
Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Subject: Whale hello
Thanks for the intro to my young amanuensis.
Thought you might want something to cheer you up.
(Took this right before I broke up with my last boyfriend. Made me happier than he did.)
I slam my fist down on my marble coffee table so hard I yelp in pain. But who cares, because Molly is single and moreover she volunteered that information. Is she reading my mind? Is she telling me this because she feels the same pull that I do?
I whip out my phone because this calls for more immediacy than emails provide. I don’t even care if I look psychotically eager.
Seth: Thanks for the whale content!
Molly: Nothing like baby whales to soothe the pain of a breakup
Molly: And i have A LOT MORE where that came from
I was not going to ask about her breakup, but I feel like maybe she wants me to? Or at least won’t mind, since she keeps mentioning it?
Seth: Was your breakup bad?
Molly: Not really … We weren’t in love or anything
Weren’t in love! She is talking to me about love? She is admitting she sometimes feels it? I have to restrain myself from hitting the coffee table again.
