The Favoured, The Fair and Ms. Vérité Claire

12 Twists and Turns

Orson had so far said three things to Julia: "You ready?" when he picked her up from her building to take her to the airport, "Wanna coffee?" before turning into a drive-thru on the way, and "Gimme those," taking her bags from her as they headed to check-in. It wasn't that he was in a bad mood, only that his speaking to her two words at a time, in fleeting half-smiles and subtle nods of solidarity was simply his preferred way of communicating at such an early hour. To Julia, having wrongfully imagined Orson would be an irate grizzly in the mornings, it came as a pleasant surprise. She was, in fact, grateful for the near silence. She had woken up to a text from nice, boring Alan asking if he could see her again and was forcefully preoccupied with composing a rejection reply that wouldn't give her an arrhythmia.

Check-in went quickly. The lounge was half full. Most people on their skiing holidays in Quebec had likely been there for some time. Orson folded his arms in the seat next to Julia and shut his eyes. She stared blankly at her phone for a long while before settling on a text that said Alan was lovely but that there hadn't been enough of a connection for Julia to want to do it again. She almost asked Orson's opinion, but she thought she'd let him rest. She pressed send and shut her eyes too.

Forty minutes later they were on board a flight which would only take an hour to get to Mt. Tremblant airport. Orson stowed their carry-ons and a briefcase in the overhead and once seated, took out a newspaper and began reading.

Thinking this was a sign there would be no talking on the plane either, Julia began reading a magazine. No sooner had she gotten to a juicy article than Orson asked, "So, was that the accountant or were you chewing your lip over some other lovestruck dope?"

"Ah, so you are here!" Julia said, dropping the magazine and turning towards him. "The accountant. I just gave him my hard no. There was supposed to be another one, a double date with Lotte and Robert and someone Robert works with, but it didn't happen."

"Why not? You're on a roll."

"It's stupid," she said with a little head shake, second-guessing sharing something which embarrassed her. Orson raised a brow and pointed his chin indicating he'd wait for an explanation. Begrudgingly, Julia spilled. "They went to pick him up and apparently Lotte showed him a picture of me and he said, 'Forget it.'"

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't want to know," Orson said.

"No, he said the words, 'Forget it,' and told them to apologize and tell me he wasn't coming. He thought I was, I don't know, out of his league or something. Isn't that dumb?"

"I'll say. You're out of everybody's league."

"That's not helpful."

"Does this intrigue you, now? The man who could say no?" he asked archly.

"I don't like a challenge"

"Easy to say when you're the challenge."

"Oh, no," Julia sighed loudly. "Not another trip to Orson's Advice Corner. What about you, hmm? Why aren't you dating?"

"Don't worry about it."

"I don't," Julia said, picking the magazine back up. "But my Aunt Helen was very disappointed you didn't come to Christmas dinner."

"Oh, yeah?"

"Yeah. And what am I supposed to tell her was the reason?" Orson shrugged without taking the bait. "Did you go to your buddy's house like you thought you might?"

"He's not my buddy. He just works at the garage. Nah, I changed my mind."

"You should've called me."

"Why?"