Suits are ready. Daniel and I steamed them and ironed all of the shirts and ties and made sure there are nice socks, polished shoes and multiple freshly pressed hankerchiefs for the inevitable tears. When all that work was done (we've become heathens in old madras shorts and soft worn t-shirts or should I say they have) I went outside to sit on the patio and take a break and Sam was out there sitting by himself, looking over the ocean.
Do you think Jacob would have liked Matthew? He asks me with so much curiosity. It took me by surprise.
Jacob would have adored him. He would have been so happy that you both came back together after so long apart.
Do you think he would have felt the same about you and Lochlan?
I don't know, honestly. Sometimes I think he understood the closeness of the Collective and sometimes I think he was happier when we were removed from it. When it came crowding back in and he saw the depth of it he was overwhelmed.
Do you blame us for his absence, Bridget?
I don't blame anyone but Jacob, Sam. I say it fake-brightly now, determined to make this a happy weekend. They can deal with me later. He would have had great talks with Matt about life overseas and science versus religion. He would have considered him a very close friend very quickly, I think.
I think you're right.
Why would you look for confirmation from a ghost, Sam?
I just wonder why we spent the past four years apart if this is so right.
There's a conversation for Lochlan, not me.
Your circumstances were absolutely insurmountable, Bridget. There's no comparison there.
And yet, we overcame.
And it's incredible.
Is it? A lot of the world says this is unhealthy and doomed to end in an epic disaster.
I think it already did and we've been rebuilding it ever since.
I hope you're right.
Do you?
Yes, Sam, I do. We're coming out the other side.
Then can you do me a favor, Bridget?
Anything you need, you know that, Samuel.
Can you sober up? This is heartbreaking to watch.
I thought I was being sneaky.
I've been in the program a long time. You're visible from a hundred miles away, shining way too bright.
Well, fuck.
Better a day and a half drunk then a few years, trust me.
Or a few decades, like Ben.
Exactly. He and I talked yesterday morning about this.
That obvious?
I don't know why you think it wouldn't be.
I figured you were all distracted.
That's the beauty of this Collective. We don't get distracted to the point where we don't see that one of us needs the rest of us.
Then maybe y'all should have a chat with the Devil.
As we speak, Bridget. Don't you worry about a thing.