“Hey Tiffany,” Zoe greeted the marina manager after being waved down by the other woman.

“Hey Zoe. It’s good to see you’re back,” Tiffany replied. “Where’s your bike?”

“It’s totaled,” Jimmy said. “Zoe is getting a new one though.”

“Oh,” Tiffany replied. “Well, that’s good and bad.”

“Tiffany, this is my cousin Jimmy,” Zoe said. She was sure they hadn’t met before. “Jimmy, this is the boat basin’s day manager, Tiffany Wells.”

“It’s nice to meet you Jimmy,” Tiffany said smiling at him.

“It’s my pleasure to meet you,” Jimmy replied returning the willowy woman’s smile.

“What’s up Tiffany?” Zoe asked. She was tired and wanted to sit down. Zoe was starting to feel hungry too. If they wanted to flirt or whatever, they could do it after she was home.

“Not much. I just wanted to see how you’re doing. I had heard you were in an accident,” Tiffany replied. “You’re looking a bit tired though.”

“I am tired,” Zoe admitted. “We could have lunch tomorrow and talk about it.”

“That’s a good idea,” Tiffany agreed.

“Or Jimmy could help me get home and drop off my pack and then tell you about it,” Zoe offered. She grinned at Jimmy. He winked back.

“I could do that,” Jimmy said.

“You’re sure it’s not a problem?” Tiffany asked looking back and forth between the two of them.

“Not at all,” Jimmy replied.

“Doesn’t bother me,” Zoe said.

“Alright. We can talk over lunch,” Tiffany said. “I’ll be in the office.”

“I’ll be along in a few minutes,” Jimmy replied as Tiffany walked away. “Think she is just trying to sell me on a lease or something?”

“What? No! She was eyeing you as much as you were her,” Zoe answered as she walked toward her pier’s gate. She sent her code to the gate, and it opened. “Thankfully, the walk to my place isn’t too long.”

“Was she really?” Jimmy asked.

“Yeah,” Zoe replied fighting to keep from rolling her eyes so hard that she gives her new spine a twist.

*

Zoe changed into a pair of shorts and a loose t-shirt after Jimmy left. The place was a tad on the dusty side but wasn’t too bad. Zoe decided she would clean it tomorrow. She didn’t feel like cooking, so ordered a grill cheese sandwich with French Fries, grilled ribeye steak with mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and a half gallon of lemonade from Riverside Bakery and Café. Zoe paid for drone delivery and walked barefoot up to her roof deck to wait for the drone.

Zoe sat at the picnic table and watched the boat traffic on the river. Her stomach growled and she wondered why she was so hungry. Needing an answer, she called Zane after trying Claire and getting a message stating she was meeting with a patient.

“Hey Zane, why am I so hungry?”

“Well, hello to you too,” the nurse replied giving Zoe a grin. “Your hunger is a combination of your body needing nutrients to heal and the nanobots you were injected with needing more fuel to facilitate a quicker healing. It’s probably mostly the nanobots. Are you feeling tired too?”

“I hadn’t thought about that,” Zoe admitted. “And yeah, I’m tired.”

“You should be better tomorrow,” Zane said. “Are you cooking, ordered anything to eat, or did you and Jimmy stop somewhere?”

“I just ordered something from a local café,” Zoe answered. She told him how much she had ordered.

“That’ll probably get you through to dinner,” Zane said. “You’ll also want to throw away anything in your fridge and go through your pantry. A lot of stuff most likely went bad while you were our guest.”

“Ugh! I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll do more takeout tonight and do that tomorrow,” Zoe replied. “I have one other question.”

“Alright.”

“Why is it so hot?” Zoe asked. “I didn’t think New York got this hot.”

“Heat wave,” the nurse answered. “Also, climate change, but we won’t get into all that.”

“Yuck. I thought I had escaped this sort of heat when I moved here,” Zoe replied.

“You have for the most part, though it still gets about 90 during late summer” Zane said. “While it won’t be as humid as it gets further south, all the glass and concrete buildings can still make it feel worse than it truly is by blocking breezes and acting a bit like an oven.”

“Guess it’s a good thing I live on the river then,” Zoe said giving Zane a wide smile.

“Yeah, yeah,” Zane replied. “That breeze won’t do you any good when you’re sitting in traffic on a bike without air conditioning.”

“D’oh! I never considered that,” Zoe said. “What about my climate-controlled clothing?”

“That’ll help a lot and you’ll do fine once you get used to it,” Zane said. “Besides, don’t you run a lot of red lights?”

“No, not me,” Zoe replied as innocently as she could. Zane laughed. “Too bad I can’t wear shorts or loose tops while riding.”

“You can,” Zane said. “Haven’t you ever seen others do so?”

“Once or twice,” Zoe replied. “But I don’t want to risk all that road rash.”

“The accident make you gun shy?” Zane asked.

“A little,” Zoe admitted. Zane laughed. “Ok. More than a little.”

“I can send you a little something that might help,” Zane said. “We just got permission to start selling it.”

“Selling what?” Zoe asked.

“Subdermal Weave V2. It’s twice as effective as what you have and will even give two thirds of the protection against blunt damage and blades that Subdermal Armor does,” Zane answered.

“Twice the price too, I bet.”

“Same price,” Zane replied. “And as I said, it’s something I can send you since it’s a nanobot injection. Simply take the shot and wait 48 hours.”

“I bet I’ll be eating a lot more,” Zoe said. She wanted the upgrade. “Another 2000 credits, huh?”

“Yup. Want me to put an injector in a drone and fly it out to you?” Zane asked.

“Give me a minute,” Zoe replied.

“Need to check your account?” Zane asked.

“Uh huh,” Zoe answered. She checked her bank accounts and really didn’t want to dip into them any further. She decided to check the Squirrels she had hidden in the Bratva network. They had pulled 10000 from the Russian mob already. She transferred their take to the account she used for her ill-gotten gains and then transferred 2000 to Claire’s clinic. “Money is sent.”

“I see it,” Zane replied. “I’ll have the drone out to you in a few minutes. Just put the injector back in it once you take the dose. We’re required to keep track of everything as the corporation doesn’t want to make it too easy for the inevitable knockoffs.”

“Thanks Zane,” Zoe said. A drone landed on the picnic table carrying a box from the bakery. “I’m going to let you go since my lunch just got here.”

“Alright.”

“Oh! Here,” Zoe said sending Zane the picture of the mockup of her new GT4. “What do you think of my new toy?”

“Looks good. You’ll have to bring it by the clinic so I can check it out in person,” Zane replied.

“I will,” Zoe promised. She was already looking forward to wearing lighter clothing while riding it.

“See ya, Zoe,” Zane replied and disconnected the call as Zoe unpacked the food from the drone.

“Hmmm. This stuff smells good!” Zoe said as she opened the box while the drone flew away. “I might need to do some more shopping while I eat.”