Page 51 of Something Forever

“For sure. I’m free this afternoon. Want to meet me at Juniper Bar near Penn Station? It’s right around the corner from my office.”

“Sure, that works.”

“4pm?”

“Yep,” I agree easily.

“Great, see you then! Thanks for calling. You’re old school, man. I like that about you.”

“Sure,” I say, and we chat for a bit before hanging up.

I guess that went well, all things considered. He remembered me, and he agreed to meet with me. I’m one step further than I was yesterday, and that’s something. Now all I have to do is… everything.

That is if I can manage to stop thinking about the sounds my roommate — no, my wife — makes when she comes.

I get to Juniper Bar at 3:50. I’m never early, but I want to give Tim a good second impression of me, since most of his first involved me chugging beers and getting into fights. Chalk it up to college, I suppose. I sit at the bar and order a Guinness while I wait. A few minutes later, Tim comes into the door in a button down and slacks. He’s as tall as I remember, his blonde hair slicked back. I wave in his direction, and he smiles when he sees me, crossing to meet me at the bar.

“Liam!” He reaches in for a hug, patting me on the back before we break apart and he settles in next to me with a light smile on his face. “How are you?”

I nod, taking a sip of my beer. “Alright, yeah. You?”

“Good, good.”

The bartender comes over and Tim orders a Stella, then he turns to me. “So, what’s up?”

Right down to business, then.

I rub my hand down the back of my neck. “I know my call was probably a bit out of the blue. I don’t know if you heard, but… my roommate, Luke… he, uh… ”

Tim clasps a hand on my shoulder. “I heard. I’m so sorry, man. I couldn’t make it to the funeral, but?—”

“Don’t worry about it.” I take a generous gulp of my pint, hoping to wash down the grief along with it. “So, Luke had this whole plan that I just found out about. He wanted to start his own organization to help first generation and low-income students get access to higher education.”

“Wow. I always thought he was a science nerd like you.”

I slip the binder out of my backpack and hand it over to him. “He was a business double major. Here, you can look through it.”

He opens the binder and flips through the pages, his eyes studying the business plan. I take another sip of my drink while I wait for him to finish.

“Looks cool,” he says, handing the binder back to me.

“Yeah, well… I’m going to do it. For Luke. I’m going to start this foundation.”

He nods. “Starting something like that from scratch is going to be a huge undertaking. You might be better off just finding a job with an existing organization or donating some money if this is something you care about.”

I shake my head. “I don’t want to just donate to some national organization. This was Luke’s dream.”

“But Luke is gone, man. What’s your dream?”

I blink.

My dream?

Flashes from my past assault me. Eight years old, Doctor Strange comics tucked under my pillow so I could read them after my dad put me to bed. Play-chemistry sets with plastic beakers that I’d fill with water and food coloring. Late nights in the lab, feeling the rush of a new discovery. I wanted to be a scientist for as long as I could remember.

I shake my head, blinking back the memories. “That doesn’t matter.”

Tim shrugs. “Well, if you’re committed to this, I’ll try to help you out. I’m going to this gala on Friday night, lots of big wigs in the educational field. Definitely some folks you could schmooze for donations. My friend Rebecca will be there. She was the Director of Development at the Bill Gates Foundation, so she should have some advice for you.”

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