Page 7 of When Our Stars Aligned

“Yeah, yeah.” I brush her off. “Let’s get back inside.”

5

Aly

Oregon

This is it—my chance for a fresh start. If someone had told me two years ago that I would be relocating to the West Coast for a new job that I received out of thin air, I would’ve thought they were nuts. Yet that’s exactly what I’m doing.

Now, I’m off to start my life over in Starboard Beach, a small suburb on the Oregon Coast. I tried my best to familiarize myself with the area through internet searches. I know it’s considered a small beach town, but it’s nowhere near as small as Beaute,Georgia. The condo I will be living in was only built a few years ago, and according to Michelle, my future roommate and landlord, the beach is only about a ten-minute drive away.

I found Michelle through a wanted ad on one of Starboard Beach’s community pages on Facebook. We hit it off quickly and she was very accommodating for my need to stay private. The deal was sealed when I discovered the condo has a private indoor pool.

My phone vibrates as I make my way down to baggage claim and a picture of my best friend Jess pops up on the screen.

“Hey,” I answer.

“Hey, yourself! You were supposed to call me as soon as you got off the plane, and according to my flight status app, you landed five minutes ago.”

I roll my eyes. “Are you stalking me now too? I’m headed towards baggage claim.”

“You are my bestie for life. It’s perfectly acceptable to check up on you,” she says matter-of-factly.

I met Jess and her twin brother, Jacob, during our first semester in college. I quickly became friends with them both. We moved off campus to a shared apartment during our second semester and lived happily for several years. But a few years ago, Jess met her husband and moved up to Maine where he received a job transfer. Jacob still keeps an apartment in Beaute, but he’s rarely there now that his modeling career has taken off. “Okay, so what’s your anxiety level right now?”

“Honestly, maybe like a three. Isn’t that weird? I’m actually having anxiety over not having anxiety. What is wrong with me? I just left my home, job, friends, and everything I know to move clear across the country for a new position I accepted over a Zoom meeting. A freaking Zoom meeting! I don’t know anyone here and have never taught at the college level before. Why am I not panicking about this?”

“Well, Dr. Winters, I suspect you are not freaking out because in your heart you know this is the right move. You have always wanted to teach at the college level. Besides, you need this change.”

“Okay, yeah, so I have always wanted to go into higher education, but I figured that would beafterI retired from the school district. This wasn’t in my life plan.”

I can feel Jess roll her eyes through the phone. I set up my life plan at some point in high school. It was during some sort of class to get us prepared for the real world. I took my goals a little more seriously than the rest of my classmates.

Aly’s Life Plan

Step 1: Turn eighteen and get my ears pierced.

Step 2: Graduate high school with college credits/move away from home.

Step 3: Earn my bachelor’s degree by 21.

Step 4: Earn my master’s degree by 24.

Step 5: Earn my doctorate by 28.

Step 6: Get married by 29/live happily ever after.

Step 7: Start having kids by 30/continue living happily ever after.

Step 8: Retire from the school district and start working as a professor.

Step 9: Continue living happily ever after.

I checked off the first five steps with no problem. I should’ve been through step 6 and living step 7 by now, but here I am at thirty-one moving clear across the country to put as much distance as possible between myself and step number 6… Okay, the former step number 6.

“Screw your life plan.” Jess breaks me out of my thoughts. “Look, you accomplished more before you turned thirty thansome people do in their entire lives. As for the marriage thing, people of all different ages get married all the time. There was the cute couple at my grandmother’s nursing home; they met in the dining hall, fell in love, and got married at eight-nine and ninety-two.”

“Is this supposed to make me feel better?”

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