Page 23 of Shifting Gears

And she does. The whole horizon is bathed in an orange glow, the sun sinking behind the trees as they make idle conversation, and slowly leaving in its wake a sky full of the brightest stars Eleanor has ever seen. They almost seem to shimmer, and the Milky Way is visible to the naked eye in a way Eleanor has rarely seen.

“Wow,” Eleanor breathes quietly, gazing up while Dani lights a citronella candle to keep the worst of the bugs away. “I’ve never seen stars like this. And I studied astrophysics.”

“They come out real bright when there’s no light pollution. I thought you studied engineering?” Dani asks, frowning. The candle has a sweet, lemony smell.

Eleanor nods, still looking up at the stars. “I have four degrees.”

There’s a pause, and Eleanor finally pulls her gaze away from the constellations to see that Dani is staring at her like she has as many heads as she does degrees.

“In what?”

Eleanor clears her throat. “Chemical engineering, computer science, astrophysics, and an MBA.”

Dani stares at her again. Eleanor bites the inside of her cheek, tearing nervously at the skin around her thumbnail.

In her experience, this is the point where people usually get uncomfortable. Every date she’s ever been on has had this moment, where the person across the dinner table realizes that Eleanor has them outmatched in education and usually in job prestige. The reaction is typically either a sudden lack of interest or an onslaught of bragging. It’s one of the many reasons she’s steered away from anything serious.

Dani just shakes her head, the wheels clearly turning in her brain. “How old are you?”

Eleanor barks out a laugh. “How old do you think I am?”

“I assumed you were around my age, but with that much education plus a corporate job, you must be, like…a vampire or something,” Dani says.

Eleanor shakes her head, unsuccessfully fighting the heat in her cheeks from rising. “I just turned thirty-one.”

“You’re a year younger than me and you have four degrees? And a career?” Dani says, whistling long and low. “That is seriously impressive. How did you manage that?”

Eleanor lets out a relieved breath. Dani doesn’t seem intimidated, nor does she start bringing up her ownachievements in a self-conscious word vomit. She just seems impressed and interested. It’s entirely disarming.

“My father thought astrophysics was a waste of time, so I did it simultaneously with computer science. And I finished all my degrees early,” Eleanor says. “I like to learn. I worked in R&D for a few years, and then…”

Eleanor has come to trust Dani more quickly than probably anyone else she’s ever met, but, even so, she hesitates. Would Dani not care what company Eleanor heads, or would revealing it torpedo this tiny bright spot she’s nestled herself into? Even if it’s only going to last until the end of the summer, Eleanor wants to preserve this bubble of normalcy. Even if it means avoiding the truth a little.

“And then I went into business,” Eleanor finishes vaguely.

Dani doesn’t pry for more. “So you’re a scientist at heart.”

Eleanor chuckles, staring down at her hands. She’s been picking at her nail beds throughout the conversation, and one of them is starting to bleed. “I was, once. Now I’m just…tired.”

“I don’t blame you. Your life sounds exhausting.”

Dani says it with genuine concern, and Eleanor accepts it despite her usual instincts. “Nobody’s ever put it that bluntly before. But yes, frankly. It is.”

“I couldn’t do what you do,” Dani says. She’s leaned back to look up at the sky, her hands braced behind her. “I tried the city life for a while, after I graduated. Interned at a newspaper in Toronto for a few years. I was on the fast track to getting my own beat. Worked my butt off, had a shoebox apartment, the whole thing. But it all felt kinda empty. Isolated. I didn’t realize how miserable I was until I came back here for the holidays one year. Eventually I decided not to go back.”

They sit in silence for a few moments, just taking in the view. Crickets are singing. Branches rustle in the wind. The occasionalfirefly floats over the long grass. The smell of citronella and fresh night air is more revitalizing than a cup of morning coffee.

It’s lovely, but Eleanor’s mind can’t stop spinning around on Dani’s words.

“I understand needing time to recharge,” Eleanor finally says. “But why stay here permanently when you could do so much more?”

Dani shrugs. She seems to have been anticipating the question. “Sarah asks me that, too sometimes. Always tells me I could do bigger and better things. My brother stayed down south and put in his dues, and he’s a big shot journalist now. He’s part of why I got the degree, I think. I wanted to live up.”

Eleanor blinks, her brain stuttering over the new piece of information Dani so casually dropped.

“You have a brother?”

Dani nods. “Yeah. He’s 12 years older. Garreth. We don’t really talk.”

---