Page 109 of Happiness for Beginners

“So that’s why you’re angry.”

“No!” I said. “I’m angry because I did not get what I wanted. I wanted to transcend all these dumb human shenanigans. I wanted to do something amazing! I wanted to be transformed! I wanted to be fully immersed!”

“Sounds like you were pretty immersed to me.”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“All I’ll say is this: You were a ghost of a person when you left. Now, you’re flesh and blood again.”

“It was the hiking! And the mountain air! And the sunshine!”

“If you say so.”

“I’m telling you, he likes somebody else now.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

“He’s gone to Colorado with her. She’s amazing.”

“So are you.”

“I’m really not.”

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Or Jake, either.” Gigi paused then, holding her fork in the air. “Do you remember when he brought that blond girl to Thanksgiving? What was her name? Pippi? Piper?”

“No,” I said.

“This was a couple of years ago. You were still married. And that girl what’s-her-name was lovely! And charming! And guess what?”

“What?”

“He still switched the place cards.”

I held my breath until I couldn’t anymore. “This is a disaster.”

She took a sip of wine. “Love is always a disaster, darling. That’s what makes it fun.”

“I was mean to him. I ran him off.”

She shook her head. “You’ve been mean to him for years.”

A thought occurred to me. “Maybe he has a thing for mean women. Maybe he can only like me if I’m mean.”

Now GiGi smiled like I was terribly funny. “He doesn’t like you because you’re mean,” she said. “He likes you in spite of it.”

“We don’t know that. He could be completely messed up.”

She met my eyes. “But he isn’t.”

No. He wasn’t.

“He just likes you. He’s always liked you. He sees all the good things about you. He has that gift—those wonderful, loving eyes.”

“GiGi,” I said then, breaking Jake’s confidence, but unable to stop myself. “He’s losing his sight.”

I thought I’d have to go on and explain all about the rods and cones to make it all clear, but she held up her hand. “I know.”

I frowned. “How do you know?”

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