Page 99 of One More Time
Olivia waved goodbye as she slipped through the office door.
Lucy took a look around her. Surveyed the dusty shelves of books, her desk, the careworn carpet, the windowless walls with their framed degrees.
‘Oh my God,’ she bellowed to the room, to herself, to the damnuniverse. So much education in her life, and still dumb as a bag of rocks.
Lucy could almost see a bright, shining field of stars erupt before her eyes. It was either a life-changing flash of insight, or a dire medical emergency. At her age, it was difficult to tell.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
LUCY
The thing they don’t tell you about making a grand gesture is that it is fuckingexcruciating. In the movies there’s a decision, and a plane ride that takes approximately three seconds, andboom– happily ever after. Easy.
In real life, apparently, it’s seven full days of agony.
Case in point: Lucy stood at the door of her neighbor, Oumarou, beside her other neighbor Carl, a slender man in a Bengals sweatshirt and flip-flops, whom she’d dragged from an apparently riveting documentary on Tudor England.
‘So,then,’ Carl said, jabbering away as he had for five minutes, ‘the last one, Catherine Parr, enters the picture—’
‘Hello, neighbors!’ said Oumarou, opening the door on his tidy Midwestern bungalow. His wife, Pauline, shuffled in behind him carrying their baby daughter. Lucy resisted the urge to reach out and grab little Marthe for the baby-cuddle time she usually enjoyed when hanging out next door. Unfortunately, Lucy didn’t have the time to indulge.
‘Are you two still interested in getting a car?’ Lucy asked.
‘We are,’ Pauline replied. ‘But the prices are still too high.’
Lucy beamed. ‘Well, do I have a deal for you! I will sell you my Subaru for one dollar.’
‘What?’ asked Oumarou, shocked. ‘No, that is too generous.’
‘Well, look,’ Lucy said, ‘it has seventy-eight thousand miles on it and there’s something squidgy going on with the emergency brake. However, it also has a new set of tires and a full tank of gas.’
‘We’ll take it!’ chirped Pauline.
‘Pauline!’ Oumarou protested.
A spate of rapid-fire French ensued. While Lucy was extremely bad at French, she could tell by the hand motions and general air of exasperation that Pauline was winning and Oumarou was deeply in love with his wife.
‘Are you escaping from the law?’ Oumarou asked Lucy.
‘No, I am running away to be with the man I love.’
‘Carl?’ Pauline gasped.
‘NotCarl,’ Lucy said, absolutely not laughing. ‘Carl is here because he’s a notary. For the car title. To make it official.’
Carl held his hand up showing the couple his very official notary stamp thingy that looked like it could have been purchased at Staples.
‘We will take it,’ Oumarou said finally.
Five minutes and four-quarters later, Oumarou and Pauline were the proud owners of an eight-year-old Subaru hatchback and Lucy was one step closer to the future.
Lucy was clearly too practical for her own good. She couldn’t just hop on a plane, damn the consequences. She had to carefully dismantle her life first. She had to be sure her students would be in good hands for the fall semester. She had to write a letter of resignation and formally withdraw from the tenure review process. Then, when that was done, she had to spend an enormous chunk of her life savings on a last-minute, one-way ticket to Monaco. As one does.
The internal struggle was a whole other animal. She could have texted or called Nicky at any point. Typed something like, ‘Hey, remember that invitation? Uh, quitting my whole fucking life over here. Still into that?’ But she didn’t. She couldn’t. She wanted toshowNicky that she wasin it, that she was leaping. She needed to feel it. For her own sanity. Lucy had to experience every brave step, if giving up on everything she’d ever worked for could be considered brave and not colossally stupid.
What’s more, Lucy wanted to be there to witness Nicky’s reaction, to see with her own eyes that she hadn’t irreparably and terminally screwed up what they had because of her lifelong reliance on the safety of inertia. It couldn’t be easy. She wouldn’t let it be easy. For all those years Nicky had needed her towantto be found. It was beyond time for Lucy to prove exactly how much she wanted it – by leaping headfirst into the unknown and hoping that she wouldn’t fall flat on her face.
Lucy made one last tour of her home. The dusty corners she hadn’t had time to clean, the bathroom faucet that dripped and needed mending.
