Page 25 of Unless It's You
“Come on.” She waves for me to follow her. “There are five items on my bucket list.”
“Go on.”
“First one:Volunteer. Help somebody, or something.”
“Okay, got it. And how will you do that?”
She sighs. “I mean, I’m sort of hoping that the Sporting UK Foundation commercial checks that box? We’re doing the agency work pro bono. Think that counts?”
“No, not really, becauseyouare literally getting paid to do it, even if the agency fees are waved.”
“I dunno, it might be okay.” Stella glances at me, biting her lip.
“No. And I think you’re lucky you have me as an advisor. What’s the next one?”
Stella scrunches her forehead and waves me toward a map behind a plastic surface. “Go to the Isle of Skye.”
“What?”
“In Scotland.”
“I know it’s in Scotland.” The memory of Mum taking me there when I was ten years old rushes at me. It’s one of the few good memories I have of her from my childhood. It was a magic?—
“Aunt Evelyn said it was a magical place.”
I jolt and stare at Stella’s profile as she drags a finger along the map of the animal habitats. It was the exact thing I was thinking. Skye is magical.
“When are you going to go to Skye?”
She glances at me nervously. “I’m not. I mean, I can’t. Ican’tdo it this month. There’s too much happening, and Skye is, like, in the middle of nowhere.”
“But you need to go for the list, right?” Then something dawns on me. A memory of a conversation I overheard yesterday. “Photoshop from Graham?”
She nods and her cheeks turn pink. “What’s your favorite zoo animal?” Stella turns back to the zoo map.
“Don’t change the subject. That is cheating. You can’t cheat on this list.”
“Oh god, I know.” A quick glance at me, then she’s back studying the map. “I feel awful even considering it. But I can’t get it done. Not this month. I’m working on three commercials and the idea of taking a trip to bumfuck Scotland is too much for me to handle.” She sounds like she’s trying to convince herself.
“Hart, come on.” I feel a stabbing of sympathy for her, but she can’t cheat on this. She’ll regret it, even if she gets away with it, even if she makes up for it later.
“Favorite animal?” she asks again.
“Monkey.”
“Monkey? Don’t they throw poop? Let’s see the polar bears instead.”
I follow her down a long pathway lined with a rainbow of flowers.
“Another bucket list item is to help one of my sisters. Reese. With what, you might ask?” She shrugs. “Aunt Evelyn wasn’t very specific.”
“Well, that’s not helpful.”
“Exactly. I have to think about that one more. I’m at a loss.”
“Volunteer, go to Skye, help Reese. That’s three.”
“Adopt an animal.” Stella’s eyes dart to me briefly before she points down a different pathway.
