Page 25 of Golden Girl
She knows that Brett Caspian is watching her. He’s cute, she decides. She never realized this before because he’s a druggie and therefore not her type, not even her species.
When she collects her books, he says, “Well, I’m not hanging out here any longer.”
Vivi says, “You’re going to leave detention? Aren’t you afraid they’ll double-down if you do that?”
“Nah,” Brett says. “Dave will let me slide.”
“Dave?”
“He’s friends with my parents,” Brett says. “They bowl together at Maple Lanes.”
Vivi is astonished to hear this. She doesn’t think of someone like Brett Caspian as even having parents, never mind parents who bowl with a teacher.
“Anyway, if you don’t want to wait for the sports bus, I can drive you home,” Brett says.
Vivi practically has to pick herself up off the floor. “Okay?” she says.
They’re like Judd Nelson and Molly Ringwald fromThe Breakfast Club. Or close enough. They become a couple. By October, Vivi has traded in her A-line skirts for Jordache jeans and her boat shoes for Chuck Taylors. Brett picks her up on Friday nights and they go together to Byers Field to watch the football games, though neither of them is the rah-rah type, and then they head to Antonio’s for pizza. On Saturdays, they do a few laps around the Parmatown Mall, one of Brett’s hands possessively in the back pocket of Vivi’s new jeans and his other hand holding a cigarette. Sometimes they go to a movie at the mall; sometimes Vivi goes to the high-school parties where Brett’s band is playing. Afterward, they drive around Parma and Seven Hills in Brett’s Buick Skylark playing 100.7 WMMS (the greatest rock station in America, right there in Cleveland) so loud that the soles of Vivi’s shoes vibrate against the dashboard as the crisp Ohio air rushes in through the open windows. They park on State Road Hill or the Canal Road over in Independence and make out. They go to second base; they go to third base. They say,I love you, I love you too, I love you more, I am so in love with you.The feeling is so fresh out of the box, so wondrous, that they believe they are the first people ever to experiencethiskind of love. They believe they invented it.
Vivi goes with Brett to band practice, which is held in his buddy Wayne Curtis’s garage. Wayne Curtis plays bass, and Roy, who has already graduated, plays the drums. Vivi knows Roy; he has a smart sister in the grade below Vivi.
Wayne and Roy don’t act one way or another when Vivi comes to practice. They mostly ignore her, though once, Roy asks where she’s applying to college, and when she tells him—Duke, UNC, UVA—he whistles.
“Anywhere is fine as long as it’s not here,” Vivi says.
“I hear ya,” Roy says. The band’s name, after all, is Escape from Ohio.
The secret truth is that after Vivi falls in love with Brett, she falls in love with Ohio. With only her guidance counselor’s knowledge, she applies to Denison, Kenyon, Oberlin. She and Brett talk about getting married when they’re in their twenties and moving downtown into a condo with a view of the lake; then, when they have children, they’ll buy a house in Shaker Heights. Their kids will have the same sensible Midwestern upbringing that they’ve had.
At the beginning of November, they go all the way. They’re in the back seat of the Skylark, parked in the woods by the Canal trail entrance, and the key is turned in the ignition just enough to keep the heater blowing its dry hot air. There’s some positioning required, and for a second, it’s like a game of Twister; Vivi feels the ridged vinyl against her bare back, her clothes now mixed with Brett’s in the shallow wells of the car floor. Vivi pulses like a white-hot star. The pleasure and ache of Brett inside of her brings her to tears, and she ends up crying. They are both crying a little, because it’s Brett’s first time as well. And wow. Just…wow.
After Vivi’s father dies in February, Brett writes her a song. It’s called “Golden Girl,” and at first, Vivi is confused by the title because she has very long, very dark hair. But once she hears the lyrics, she realizes thegoldenis metaphorical. Vivi is Brett’s golden girl; she’s his sunshine, his light, his treasure, his prize. She’s the fire in his eyes.
Vivi would have loved the song even if it stunk—but she can tell it’s good. Very good. Maybe even good enough to be played on WMMS.
With Vivi’s father gone, Brett Caspian becomes everything to her. He’s her sword and shield, her security blanket, her therapist, her best friend. His love is her oxygen. She will do whatever she must in order to keep him.
Back on Nantucket, at Our Lady of the Isle, the priest gives the Gospel reading and then the homily, which feels sort of generic to Vivi, but it’s her own fault for going to church only on Christmas Eve and Easter. Father Reed once mentioned to Vivi that his elderly aunt enjoyed her novels, and Vivi dropped off a signed, large-print edition ofThe Photographerat the rectory the very next day—but Father Reed doesn’t mention that in the homily; it’s more about death in general and how it’s really a birth into the Kingdom of God.
The homily is boring enough that the crying stops, but once Father is finished, Savannah ascends to the pulpit and you can hear a pin drop. Vivi takes the moment when Savannah is reviewing her notes to scan the church. Her gaze alights briefly on the front row. The kids are watching Savannah with rapt attention; JP is bent over with his head in his hands. Dennis is on the other side of the church sitting next to Candace Lopresti, Alexis, and Marissa, which is as good a place for him as any.
Joe DeSantis is on the aisle about three-quarters of the way back. He has been absorbed by the parents of the kids in Leo and Cruz’s class. Willa’s boss is here, and a group of people Vivi recognizes from the Oystercatcher. There are teachers, coaches, a bunch of real estate agents and business owners from downtown, all the guys who have worked on Money Pit, including Marky Mark, Vivi’s contractor, and Surfer Boy, the electrician, both of whom put on ties for this.
There’s Jodi, Vivi’s agent, sitting with Wendy, Tim, and Cristina from Mitchell’s Book Corner. There are the women from Vivi’s barre class (exhibiting excellent posture). She will never have to suffer through thigh work again—is that a good thing? Her dentist and dental hygienist are here. Vivi will never have another cavity or another torturous root canal. No more ob-gyn exams. She has escaped the indignities of menopause. What does a hot flash feel like? Vivi will never know.
Sitting in the second row behind the kids is…Lucinda Quinboro, Vivi’s ex-mother-in-law.Well, that’s rich,Vivi thinks. Sheisthe children’s grandmother but…well, Lucinda was never a fan of Vivi’s. She looks happier now than she did on Vivi and JP’s wedding day.
“That’s not true,” Martha says. “And you know it.”
“She never thought I was good enough for him,” Vivi says. “Her little Jackie Paper.”
“She prefers you to Amy,” Martha says. “She thinks Amy is a gold digger.” Martha pauses. “Sorry, that was very indiscreet.”
“What else can you tell me?” Vivi says.
“Nothing.”
“Oh, come on.”
