Again, But Better(113)
“No, not yet,” I reply. I make a mental note to buckle down and start researching tonight.
“Do we know anyone looking?” Wendy directs to Donna and Tracey.
Donna turns to me. “I have a friend who works at Seventeen in New York, and an ex-boyfriend at NatGeo. I’ll send out some emails first thing tomorrow.”
I raise a hand to my chest. “Thank you so much.”
“Of course! I can’t guarantee anything, but I’ll ask my contacts.”
“And I’ll keep my ears open,” Wendy adds. “We don’t have an office in New York yet, but we’re in the process of expanding to the States.”
I gape at the three of them. “You have no idea how appreciative I am.”
“You’re going to land on your feet.” Tracey squeezes my shoulder.
Wendy’s phone sends a vibration through the table, and she picks it up excitedly.
“My husband’s coming to join us!” she exclaims, before placing it back down with a brilliant smile. My mouth falls open. “He had a meeting that finished up a few blocks from here!”
“You have a husband?” I blurt in blatant disbelief. All three women laugh.
“Why are you so surprised?” Wendy asks, not without amusement.
“I’m sorry, um, I don’t know,” I fumble. “You’re … so independent and successful and young, and I figured it’s so hard to maintain a relationship and also be such a—badass.”
She chuckles. “I mean, don’t get me wrong, it’s tough sometimes, but Spencer’s my partner. He makes my life better, so I keep him around. It’s really nice to have someone to share my success with.” I nod absently, trying not to think about dessert foods.
When Wendy’s husband joins us ten minutes later, I almost choke on my wine. I recognize him immediately because I’ve seen his headshot on the back of all the Broken Beaker books I have on my shelf back at home. Her husband is Spencer Matthews, the YA mystery novelist.
“You own your own successful magazine company and your husband writes one of the most popular YA series?” I start as Spencer leaves the table to get us a new round of drinks at the bar. “How do you guys find time to be a couple?”
Wendy snorts. “I mean, the series hasn’t happened yet, but he’s on that path. Book two’s out soon. I guess you’ve read Broken Beaker?”
Oh lord, I almost just had a major time traveler slipup. I nod and she continues, “It’s all about patience and support. I would have gotten here myself, but I’d like to think my journey was a little less rocky because I had him to lean on when things were really stressful, and vice versa with his books.”
* * *
Thursday night, Babe and Sahra go out, but I decide to stay in. I want to use the time to write a blog post about my Packed! article and borrow Babe’s computer while she’s not using it. Babe, Sahra, and I are leaving for a trip to Prague tomorrow after class, so I won’t have another chance to write before Sunday.
I set to work, delving into the process of putting the article together and of course what it means to me that it exists. The post goes live at 10:00 p.m. I link it on Facebook for people to see, and then head to Gmail.
Cara Primaveri, Sal Primaveri
________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Mom & Dad,
I love you and appreciate everything you’ve done for me. We didn’t really get to discuss it, but I’ve been working for a magazine called Packed! For Travel! here in London. I’ve had so much fun there, and I’ve learned a ton. I’ve shown them the work I’ve been doing on my blog, and they liked my travel pieces! They offered me the opportunity to write something for their magazine. I wrote an article about study abroad in London and it’s published on their site! Here’s the link: packedfortravel.com/london-studyabroadguide
I’m sorry I’ve disappointed you both, and I hope you can forgive me. I hated lying to you, but I needed to do this.
Love,
Shane
Right as I’m about to press send, there’s a knock at the door. It’s only 10:30 p.m., which is early for the girls to be back. The tiniest bit of hope sparks in my chest.
“Hello?” I call out from my perch on the bunk. No answer. I climb down and open the door.
No one’s there. I scurry back up onto the bunk, press send, and research summer writing-related jobs in the tristate area. I apply for every one I can find.
* * *
Prague is beautiful. Sahra tells us it’ll probably be her last trip for money reasons, but Babe and I convince her to join us for one more to Amsterdam the following weekend. Sunday night, when we get back, I blog about Prague and email the link to my parents.
Now that the article for Packed! is done, I focus more of my attention on the book I’ve been hand-writing about twins in college. I go to class, draft the book, go to the library, type more of it up, sleep, go to work, draft book, sleep, check for more job opportunities, go to work, write book, sleep, class, go to Amsterdam.
I blog about Amsterdam and send the link to my parents.
Babe gets free tickets to Disneyland Paris, so the following weekend, we go back to France and spend the day in the park.