Chapter 8

“There are a couple of messages for you,” Annie’s mother informed her as Annie walked in Saturday afternoon, after having put in a full day’s work at Murray Levine Associates. “Chris called, and Robin.”

“Chris and Robin,” Annie muttered, collapsing onto the livingroom sofa. “Mom, I’m exhausted.”

“Is the job too much?” her mother asked.

“I don’t think so,” Annie replied. “It wasn’t when I took Dr. Weinstock to the radio show. But today all I did was file and type and answer the phone, and it was so boring I have absolutely no energy left.”

“Boring jobs are the most tiring,” her mother declared. “They’re high-stress, because there’s no gratification to them. That’s why people go to college, and grad school, and specialize in things, so they can get jobs that call for them to think.” She gave Annie a smile, which Annie tried to return.

“I sure don’t want to be a secretary, I’ll tell you that,” Annie replied.

“You don’t have to be one this year either,” her mother said. “There’s no law saying you have to keep this job.”

“I know,” Annie said. “But in spite of everything, I like working. It makes me feel more important.”

“You are important,” her mother said. “At least to your father and me, as well as to Chris and Robin.”

“All right,” Annie grumbled. “I’ll make those phone calls.”

“Good,” her mother said. “An unanswered message always drives me crazy. Especially if I’m the one who took down the message in the first place.”

It was a struggle, but Annie managed to get up and walk to her bedroom to make the calls. Chris first, she decided, so she dialed his dorm number and asked for him.

He got on the phone in a matter of moments. “I’ve been waiting for your call,” he said.

Annie smiled. “That’s nice to hear,” she told him. “I thought about you a lot today.”

“I forgot you’d be at work,” Chris said. “You up for a movie tonight?”

All Annie wanted to do was go to sleep, even though being with Chris would be great. “Sure,” she said. “What and when?”

“The new Woody Allen,” he suggested. “Nine o’clock showing? We could grab a pizza first, and have some time to talk.”

“I’d like that,” Annie replied, fighting a yawn. “What time do you want to pick me up?”

“How about 7:30?” Chris asked. “We won’t be too rushed.”

“Okay,” Annie said, figuring that that gave her an hour to rest, followed by a shower, which should revive her. “I’ll see you then.”

“Great,” Chris said. “See you then.”

“Right,” Annie said, and they both hung up. She couldn’t get over the idea that Chris liked her. He was a Harvard man, and every girl at her high school dreamed of dating a Harvard man.

In addition, Chris was funny and good-looking, and didn’t have a girlfriend back home. He simply seemed to like her, just the way Annie had always fantasized that a college boy would.

It had to be Image, she thought to herself. Maybe the work she’d done at Image didn’t require brains or personality. But playing the part of an Image intern had taught her poise and self-assurance. She might have regained most of the weight, and her hair no longer behaved itself, but she hadn’t lost the poise yet. It would probably wear off eventually, but in the meantime Annie was glad to have it. Although at that particular moment she would have swapped a cupful of poise for an hour’s sleep.

Annie stared lustfully at her pillow and blankets, and thought about how wonderful a simple nap would feel. It didn’t seem fair somehow that she had to call Robin, when all she really wanted to do was sleep. But Robin had called, and for all she knew, it was something important. The least she could do was call back and find out.

She dialed Robin’s number, and when Robin’s mother answered the phone, she managed the kind of small talk an aunt expected from a niece. Finally Robin got on the line.

“Hi,” Robin said, sounding far too cheerful for Annie’s exhausted ears. “Your mother said you have a job. What’s up?”

“It’s just part time,” Annie replied. “But I put in my first full day at the office today, and I’m exhausted.”

“I bet,” Robin said. “I remember our first day at Image. I thought I’d die. Are you working at a magazine?”

“It’s a public relations firm,” Annie said. “Just a small one, but that’s good, because I can learn about the field that way. I really like it. What’s new with you?”

“Not much,” Robin said. “I’m still bored and lonely. Have you heard from anyone else lately?”

“No,” Annie said. “I’ve been incredibly busy. There’s this job, and school, of course, and I met a guy.”

“You did?” Robin asked. “Jeez, Annie, I don’t believe you. Ten days ago, you sounded like Night of the Living Dead, and now you’re telling me your entire life has changed. Who’s the guy? How did you meet? Is it serious?”

“His name is Chris and he’s a freshman at Harvard, and we met at a bookstore, and it’s much too soon to say if it’s serious,” Annie replied. “We’re going to the movies tonight, and it’s really only our second date. We’ve talked on the phone and I like him a lot. I’m almost afraid to say this, Robin, but I think he likes me a lot too. He’s really good-looking, and he’s very bright, and sensitive. Rich too, I think.”

“Rich and bright and sensitive and good-looking,” Robin said. “A Harvard freshman. It isn’t fair.”

“I guess it isn’t,” Annie said, feeling better than she had ten minutes previously. “What’s up with you?”

“Nothing,” Robin grumbled. “Well, that’s not completely true. I made my plane reservations to New York, so I can see Tim during Columbus Day weekend, and he’s agreed to stay at his mother’s for the weekend, so we can stay at your grandmother’s. Have you spoken to her about it?”

Annie tried to remember. “We talked last Sunday,” she said. “I think I brought it up.”

“Could you make sure?” Robin asked. “Otherwise I won’t have anyplace to stay, and then my parents won’t let me go, and I won’t have any chance to see Tim forever. They’re only letting me go this time because I’ll be seeing you too. Somehow that makes it all acceptable to them. Parents. Have you spoken to Torey yet?”

“No,” Annie said. “Was I supposed to?”

“Annie!” Robin shrieked. “You were supposed to see if she could come down then. What’s happened to you? You used to be the most organized person I knew. Has love shriveled your brain?”

“I’ve just been busy,” Annie said. “I was on Boston Morning …”

“That was last week,” Robin said.

“No it wasn’t,” Annie said. “Oh, that’s right. You don’t know about any of that stuff.”

“What stuff?” Robin asked, so Annie told her. It was funny. That summer, she and Robin had told each other everything, practically the moment it happened. Of course that summer, they’d been living next door to each other, and working at the same office, and that made it a lot easier to talk. But in only ten days many things had happened to Annie, and Robin didn’t know about any of them. Annie had meant to write, but somehow there hadn’t been time.

“You have been busy, I’ll grant you that,” Robin declared when Annie had finished with her week’s summary. “But I still wish you’d check things out with your grandmother and with Torey. It’s only three weeks to Columbus Day, and people need warning.”

“I’m sure it’ll be fine with my grandmother,” Annie said. “She loves it when I visit and she’ll be happy to see you too.”

“Grandmothers have to love your visits,” Robin said. “Do me a favor, and make those calls right now. I’ll call you tomorrow, to make sure everything is set up.

“Okay,” Annie promised. “I’ll talk to you tomorrow, then.”

“Fine,” Robin said. “Try not to change your life all over again tonight, okay? I don’t know how many of these updates I can take.”

Annie laughed, and the girls hung up. She then dialed her grandmother’s number. To her relief, her grandmother answered on the second ring, and Annie explained the situation.

“I’d love to have you girls over,” her grandmother assured her. “You and Robin, and Torey too, if she can make it. By the way, I hear from Tim’s mother that he’s positively pining away from love.”

“Robin’ll be glad to hear that,” Annie said. “So it’s absolutely okay with you for all of us to visit?”

“Absolutely okay,” Annie’s grandmother said. “I’ll put fresh sheets on all the beds, and rake the leaves, and roll out the red carpet.”

“Don’t worry about the sheets or the leaves,” Annie replied. “The red carpet will do just fine.”

It felt good to laugh with her grandmother. Annie realized as they said goodbye just how much she was looking forward to seeing her. Her grandmother was a very special person, and Annie felt better knowing that in three weeks they’d be together.

She checked her watch and debated calling Torey. Knowing Torey, she was at one of her hundred and twelve different jobs. On the other hand, if she didn’t call now, she couldn’t call after she got back from her date. It was a gamble, but it was worth a try.

Torey answered the phone herself, which made Annie feel better. “Annie!” she cried. “How great to hear your voice. How are you? What’s new? Have you heard from the others? Tell me everything.”

“As a matter of fact, I’m calling because I just spoke to Robin,” Annie said, images of Torey flashing through her mind. She tried to reconcile the picture of Torey’s classic blond perfection with the photographs she’d seen of Torey’s ramshackle home, but she couldn’t get them to fit. Torey belonged in New York City. She’d never seen Torey look more at home than she had at the home of Image’s executive editor. They’d gone to a party there, and Mrs. Brundege’s home was spectacular, filled with antiques and views of Central Park. Torey had belonged there, dancing with Mrs. Brundege’s son Ned, not working as a cashier in a small-town supermarket.

“Robin,” Torey said. “I know it’s only been a few weeks, but it seems like forever since I saw all of you. Actually, it seems like a dream that any of it ever happened. Does it feel that way to you too?”

“Yeah,” Annie said. “But I’m starting to realize it did. I’m starting to incorporate it. Know what I mean?”

“I know, but I’m not,” Torey said. “It’s like there was a part of me that spent that summer, but the rest of me doesn’t believe it. Oh, I don’t know. I dream about it all the time, though. Last night I dreamed that you and I were taking a carriage ride with the others through Central Park. It felt so good to see you.”

“Want to see me in person?” Annie asked. “That’s why I’m calling. Robin and I are getting together Columbus Day weekend, and we were wondering if you could join us.”

“Where?” Torey asked. “How?”

“At my grandmother’s on Long Island,” Annie replied. “Say you’ll come too.”

“I don’t know,” Torey said. “It’d cost so much money. There’s bus fare to the city, and then the train fare too.”

“Don’t you have any money saved from the summer?” Annie asked. “Besides, if you came down, you’d be able to see Ned Brundege. You could spend Saturday night with him.”

“Don’t tempt me,” Torey said.

“I didn’t know you could be tempted,” Annie said. “I didn’t know you could afford temptation.”

“I can’t,” Torey said. “That’s the problem. There’s the cost of the transportation, and all the money I could earn if I stayed here that weekend. I could work full time on Monday if I were here.”

“There’s more to life than supermarkets,” Annie said. “And you know you want to come.”

“Of course I want to,” Torey said sharply. “That’s not at issue.”

“Okay, sorry,” Annie said. “It’s just Robin and I would like to see you so much. I’m being selfish.”

“I want to see you too,” Torey replied, and her voice had softened. “Let me think about it. Maybe there’s a way I can work it out.”

“I hope so,” Annie declared. “So have you heard from Ashley?”

“She writes constantly,” Torey said. “She’s so unhappy, it worries me.”

“We all knew she’d be unhappy,” Annie said. “I think Ashley enjoys being unhappy.”

“Not like this, she doesn’t,” Torey said. “I wish there was something I could do for her.”

“There isn’t,” Annie said. “Ashley’s going to have to make her own changes. Besides, she only has a year left at home, and then she can go away to school, and never see her family again if she doesn’t want to.”

“If she makes it through this year,” Torey replied.

“So is anything new with you?” Annie asked. “How’s your family? How’s the satellite dish?”

“We’re all the same,” Torey said. “And the dish is losing its appeal, thank goodness. My brother likes the TV, so we keep it on for him a lot, but when he’s in bed, we turn it off and listen to the radio instead.”

Annie laughed. “You can get any station in the universe, and you listen to the radio instead?”

“My father prefers it,” Torey said.

Annie kicked herself. Torey’s father was blind. Naturally he’d prefer the radio. Annie had spent a whole summer sharing a room with Torey and hearing about her family’s various afflictions. How could she have forgotten so fast?

“I’m sorry,” she said.

“Nothing to be sorry about,” Torey said. “I’ll think about Columbus Day and let you know. I really would like to come, so maybe I’ll just put in extra hours the next couple of weeks, and make up the money I’d be earning that weekend, that way. I’ll see if I can do it.”

“I sure hope you can,” Annie said. “And so does Robin. And if you hear from Ashley, tell her I’ve been thinking about her.”

“I will,” Torey said. “I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Right,” Annie said, and hung up. Three months ago, Torey and Ashley had been nothing more than concepts to her, the other two interns, the two she didn’t know. Then they’d spent two months together, practically breathing in unison, and she’d gotten to know them as intimately as she’d ever known anybody. She’d known all about them, and their families, and their problems, and she’d felt as though she’d actually known all of them, Ashley’s tyrannical grandfather, Torey’s brain-damaged brother, and the rest in their personal cast of characters, and now, just a few weeks later, they were all fading from memory, as her world filled up with Murray Levine Associates and Chris and a new set of teachers and classes and a whole new reality. That was the way life was, Annie supposed, but still she felt some regret that things couldn’t stay the same only with more of it. She wanted it all, she realized, and it didn’t seem fair somehow that she couldn’t have it.

She laughed at herself, as she stretched out on the bed, and she continued to laugh at herself as she showered and washed her hair and prepared for her date. Wanting it all didn’t get you anywhere. Chris’s father wanted it all, she suspected, and that was why he lived in divorce court. Ashley wanted it all, and she ended up in motorcycle accidents. It was better to want just enough, and let anything else be a bonus.

Chris showed up on time. “No car today,” he said. “My friend has a waiting list for it for Saturday nights. Do you mind walking?”

“Not at all,” Annie said. The pizza parlor and movie theater were all within walking distance, and the night was beautiful. “Look at all those stars,” she said. “There must be thousands of them out tonight.”

“Millions,” Chris replied. “Do you think there’s life on them?”

“Sure,” Annie said. “Don’t you?”

Chris nodded. “There has to be,” he declared. “We can’t be all there is in the universe. It wouldn’t make sense.” He took Annie’s hand and they walked, swinging their arms together. “I’m glad there isn’t intergalactic travel, though.”

“You are?” Annie asked. “Why?”

“Because then my father would have zillions more women to choose among,” Chris said. “There’d be no stopping him then.”

Annie laughed. “The neverending journey,” she said.

“We’d find each other, though,” Chris said. “No matter where we were in the universe, we’d still find each other.”

“I’m glad we didn’t have to search forever, though,” Annie said. “It was a lot more convenient this way.”

“Convenience certainly counts,” Chris replied. “Oh, my father has set his latest wedding date. Sunday, the eleventh of October.”

“That’s Columbus Day weekend,” Annie said.

“Right,” Chris said. “He’s doing it as a convenience for me, if you can believe it. It turns out this one, Mariel or whatever, has been married before, so she doesn’t mind skipping the real big ceremony. So she and Dad are going to get married at his condo and have a few of their more tolerant friends there. So Dad decided to schedule it at a time when I could get away from school, so I could be there. I’ll fly out there Friday after my morning class, and get back on Monday.”

“You’re going to be there for your father’s wedding night?” Annie asked.

Chris laughed. “Not exactly,” he said. “Dad and Mariel are going away on a week’s vacation Sunday night. I can’t bring myself to call it a honeymoon. He’s had so many. I’ll have Dad’s place to myself that night.”

“How awful,” Annie said.

Chris shrugged his shoulders. “There’ll be plenty to eat,” he said. “And Dad has all the latest electronic toys, so I’ll certainly be able to entertain myself. It’s just for one night.”

“I’ll be at my grandmother’s that weekend,” Annie said. “Visiting with her and my cousin Robin. Maybe Torey too. She was another of the interns.”

“I remember,” Chris said. “I’m glad you’ll be busy with your girlfriends.”

“I have to remember to ask Murray if I can have that Saturday off,” Annie said. “Oh, well, if it’s a problem, I can just fly out Saturday evening after work. But it probably won’t be. Murray’s the kind of person who likes it if you visit your grandmother. He’s very big on family.”

“That’s good,” Chris said. “What do you think they’re doing on that star over there?” He pointed one out.

“I think they’re going out on dates,” Annie said. “After all, it’s Saturday night all over the universe.”

“I don’t think it works that way,” Chris said. “But it must be Saturday night on at least some of the planets out there.”

“Those are the planets I like the best,” Annie said. “The ones where it’s Saturday night.”

“I like this planet the best,” Chris said. “Because you’re on it.”

“Good reason,” Annie said, and wasn’t at all surprised when Chris bent down to kiss her. There was a lot to be said for good old planet Earth, she thought. She’d have to write it a thank-you note someday.