I’ll tell him after—if there is an after. We haven’t talked about the future—not in specific detail, anyway. I’ve told him about my background in design, keeping it as vague as possible. I’ve mentioned that I’m looking for another job in that field and he’s questioned if I’m willing to relocate for work. Relocate to London? I’m not entirely sure that’s what he was asking. Perhaps he was asking if I’d move to New York or Los Angeles or Detroit if the right job came along.
But he did ask it.
He did mention a meeting he has in New York in a couple of months. And his cousin in Las Vegas. Were those invitations? Feelers?
And he suggested that I could look for a position at the parent company of Sutton Travel—which is located in London. He mentioned it twice, in fact. Reminded me about what an Anglophile I am—and I don’t think I was imagining the silent look he gave me when he said it, a whole conversation passing between us without words.
And…
I did it. I applied for a job in London. Two of them, in fact. I mean, fuck it, right? I’ve dreamed of living overseas my entire life. If now’s not the time, when? Most everything I own was packed into a storage unit when I moved in with Daisy and honestly, I don’t even miss my stuff, not really. It’s just stuff. I could sell off most of it at this point and not think twice about it. Pack up a few suitcases and move anywhere. What do I need besides my laptop, cell and some personal items?
Jennings.
I need Jennings.
But it’s not like I’d be moving just for him—it would be for me too. Because in the long run of my life, what’s more important? Playing it safe or taking risks? Playing it safe hasn’t gotten me what I expected. If anything, it’s the safe choices I regret.
Both with my career and my heart.
So why the hell not reach for the stars? Do something crazy? Crazier than a one-night stand. Something with no sure outcome.
We’ll see how things play out.
Until then, I’m on cloud nine.
Giddy about the possibilities. Optimistic about my career. Enchanted with Jennings.
It doesn’t last long.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Violet
The stop in Gettysburg went off without a hitch. We toured the battlefield where the Civil War ended and the site where Abraham Lincoln delivered the Gettysburg Address. In the afternoon the group took a walking tour with a local expert while I returned calls to my recruiter and sent off a few more résumés.
That evening we had another group dinner. They’re included with the tour, and fun, even if they take forever. Jennings sat with his nan and eyed me at the table I shared with George and a couple from Canada, winking at me while no one was looking.
Afterwards we went to his room and watched a movie while we waited for dessert from room service. I have no idea how the movie ended, but I’m sure I’ll catch the rest of it on cable sometime. Totally worth it.
Then—before I know what’s hit me—we’re en route to our final stop on this tour. The week I went into kicking and screaming I’m now wishing would last just a little bit longer. I’ll miss this group. It’s crazy how fast you can bond when you travel together. How quickly you develop inside jokes and find little quirks in people that endear them to you. I’ll miss the way Mrs. Jarvis stops to take a photo of every interesting door we pass. How Mr. Boero cannot leave a stop without a souvenir magnet. How Mrs. Delaine compares the coffee at every stop to Tim Hortons and how Isaac—a young man traveling by himself from Africa—insists on telling the group riddles while we travel from city to city. Except they never make any sense.
“A woman swims across a river of crocodiles to get to a party, but she doesn’t die. Why?”
The punchline? Because she was at the party.
So. Stupid. Yet he made an impression and now I’ll never see him again. I don’t know how my sister does this. I’m a homebody. I get attached. I’m already sad about saying goodbye to this group when we haven’t even parted yet.
***
Our final stop is Philadelphia, which makes me happy. I went to college here—at Penn—and I love any opportunity to visit my old stomping grounds. Just being back in the city is filling me with nostalgia. Now that I’m here, I’m kicking myself for not arranging a coffee date with my old school friends. I haven’t seen the girls since Chloe’s wedding, but I was so wrapped up in the anxiety of pulling off this tour guide gig I didn’t think of it until now. Maybe I’ll send a group text later, see who’s available.
We’re booked into a hotel downtown in the Society Hill area on a tree-lined street still paved with bricks—it’s part of the charm I love in an old city. The Delaware river is a block away and my old dorm room is less than five miles from here, just on the other side of the Schuylkill. Thinking of it reminds me of all the hope I felt at graduation. The way the possibilities of the world felt endless and all I had to do was jump.