A Bridge of Her Own (14 page)

When her father got home, he took one look at her and told her the cut “suited her."

He then quickly collected his credit card, winking at her. Lacey headed home after promising to spend the next day at the pool with Jane. Her parents were pleasantly surprised when Jane offered to make them dinner. Jane was not as good of a cook as her mother. She prepared a simple chicken and rice dish she found on the back of a can of soup.

She ate seconds to the relief of Mr. and Mrs. Martin. That night she fell asleep without crying. Did she cry over Wyatt at any point after that day? Yes. Was she as miserable as she had been before? No. The next two weeks, she thankfully did not hear back from the temp agency and filled her time hanging out with Lacey. When Lacey moved, she would only have one more week of freedom before starting her job.

She spent much of the next two weeks with Lacey. She helped her pack and sell the furniture that she was not taking with her, with the exception of a cool dresser she got second hand that the Martins would store for her in their spare bedroom indefinitely. Otherwise, they hung out at the pool, and Lacey did her best to try and get Jane drawing again. It wasn’t as though her thoughts would drift directly to Wyatt anymore. She just didn’t feel like it.

She was finding happiness in unexpected places, though. She talked her parents into letting her get a cat. The way allergy medications were
now, her mother could tolerate the kitten since Jane found a short-haired breed. Her kitten was a rescue, and Jane named him Ronald after the red-haired kid from the Harry Potter movies because he was orange. Daily, she found herself laughing out loud at Ronald’s high jinks.

Lacey’s moving day had come. It was New York or bust. Jane gave Lacey a bear hug and said, “Thank you for everything, Lace. Go get them."

“Call me, text me, email me. If you need me, I am here for you, even from New York,” Lacey returned. “Also, send me lots of pictures of my godkitty,” Lacey added.

Jane stood and waved as she watched her drive away. She brushed a tear off of her cheek and drove home. In only one week, she would start her new job. Her first week would be spent shadowing Mr. Hamilton’s retiring assistant, learning how to do her new job. She spent her last week playing with Ronald and further organizing her room. Her mother had all of her new clothes dry-cleaned.

Jane would try on different looks in the mirror, trying to find just the perfect outfit for her first day of work. She was also still testing different styles with her new hairdo as well. Why was it that hair never looked as good as the day you got a haircut, she wondered. Plus, she was finding short hair seemed to take more effort than swooping her once long hair in a low ponytail.

When the first day came, she went with her new beige pants and a white button-up, topped with a navy blazer and paired with brown suede flats. Ruth, the assistant she was replacing, was a sweetheart and Jane a fast learner. The work was simple enough. She was in charge of answering the phone and maintaining Mr. Hamilton’s calendar. Mr. Hamilton would then request the completion of various forms for his client meetings. When possible, she would
prefill the forms with client information they already had on file.

Mr. Hamilton had a steady stream of business and was particularly busy from January through April 15
th
for tax season and then again around October, which was just around the corner due to clients who had filed for tax extensions. Jane felt very grown up setting up her direct deposit for her paychecks and selecting her withholdings. It helped that her boss was an accountant.

Jane was very nervous at first on the phone, the computer stuff was no problem but talking to strangers was something else all together. From time to time, she would stammer if she was not sure how to pronounce someone’s name. Luckily, most of the calls were inbound, and they would say their name for her. By the end of the week, Ruth was confident that she was leaving the reins in capable hands. Jane, on the other hand, was exhausted. Her stretch of unemployment before this job had not prepared her for being on for eight hours straight.

She would come home, play with Ronald, text Lacey, eat dinner, then go to bed. She slept in on Saturday and woke up to Ronald batting at her bangs. She opened one eye first, squinting at the little ball of fur on her chest. With her other eye open, she glanced at her alarm clock. Ugh. Earlier than she had hoped, but how could she be upset at such a cute kitty? Sitting up, she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Stepping into her slippers, she padded towards the kitchen with Ronald in her arms. Setting him down by his dish, she added some more kibble and watched him dive into it. Seeing coffee in the pot, she helped herself to a cup and added some French vanilla creamer. Sipping, she watched Ronald eat. Once he was done, she made herself a waffle and alternated between taking a bite and pulling a string for Ronald to chase after.

Her dad joined her, and they both laughed as Ronald followed Mrs. Martin down the hall batting at her slippers each step she took.

“I am going to miss that cat when you move out, Janey,” her dad said, cutting up a cantaloupe.

“We’re not going anywhere soon,” Jane said, reminding him of their three-month deal.

She had not even gotten paid yet. Mr. Hamilton paid every two weeks, and it turned out she started on the wrong one.

Chapter
19

Jane had originally agreed to wait three months before she started looking for a place of her own. It had been five. At dinner one evening, her father brought the subject up

“How’s the apartment search coming, Janey?”

She scrunched her nose and made a noncommittal “hmm” noise. Her father pressed further, and she finally admitted she was delaying her move until she knew for sure what Lacey was doing. Lacey had been living in New York, trying to jumpstart her acting career. They were emailing daily, and Jane was sure that Lacey was unhappy there. How do you tell your best friend to give up her dream and move back home? Satisfied Jane was not becoming too comfortable living at home, he let it go.

Until then Jane was living at home and eating food that she did not have to pay for. Her bank account was flush. Depending on where she moved, she may even be able to pay an entire year’s worth of rent up front. Her father was happy to help but wanted to do what he could to make sure they weren’t enabling her.

Two months later, as Jane had predicted, Lacey confessed that New York was not for her. She was going to move back to Richmond. Jane was thrilled. Once Lacey was back, they would find a place together. Lacey stayed with the Martins while she and Jane looked for a place. She had a heart to heart with Jane that since she didn’t have a job yet, she was scared it might be better for her to move back in with her folks in Iowa.

Jane was not having that. Lacey had basically been her sole source of comfort, with the exception of Ronald, during her rocky breakup. If there were times when Lacey was short, Jane assured her that she had her back. Lacey couldn’t argue with that. They were looking for a roomy two-bedroom that allowed cats.

They found a place pretty centrally located and jumped on it. It was a two-story, townhouse-style apartment. The doorway opened into a small space with enough room for a table to drop keys off at, and the stairs led to the main bathroom and bedrooms. It then opened to a living and dining space, with the kitchen behind a short wall just past it. The kitchen had another door that led to a back half stair going outside to where their garbage went.

Lacey was thrilled that she had left her funky dresser with the Martin’s because it fit perfectly in her new room. Both she and Lacey needed mattresses, but Lacey’s parents covered the cost of two queen-sized sets at a buy one get one free sale. The girls considered painting their space but didn’t want to have to repaint it when they moved out. They covered the bare white walls with large pieces of art. The painting Lacey’s mom had done of the two of them hung over the sofa the Martins gave them.

In the beginning, their place was pretty sparse but even the largest space can fill up over time. Lacey was working for the theater troop she had previously worked with. Their next production was a children’s show, so she would be looking for another gig shortly. Their rent was reasonable, and their main joint expenses, other than that, were cable, heat, water, and groceries. Plus, they each had a cell phone.

Ronald was the king of the castle. Over time they had acquired a type of scratching post or playhouse in every room. Not that he ever used any of them. More often than not, he would only glance at the one in the living room before curling up in his favorite spot, a perch on the back of the couch. It was close enough to the front window that he could watch the comings and goings of their neighbors.

Lacey eventually ended up working for the same temp agency Jane had worked for before their road trip. She had not found anything long term yet, but when her shifts were early and not on the weekends, she and sometimes Jane would still help out on whatever show the theater was currently running. At least twice a month, they would go have dinner at the Martins’ house. They would go more often, but they didn’t want to annoy Jane’s parents, and Jane’s mom was such a good cook so they kept it at twice a month.

Jane began sketching again with time. It began unexpectedly. She would be writing a list and think Ronald looked so cute peering out their front window. Then, with her pen, and using the same paper she had, she drew a cute doodle of him. The next time, she saw the evening light coming in from the window in her room, throwing shadows of a faux birdcage she had on her dresser onto the opposite wall. She took her sketch pad from out of a box on her closet and with a pencil caught the image. It was a wash of the vertical lines of the birdcage framed by the grid pattern of the window.

She branched back into the world of pastels and paint in baby steps. She found a cool old picture frame at a flea market and painted it hot pink to give to Lacey. She otherwise was a homebody. Lacey dated quite a bit and had been mainly unsuccessful in getting Jane to go on any double dates.

Flipping through a gossip magazine one day, Jane saw a familiar face. It was an engagement announcement of a Blythe Carlisle to an English footballer. It had been over two years since she had seen Wyatt in Chicago. Jane couldn’t help but wonder what he was up to at that moment. She wondered how long he had been split up with Blythe. She also couldn’t help but wonder how pissed he probably was that she was getting press, and it had nothing to do with him.

She showed Lacey the magazine clipping when she got home from work.

“This was the girl in Chicago?” she asked.

Jane nodded, chewing on her lip.

“You are so much prettier than her. Ha! This article said her father
friggin’ owns a broadcasting company. No wonder Wyatt was dating her." Seeing that Jane was looking contemplative, Lacey said, “Hey let’s get out of here."

“
Ahhh,” was all Jane could come up with.

“Come on. It’s wicked hot out there,” she said in her best Boston accent. “Grab your suit. Let’s go to the pool" Jane couldn’t really argue with that, so in no time, they were sunbathing. She had a new book. She started reading and zoned out while Lacey flirted with some guys sitting near them. Lacey seemed to be blessed that way, in always finding someone to flirt with. Turns out they were going to be using the pool’s barbeque to cook up some burgers and invited them to join them.

Not the type to turn down free food from cute boys, Lacey readily accepted. Jane, being polite, put her book away and went to stand with Lacey as she socialized. After standing there in the hot sun for a couple of minutes, Jane felt really uncomfortable and went to take a dip. Following her lead, the group moved to the pool, leaving one grumpy fella over a hot grill.

Burgers did not take long to cook, though, and once they were ready, Lacey helped gather all of the fixings and some sides and bring them to a picnic table. As Jane was preparing her burger, she got into a conversation on art stuff with someone named Jim. He went on and on about upcoming shows at their local Fine Art Museum, and how cool the exhibit of Picasso had been. If fact, they were the only museum on the East coast that exhibit had come to.

What a coup, Jane thought. It was very cool that her hometown was becoming so hip on the art scene. It made her also think that she had become very complacent in her current situation. After speaking a bit more and finishing her food, she did a web search on her phone for local museums and galleries.

When she had first graduated, there were two main art museums in Richmond, and that had not changed, but there were maybe double the galleries she had originally been aware of. She had no interest in quitting her current job because she had to admit it was a sweet gig. She had very flexible hours, as long as there wasn’t a client meeting scheduled, and they were only crazy busy twice a year. She did, however, have pretty open weekends.

Why hadn’t she even considered being a tour guide at one of the museums in town? Poolside, she navigated to the career page of each website. Nothing currently listed, but they each had weekend hours so tomorrow she would go and check it out. When Lacey came back to her seat, Jane filled her in on her plans for the next day. Lacey could not remember the last time she had seen Jane this excited about something.

Lacey exchanged numbers with one of the boys from the pool, and then they returned to their apartment. Jane and Lacey each took a quick shower to rinse the chlorine from their hair. All of that sun really wiped Jane out.
she tried to stay awake to watch a movie with Lacey but gave up, and scooping Ronald into her arms on the way, went to bed.