She started to hum in an obvious attempt to drown out my voice.
“You know I can’t walk straight in high heels, right?”
She just started humming louder.
“You really are a bitch,” I complained.
Missy’s response was to laugh out loud, and she didn’t stop laughing until a nearby table of girls shushed her.
“We’re trying to study,” one of the girls told her.
“And I’m playing fairy godmother,” Missy shot back. “I think what I’m doing is more important.”
We headed to the west wing of the library, and I noticed how smug and excited Missy looked. The expression on her face made me worry.
“That’s all you have planned, right?” I asked tentatively. “Just a two-person bar crawl?”
“I may have another surprise up my sleeve,” Missy admitted, without meeting my gaze.
“Oh God!” I groaned. “What is it?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see,” she said, with a non-committal shrug.
And just like that, my nerves turned to dread.
Chapter Six
Chance
I stared at the world map on my computer screen, wondering if I should make an educated choice or just a random pick. I had been stagnant for the past year and still had a year left on my teaching contract, but I was starting to get restless again.
I thought back to a few years ago when I called to wish my father a happy sixty-fourth birthday. I was living in Nepal at the time.
“Don’t you get tired of moving around so much?” Dad had asked me.
I had checked the time on my watch, impatient to get on with my day. “No, I enjoy it.”
“Why?”
“I like immersing myself in different cultures.”
“So, make a few trips every year. You don’t have to move. How will you ever settle down and have a family of your own?”
“Dad, we’ve been over this. I don’t want to settle down. And, I certainly don’t want to have a family.”
“That’s a ridiculous thing to say.”
“What’s ridiculous is your refusal to accept that fact that I’m nothing like you.”
I had intended to be insulting, and as silence had pooled on the other line, I had realized that I had succeeded in hurting my father.
“I just called to wish you a happy birthday, okay, Dad?” I had said. “I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay, son,” he had replied, after a moment. He had sounded weak and tired. “Thank you for calling.”
To this day, that conversation still haunted me. I turned my attention back to the world map in front of me, wondering if perhaps I should consider Australia for a year or two. I was about to start researching Western Australia when there was a knock on my door.
“Come in,” I said.