Chelsea wanted to leave the room. She wanted to put her nose in the air, flip her long hair, and leave. But she didn’t. She plopped down on the sofa and picked up a magazine she’d already read and opened it. No matter how she tried to soothe herself about it, it still maddened her that her parents dismissed all she’d done in her life. Years of modeling, magazine covers, the people she’d met. What seemed to matter to them most was her childhood with Eli. “I can’t imagine why he’d ask me to visit him. If he wanted to see me, he could have shown up at my door.”
“And which door would that be?” her mother said. “You move every six months.” She took a breath. “Eli was always shy and you’re the one who stopped writing him, remember?”
“Yes, Mom, I do remember. But then, you’ve reminded me every day since I was what? Seventeen?”
“Yes. But then, you stopped writing your best friend when you discovered big, strapping boys who could barely talk.” Her mother turned around to look at her daughter. Chelsea was home because she was hiding from her latest boyfriend—and she was in a bad mood because he hadn’t found her. “Are you going to go see Eli?”
“Of course not.” Chelsea got up to go to the kitchen.
Her mother was close on her heels. “I think you should go. Eli was always the nicest, most considerate boy I ever met. And you two had so much fun together.”
“Mother, the things Eli and I did were illegal. Don’t look so shocked! It wasn’t like that. It was—” Chelsea put up her hand. “It doesn’t matter now. If Eli wanted to keep in touch, he would have.”
Her mother, usually so sweet tempered, glared at her. “Yes, Eli failed your test. You dropped him and he didn’t pursue you. You played a little-girl game and lost the best friend you ever had. And now you’re losing him again. And for what? So you can sit around here and wait for another one of your brainless
boyfriends to find you? Is this one the Brazilian polo player?” She took a breath. “You’re my daughter but I’m beginning to think you don’t deserve a young man like Eli.” With that, she turned on her heel and left the room.
Chelsea made a face at the doorway and said, “He’s Venezuelan, not Brazilian.” She picked up her phone and reread Eli’s email. It was very plain, just saying he’d purchased a house in Edilean and asking if she would please visit. That’s all. No dates, no mention of where she was to stay, nothing.
But then, Eli wouldn’t think of those things. He was the genius; she was the practical one.
The next few days were miserable! Chelsea’s mother hardly spoke to her and her dad looked at her with big, sad eyes. He too had liked Eli.
Chelsea couldn’t take it. Her parents’ disapproval combined with the fact that no boyfriend came after her broke her. She’d thought this one was different, that she was seeing a future past looking good. She’d been involved in his business. She’d set up a website for him. She was the one who’d found out his accountant was embezzling from him. Didn’t any of that count? And the truth was, as exciting as her life was, it wasn’t fulfilling her. She wanted to do something, but she didn’t know what. “Okay!” she yelled at breakfast. “I’ll go!”
Immediately, her father put down his newspaper and smiled at her, and her mother asked if she wanted blueberries in her pancakes.
Chelsea had a whole day of being the best-loved daughter in the world, then the next day she awoke to see her mother in her bedroom packing a suitcase.
“I think you should take this.” She held up a little black dress with a low neckline and spaghetti straps.
“Mother, what are you doing? It’s six a.m.”
“Your father and I thought you should get an early start. And we think you should drive so you’ll have your own car with you.” She opened the chest of drawers. “You should definitely take this.” She held up a black-and-red corset with matching panties.
“Mother!” Chelsea said in shock. “I can choose my own clothes.”
“Of course you can. Shall I make a lunch for you to take on the road? I bought Eli some of those sugared almonds he always liked so much. Remember how he used to eat them by the handful? It always puzzled me why that child was so thin. But now he’s all grown up so I’m sure he’s better.”
“Mother,” Chelsea said as she threw back the covers.
Her mother was at the door. “Don’t take too long to pack, dear. Your breakfast will get cold.”
Chelsea knew when her welcome was over. After all, it had been her parents who’d listened and sympathized after every breakup she’d been through. No matter how many times she tried to explain to them that she was searching for . . . for . . . She didn’t know what, just that she’d know when she found it. But they never seemed to understand.
She took two days to drive to Virginia, and being alone in her car gave her time to think. And what she tried to plan was how to get out of this meeting with her childhood friend but at the same time placate her parents.
Never once did she consider that it might work between her and Eli, not as a friendship and certainly not as anything else. Too much time had passed and besides, they were two different people. It had worked when they were children because they were both outcasts, different from the other kids. But now . . .
Now Eli was some kind of big-deal government genius—she’d met a general’s assistant who’d told her that—and she was . . . Well, she hadn’t yet decided what she was, but she liked adventure in her life. If they met now, they’d just sit around and stare at each other, with nothing to say. And of course Eli would look at her with those eyes that penetrated and want to know why she hadn’t continued to correspond with him. No matter what lie she made up, he would be hurt—and it would be her fault.
So now she was sitting at a little table at the back of the grocery, sliced turkey and raw carrots before her, and an open map in her hand. She had on a floppy-brim hat that nearly covered her face and a trench coat that concealed the rest of her.
She was about to take a bite when in walked a man who looked exactly like Eli had as a kid. He was the same height and his face was nearly the same.
Smiling, she looked down at her plate and again wondered what Eli looked like now.
“Eli!” she heard and looked up as the man stopped to look down an aisle. Not possible! she thought. This couldn’t actually be Eli! She put a menu in front of her face and looked around it.