Page 43 of The Spirit of Love
“But I knew. The chemistry was undeniable. Like, on a carbon level. And then, he just kept surprising me.”
“Keep talking,” Olivia says, crossing her legs. “This is gold.”
“You know the game Scattergories?” I ask.
Masha nods. “Eli and I play it on Tuesday nights.”
“Of course you do,” Olivia says and turns to me. “Do not tell me you bonded over board games. This triangle already has a Masha.”
“No. You know the die that comes with the game?” I ask.
“With all the letters?” Masha says.
“Your man,” Yas explains, like everyone but her is an idiot, “has many different sides.”
“Yes,” I say. “He was this bossy rescue hero man who turned into a gracious bed-and-breakfast host, then a ferocious bodybuilder, then a gifted artist whose medium is wood—”
“But whose wood, I gather, isn’t medium,” Olivia says.
“He was such aboy,” I say, delaying the inevitable sex discussion. “Not just because he’s younger. I mean, like, the kind you fall for at first, when you’re finding out how it feels to have a crush.” I sigh. “He built a zip line.”
“For you?” Masha asks.
“We went jet-skiing and spearfishing. We traded viewfinders. His was a stone he found on the beach—” I touch my handto my chest where I’m still wearing the adder stone, tucked under my shirt.
“Terrific foreplay,” Olivia says.
I close my eyes and let myself remember Sam kissing my naked body on the beach. How it hadn’t felt ridiculous when he proposed moving mountains. For me.
“When are you seeing him again?” Masha asks.
“I don’t know.” I don’t want to tell them about my final moments yesterday with Sam, the strained and noncommittal way we said goodbye. “Maybe it was just a fling.”
Olivia shakes her head. “Fenny don’t fling.”
“It’s true. I don’t. Unless, maybe…I did? I don’t even know his last name.”
“Fenny,” Masha says, “you know where Sam lives. If you want to see him again, you simply go back to Catalina, knock on his door. He’ll be thrilled to see you.”
“Olivia,” I implore. “Please reason with this raging romantic. She and Eli agreed on the name of their firstborn child before they finished their first kiss.”
“Masha believes in love,” Olivia concedes, shoulder bumping her oldest friend. “Maybe it’s time you did, too.”
I put my face in my hands again. “Not cool.”
“Look,” Olivia tells me, “I know what it’s like to feel you’ve missed your only sail on destiny’s dreamboat. I know what it’s like to wasteyearsblaming that missed chance onhim. I’m also living proof that second chances are real. And they don’t seize themselves. Maybe right now it feels like you’ll never see Sam again. Like it was a fling and it’s over. But someday, Fen? You,too, could be one boob in and one boob out of a dress you might be allergic to.” She sneezes, and Masha fishes out a Zyrtec from her purse.
“I don’t know,” I say sadly. “I think it’s over. Just like my career. Maybe I should quit the show,” I say.
“No!” Olivia says.
“You’renotquitting,” Masha says.
“Maybe you take a few personal days,” Olivia says, getting an idea. “Just while you sort out your emotions around these very real, complex life challenges. I like this plan because it would also allow you to skip thatZombie Hospitaltravel shoot Sunday and join us for my skydiving bachelorette!”
Masha winces. “That’s still the plan for your bachelorette?”
Olivia crosses her arms. “It will never not be the plan. ‘Our valor is to chase what flies’!”
