Pennhurst, at last! It’d been almost two months to the date since I’d last been there, and I had to stop myself from flooring my car in my impatience to get there. And now I had it in sight up ahead!
“Easy, girl,” said Amy. “It’s still early to go see Kujo anyway.”
I didn’t bother to reply. Of course Brett had requested Amy’s presence, and of course Amy had absolutely nothing better to do than come with me. But this time, we went in my car, so I wouldn’t need to hold my breath, grab the handle above my door and press my feet to the carpet, praying to survive this curve or that stretch, because Amy didn’t have a sports car just for the looks.
Brett waited for us outside the main building, and took us to his small office, set in what had been a patient’s room. And they thought I was weird because I lived with six ghosts!
“I’m so happy you guys are here,” he said, bring
“I don’t like what you said about souls.”Amy showed out of the bathroom in our hotel room, toothbrush in her mouth and a questioning frown shadowing her eyes. I got in bed before facing her.“All that about reincarnation, souls traveling in packs, and your son in one life being your father in the next one.” I shrugged. “It’s like, in the end, you have no saying in anything. You get drawn to this or that person because your soul knows them, even if you don’t remember.”Amy hurried back into the bathroom to wash her mouth and came back out, now pouring facial cream on her fingers.“Like, that’s why you and I get along so well, despite the age gap? I mean, you’re my mom’s age. Was I your daughter in some other life? Or were we sisters? That’s why you’re able to put up with my temper?”“You’re not talking about you and me,” she replied, co
It was a harsh winter, but a short one. It stopped snowing by the end of February, and long-term forecasts predicted no more blizzards or winter storms for New England. I went to Boston on the first week of March, to have some fun with my best friends Jenkins and Lady Audrey at the lawyer’s office, in order to get the guesthouse repairs started. When the time came to talk about money, they seemed surprised I hadn’t spoken with Brandon about anything.“He said we should do as you say and send him the bill,” Jenkins said.“Oh, okay. Well, then, when do we start?” I asked.“The contractors can be there next week,” said the lady.“Make it two weeks, please.” I almost laugh in their surprised faces when I dared to change their plans. “I’m taking a few days away from the Manor next week.” Any problem with me having a life?“Oh, sure.” Lady Audrey checked her calenda
New York was… Wow! It was New York. Enough said. To my utter surprise, we would be staying in Manhattan, just one street away from Central Park. It was a cheap hotel, and I would be sharing a bed with Trisha, while Amy took up the other one all for herself. The décor was standard cheap, the bathroom almost didn’t make it past the restroom category and our window opened pretty much to the kitchen of an apartment across the street. But who the hell cared —it was fucking Manhattan!We went out for a stroll around, had dinner and came back to have our first out of five nights in the Big Apple.The next morning, Amy and I left Trisha sleeping and grabbed a taxi to go meet with her famous mentor. Hugo Walker was one of those babyboomers that had gotten way before the rest of his generation that they didn’t need to be a ruin when they turned seventy. He was seventy-five, and I could bet my right hand he would beat me on a sprint from the Manor to the Quabbin any given day. Not at all what I
The only one who didn’t freeze was the Barbie. She looked at us from over her sunglasses, raising her eyebrows like asking what was wrong with us that we didn’t jump out of the elevator to let her in. I couldn’t help X-raying her. Fake blonde, surgery boobs sort of contained in a top so low cut, it went down almost to her navel, elastic jeans so tight they looked like body-painting and ten-foot high heels.Don’t ask me how my brain works. Already told you it’s a little weird.It may have lasted two heartbeats, maybe three. Looking her up and down was like a splash of cold water on my face. My heart stopped racing and my cheeks didn’t burn anymore. That was no rival. That was his usual fit. I’d been a one-off, and proudly so.I faced him with a quick smile, praying it wouldn’t ooze all the sarcasm I was dying to show. He was still frozen with a mild frown on me, shadowing those beautiful blue eyes. I could see his p
I decided I didn’t want a chaperone to come with me to see Hugo the next morning. It took me a deep breath to enter the lobby, and my own disappointment when I didn’t find Brandon made me feel utterly stupid. Whatever. Hugo had left my full name at the front desk, so the receptionists let me in right away, no questions asked. Waiting for the elevator was another tough test on my nerves. No Brandon there, either. Well, not like lightning strikes twice, right?Hugo welcomed me with a quick hug and kisses on both cheeks, inviting me into his suite with his placid smile. Like the day before, he had tea ready for us, so we sat on the rug at the table to have it.Don’t ask me how he did it, but not five minutes later we were talking about Brandon, and within ten minutes, I was crying and voicing all my doubts and regrets. He brought a box of Kleenex and kept refilling my tea bowl, helping me bring all that messy knot of mixed emotions out with brief questio
Prince Harry took me to my cheap hotel in his lavish steed, opened the car door for me and gave me a quick hug.“I’m so glad we’ve met, Fran,” he said in my ear. “See you tomorrow.”“Thank you for such an amazing day.”“And we’re just getting started, baby. Take care.” He stepped back with a wink and a smile, got in his car and drove away.I turned to walk into the hotel and found Amy and Trisha coming. They spun around to look at Harry’s car and then back at me, baffled.“Wasn’t that Hugo’s grandchild?” asked Amy when they caught up with me.“Yeah, Harry,” I said, walking into the hotel with them. “A total sweet. I spent the whole day with him.”“He single?” asked Trisha shamelessly.“He gay,” Amy replied, chuckling. She turned to me and rubbed my arm. “How are you?”
Needless to say poor Hugo had to put up with another round of my tears and hiccups and half-words, and waste another full box of Kleenex on me. When I was in shape to shut up, he patted my hand, his smile nailed to his face.“Do you love him, dear?”I nodded with a serious frown, blowing my nose.“That in the hallway was him too. You love that part of him as well?”“Yeah. We’re all rough around the edges. But he cannot come telling me he loves me with another woman in his bed!”“Why not? Sex has nothing to do with love.”“Oh, c’mon!” I tried to breathe deep. “I don’t feel he’s cheating on me, okay? I just think he needs to be a little humble once in his life, and don’t lose it if things don’t go exactly the way he wants them to.”“Why not? Look around you. It’s people like him who always get what they want, because t
Friday morning was cold and windy, with a promise of sudden showers until sunset. Well, at least it wouldn’t rain for the launch party. I bundled up and took on my three-mile walk along Central Park down to Columbus Circle, listening to my happy playlist and singing along to my favorite No Return songs all the way.No traces of Brandon in the lobby. The receptionists didn’t need to check my name on the visitors list anymore, and just nodded hi at me with quick smiles, motioning for me to go on to the elevators. Brandon didn’t show up then, either. Well, finding him so early the day before had surely been a coincidence, because he was more respectful than Trisha to the purebred night owl’s number-one commandment: never get up before ten.It was nice, having tea with Hugo, talking about anything but him. I tried to ask him about his beliefs, but he resorted to the dirty trick of replying with a question and asked me about Kujo. When we finished ou