Love from London (34 page)

I haven’t spoken to Cordelia yet, though I spotted her staring out the front window at her parent’s on campus house (it happens to be attached to my on-campus housing, so it’s tough not to be privy to the insider track). Cordelia either didn’t notice me or didn’t want to, so I took the cue and didn’t do the
hey how’s it going
hug, especially since the last time I heard from her was when she helped plot the Lindsay-Jacob connection while I boarded my plane to London.

“Harriet Walters said something about Cordelia going on a vacation to California, to some spa? How’d she swing that?” I jog, pant, and keep up guiding us towards my house. Dad was going to see Mable — alone — today and is supposed to return with a full report.

Chris chuckles and wipes the sweat from his forehead on his blue wristband. “Not so much a spa as a…um, how would one say in polite company? A place for healing?”

“Are you saying spa is a euphemism for rehab?” I ask, slightly shocked. I stop running in front of my porch and start to stretch.

Chris puts his finger to his nose, a very English gesture. “Spot on,” he says. “Pleasant Awakenings, I believe it was called. It’s supposed to be this alterna-rehab-slash-meditative Zen garden whatnot.”

“You know I hate the word whatnot,” I say automatically.

“I know you do, Love, but I feel it’s my duty to challenge your somewhat limited perspectives.” Chris gives me a damp kiss on the cheek as a goodbye and I head inside.

As I read through my video manuals and make some notes for my ISPP, I consider the odd feelings I have swirling inside me. So Lindsay has the esteemed position of Head Monitor (um, what position hasn’t she had?) — I am so sophomoric, even as a Junior. Then again, Henry Randall and his Vineyard buddies all think I’m finishing Freshman year at Brown.

As if surfing a massive brain wave, I get an IM from LilaL2, AKA Lila Lawrence, who seriously did just finish her first year at Brown. With a sinking feeling as I type, I also remember that she had a hot weather hook-up during spring break with my best friend’s boyfriend.

Luckily, Lila deals with the potential conflict head-on.

LILAL2

Sorry.

LOVEBOO4

About what? Long time no talk, BTW.

LILAL2

My mistake in Nevis.

LOVEBOO4

Oh. Def. unfortunate. But — Toby isn’t without blame.

LILAL2

Yeah. He’s the one who started it — not that I’m excusing myself.

LOVEBOO4

I think Arabella’s okay about it — maybe she was ready to move on.

LILAL2

I’m done w/classes and heading to Newport after exams.

LOVEBOO4

Come to MV this summer? Mable’s getting better & plans for café are in full swing. Note: Arabella will be there, too…maybe you can say sorry in person?

LILAL2

I’m woman enough for that. Gotta run — lots of Eurotrash to conquer. Just kidding! Oh — almost forgot to get the scoop on your love life!

LOVEBOO4

Can I take a rain check? I’m all out of love at the moment.

LILAL2

Sure. But keep me posted re: Hot Henry — he showed up at a party a while ago and asked about you! More soon. Xxxxx

I head immediately to my cd stack to find Mable’s mix, 100% Calcium AKA The Totally Cheesy Mix. The second song is All Out of Love by Air Supply and I relish the dramarama melody and OTT lyrics. In the shower, I lather, rinse, and repeat “I’m all out of love, I’m so lost without you” and then get the last of my Daniel Galvin shampoo (Arabella is addicted to her hairdresser and his products and I see why) in my eyes. My left eye stings. After squeezing out some hair refiner, I condition and for a second and wish Arabella were here to talk to (rather than her present locale which is at Bracker’s Common at one of her parent’s famous and fabulous parties). With wet hair and a green towel that has fraying edges, I decide being at Hadley in this context (i.e. no classes, semi-freedom, only the internal pressure from my film project and college essays) isn’t so bad. It’s kind of like going to summer camp.

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All You Need Is Love
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Emily Franklin is the author of
Liner Notes
and a story collection,
The Girls’ Almanac
. She is also the author or coauthor of over a dozen young adult books including
The Half-Life of Planets
(nominated for YALSA’s Best Book of the Year) and
Tessa Masterson Will Go to Prom
(named to the 2013 Rainbow List). A former chef, she wrote the cookbook-memoir
Too Many Cooks: Kitchen Adventures with 1 Mom, 4 Kids, and 102 Recipes
to chronicle a year in the life of new foods, family meals, and heartache around the table. Her fiction and essays have appeared in the
Boston Globe
, Monkeybicycle, the
Mississippi Review
,
Post Road Magazine
, Carve Magazine, and Word Riot, as well as on National Public Radio, among others. Her recipes have been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers, and on many food websites. She lives with her husband, four kids, and one-hundred-sixty-pound dog outside of Boston.

All rights reserved, including without limitation the right to reproduce this ebook or any portion thereof in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of the publisher.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, events, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2006 by Emily Franklin

Cover design by Mimi Bark

978-1-4804-5222-0

This edition published in 2013 by Open Road Integrated Media, Inc.

345 Hudson Street

New York, NY 10014

www.openroadmedia.com