Package Deal (9 page)

Week
s
after
the
letter
in which she bade him good
-
bye and good luck
,
Dylan
arrived
on h
e
r doorst
e
p
. It was
th
e
we
ek
after Thanksgiving
and
s
h
e
had
opt
e
d
to stay on campus to
complete
h
e
r mast
e
r’s th
e
sis
. S
h
e
was surpris
e
d
and
un
sur
e
how to r
e
act
to that
familiar
grin
. H
e
dropp
e
d
h
is duff
e
l
bag n
e
ar th
e
door and
reached for
h
e
r
.

“You hav
e
no id
e
a how much I’
v
e
miss
e
d
you,” h
e
murmur
e
d
.

Wh
e
n sh
e
did not imm
e
d
iat
e
ly
kiss him back
, h
e
look
e
d
at h
e
r
, his
blue
e
y
e
s asking th
e
qu
e
stion
s
h
e
had chosen not to
answer
.

“It’s b
ee
n such a long tim
e
, Dylan. I—I wasn’t
e
xp
e
cting you,” sh
e
stamm
e
r
e
d
.

“You’r
e
s
ee
ing som
e
on
e
,” h
e
finally d
e
clar
e
d
, his
e
y
e
s dark
ening
.

Sh
e
glanced
ov
e
r h
e
r should
e
r
in the direction of her computer
. “No. Th
e
only ‘som
e
on
e
’ I’m s
ee
ing th
e
s
e
days is Rob
e
rt Frost
. M
y th
e
sis
topic
.”

“Don’t giv
e
m
e
that.
” Dylan
back
ed her
up
against the wall
and prepared to kiss her again
,
leaning into her
.

“
I’m not going
out
with anyon
e
. And, y
ou’r
e
hurting m
e
. Pl
e
as
e
l
e
t m
e
go.” Sh
e
look
e
d
into his
e
y
e
s,
which she likened to
those
of
a hungry
wolf.

But h
e
didn’t l
e
t h
e
r go.
“Did you forg
e
t
I said I was coming back
?
Or didn’t you get
my
last
email
?
” H
e
cupp
e
d
h
e
r fac
e
b
e
tw
ee
n his palms and kiss
e
d
h
e
r g
e
ntly, and th
e
n with gr
e
at
e
r insist
e
nc
e
.

Sh
e
kiss
e
d
him back,
surpris
ing herself
at how quickly
she
r
e
spond
e
d
to his car
e
ss
e
s
,
her work on her thesis
no longer a priority
. The next morning, she gathered up
th
e
ir cloth
e
s
,
scatt
e
r
e
d
throughout h
e
r tiny apartm
e
nt
.
She could not remember
much
,
after
they started making love
.
When
sh
e
pressed
him about
his plans
, h
e
said only that he was coming
back
as soon as h
e
was don
e
with his four-y
e
ar hitch
.
They w
ould g
e
t marri
e
d
th
e
n
.
They spent the next
two
day
s
together.
Then
, a
s quickly as h
e
had app
e
ar
e
d
, h
e
l
e
ft.

T
hree
w
ee
ks
past
the New Year
,
an officer asked for her at the door of the apartment house where she lived.
Dylan’s
h
e
licopt
e
r
—the one with three men from Minnesota, his buddies—
had gone
down
over
Lak
e
Constanc
e
in Germany
on man
e
uv
e
rs. All cr
e
wm
e
n
, including Dylan,
w
e
r
e
lost.
They had met, he had left, he had returned—renewing his prom
ise to her—and then he was gone
.
Forever.

Shortly after Valentine’s Day
,
there was no denying
sh
e
was pr
e
gnant
. T
he irony of the timing of her discovery
did
not escap
e
her
.
After her
m
ast
e
r
’
s
degree
was awarded
,
she
mov
e
d
into a
small
apartm
e
nt s
e
v
e
ral blocks from
hom
e
. C
e
c
e
lia was born
in
August
—with
Dylan’s
blu
e
e
y
e
s and
curly
blond
hair. H
er
moth
e
r susp
e
ct
e
d
th
e
truth, but Amanda
refused to
talk to her about Dylan. It was too painful
. Sh
e
e
arn
e
d
mon
e
y
giv
ing
privat
e
tutoring
lessons
and
doing
occasional
fr
ee
-lanc
e
e
d
iting.
She waited until Cecelia was
five
before
securing a student loan in order to
return
to
the university
, d
e
t
e
rmin
e
d
to g
e
t h
e
r
PhD
.
She dated infrequently
. Whenever someone asked about her plans
or implied that she needed to
take a break from her studies
,
she trotted out
her stock reply.
“
I’m
gett
ing
my degree
to make a life for my child.”

Two years into her doctoral studies,
h
e
r first
commercial
magazin
e
articl
e
s w
e
r
e
publish
e
d
—a
challenge
sh
e
took
on at th
e
r
e
comm
e
ndation of h
e
r faculty advisor
.
Then there was
the
day sh
e
walk
e
d
across th
e
stag
e
to b
e
hood
e
d
,
after waiting impatiently in the underground garage before parading into the
auditorium
with the rest of the doctoral candidates
. She laughed with the other
s
, especial
ly the women
who, like her
self
,
wore only shorts and t-shirts under their heavy
black
gowns in the unseasonable heat of early June.
They compared notes about who had
a job
, who w
as
still waiting for
an
accepta
nce letter
, and who had yet to
complete applications or take
a post-doc position
. She patted the letter in her pocket from Buckley College
. It had arrived that morning
:
a letter offering her the teachi
ng post she had been hoping for,
the beginning of a new chapter in her life.