The One Who Got Away: A Novel Read Online Free PDF Page A

find my purpose, too. ” She stared into her
cup for a moment and then looked up to meet her sister’s gaze. “Like you said,
I’m just emotional. Let me tell you how he proposed. It was perfect.”
    And she told Yarrow how Paul had
lifted her up and sat her on the car and how it had been raining and how he had
touched her face and her neck and how he had kissed her. Yarrow clutched at her
chest with her left palm in that way she had, like her heart might physically
stop beating from the sheer beauty of it all.
    “So. That’s my story,”
Olivine said. “Now, since my engagement came as such a surprise, what were you
going to tell me ?”
    “Oh. It’s nothing.” Yarrow held
up her arms and twirled her hands at the wrists as if dismissing her thoughts.
    “It sure was something ten
minutes ago.”  
    “You know what? I’m not sure it’s
relevant now.”
    “What could have been relevant
ten minutes ago… but not relevant now?”
    “Nothing. Really. It’s better to
not say anything at all.”
    “Tell me.”
    “Nope.”
    “Tell me.”
    “Uh-uh.”
    “Tell me or your matron of honor
dress will be electric pink and tiny. ”
    “I’m a matron now? Can we just call me a maid of honor. I’m not ready to be a matron, Olivine.”
    “No changing the subject. What
were you going to tell me?”
    “Oh. Alright then.”
    “What is it?” Olivine felt
suddenly breathless.
    “Henry Cooper is coming to town.
And he’s going to be looking for you.”
    *****
    Learning new information, Olivine
thought as she drove from Yarrow’s house, was like trying on a new pair of
running shoes. The old shoes work just fine until you slip on the new ones and
you feel the way the arches hug your feet and buoy you up in the world and your
old shoes seem suddenly shabby and worn and not at all right.
    Paul was a good man. And she knew
it wasn’t fair to see him in this new, hard light. This new light where he was
suddenly all pores and hairs and downcast eyes. This man who wanted to medicate
her into a dizzy kind of submission and tell her how to live her life and never
bothered to ask her what she wanted. No, that wasn’t at all right. And it
wasn’t fair. Paul was tall and fair and handsome. He had the financial means to
take care of her for the rest of her life. And he did care for her. He loved
her. Deeply. More than that, he needed her in a way that no man ever had
before.
    Certainly, it wasn’t fair to
compare Paul with a man she had known so long ago. With Henry Cooper. A man she
had spent five or so years grieving and the next five glorifying. In fact, why
didn’t she despise Henry Cooper, running away like he did? Why didn’t
she despise even his memory? Henry Cooper was the only man she had ever let do
this to her. The only man who had ever made her think she might need someone— want someone—and the only man to leave her. Who did Henry Cooper think he was, and
why would he think she would even want to see him after all this time?
    No. Things were figured out now. They
were already determined. The fact that Henry was returning just as she was
planning her wedding was perfect timing. Because she was committed now. She was
getting married. She had a ring in her pocket, and just as soon as she
announced her engagement to her mother and father, she would move it on a
permanent basis to her finger.  
    And she remembered how, the night
before, when Paul had returned from the gym after work, she asked him when they
should call his father, to tell him about their engagement. Paul had slurped
from a bowl of fruit and stared straight ahead, and then he asked her how she
was doing in Anatomy.
    Olivine was taking two
prerequisite classes at the local community college. Meanwhile Paul was trying
to get her enrolled in a nursing degree program in the city. And when she was
finished with her degree, she could work side by side with Paul, eventually
even in the operating room. Then she would have a career where she could