“Look at this composition, it is perfection.”
“Are you going to answer me?” Lois sounded annoyed.
“I’m sorry, Mom. What? What was the question?”
“There was no question, I said I’m concerned about your age difference. Tom is ten years older than you. He’s a grown man and you are still a teenager.”
“Mother, I’m a junior in college.” Where are those champagne waiters? I could use one going by right about now, Mia thought.
“You’re still a teen. And don’t ‘Mother’ me.”
“And your point is?” Mia grabbed a glass off a passing waiter’s tray.
“My point is, how much do you really have in common with this man? At his age, men like to do different things than young girls your age.”
“Really?” Mia squinted at her mom, “I hadn’t noticed. Seriously.” She pounded down the champagne, “Tom and I have a lot in common. We get along very well. And I know you noticed what an absolute fox he is.”
Lois sighed. She clearly wasn’t going to win this battle but the war was far from over. They stopped in front of Albert Bierstadt’s Lander’s Peak. Mia loved the jagged peaks of the mountains, they looked like the Rockies.
“I was really hoping that something would happen with you and that sweetheart.”
Mia looked at her mom, a perplexed look on her face, wondering who the hell she was talking about.
“You know who I’m talking about.” Lois continued, “That sweet, gorgeous boy in California. Schooner. Schooner Moore.”
Mia could feel the muscles in both her face and stomach contract, “Schooner Moore? Yeah, he’s a real sweetheart, Mom.” And with that, Mia turned on her heel and stalked away.
Lois didn’t follow Mia, but watched her from across the gallery. The myriad of emotions flying across her daughter’s face at lightning speed was both very telling and alarming to watch. Every muscle in Mia’s being was bristling. Lois could actually see the tense twitches coursing through her daughter’s body. She had clearly struck a chord just mentioning the young man’s name.
For the first time in a year, Lois Silver finally had an indication of what had happened to her daughter.
Back in the Silver’s apartment, Lois tore through papers she had stashed in the top drawer of the nightstand next to her side of the bed. Although nearly two years had passed, she was sure she still had Dee Moore’s phone number somewhere.
The past summer, Mia had returned home from California sullen and withdrawn. She arrived on an earlier flight than scheduled and sat in the airport for five hours without contacting them to let them know she was there. Announcing that she would not be returning to school in California, Mia immediately inquired if either her mother or father had any connections associated with an east coast college, so that they could get her admitted, even though final admission deadlines had long passed for the fall semester. Lois and Bob were thrilled that Mia was not actually planning to drop out of school and began to call in favors. With Mia’s strong academic record and high SAT scores (and the fact that the Silvers were actually paying for Mia’s education in full versus her attending on a financial aid scholarship), it turned out to be surprisingly easy for them to get Mia placed at one of the most prestigious small Liberal Arts schools in New York state.
Barely emerging from her room for most of the summer, an unkempt Mia refused to confide in her parents the reason for fleeing California or for her uncharacteristically depressed behavior.
Her reaction this evening to Schooner’s name and Lois’ suggestion that she would’ve liked to have seen them together as a couple was extreme, to say the least, Lois thought. It was also very telling. Something had happened between Mia and Schooner that had left her young daughter devastated.
Lois wondered if Dee had seen any odd changes in her son’s behavior the past summer. Did he come home from school sullen and miserable, too? Had Schooner and Mia experienced a tragic breakup? It was Lois’ experience that when one party was so utterly devastated, the other party was suffering an equally miserable reaction — especially with a young love. Her daughter’s response to whatever had happened between them had been alarming. Lois couldn’t help but think that maybe the Moores had seen an equally disturbing behavioral change in their sweet (yes, he was sweet, very sweet, no matter what her daughter said) son.
After thirty minutes of unsuccessfully trying to locate a scrap of paper with a phone number scribbled on it, Lois gave up the search and reached for the telephone. She dialed directory assistance in the 714 area code and asked for the phone number of a Gavin Moore located in Newport Beach.
The directory assistance operator checked for the number and informed Lois that the Moores, in fact, had an unpublished number. An unlisted telephone number. She had struck out. Reached a dead end.
Lois hung up the phone and sighed. As a mother, she knew in her gut that her daughter had put 3,000 miles between herself and that beautiful blonde boy because he had shattered her heart. Her gut also told her that Mia had probably done the same to him.
Lois Silver’s heart ached for the both of them.
Chapter Nineteen
“I see Rob with my parents over there.” Joni was pointing into the large crowd.
“Where? Give me a landmark.” Mia was scanning the field.
“Woman in hot pink, two rows up, a few people to the right.” Joni was waving, but in the sea of black caps and gowns, it was unlikely they’d see her.
“Oh yeah. Yeah. I see them. Do you see my parents anywhere? Or Tom?” Mia continued to unsuccessfully scan the crowd.
“Looking.” Joni joined the search.
Commencement day. A long way from walking The Quad in California during freshman orientation. That seemed like a million years ago. It was a million years ago. Mia pictured Henry and Rosie in their caps and gowns and smiled. She missed them and wished there were a way to share this day with them. But so much time had passed. She just hoped that their lives were happy and that they were moving on to exciting things in their post-collegiate worlds.
And then there was him. She’d successfully not thought about him in quite a while. But today, well today was graduation day, the last day of her college career and she had met him on the very first day of her college career. Long ago and far away. A lifetime ago. She tried to picture what he might look like, so tall and lean, in his cap and gown. So handsome. And she felt her eyes filling with tears. It had been three years. Three years this very week. She didn’t hate him anymore. And that was a good thing. “I wish you happiness,” she said silently, in her head, “I’m happy and I wish you happiness.” And she was happy. She’d had three great years being in school back east, made wonderful friends, had Tom in her life and a job waiting for her in New York City at BBDO — one of the biggest ad agencies in the world, where she’d interned the past few summers. It had all worked out. Her whole world was before her, exciting and unknown. Mia was honest enough with herself though to admit to the slightest wonder, what would it all be like if she was sharing it with him? And then she told herself to let it go, because that was a dream that was never going to come true.
“I see them!” Mia tried to follow Joni’s pointing finger.
“Landmark, please.” Mia laughed.
“Right edge of the bleachers, like five rows up. There is a woman in turquoise directly behind Tom.”
“I see him. I see him. I see him.” Mia was jumping up and down and just the sight of him flung the thought of Schooner back 3,000 miles to his own graduation.
Mia hadn’t seen Tom in two months — the longest she’d gone without him since they’d been together. Even from a distance he looked incredible. As if reading her mind, Joni pinched her arm, “He is so hot, Mia. The man is just sexy.”
Mia laughed, “Too sexy for his own good. And for mine.”
Ninety minutes later, Mia and Joni were college graduates and were milling their way through the crowd in search of finding their loved ones. Tom was walking
towards her and all she could see was his smile. Breaking into a run, she flung herself into his arms and her feet were off the ground as he spun around with her in his arms.
“I’m so proud of you, Jailbait.” Putting her down and taking her face in his hands, he kissed her deeply and she put her cap on his head, making them both laugh into each other’s mouths.
Mia had not realized just how much she missed him until that moment. Turning to her parents for kisses and a group hug, she felt surrounded by so much love. After two years, Lois had finally accepted Tom as a part of their world and they actually got along well.
Later at dinner with Tom and her parents, Joni, Rob, and Joni’s parents and younger sister, Mia felt like she had her own pack — Joni, Rob, Tom and her parents — they were the core of her world. She reveled in the moment because she was well aware that the very next moment would change everything. Rob and Joni were going to be living upstate in Ithaca where Rob would be working on his MFA (at Cornell!)and she was going to be moving down to the city. They would no longer be a part of one another’s everyday world. Mia knew she would miss having them right outside her bedroom door, sharing the kitchen and the one bathroom in their tiny student ghetto apartment.
Tom was clinking on his wine glass. “To Mia and Joni, you now have a whole new world in front of you to explore. Be bold. Be adventurous. Take risks. Fail. Get up. Do it again. I’m really proud of you two and I can’t wait to see you both conquer the world.” He was met with a round of “here-here.” He then reached inside the inner breast pocket of his blazer and pulled out an envelope. Handing the envelope to Mia, Tom smiled, “This is the first part of your graduation gift.”
“Shall I open it now?”
“Please do.” Tom was beaming and looking at Mia like there was no one else in the restaurant, let alone at their table.
Mia opened the envelope and slipped out the sheet of paper and began to read. Her eyes grew wide and her mouth was agape. She looked at Tom and he nodded, “I accepted.”
Mia screeched and threw her arms around him, planting a loud wet kiss on his lips and laughing.
“What is it?” Lois asked the question to which everyone wanted the answer.
“Can I tell them?” Mia asked Tom, clearly ecstatic.
He nodded again.
“You are all looking at the newest faculty member of NYU’s Film School.”
The news brought another round of toasts and cheers.
Mia had a million questions, “When are you moving back?”
“Baby, I am back,” leveling an incendiary look that made Mia squirm. Tom leaned forward and whispered into her ear, “We need to find a place to live.”
Mia leaned back, devil grin slowly taking up residence on her face, “Are you asking me to live with you?”
“Why do you think I wanted to come back to New York?” He was devouring her with his eyes.
“Because the pizza sucks in LA?”
Tom laughed, “That too, Jailbait.” Slinging an arm around her shoulder, he pulled her close to him.
Across the table, smiles on their faces, Lois Silver and Rob Ryan were both writing the last chapter of this romance and while their details differed ever so slightly, their ending was not surprisingly similar. In neither tale did the final page bode well for this heroine.
Chapter Twenty
Mia was sitting in the employee cafeteria at BBDO eating tomato soup and a grilled cheese, totally engrossed in Stephen King’s, The Standv , when she noticed feet standing right next to her. Looking up, she was surprised to see, peering down at her, one of the Assistant Account Executives. She’d seen him in the staff meetings and passed him in the hallways many times, but had never actually spoken to him.
Their eyes met, his brown eyes narrowing as if he were taking her all in and was slightly disgusted.
Mia glared back at him. “Can I help you?” Her tone was less than pleasant.
“I doubt that.”
Great, a dramatic queen, Mia thought, wondering what the hell he wanted.
He quickly went on, “but I can sure as hell help you. You are in need of some serious help.”
On the verge of ripping him a new asshole and telling him to take a hike, he once again shocked Mia when he sat down next to her. She knew she was giving him her, “If looks could kill, we’d be burying you tomorrow” look, but he appeared completely undaunted.
“I’ve read the copy you are writing and you are really talented,” he began, “and somewhere under that insane ‘Bridge and Tunnel’ hair, you are actually really cute, but concert tee-shirts and jeans are so 80’s, and you could clearly spend more than a little time at a make-up counter. You really are a disaster. But I think I can work with you. I truly believe you are salvageable material.”
Mia was actually shocked into silence. Who the hell …
“If you don’t already know it, I’m Seth Shapiro. I work on the Apple Computer account.”
“Mia Silver, VISA.”
“I know who you are, Little Miss Wunderkind Copywriter, you’ve created quite the buzz. Are you sleeping with one of the execs?”
“No. Do women have to be sleeping with someone to get recognition?” Mia was literally sneering at Seth, who was dressed like he was ready to walk the runway. He was groomed and coiffed impeccably. She wished her fingernails looked so good.
Picking at the crumbs on the table from Mia’s grilled cheese, Seth again narrowed his eyes at Mia, “The pussy will get you far with these horndogs.”
Mia leaned close to Seth, “I don’t shit where I eat.”
Eyes widening and handsome smile emerging for the first time, “I like you. You are a snarky little bitch.”
Mia laughed at his assessment.
“But you have to let me take you shopping. I just can’t look at you another day.”
“Talk about snarky bitches.”
He stood up, “I’ll come by your desk at 5:30. Go look in the mirror and say goodbye to your hair because that is going to be the first thing that goes.” And with that bombshell, he was off.
“Stefano, I know you love challenges.” Seth was apologizing to the tall purple-haired Italian.
“Not so bad. I can work with.” Stefano was lifting Mia’s hair in sections and studying it. “You have nice high cheekbones. No more hiding. I want to side-part your hair and cut it into a bob just below your chin. We will have more than twelve inches. Would you like to donate it to the Locks of Love Organization?”
Mia smiled at Stefano in the mirror and nodded yes. Stefano proceeded to put her hair in a loose ponytail and cut off in excess of a foot of Mia’s hair.
Mia gasped, “I love it already.” And Stefano had not even begun to style it.
“Come, I wash you.”
Mia followed Stefano through the funky East Village salon. The walls were painted black and the chandeliers looked like they’d been lifted out of a haunted house at the end of Halloween season. Mia laid her head back in the bowl and closed her eyes, enjoying Stefano’s strong fingers scrubbing her scalp. She couldn’t believe she agreed to let Seth have his way with her and thought maybe this was her karmic payback for her Rob Ryan makeover.
Forty-five minutes later, a chic Mia with a bouncy new ‘do’ was in a trendy boutique, buying a whole lot of new style. Seth had her in skirts with boots and wide belts and layers of southwestern jewelry. It was cool and it was funky and it was the new adult Mia.
“Oh my God, I want to wear this outfit home, my boyfriend is going to freak out.” Mia was spinning in front of a three-way mirror, her skirt floating like an aura around her.
“So, you live with your boyfriend?” Seth was about to pounce for details.
“I do.” Mia was handing the sales clerk a credit card as another associate was wrapping all of her new clothes in tissue paper, tying the bundles in ribbon and bagging it.
“How long have you been together?” Seth was helping Mia carry all the bags.
“Like three years, but we’ve o
nly been living together for a year.” Mia was checking out her reflection in the windows of all the buildings they passed. “I don’t even look like me. I love my hair short.”
“Well, it’s not exactly short, but it’s stylish. Back to the boyfriend. What’s his name?”
“His name is Tom.”
“You met him in college, I’m assuming, if you’ve been together three years.”
“Yes, I met him in college.” Mia knew Seth was assuming Tom had been another student. Mia stopped under an awning, “This is my building, would you like to come up?”
“This is your building? You live in a doorman building?”
Mia laughed, “I do.” She loved being able to shock Seth. Lois and Bob Silver were not happy when their daughter told them where she and Tom had begun to look for apartments. They were neighborhoods in transition, gentrification was taking place, but they were far from being considered “good neighborhoods” and in some cases were only marginally safe. And that is when Lois and Bob stepped in and gave Mia another graduation gift. They bought her an apartment.
As they rode the elevator to the sixteenth floor, Seth commented, “I never in a million years would have pictured you in a doorman building on the edge of The Village. I thought for sure you were living in Williamsburg or Boerum Hill or Astoria, but I did not expect a downtown Manhattan hi-rise.”
Mia pulled her keys out of her beat-up leather satchel (the one thing that Seth did think was cool) and muttered “Showtime” under her breath — she could not wait to see Tom’s reaction to her transformation to adult, to cool New York City Ad Agency chic.
They walked into the foyer and stepped out into the open living room/dining room. Tom was sitting at the dining room table grading papers. Contact lenses out for the night, Tom was wearing glasses and looked even more handsome with them on. Dressed in a V-neck fitted black tee-shirt and faded jeans, the man could stop traffic.
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