I call my parents to tell them I will be leaving San Francisco. When my Mom learns that I will be living and traveling with Austen, she is horrified.
“Why are you throwing your life away for a rock ‘n’ roll guitar player? I’ve heard dreadful stories about them. Everything seemed to be going so well for you down there, Julia. You got that promotion—“
“I love him and want to be with him, Mom. He’s the most important thing in my life.”
She sighs. “Well, it’s your life, I guess, and I hope this decision doesn’t ruin it forever. You know you can always come back home and start again back here if it doesn’t work out.”
‘Never’, I say to myself, but to her I say: “Thank you, Mom.”
I can hear my step-father in the background asking what is going on. He does not get on the phone with me, but I hear him say: “It’s her life. She can live it any way she wants. She’s an adult now.” He has always supported whatever decisions I make.
A half hour later my little sister Joanie calls back and asks if I will send her their new album with Tommy’s autograph on it.
“Of course.”
She adds as an afterthought: “And Austen’s autograph, too. All my friends are going to be so jealous of me.”
“I’ll have it autographed by all of them.”
* * *
“Hey. Julia, I have big news.” It is mid-morning on Monday and Mark leans into my office, eyes twinkling, the biggest smile ever on his face. “I just got hired for a job in New York and I’m leaving this next week. I’m going to be on the editorial staff—“
I spin around in my chair, glaring at him. “Why did you lie to me? Why did you tell me that Charlene was Austen’s wife? She’s not. And you knew it.”
Mark looks surprised. Then he smiles, sheepishly. “Hey, you can’t blame a guy for trying. You are one cute little honey—wasted on that rocker. He’ll drag you down, Julia. A year from now—“
I shake my head. “No. He. Won’t. He’s the best thing that has ever happened in my life. Ever. Goodbye, Mark.” I turn back to the stack of press releases about upcoming events, pick one up and begin to read it.
“Bye, Julia.” I hear him walking away down the hall. Then it occurs to me: what did he write about Austen for that profile? Oh god, what if it is a hatchet job? What if he took his feelings about me out on Austen? Or has he even written it yet? If he hasn’t, I may have just made things much, much worse by calling him a liar and snarling at him, although he deserved it.
30 seconds later I am in Tim’s office.
“Did Mark turn in the profile of Austen yet?”
“He just did. Did he tell you he’s going to New York?”
“Yes. May I see the profile?”
“Sure.”
Tim opens the top folder on a stack of beige folders and hands me two sheets of paper. As I read through it I breathe a huge sigh of relief. Mark’s profile is accurate, even flattering. He wrote about Austen’s mother being a teacher and his high school English teacher’s influence and his attempt to find Jean Paul Sartre in Paris. The profile reveals that the Lady in the Mist is one of his most personal songs and is about a woman Austen thought he had lost. No mention of who that lady is—thank goodness. And no mention of a wife or ex-wife.
I look up at Tim and hand the pages back to him. “It’s really good.”
“Mark has always been a real professional. He seems to be dedicated to journalism, almost to the exclusion of everything else. Maybe he’ll mellow out now that he’s going to be on staff—although everyone in New York publishing is so intense and uptight. He will probably fit right in.”
“I’m sure he’ll do great there.”
I almost dance down the hall back to my office and call Austen.
“You’re going to love the profile. I just read it and it is really good.”
“Good to hear that. Did you give your notice this morning?”
“Yes. Steve wasn’t happy about it. He asked if I knew anyone who could take over and I suggested Cathy. I explained how she got forced out of Voices and he said he might call her.”
“It’s his problem now, Julia, not yours.”
“I know.” Then I add: “I love you.”
“I love you, too, Julia.”
Ali’s Epilogue
Julia and I talked by phone when Jack Kerouac died in October. By then the band was on tour and playing in the New York area. She was there with Austen and said the tour was turning out to be crazy and fun.
Then last week I received a postcard from France with an Eiffel Tower on it. Julia and Austen were married in Paris in a civil ceremony on Valentine’s Day. I knew he would convince her to marry him sooner or later. She wrote that it is cold and wet in Paris and they are going to travel south to visit the wine regions. Then on to Italy. No mention of when they plan to be back. I miss her.
Since she left I have had two new roommates: the first one lasted for less than three months and disappeared one day while I was at work. She took most of the food in the house with her. The new one, Lauren, moved in last month. I think back to that employment agency woman we met right after we arrived here and her comments about people coming and going in San Francisco these days. She was right.
It has been a little over a year since Julia and I decided to leave Seattle for San Francisco. What a year it has been.
You can definitely make my day!
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About the author
Carol Lightwood is a Southern California writer who has lived in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle and Budapest. She sometimes writes as Annie Carroll, the name she uses on Twitter and Facebook. She is the author of these novels:
New Vampire Online – Book Two of the New Vampire series
New Vampire in Town – Book One of the New Vampire series
Playing for Julia – a sexy romance set in San Francisco in the 1960s
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Playing for Julia Page 19