Joie de Vivre

by Micheala Lynn

  Riley was now getting nervous. What part of her advice had Grace followed anyway? The part about getting laid or the part about smoking a big bag of dope? “You know, Grace, I didn’t mean you had to do exactly what I said. I was just—”

  “Oh, please, doc.” Grace quickly cut her off. “You had a great idea. See?” At that, Grace popped a tiny orange fuzz ball out of her jacket.

  “You got a new kitten?”

  “Yep.” Grace literally bounced on her toes. The tiny kitten in her hands blinked and let out a tiny squeak of a meow. “Doc, I’d like you to meet Artemis Orangeade. Artemis Orangeade, meet doc.”

  “I’m almost afraid to ask—how did you come up with that name?”

  Grace smiled, looking like the proudest parent on earth. “Well, Artemis after the Greek Goddess of light and protection of the vulnerable…”

  Okay, she could see that.

  “…and Orangeade after well, being orange and the fact that this little cutie tipped over my glass of orangeade and fried my iPhone.” She lifted the kitten to her face and rubbed her nose against its nose. “Yeah, you didn’t mean that at all, did you?”

  Riley merely shook her head. “Grace, sometimes I worry about you.”

  Grace went on as if she hadn’t even heard her. “I’ve got to run over to my office and get a few things—mostly my contact list to put in my new iPhone. Probably should have turned on the backup to iCloud, huh? Live and learn on that one. In the meantime, why don’t you watch Artemis Orangeade while I’m gone?” She held out the little ball of fluff as if handing over the world’s most precious artifact.

  Riley backed away, waving her arms. “Oh geez, Grace, I don’t know—”

  “Sure you can.” She plopped the kitten into Riley’s hands. “You two can bond while I’m gone.”

  Riley stared down at the kitten. She stared right back at her, blinked and then let out another tiny squeak of a meow. “Well, Artemis Orangeade, looks like it’s just you and me.” The kitten started purring and nuzzled into her hands. Maybe Grace was on to something here. Maybe she should get a kitten to take her mind off things. It was certainly hard to feel down with a purring kitten curled up in her arms. She scratched it behind its ears, sending its purring into overdrive. Then as fast as it had come, her smile faded. Somehow she doubted a kitten could heal the empty spot in her heart where Lisa had been, no matter how cute it was.

  * * *

  Lisa knocked on Riley’s office door again for the third time, holding her breath. Still, no answer. She had no choice but to concede that Riley simply wasn’t there. Susan had said that if Riley weren’t home, she would either be in her office or in her lab. She had driven past Riley’s house first thing that morning and sure enough, her big truck was gone. Okay, no problem, she would just drive down to State.

  She barreled down I-96 at a generous eighty-five miles an hour. Now she was standing in the hallway in the middle of the Anthropology Department, looking lost. Riley wasn’t there and she had no idea where her lab was.

  Her shoulders slumped, she slouched off back down the hallway. She had been so sure that she’d find Riley today and they could patch everything up. Again, Riley’s cell went straight to voicemail. But just as she was about to turn the corner, a loud, familiar voice called out behind her.

  “Hey, Amazon warrior, looking for doc?”

  Lisa whipped around, her heart leaping. “Oh my God, Grace. I am so glad to see you. Would you by any chance know where Riley is?” She bit her lip as she stood there, shuffling from foot to foot. She couldn’t imagine what Grace must think of her.

  Grace either hadn’t noticed or didn’t care. “I surely girly do.”

  She wasn’t exactly sure what that meant, but it sounded as if Grace knew what she wanted and if she did, she would never say another thing about Grace’s unique vocabulary. “Thank God. You don’t know what a lifesaver you are, Grace. I’ve been looking all over for Riley.”

  “Doc’s just over in the lab. I’m heading back there right now, so I can show you the way.”

  “Oh, wonderful.” Lisa could feel her hands shaking as she walked beside Grace. As long as her feet didn’t give out, she didn’t care.

  As they stepped outside into the blustery air, dark gray clouds undulating across the sky, Grace pulled her jacket up to her eyes. “Actually, I’m kind of surprised to see doc down here. After the crazy week we had, first with that hard case and then with her deposition, I thought she’d be home with you relaxing, especially after finding out the lawsuit got thrown out.”

  The deposition—she had totally forgot about the deposition. No wonder Riley looked so worn down. If she had only known. If she had only known about all of it—the deposition, the terrible heart-wrenching case. Everything. Maybe she could have been there for Riley in much the same way that Riley had always been there for her. And she was just coming to realize more and more how very much Riley had always been there for her. Without even realizing it, she let out a long, deep sigh.

  Grace turned to her. “Hey, are you all right?”

  That was the question right there. Was she all right? Until she could fix things with Riley she didn’t feel she could ever be right. She opened her mouth to reply, but her throat seized up, a hard lump blocking any words. Her footsteps faltered and she stumbled to an abrupt halt.

  Grace made it a good three steps before she skidded to a stop and wheeled around. She then hustled back and laid her hand on Lisa’s shoulder. “Holy shazam, Batman, what’s wrong? You and doc didn’t do a Humpty Dumpty, did you?”

  Lisa found herself smiling. She’d never heard it put quite like that before, but what an apt metaphor. She felt exactly like they had taken a great fall and now she was hoping upon hope to put things back together again. God bless Grace. “Um…yeah, something like that. I’m down here hoping to convince Riley that what we have is bigger than whatever else might happen.”

  Grace’s eyes grew big and she sucked in a quick breath, giving Lisa’s shoulder a firm pat. “Well let’s zing-zang over there and show doc the light.” She then whirled around and began hoofing it up the sidewalk at double speed.

  Lisa had to jog to keep up—Grace was on a mission. By the time she stood outside the door to the lab she was completely out of breath and nursing a wicked stitch in her side. She had barely been able to keep pace with Grace, which said a lot since she usually considered herself to be in excellent shape.

  “Hey, doc, I brought you a surprise.” Grace was smiling from ear to ear.

  Riley lifted her head from the examination table and froze, a look of abject terror on her face. She quickly glanced side to side as if looking for a getaway. Perhaps the strangest sight was the fuzzy orange kitten curled upside down in her arms with its eyes closed, its loud purrs echoing off the walls of the cold, sterile lab. Riley finally found her voice. “Wha…what are you doing here?”

  Lisa took a deep breath and stepped forward until only the table in the center of the room separated them. It was now or never. If she were going to win Riley’s heart, this was the moment. “Maybe the better question should be what are you doing here, Riley?”

  Riley blinked, still holding the kitten to her chest. “Um, this is my job, Lisa. This is what I do.” She then dropped her eyes to the floor.

  “Riley…” Lisa softened her voice as much as possible. “Riley, look at me.”

  Riley slowly raised her eyes, glistening with the threat of tears, until they met Lisa’s. She swallowed hard, not saying a word.

  “Riley, I know.” Lisa leaned forward, staring directly into Riley’s eyes. “Listen to me, I know. I know this is your job. I know this is what you do. I know sometimes it’s not pretty, sometimes it actually sucks. But believe me, I don’t care.”

  Riley shook her head, waving her arm over the bones on the table, the kitten still purring in her hand. “But just look at this, just look what I do. You’re better off without this in your life.”

  “Riley, all I see is you. This is w
hat you do, not who you are. Maybe you’re right, maybe I’d be better off without this in my life—but I’m not better off without you in my life.”

  “But…but…but…”

  Lisa stepped around the table and threw her arms around Riley, pulling her in tight, the kitten squished between them. She pressed her lips to Riley’s ear. “Riley, listen, no matter what, I’m not better off if you’re not in my life. I love you.”

  Riley’s shoulders hitched as she let out a soft sob. “But Lisa—”

  “Riley, you’re not hearing me. I love you and I’m here for you no matter what.”

  Riley fell into her arms, tears streaming down her cheeks. “No matter what?”

  “No. Matter. What.” Lisa could feel her own tears as she leaned in and pressed her lips firmly to Riley’s.

  They had finally put all the pieces back together again.

  Before they could pull away, another set of arms wrapped around both of them. Grace was sobbing as much as they were, her dreads flying in every direction. “Aw, that is so sweet.”

  And from deep within the circle of hugs, Artemis Orangeade purred very, very loudly.

  Epilogue

  “So, are you ready for this?” Lisa cupped her hand to her mouth and yelled over the loud engine and rushing wind.

  “I don’t know, Lisa.” Riley grimaced as she peeked out the window, holding onto the seat with a death grip. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

  “Yeah, it will be fun. Don’t be a worrywart.” She rolled her head back and laughed. Riley was always the same—always over-thinking things, but that was one of the reasons she loved her. That and many, many more. Still, it was hard to believe that six months had passed since she had almost lost Riley in her life. And in that time she had made sure that she took nothing for granted. Life was too short.

  “And how again did your Anti-Bucket list put this?”

  “It said sometimes you need to be like Jimi Hendrix and not be afraid to say, ‘Excuse me while I kiss the sky.’”

  “Yeah, yeah, I get it, but is this really the best way to do that? Maybe something a bit smaller, like a roller coaster or a Ferris wheel.”

  “Dr. Kate Riley, when have you ever done anything a bit smaller in your life?”

  Riley scowled before breaking into a wide smile. “Okay, you’ve got me there. But I still don’t see why we couldn’t do a tandem jump with an instructor.”

  “What would be the fun in that? A static line jump is much better. That way we can kiss the sky by ourselves.”

  “Fine.” It wasn’t the sky Riley was worried about kissing, it was the hard earth below. But if it was what Lisa wanted, then that was what it would be. “What number was this one again?”

  “Ninety-three, why?”

  “If this one’s ninety-three, I’m almost afraid to ask what one hundred will be.” She reached out and poked Lisa in the shoulder.

  Lisa leaned in close, her lips brushing Riley’s ear. “Don’t worry, Riley. You already helped make that one come true.”

  Riley leaned back, her eyebrows raised. “Really, how so?”

  Lisa cupped Riley’s face in her hands and stared deep into her steely gunmetal gray eyes. “Number one hundred said simply, ‘Fall in love again.’ And thanks to you, Riley, I have. Never forget that.” She then closed the distance between them, her lips finding Riley’s, and over the drone of the engine and the rushing wind, a long, low moan escaped her mouth.

  When they finally parted, Riley wobbled on her feet. “I’ll always love you too.”

  “All righty, let’s do this.” Together, hand in hand, they stepped to the open door on the side of the small plane. The instructor clipped their static lines to the roof and gave them a thumbs up. When Lisa looked out, her knees grew weak. Down below, houses and cars, fields and lakes all looked so far away. But that didn’t matter, she had all she would ever need standing right beside her. She squeezed Riley’s hand and flashed her a wide smile. “Remember, you jump, I jump.” And that went for more than jumping out of an airplane.

  Riley returned her smile. “Always.”

  And of that, she had no doubt. “Okay, one, two, three…JUMP!”

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