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“Yeah.” Mary managed.
Deidre tipped her head, trying to catch Mary’s gaze. “You okay?”
She unwrapped her cutlery from the napkin to find a spoon for the sugar. “Turns out I know a bit of French.”
“Ooh La La.” Deidre lifted a shoulder to look coquettishly at her friend. “You found a hunk?”
“Mmmm. Crevasse.”
“Crevasse?” Deidre pulled her brow together. “Like a tour of some kind?”
“Yeah, I took that tour. I took it right off the ski path, down a slickery ice patch, and stopped myself by grabbing hold of the post. As I dangled there, panting for breath, I had time to read the signage.”
“What did it say?” Deidre asked.
“It said: This is what you get for being spontaneous and not doing due diligence.”
“An actual crevasse, then. That would be a bad way to go.”
“Yah think?” Mary leaned back so the server could put a plate laden with sausages, bread, fruit, and cheese in front of her. It smelled so good. Mary was ravenous.
“Glad you didn’t die.” Deidre picked up a wedge of cheese from Mary’s plate, took a bite, and then pushed back in her chair while the server placed a steaming bowl down for her. “Merci,” she told the server. “L’addition, s’il vous plait,” putting her credit card on the table to pay the bill before focusing back on Mary. “Listen, we need to eat and get back to the car. I put the address into the GPS, and if we eat and go, I have just enough time to get to Mrs. V’s. We can change our clothes in the bathroom and just head on.”
As Mary’s muscles stiffened from today’s survival exertion, She wasn’t so sure she’d be able to bend down enough to peel off her damp pants.
***
Wheels crunching over the gravel drive, Deidre spun the wheel around the horseshoe, then slowed to park just beyond the sidewalk leading to the front door.
She hadn’t said a word on the way. Very un-Deidre-like.
Climbing painfully out, Mary took in the typical chateau-designed home. The landscape had a stateliness that made Mary think this place was probably a hundred years old or so. It was on the large side of what Mary had seen on their drive from the ski debacle to here.
She drew a deep breath fragrant with lemon thyme, fresh and welcoming. A sweet garden, visible from where they parked, looked like a lovely place to gather with friends and enjoy laughter and ease. Yeah, Mary felt she might be able to relax in a place like this. She’d see if she couldn’t replicate this feeling the little garden of her Norfolk bungalow. Maybe Mrs. V. would allow her to take photographs later so she could figure out what plants created that herbal bouquet that made Mary want to close her eyes and dream.
As the two strolled up the sidewalk, the door opened to a woman in a long flowing top and leggings, both in the same sapphire raw silk, that managed to look both comfortable and professional. Her silver hair was scraped back into a bun at the nape of her neck. Smiling a welcome, she dipped her head and gestured toward the interior. “I will escort you back in just a moment,” she told Deidre as the group walked into a large foyer and then off to the right to a receiving room. “Mrs. V. is finishing her meditation, centering herself in preparation for your appointment.” The woman sent a glance toward Mary, held her eye for a long moment, and gave her a nod as if in recognition. That look was pregnant with … something.
Mary wasn’t sure what to make of that silent exchange.
Deidre and Mary lowered themselves side by side onto the brown leather couch. Deidre reached out ice-cold fingers to grip Mary’s hand in both of hers.
Nerves.
The room was set up, though, to assuage client anxiety. Rich in textures and subtle patterns, the colors gave the space depth and interest. It was lovely, Mary thought. She wouldn’t mind sitting on the couch waiting for Deidre, thumbing through the art books stacked on the coffee table, or fiddling with one of the wooden puzzles that filled a pottery bowl.
Deidre jackhammered her heel, making the sofa shake.
Well, nerves were to be expected. Deidre was asking for the destination that would change her life. And life changes came with cost-benefit ratios. What if she had made the effort to come here, paid this—surely outlandish amount of money—and went to the required location, but nothing changed at all?
That would be its own kind of catastrophe, having hopes and wishes dashed.
It was one thing to wish for a unicorn and blow out the candles in one puff on an eight-year-old’s birthday cake. Everyone knew that was for funzies.
In Mary’s mind, this was the adult form of that very act. And this, whatever this was to Deidre, seemed like her friend had sucked in a lung full of air and was just looking for a direction to blow her wish.
Knowing that talking helped to allay her friend’s anxieties, Mary asked, “You were telling me that at forty—my birthday tomorrow—I’d wake up with a new perspective on life. Now that you’re newly fifty-three. Looking back, is there a big leap at that decade, too?”
Deidre turned unblinking eyes toward Mary. “Yeah, it’s called menopause.”
