“Oh no. It’s nothing like that,” Angie assured her. “That was just an expression. He gets jealous sometimes, but his bark is worse than his bite. It’s only because he’s crazy in love with me.” Angie nudged Valerie and winked, then looked around the dining room to make sure everything was in order. “It makes me a lucky woman because he’s the best-looking man in Valdez.”
“And you are the prettiest girl,” Valerie said with a smile.
Angie laughed. “Until you arrived.” She tossed a napkin at Valerie, who caught it in the air.
“That’s a matter of opinion. And it’s irrelevant anyway, because I won’t be here for long. A year from now, no one will even remember who I was. I’ll be like a little cloud of dust that just ...” She waved her hand through the air. “Disappears like magic.”
Angie chuckled. “I love how you talk. You need to play your music for me sometime. I bet your songs are amazing.”
“I’m still working on them,” Valerie replied reservedly. “I’m not ready to perform for anyone yet.”
“You could at least play me something on your guitar. Do you know ‘Up on the Roof’ by the Drifters? I love that song.”
An older couple walked into the dining room and asked if it was open for dinner yet. Valerie glanced at the clock on the wall. “We open in five minutes, but I can seat you now, if you like.”
Valerie fetched two menus from the reception desk and invited them to follow her to the table with the best view of the water.
Later that night, after the dining room closed, Valerie retreated to her room and picked up her guitar. As soon as she strummed a minor chord, a memory came to her. It was vivid and fragrant, and she was immediately transported back to one of those hot summer afternoons when she and Drew had walked with their guitars to the abandoned hunting shack in the forest. Song sparrows had chirped in the trees, and the air smelled of fresh pine. They’d sat cross-legged on the floor, facing each other, while Drew played a catchy riff he’d composed the night before. Valerie had followed with a vocal that came out of nowhere, lyrics inspired by his complex chord progressions.
Together, that afternoon, they were creatively charged and passionate about music and life. They’d made love for the first time, moved by the lyrics and melodies they’d composed. After that, and for the rest of the summer, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. The only time they hadn’t been wrapped in each other’s arms was when they were playing their guitars.
Valerie had never known such bliss. She’d thought they’d be together forever, writing music and traveling the world like a couple of hippies.
How could it have ended the way it had? She didn’t have the answer, and when she thought of those idyllic days in the forest, her heart ached with sorrow.
Valerie had a hard time falling asleep that night and woke several times. Shortly before dawn, Drew walked into her room with his guitar and sat on the foot of the bed. He began to play a few clumsy, dissonant chords and was having trouble putting the notes together. He wouldn’t ask for Valerie’s help. He ignored her completely, even when she tried to offer a helpful suggestion.
Suddenly, light flashed over his head like an exploding star. Valerie woke from the dream and sat up. She half expected Drew to be sitting there, still plucking ineffectively at the guitar strings, but she was alone in her room, incapable of alleviating her anguish.
CHAPTER 10
Valdez
1963
In the dining room the following night, after the last guest had paid the bill and walked out, Angie approached Valerie. “Is everything okay? You haven’t talked much tonight.”
Valerie felt instant remorse. “I’ve been thinking about Drew. Remembering things. I’ve been angry with him since I came here, but last night I couldn’t stop thinking about how happy we were before it ended.”
Angie gathered up the tablecloths for the laundry basket. “What happened between you two, anyway?”
Valerie looked down at the floor. “I don’t even know where to begin. We had an incredible summer, and he told me he loved me. But at the end of August, right before I was supposed to leave for school, he broke up with me.”
Angie tossed another tablecloth into the laundry basket. “Did he tell you why?”
“Yes, but it made no sense,” Valerie replied, “because everything was fine the day before. Or at least I thought it was, but maybe it was all alie. Maybe he was just using me, looking to have fun for a summer, and I got serious too fast and scared him off.”
“What could scare him if he was in love with you?”
Valerie remembered their final days together. “I started talking about taking a year off from school so that we could travel around the world and write music. My father would have lost his mind if I’d left town with a boy, unmarried, especially a boy he didn’t approve of. In the end, Drew acted just like my father. He said it wasn’t a good idea, that I was being childish and irresponsible. He basically decided what was best for me—the traditional route that a good girl should take—and I hated that. He also suggested I was just using him to rebel against my father. He said we should end things, and I stormed off after telling him I never wanted to see him again.” She spoke bitterly about what she was thinking. “Sometimes I wonder if my father knew about us and offered Drew money to leave me. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Maybe you’re better off without him,” Angie said, “if he was just like your father or if he accepted a bribe to stay away from you.”
“Maybe. But now I think I was just upset and it’s my fault we argued like we did. I couldn’t see his point of view.”
Angie swept the floor under one of the tables while Valerie lifted the chairs to rest upside down on the tabletop.
“Here’s what I don’t understand,” Angie said. “If you were supposed to go away to school, what are you doing here?”
