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Nina looked around the apartment,her eyes landing on the book of Rilke poems Liam had given her. She hurried across the living room and picked it up, pausing to flip it open to the page Liam had marked before giving it to her. Her eyes immediately found the passage she loved most, the one she knew Liam had meant for her toremember.
Let everything happen to you: beauty andterror…
She closed the book and walked back to her carry on, slipped the book inside, and looked around the apartment. It was strange not to see Virginia curled up on the sofa or feel her rubbing against Nina’s legs, but the cat had adjusted surprisingly quickly to Moni’s apartment, probably because Angela doted on her like a little old catlady.
Nina had spent the last two days packing and cleaning for the couple who would be subletting her apartment while she was gone. She wondered if they would see what she had seen when she first moved in, if they would appreciate the golden slant of sun through the windows in the morning and the way the string of white lights cast mysterious shadows on the wall atnight.
She hoped so. The place had been good to her. She would missit.
Her phone buzzed and she looked down to see a notification telling her the car she’d hired to take her to the airport would be there in less than fiveminutes.
Slipping her phone in her pocket, she took a last look around, picked up her bag, and wheeled her suitcase to the door. She didn’t look back as she closed it behind her. She’d said her goodbyes. Now was the time to lookforward.
She half-rolled, half-carried her suitcase down the stairs, remembering when she’d first moved in and Karen had given her grief about the fact that she’d rented a walk-up. Nina smiled at the memory, Karen griping about Brooklyn every step of the way when right now she was ensconced in a fancy brownstone with Doug Shaw in ClintonHill.
Proof that anything was indeedpossible.
Sal was waiting when she got to the lobby, his arms folded across his chest, Mister Twinkle standing at hisfeet.
“You sure about this, Fontaine? If there’s one place less suitable than this godforsaken city for a woman alone, it’s Africa,” hesaid.
“Good thing,” Nina said, “because I’m going to India,remember?”
He scowled. “Samedifference.”
Nina handed him her key. “The Sutters should be here to pick this up sometime tomorrow. Everything’s all set forthem.”
“They better not be loud. You know how I feel aboutloud.”
“I do,” she said. “Look on the bright side: you won’t have to tell me to turn the music down on Friday nights when my friends comeover.”
He snorted. “It wasn’t sobad.”
It took her a minute to realize that Mister Twinkle hadn’t barked at her yet. She bent down and slowly held out a hand. “Goodbye, Mister Twinkle. I’m sure you won’t miss me, but I’ll miss seeing youaround.”
The dog peered at her through its scraggly white fur, then approached cautiously. He sniffed her hand, then hesitantly gave it a couple quick laps with his little pink tongue before retreating behind Sal’sback.
“Did you see that?” Nina asked. “He likesme!”
Sal’s expression was smug. “I told you, Fontaine. Confidence. That’s what Mister Twinklelikes.”
Her phone beeped with the notification that her car was waiting. She hesitated, then threw her arms around Sal before he could object. “Thanks for everything, Sal. For looking out for me all this time and for… well, just for beinghere.”
His arms came around her for a split second before he stepped away, avoiding her eyes. “It’s my job!” he barked. “Jesus, Fontaine! Get ittogether.”
She nodded and turned for the door. “See you in fourmonths.”
She stepped outside and made her way down the stairs of the stoop and toward the waiting car, its trunk already popped. She threw in her suitcase and slid into thebackseat.
“Nina?” The driver asked. “JFK?”
“Yep.”
The car pulled out into traffic as her phone beeped with another notification. This time it was a text from Liam, already inJohannesburg.
Safe travels, beautiful. See you on the other side of theworld.
She smiled and sat back in the seat with a sigh. Her happy beginning was out there: beauty and terror and everythingbetween.
She would open her arms and take itall.
THEEND
