CHAPTER 1
Jackie
“I have something very exciting to say to you on New Year’s Eve,” he said.
“It’s going to change our lives forever. Can you meet me at the base of the Space Needle at 8 p.m.?”
Of course I accepted. I even went out and bought a new dress, heels and expensive lipstick. It was our four year anniversary after all. I was expecting a proposal. Who wouldn’t be?
I got an Uber from Horse Heaven, Washington where I live all the way to Seattle. He could have offered to pick me up but as he’s noted before, ‘It’s kinda far from Tacoma.’ That should have been my first hint. That and that he teased me relentlessly about living in a town with a population that was less than our elevation. Nine hundred and four people versus eleven hundred eighty-eight feet to be exact. Our one claim to fame was being the community with the highest percentage of Greek born residents in the whole United States.
I waited over an hour for him in the freezing cold at the base of the Space Needle. I stood there with my wheeled luggage which I packed with everything I’d need for a spontaneous romantic weekend in the city to celebrate our proposal.
“Sorry. Traffic,” he said. Like I wasn’t coming from a considerably farther distance and had to pay an Uber for it.
And then we didn’t even go up! Nope. He took me to a Starbucks close by to say the ‘exciting’ things he had promised. And he didn’t even help me with my luggage.
A Starbucks in Seattle in the rain. Yes, it started raining. Not quite cold enough for snow, for some strange reason, although the ground was covered with about a foot of it.
‘So. We’ve been together a long time,’ he started.
I let all the problems of the day roll off my back and just prepared myself for biggest moment of my life up until this point.
‘And I’ve enjoyed every second of it.’
And you’re ready to turn these seconds into hours, years, children, and grandchildren after you get down on your knee and ask me to marry you? In a Starbucks no less? The worst part is I would have said yes.
But that wasn’t what he had to say at all. Nope! He got a job offer at some tech company in San Francisco and he realized this was his true calling in life… and that he’d been seeing someone down there for the last few years. What? And to add insult to injury he just had to tell me her name was Kyle. Wait…Kyle? That’s sounds like a guy’s name.
Because it is. He’d turned gay two years ago without telling me. Or at least he was still ‘figuring it out’ back then. Well now he’s sure and he’s free and aren’t I so excited for him?
Uhhh…no!
I mean that’s great and all that he found his soul mate or whatever, but why did he drag me along for the last two years? I turned down internships in New York and Boston, a holiday in Whistler that I would be on this very moment, and basically everything else that didn’t pertain to him and our relationship. At least I thought we had a relationship. How wrong I was.
And to add insult to injury, again, he told me I was boring. He said that I’m too conservative and never take any risks. Well getting involved with him most certainly was a risk, wasn’t it? And look where that got me.
I grab my luggage and storm out of the Starbucks never wanting to see him, or another man, as long as I live.
Jerk!
Well, my entire family is in Whistler. I’ve got two choices. I can find a way to get up there and admit that I was wrong…he didn’t propose, or two…I can go back to Horse Heaven and spend New Year’s Eve watching reruns and eating popcorn until my own stomach pops.
No and no.
I go into McDonalds and order a cherry pie. I need time to think and for ninety-nine cents and a chance to get out of the cold I’ll take what I can get.
The cherry pie is scorching hot as they always are. This thing’s going to need at least fifteen minutes to cool. I whip out my phone and look up flights to Whistler on kayak.com.
A text comes in.
Where are you?
It’s my best friend Emily.
At the McDonalds in Seattle
I hit enter.
I wait for the results for the flight to load. Wow, it’s expensive!
I scroll up to see if they’re cheaper tomorrow. Wait a second? It’s showing me flights to…Athens. In Greece. What the heck?
How did that…oh wait! I open the window for my chat to Emily. I didn’t respond there. I started typing At the McDonalds in Seattle and I was on the wrong tab. Instead the booking site took the At the and somehow autocorrected it to ATH…the code for Athens.
Wow…Greece sure would be nice right now. I’ve always wanted to go, and it sounds way better than the cold of Canada.
I scroll back down to the flight information.
Delta flight 34 to Paris followed by Delta 8683 to Athens. The second flight is operated by Air France. I look at the times. Holy Toledo! If I hurry I can be having champagne on my flight out of Paris on New Year’s Day! Okay, it’s not New Year’s Eve, but it’s darn close.
Delta. Didn’t I open a credit card with them awhile back?
I dig through my purse and find it. It’s buried in some interior side pocket all the way down at the bottom with…a traffic ticket I forgot to pay? Great, just great.
When does it expire? Next month!
I immediately call Delta and get a friendly representative. I like how this is starting. The woman informs me I did indeed sign up during a promotional period and was awarded quite a few free frequent flyer miles, but I’m literally just one mile short of what I need to get to Greece…for free!
I look down at my ninety-nine cent cherry pie. It looks lonely.
“Let me call you right back,” I say.
I order an apple pie to keep the cherry pie company while I call Delta right back. I even get the same representative. She laughs.
“Looks like you’ve got enough now. When would you like to fly?”
“How about now?” I say.
“Now that’s what I call a New Year’s resolution!” she says. “You go girl!”
Not five minutes later I’m confirmed on the next flight. I have to hurry, but I’ve got one more thing to do first.
I text Emily back.
On my way to Greece. Happy New Year’s! xoxo