“So where is this on-the-job training?” I asked, trying to find some positive in the situation.
“They’re sending me to Hong Kong next week.”
“What!? Hong Kong? With no training?” I asked, staring at him in disbelief and trying to make sense of it all.
“Uncle John says it’s like a trial run, to see if I’m worth investing in. If I do well, they’ll send me to college for free. They want to make sure I have drive and passion, that I’ll be a worthwhile candidate, a good fit for a future position. I really want this, for both of us, and I’m gonna work hard and prove I’m the man for the job. I’ll be in Hong
Kong for about three months, helping them with a major merger.”
“What school are they going to send you to?” I asked.
“Yale.”
“Yale!? My gosh! That’s amazing, Luke, but… Yale is in Connecticut.”
Ignoring my disappointment, his gorgeous eyes lit up as he dreamt of the wonderful prospect. “Uncle John says it’s the chance of a lifetime. I can’t turn this opportunity down.”
“But how will we ever see each other? We’ll be in separate states.”
He gripped my hands. “We’ll make it work. There’re Facetime, Skype, Facebook, emails, our cells. With all this technology, we can keep in touch every single day. Long-distance relationships are all the rage these days, with all the tech we have.”
“But we were supposed to get married this summer,” I said. “We were gonna buy a small house right outside New York City.”
“We will, as soon as we get our careers on track. It’s the same plan, just pushed back a few years. I love you, and I’m never going to let you go.”
“I love you too,” I said, frustrated. “but this changes everything. We’ve been planning it all out for such a long time. Your career might be fast-tracking, but it feels like you’re putting us on the back burner.”
He wiped away the tear running down my face. “It kills me to see you so sad, but we’re going to make this work. We’ll both land our dream jobs. You know as well as I do that I could never afford Yale on my own, no matter how many loans my parents could take out. Heck, I couldn’t have even swung the tuition at Brooklyn Law School if I was accepted. Mom and Dad don’t have two pennies to rub together. My father never even bought my mother a wedding ring, and I guess history is trying to repeat itself, because I can’t afford one either. I refuse to marry you without having a real ring to put on your finger. I’m going to be the one to break the cycle of poverty.”
“I don’t need a fancy ring to tell me that you love me. You know I don’t care about that. I’d be fine with a couple gold bands from a pawn shop. They’ve got more character anyway.”
He shook his head. “No. I won’t spend my life struggling the way my parents did. They’re still renting, but one of these days, I’m going to buy them their dream home.”
I smiled sweetly at him. “You are the sweetest guy I know.”
“I’m also gonna buy you the biggest diamond known to man, even bigger than that one the old chick threw in the ocean on Titanic. That’s a promise.”
I softly chuckled. “You know I don’t care about that.”
“Yes, I know, and that’s part of why I love you so much. You love me just for me.”
“As long as you’re by my side, I know we can accomplish anything,” assuring myself as much as I was trying to assure him.
He softly kissed my lips. “And I’ll never be anywhere else,” he said, “even if we’re miles apart.”
Chapter 2
I had to come to the sad realization that our time together had an expiration date, and the clock was ticking.
Two days before Luke was supposed to leave, he asked me to meet him at the end of my street. He said he’d be there in his car to pick me up and take me somewhere, but he didn’t tell me where. “There’s something I want us to do,” he said, sounding mysterious.
“Of course,” I said. “Anything.”
“Okay. I’ll see you there tonight, at ten thirty.”
I knew my parents wouldn’t approve of me sneaking out of the house at such a late hour, but I didn’t care. There was nothing they or anyone could’ve said, nothing they could’ve done that would’ve kept me home that night. Even still, I went all out for the ruse: I pretended to change into my pajamas and go to bed, then lay there till the time was right. I silently slipped out the first-story window and ran across the front lawn to the road.
As promised, I found Luke sitting there in his parked car, with the lights off. He grinned as I got in, and then he held my hand the entire way to the parking lot at Eagle Pond.