Coincidence - Alan May [6]
A negative answer was not received with pessimism. Quite the opposite. She hadn’t been turned down, so therefore she must still be under serious consideration, right? Right! She got her optimistic nature from her father’s side of the family. There is really no point worrying about something you can’t control, he always said. Even so, as each day passed, it was tougher for her to keep doubt from creeping in.
Ten long days later, Melissa received a call from Kathleen letting her know she had been accepted into the program; the official papers would be in the mail the next day.
Melissa hung up the phone in a daze. Every emotion possible was flowing through her body, and all at the same time. Relief came in great waves, making her legs feel wobbly. Exhilaration made her fingertips tingle. Triumph made her want to stand up on the old plaid couch and shout at the top of her lungs. Excitement made her want to jump up and down on it. And sheer nervousness, coupled with an unexpected surge of sadness at the thought of being away from home for such a long time, made the tears roll down her cheeks.
This must be what it’s like to fall head-over-heels in love, she thought.
Meanwhile, Carol, Craig, and Eric were all experiencing similar waves of emotion.
Craig knew it all along, he said; there was no way they’d have passed up an old salt like his girl for the program. How he was going to manage without his girl for the coming year was another question, one he was at a complete loss to answer. Who would keep him company on his drive to work every morning if he didn’t have Melissa to drop off at school on the way, getting his morning off to a rousing start courtesy of her infectious zest for whatever the day might bring? Who would look to him for help for everything from quadratic equations to the psychology of the male? Who would humor him with the silly, repetitious night-night ritual begun when she was a toddler?
He couldn’t blame her for wanting to go. If he had been given a chance like this when he was her age, he’d have been off like a shot, probably with scarcely a thought about the parents he was leaving behind. He’d love to do the same thing now, in fact. Maybe a few parents ought to go along, actually, just to make sure everything was kept on the straight and narrow. He could see about getting a leave of absence …
No. No, of course he would do no such thing. This was Melissa’s big adventure. His role—the harder role—was to let her go.
Carol was thrilled at Melissa’s good fortune. She said so numerous times, her eyes welling up, when the family was having a celebration dinner at Luigi’s. The restaurant had the only pasta that was even better than her own, and who knew when Melissa would be able to have such a meal again? Hardtack, that’s what she’d get onboard, wasn’t it? Nothing but hardtack.
Carol knew better, of course. But she had found that by pushing her worries to their most ridiculous extreme, she could get them in perspective. Still, she thought, it couldn’t hurt to get Melissa some vitamin C tablets to take along, to counteract scurvy. And Band-Aids, of course, and antibiotic cream—she’d have blisters, no doubt, with all those ropes she’d be pulling.
And sunscreen! Carol would have to impress on her daughter again the importance of using sunscreen every time she was out on deck—even if it was overcast. Never mind that she’d been slathering SPF 45 on her children since birth; she’d have to make certain that Melissa understood how quickly one went from young girl to middle-aged woman, and how important it was to take care of the only skin she’d ever have before she started getting crow’s feet or, God forbid, skin cancer. She’d seen it all too often as a nurse, hadn’t she? And they all said the same thing: If only they’d realized at the time the damage they were doing …
Carol sat up straight, suddenly realizing that she had been paying so much attention to Melissa-at-sea that she hadn’t heard a word of what Melissa-beside-her was saying.
Eric thought going to sea was an outstandingly