Lightning Strikes Twice Read online

  Shit! There was that odd protective streak she had over Mia again. She made Mia’s life a living hell in high school then college until Mia and I were attacked in a club parking lot on Halloween in our freshman year. I thought this back then, but I’m sure of it now, she always saw Mia as a friend, she just used her abusive words as a shield so they never got close. Damn, Missy needs some professional help.

  I nodded like she could see me and replied, “I know.” I let that percolate for a second or so then I perked up. “I’ll be calling you after the sale is finalized and we can bounce some ideas around. I’m hoping to be back in the States before Christmas.”

  Missy said absently, “For her showing… that will be good. Ok, you blonde freak, I’ll talk to you later.”

  I smiled and replied in kind, “Ok you abusive wench, talk to you later too.” Then I added wistfully, “And Missy?”

  She responded, “Yes?”

  I looked out over the twinkling lights of London, the rain had started, and I wandered over and grabbed my stuff from the little patio table and walked back into my condo. “It really is good to hear your voice.”

  There was another pause and she said quietly like she didn’t want the universe to hear, “You too. Bye Victoria.”

  I squinted a bit and waved at thin air as I said, “Bye.” Then I hung up.

  I took a deep breath and sat on my couch, put my paperwork and iPad on the glass coffee table, and took my reading glasses off. I rubbed the bridge of my nose a second and refocused.

  I turned my attention to all of the businesses I consult for. I was paring back to just a couple that meant something to me. A museum, and a gallery here in London that I had curated for, a few years back. I was going into semi-retirement. I wanted to concentrate almost solely on my Seattle gallery, this was important to me, I had to do it right. Maybe one day I could make Mia proud of me.

  I had already closed accounts with eleven fortune 500 businesses in the past couple weeks and only had the Kagawa Group to finalize things with. I absently dialed the number from memory on my mobile as I curled into the couch, pulling up every detail of the Kagawa Group contracts and financials in my head like they were sitting right in front of me.

  They answered on the second ring. I replied, “Kon’nichiwa,” and then went about finalizing my work with them. I had located for them, a person who had come almost as highly recommended in the financial consulting field as me. Then I concluded our call with, “Dōmo arigatōgozaimashita. Keiyaku o kanryō suru tame ni, watashi wa raigetsu go renraku sa sete itadakimasu,” letting them know I would contact them next month to make sure everything went smooth in the transfer to the new consultant then I hung up.

  I looked at the phone and smiled. On a whim in my junior year, I thought it would be fun to learn Japanese. So I took a week to learn to read and write the language. It still took a couple months to be able to speak it fluently.

  I pulled a throw blanket over myself and snuggled in for a nap. That’s another thing that just snuck up on me the past few years. I always used to be full of boundless, hyperactive energy. But lately I have learned to appreciate a good nap.

  I woke to Candi walking in the front door. She smiled over at me and walked over to join me on the couch. I smiled at her and she just sat and laid a hand on my head and stroked my blonde locks with a look of nostalgia in her eyes. Then she sat up straight and said, “I just thought I’d drop by and say Joyous Thanksgiving, or whatever it is you bloody Yanks say.”

  I looked at the woman fondly. If my parents are not in the country on holidays, U.S. or otherwise, or my birthday, Candice has always made it a point to come over and help me celebrate. My wife had hated Candi, she always thought we had something going on with each other. I guess she didn’t recognize what friendship looked like. I still wonder what I saw in her that I married her, but after my divorce, Candi made doubly sure to come to celebrate, she says, “Nobody should be bloody alone on a holiday, even if they are just Yank holidays.”

  I knew that she knew darn well what us ‘Yanks’ said, she was always playing. I said, “Happy… happy Thanksgiving you ill-behaved Brit.”

  She grinned hugely at me and we just started discussing goings on from the past couple days. It haunted me that this was something that I would miss terribly when I moved back home. But I swear I will fly her over from time to time, or come visiting her on vacations often. She’s been my best friend for twenty years after all.

  I smiled a little later when someone timidly knocked on the door. I rolled my eyes, “Come in Leighton, you know you never have to knock you silly man.” This guy works late every night, I’ll have to reinforce to him before I go that he needs to spend more time with Candi and less time at work.

  Then for almost the last time, us three friends ordered in food and watched a movie together on the telly… um television.

  Chapter 3 – Goodbyes

  I got everything wrapped up business-wise after Thanksgiving. Plus, I was the proud owner of an art gallery! It took almost half of my funds to do it. It wouldn’t have made such a large dent if Beatrice hadn’t of bilked me for millions in the divorce settlement. I could have fought it, but I didn’t want it to get drawn out or messy. I can always make more money, I have a certain knack for business.

  Then all the pain of packing up my belongings began and arranging for storage in the States until I could find a place of my own. I wasn’t about to inconvenience mom and dad by imposing upon them, I hadn’t earned that, I’ve been a terrible daughter staying away from home for so long.

  Candi came by after work every day to help out. I still couldn’t believe it was already three days until Christmas.

  Candice walked over to the wall and laid a hand on the shadowbox frame of the last picture hanging. The way she ran her fingers over it let me know she was deep in the memory of when I had shared the significance of it with her when I first came to England.

  That was probably my most-precious belonging. It was a framed photo of Mia, Vee, and me, staring off into the night sky. I was taken by Vee’s English Lit professor at an outdoor poetry reading of Vee’s works under the stars. It is my favorite photo in the whole world. I remember that day, that moment, like it happened just yesterday.

  Those wickedly evil girls pretended to lose the photo and I was heartbroken, but at least I had it stored in my memory for all time. What really happened was that they spirited it away to get it professionally mounted and matted in a shadowbox frame, with movie ticket stubs from shows we all saw together and a friendship bracelet Vee and Mia had woven for me on display. They gave it to me on that one perfect Christmas… when Valhalla had proposed to Mia.

  I know it makes me sound mental, but I speak to that picture all the time, I speak to the girls when I need to know if I am doing the right things, or when I need to check my moral compass, or when I am feeling melancholy and just need to see the women that I had fallen in love with like a total fool.

  Candice took it in both hands and seemed to take a deep breath then lifted it off the wall. She hesitated then turned with a smile for me. “I’ll just pack this away with your luggage. It won’t do to have this stored away with your other stuff until you get situated over the pond.”

  I exhaled. I didn’t even know I was holding my breath. “Ok.” I put my hand on her arm as she passed then looked at her with a warm smile. “What did I ever do to get such a wonderful friend?”

  She shook her head and headed into my bedroom to pack the picture, calling out over her shoulder, “Well if I remember right, you had sort of bloody ambushed me into becoming your roommate over at Uni.”

  I snorted then shot back rapidly, “Hey it wasn’t an ambushing lady. You were just too shy to speak much so I just helped you along. You’re not complaining are you? Cuz if I remember correctly, and I always do, you wouldn’t have met Leighton if I hadn’t taken you in. Then you’d be all moping, and single, and junk, and you’d have like ninety-three cats and still be working in the offic
e at Oxford with la Ice Queen, and you’d be all…”

  I was stopped by a smiling woman placing a finger on my lips as she returned, suppressing a chuckle. “Vicky, slow down you silly bird, only the squirrels in the park can keep up with you when you go all supersonic like that.” I glanced at the little unicorn tattoo on her wrist then scrunched my nose at her and we both shared a chuckle.

  She grinned at me. “There are times Victoria, that you act so mature that I’m afraid you had grown up and lost that playful, hyper, Vicky spark, but then you go and prove me wrong like this.”

  I blushed and shoved her playfully then I looked around at my condo. Most of the boxes had already been moved out by the shipping company, the rest would be taken today. I had already sold my Range Rover.

  My three suitcases were packed in the bedroom. The place looked almost barren, spartan with nothing but the furniture in it. That warmth of a home was now absent from it. The next owners would turn it into their home and bring the warmth back.

  Speaking of.

  I walked to the counter in the kitchen. “Candi?”

  She joined me. I wouldn’t be saying goodbye until early this afternoon, but I was already filling with emotion, Gawd I was going to miss her! She cocked her head at me and I smiled and slid a manila envelope across the counter and absently removed my condo key from my keychain and placed it on top of the envelope. “Merry Christmas. I love you so much brat. I hope you and Leighton make this a good home for you and your little shy babies.”

  I grinned at that. She had found out a couple weeks ago that after fifteen years of trying, and them giving up, that she was finally pregnant. They had put themselves on the waiting list to adopt a child a couple months back before they got too old to be parents.

  She blinked at me and slid the paperwork out of the envelope and stared at the deed to the condo. Her jaw was moving, but the words weren’t coming out. Finally, she said incredulously, “Vicky, what did you do? You can’t do…”

  It was my turn to silence her with my finger across her lips. “You shush. I can and I did. There is nobody else I’d want to have the penthouse. It is bought and paid for and I couldn’t stand to sell it off to some stranger. I love your little British ass lady, let me do this, please?” Her eyes were watering up and she just nodded and hugged me.

  She wiped a tear away. “Good god woman. Stop making me cry, it is going to be hard enough later today.”

  I smiled at her and took a deep calming breath myself. Then I grinned. “Well, seeing as how I have neither a car nor a place to live anymore, how bout you give me a ride out to Oxford? I want to say goodbye to Professor Klein in person instead of on the phone.” Oooo I’m homeless now, I’d so make an awesome street person!

  She grinned and nodded. We grabbed my luggage from the bedroom and headed for the elevator and loaded up into her red SUV and we were headed west to Oxford. We just talked about everything, but me leaving as she drove. Neither of us wanted to think about it and we just chatted like we always did.

  Then before we knew it we were pulling into one of the almost deserted parking lots and into a visitor slot at the University. It looked almost like a ghost town with just a couple campus workers walking around, a professor or two, and a few students that didn’t go home for the holidays. This place was usually packed.

  Candi pulled up her iPad and started reading one of her cheesy romances and wiggled her fingers in a dismissing motion at me with barely restrained smile on her face. “Shoo, I know you need to do this alone. I have Sheila and Greg here to keep me company.”

  I rolled my eyes, I swear she is addicted to those sappy books. I hopped out and grinned at her through the window. She remained focused on her reading, but her smiling smirk gave her away. This caused me to smile all the way into the science hall.

  I stutter stepped when a prim and proper sixty-year-old woman in a sharply pressed white business suit, with a skirt that fell below her knees, and her silvered hair pulled up in a severe bun came walking past. She paused when we were side by side and just stared ahead, not looking at me. “Ms. Davenport.”

  I stared straight ahead, mocking her mannerisms and her tone, “Mrs. Barrows.”

  I swear to the holy platypus that the woman actually suppressed a smile as she continued walking. Heaven forbid la Ice Queen ever smiles. Mrs. Barrows, formerly Ms. Templeton before she married the Dean, was probably the most stick-up-the-ass-y person in the seven known universes. But there was heat between her and Dean Barrows. She was… well, I don’t know, even to this day I still don’t know what her position was here. She sort of ran the everyday business of the university as a head mistress. Oh Gawd, she’d so make an awesome mistress.

  She was like my personal nemesis when I went here. I didn’t conform to the idealized version of how she believed an Oxford student should comport themselves and made it her life’s duty to try to make me fit the mold. She failed, go me!

  I have heard from multiple sources that when they have recruited new students over the years, she never fails to mention my name as a distinguished alumni. Yeah, I’m kind of fond of her too in an odd way. And let me tell you, back then she was pretty damn hawt, looking like Emma Frost from the X-Men and all.

  I stepped into the physics lecture hall and scanned the whiteboards lined up off to the side with a tall man who always reminded me of Professor Dumbledore from Harry Potter, complete with more wrinkles and wild white hair than I remember. He taught quantum mechanics here at Oxford and was always asking my opinion on his research because I was one of the few that could actually understand his computations. He was an absent-minded man but completely and utterly brilliant. He still calls me from time to time when he needs a fresh set of eyes to look an equation over.

  He was the only professor here at Oxford that didn’t seem put out by my attitudes and random personality, and the fact that I never brought books or other study materials to class since I had them all committed to memory.

  I said softly, “Professor Klein?” He continued to work on his equation that spanned four whiteboards. I glanced at it, and it was beautiful! I cleared my throat and he turned toward me for a moment before turning back to his math.

  He absently said, “Miss Davenport. I was wondering if I might impose upon that marvelous brain of yours for a moment.”

  I smiled at him fondly, he was one of the few people that had a better grasp on mathematics than I did and I found that refreshing. The six foot four man was still thin as a rail, but looking frailer than when I had attended here and a little hunched over, but he still dwarfed me. I love being tiny. I’ve always said it is just concentrated awesomeness!

  I replied with my familiar, “Sure thing Doc!” He smiled wistfully as he worked, I know he enjoys me calling him Doc. He says it reminds him of the scientist in Back to the Future. I found it funny that he had seen the film let alone any film with as much time as he spends with his calculations.

  He tapped his lips with the marker he was using as I started absorbing the formulas written on the huge whiteboards. I had done this so many times when I went here, and as usual it was like looking at a symphony! It was so beautiful and took up all the corners of my conscious thought to process it. It drowned out all the noise, all the voices, without the need for me to create white noise. I always saw it as if I saw the shape of music in the air around the boards.

  I paused at one point and looked at the disassociation of the Planck scale violation, that brought back memories to another time I helped him just like this. I pointed, “This should be a non-local structure.”

  He squinted through his exceedingly thick glasses and quickly scribbled in a correction for the strings moving in space-time and nodded.

  He put his maker down on the tray of the board and just like so many times before, we both silently stepped back to take it all in again. The music of the equation was playing flawlessly now, in perfect harmony with the music in my head, I could listen to it all day like this.

  Then
Doc murmured absently, “Well done Miss Davenport. Well done!” He smiled but then he glanced at me before turning back to the board and squinted. “What are you doing here? I thought you graduated recently.”

  I smiled fondly at the old man. “Yes, just eighteen years ago.”

  He nodded thoughtfully and I continued. “I just came to say goodbye. I’m moving back to the States and I just wanted to tell you in person.”

  He tore his eyes off of the boards and for the first time since I met the man, he gave me his full attention. He regarded me and looked me up and down like a parent would. Then he shook his head. “What happened? You’re all grown up now. You’ll truly be missed Victoria.” Damn it, why did he have to go and use my first name for the first time since I’ve known him? Now I’m tearing up.

  I grinned and said, “Yes sir, time marches on.” Then I hugged the old coot.

  He returned the hug and held me at arm’s length. Then said slyly, “I hope I can still call and pick that beautiful brain of yours from time to time.”

  I slipped a handwritten card into his hand with my mobile number on it and said hoarsely, “You better. I’ll miss you too old man.”

  He grinned as I left, I looked back as I reached the door and he gave me one last sad smile then turned back to his equations. I took a deep cleansing breath then composed myself and started marching out to Candi’s car.

  As I walked past the glass cases at the doors that displayed the current events and fliers where Mrs. Barrows was hanging a notice. She said almost too low for me to hear, “Good luck Ms. Davenport.” Of course, la Ice Queen and her demon-like hearing heard us talking.

  I stopped walking but didn’t look at her, she didn’t need to know I was crying. I whispered, “Thanks.” Then I added, “For everything.” Then walked outside into the crisp winter air.

  It started raining as I walked to the car, it was bone chilling. Damn that’s one thing I’m looking forward to, real snow in the winter. I mean we get snow in London, but it is rare and doesn’t usually stick around long. But it is nothing like what we get in the Cascade Mountains back home.