Are we role-playing over text, Golden Boy?
9:18 A.M.
TY
Is that a thing?
9:20 A.M.
JOSIE
Could be our thing...
9:20 A.M.
TY
Getting to be with you is my thing. Damn, gotta run, someone was rude enough to have a heart attack in the midst of my sexting. See you tonight.
9:21 A.M.
I reread our text strand three more times because that’s what you do when you’re a woman in the honeymoon phase of romance. You text, you reread it a zillion times for hidden meaning, and then you think about it for hours on end. Doesn’t matter if you’re fourteen, twenty-four, or almost the big four-oh, the behavior is similarly pathetic and yet still causes the internal tickle of excitement we all crave. Lola is eating up every moment, waiting and willing to plan a wedding since she has no daughters. I’m just planning what I’m wearing tonight for my back-to-school dinner date with Ty at the Slanted Door. One thing Lola and I do agree on is that we now have something new to talk about at Absinthe on Tuesday afternoons.
Before I dive into a day of excruciating meetings concerning things I care zero about (seriously a meeting about standard vs. miniature toilets in the lower school?) I hop on my computer to check on a few things. I go to the Fairchild website and beam like the proud mama that I am. Roan remembered. At the top of the home page is a banner in Fairchild’s signature cornflower blue.
FAIRCHILD SCHOOL IS NOW ACCEPTING APPLICATIONS
Like I’ve always said... Best. Hire. Ever.
The Bordelon women made it through Etta’s senior year and today feels like a fresh start. Etta is settled into her life at Juilliard, Aunt Viv is continuing for her fifty-first year as head cook atFairchild, and I have another opportunity to enjoy being head of school for the first time. To top it all off, I have been given another chance to discover if I like being one half of a pair.
There is one loose end I’ve been avoiding dealing with all spring and summer, unsure what I want the outcome to be. To my surprise, Aunt Viv has not inserted her opinion once, but in this particular instance it is her opinion that matters to me most. Regardless, it’s time to get this task off my to-do list and move on.
FROM:Josephine Bordelon
DATE:September 20, 2019
SUBJECT:Us
TO:Ophelia Santos
Ophelia,
I’m sorry I couldn’t see you when I was in New York getting Etta settled into Juilliard. I could make all sorts of excuses about needing to focus on Etta, getting her settled in her dorm and having it be all about her, but I’d be lying. I was the one who needed the trip to be about Etta and me, not about you and me. I wasn’t ready.
Aunt Viv and I will be back for Etta’s first performance in early December and perhaps I’ll be ready to see you then. It will be frigid cold in New York for this California girl so maybe we can get coffee.
Josie Bordelon
INTERIM HEAD OF SCHOOL
FAIRCHILD COUNTRY DAY SCHOOL
I reread my e-mail several times with my finger hovering over the delete button. I want to make sure this is what I want to say to my mother six months after meeting her for a second time.
And then I hit send.
•••
