“But…isn’t there a process I have to go through? An application?”
He smiled. “I submitted your resume already. Thank your mom for sending it to me. My guy at the resort looked it over andapproved it. He’s on the board. And he owes me, so, don’t worry about that.”
She frowned. “I don’t want to take an internship from someone else just because you know someone.”
Jasper patted her hand. “Don’t worry. Pete told me they haven’t found anyone suitable, and he was grateful for my suggestions.”
She wanted to say yes. Badly. But six weeks was far longer than her spring break. “I have classes for part of that time.”
Jasper scratched his scruffy chin, sprinkled with far more salt than the last time she’d seen him. “How many days are you actually on campus?”
“Two days, for four classes. The rest is remote.”
“Can you do them all remotely?”
Her mind was racing. “Most of them, yeah. Both my professors have online options. I’d have to arrange it but...” She stared at the email. “This is real?”
“Completely real.”
“Key West.” The word felt impossible. “Hemingway lived there.”
“He did. House is a museum now. You could visit.”
She couldn’t breathe. Key West. The place she’d dreamed about since she first read The Old Man and the Sea in ninth grade. The place that was supposed to be for other people. Rich people.
“Why?” Her voice cracked. “Why would you do this?”
Jasper reached across and took her hand. “Because I want to.”
The front door opened. “Jasper? You here?”
“Kitchen!” he called.
Her mom appeared in scrubs, hair falling out of its bun, exhaustion written all over her. But she saw Lizzie’s face and smiled. “He told you?”
“He told me.” Lizzie stood. “Mom, this is crazy. I’d have to rearrange everything.”
“So rearrange it.” Her mom set down her bag. “When’s the last time you did something for yourself?”
“I don’t know.”
“Exactly.” She came over, put her hands on Lizzie’s shoulders. “You’re twenty-two. You should have adventures. This is work and adventure. Talk to your professors Monday. Make it work.”
“What about Mrs. Morgenstern?”
“You can talk to her. She’ll get it. Despite appearances, she was young once.”
Lizzie looked between them. Her mom who worked double shifts to keep them fed. Jasper who wasn’t even technically family anymore but was here anyway, making this happen.
“Key West,” she whispered. “Thank you so much.”
That night, after Jasper left and her mom went to bed and her brothers were asleep, Lizzie sat at her desk staring ather laptop. There was a bunch of work due. She’d have to talk to every professor, arrange everything, make it work remotely.
She could do it. She had to do it.
She opened a new document. Titled it: Key West.
The blank page stared back. Usually that emptiness felt like pressure, like failure waiting to happen.
