“Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

- Anaïs Nin

Two weeks later Olivia received a call from Sofia Taylor.  She was looking at apartments and was planning on having lunch not far from Olivia’s office, would she care to join her for lunch?     Greatly surprised, but nonetheless overjoyed, Olivia accepted Sofia Taylor’s invitation and met her at the café around the corner.

            Sofia Taylor was sitting at a sidewalk table in full afternoon sunlight.  This was Olivia’s favorite way to experience the sidewalk café and said so.

            “Mine, too, my dear.  If you are going to take a sidewalk table you simply must get one in full sunshine.  Otherwise you might as well be sitting inside next to the kitchen!”

            “Have you ever been here before?”

            “No, first time.  You?”

            “It’s my favorite in the summer.”

            “What do you recommend?”

            “The salmon, actually.”

            “What about this chicken in cream sauce?”

            “Avoid it.  At all costs, avoid the chicken in cream sauce.  Pretty much everything else is delightful, but that dish is inedible.”

            Sofia laughed.

            “You fell very strongly about things, don’t you?”

            “Not about everything, unfortunately.  But definitely about food!”

            “I see!  I see!  I think I am going to have the salmon!  What about you?”

            “I’m leaning toward the lamb souvlaki.”

            “You like Greek food?” Sofia sounded surprised.

            “I love it!”

            “I’m Greek!” she declared.

            “Yes, I know,” said Olivia forgetting Sofia Taylor didn’t know that her heritage was no secret to Olivia.

            “Oh, really?  What gave it away?”

            “Your maiden name: Christopoulos.  It’s Greek, no?  And you’re brother’s name: Anastasios, also very Greek,” Olivia backpedaled.

            “Oh, that’s right!  You know a thing or two about my brother, I forgot!”

            Olivia smiled appreciatively, awkwardly.

            “He’s coming out here next week, my brother.  I’m so thrilled.  He’s going to help me find an apartment.  I told you about Henry’s new job?”

            “Yes, you mentioned it.”

            “Well, it’s been left to me to find our new home and I simply cannot do it on my own.  My brother has offered to come out here and help for a few days.  He has some time off from the orchestra at the moment.  I haven’t seen him quite some time – not as long as you’ve been separated from your sister, thankfully, but a long time nonetheless.” 

Sofia Taylor sighed and fondly watched a little boy teasing his sister at the next table.  A few seconds and she was back.

            “So what are you working on?  I want to hear all about it!”

            Olivia had the weirdest sensation when she was with Sofia Taylor.  It was as if Sofia Taylor was her older sister and not Mary Granger.  Where Mary had been distant and uninterested in either of her sisters most of her life, Sofia Taylor had interest and compassion in spades!  She was genuinely curious to know about Olivia’s life.  What her home was like, how work was going, Danube’s health, the Prescotts; she asked her about her parents, her mothers death, where Olivia went to college, what she studied, what books she liked to read – anything that Olivia found interesting, Sofia Taylor wanted to know what it was and why she liked it so much.  The same held true for anything Olivia didn’t like.

            “What’s the matter with Bridget Jones’ Diary?!”

            “Well, ok, I enjoyed it the first time I read it, but the second time?  The second time I noticed all the horribly annoying things about Bridget that makes her unattractive.  And they just continued to add up!  I could no longer root for her because she was just so damn annoying!  I don’t see what Mark Darcy saw in her.  I hear they break up in the second book.  After hating the first one so much I couldn’t bring myself to read it.”

            “You didn’t miss much,” Sofia Taylor admitted.  “What did you think of the movie?”

            “It was worse than the book!”

            “Oh, how you make me laugh,” cried Sofia Taylor, tears in her eyes.

            “I don’t generally like films with modern settings.  I don’t really know why.”

            “That’s very singular.”

            “I know.  Maybe they’re all just bad.”

            “You might be right.  What is your favorite movie?”

            “It’s a tie; Stage Beauty with Clare Danes and Billy Crudup and Fiddler on the Roof.”

            “With Topol?”

            “That’s the one.  But I haven’t watched that in years.”

            “You know, my brother was asked to guest star in ‘Fiddler’ on Broadway but he turned it down, but then you probably knew that!”

            “I remember reading about that,” she replied vaguely.

            “I don’t know why he would turn it down.  He wouldn’t tell me when I asked.  It’s not like he doesn’t know the music.  He plays it all the time!”

            “Does he?” Olivia looked up sharply.  “Why does he do that?”

            “I’m not sure.  Whenever he’s in a bad mood he plays that one piece from the part where the other daughter tells her father they’re getting married.  It never cheers him up though.  He just puts his instrument away and goes out for a walk.  Strange behavior of moody musicians, I suppose.”  Sofia Taylor smiled at her own joke and raised her eyebrows.

            Olivia tried desperately not to let her discomfort show.  She wished conversation would not turn to Anastasios Christopoulos.  She successfully avoided Sofia Taylor’s calls during the time her brother was supposed to be helping her look at apartments.  And happily returned her call after hearing the message saying her brother had returned to New York and how it was a shame she had not been able to introduce them.  The women made a lunch date for the weekend.

“So life’s year begins and closes;

            Days, though shortening, still can shine;

What, though youth gave love and roses,

            Age still leaves us friends and wine.”

- Thomas Moore

Olivia met up with her friends Stephanie and Anna at their favorite Irish Pub in Somerville.  Olivia and Stephanie grabbed them a table by the windows while Anna went to get their drinks.

“So what’s this all about that you interrupted Manicure Night at number twelve Cottage Ave?”  Stephanie always referred to her and Anna’s apartment by street name and number.

“Ok, do remember the guy I dated at in college and the following year?”

“The one you were in love with?” Stephanie cocked an accusatory eyebrow.

“Yah, that one.  Well, apparently his sister and brother-in-law are good friends with my sister’s mother-in-law.”

“What?  How does that work?” Stephanie cried as Anna materialized out of the crowd with their drinks.

“How does what work?” she asked putting a Mojito in front of Stephanie, a glass of red wine in front of Olivia and her own Newcastle Brown Ale on the table before climbing into her own chair.

“Toast’s sister and brother-in-law are friends with Olivia’s sister’s mother-in-law,” explained Stephanie.

“How does that work?” Anna asked just as perplexed as her roommate.

Olivia loved how alike these two women were.  Best friends since childhood, Anna and Stephanie had rented an apartment together while at NYU then when they both got jobs in Boston, they decided to live together again.  It was like being a young party girl again when Olivia hung out with these two.

“She’s older than him, by a number of years.  Nearly ten, I think.  And I think it’s actually her husband who knows the Prescotts.  He’s something like twelve years older than her.  So we’re getting closer to fifty at this point.  And Mrs. Prescott is forty nine.”

“How old was she when she had David?” Stephanie asked amazed.

“She was young.  She was only twenty.”

“Wow,” said Anna.  “That’s just about ten years younger than I am now.”

“Than we all are now.  And, yah, she’s not us.  My sister was twenty two when she had my godson.  There’s totally a type of woman who is cut out for marrying young and bearing children young.  I’m definitely not that type.”

“Me neither,” said Stephanie into her drink.

“The crazy thing is, going back about one hundred years, us not being married at twenty nine?  We’d be unmarriable spinsters!  And yet, look at us!  Anna is an associate professor; Stephanie is, somehow, a respected surgeon.”

“Hey!” cried Stephanie.

“And I’m a graphic designer,” continued Olivia.  “Each of us is independent and able to support ourselves without the help of some man.”

“On that note, Jim’s been hinting that we should alter our relationship,” said Anna as if it were the weather.

“What?” said Olivia.

“Exactly,” said Stephanie.

“Like moving in together ‘alter’, or marriage ‘altar’?” asked Olivia.

“I don’t know,” said Anna.  Anna and her boyfriend Jim had been together since just after she moved to Boston.  Now, apparently, for the first time, Jim wanted more.

“Do you want to live with him?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you want to marry him?”

“How are those two questions different?” asked Stephanie.

“Well, one gives you a possible out,” explained Olivia grinning.

“But, see, here’s the thing: if I move in with him I want to be sure it’s the real thing.”

“Wait, you don’t know if it is or not?”  Olivia was incredulous.

“I know, right?” said Stephanie.  “She’s been with him forever,” she said forcefully at Anna.  “And she doesn’t know if it’s ‘true love’ or not!”

“You’ve had this discussion already,” said Olivia looking from one to the other.

“Oh, yea!” said Stephanie rolling her eyes.

“Well?” Olivia asked turning back to Anna.

“I guess I want him to just ask me.”

“To marry you?”

“No!  Well, yes, if that’s what he means by ‘upping’ our relationship, then, yah, I just wish he would friggin ask already!”

“Wait, he used the word ‘upping’?” said Olivia.  “He wants to ‘up’ your relationship?”

“Don’t start,” said Anna wearily, heading off her sarcastic friend.  Clearly she’d been through that already with Stephanie.

“Ok, sorry,” said Olivia, backing off.  “We’ll do this one at a time.  What would you say if he asked you to move in with him?”

“That’s the thing, right now, I have absolutely no idea.  I guess I’m just hoping that once I know what the hell he’s talking about then I’ll be able to make a decision.”

“Have you asked him what he means by any of this?”

“It only happened today,” filled in Stephanie.

“Oh.  So, no.  You haven’t talked to him since?”

“No.  I’m kind of afraid to call him.”

“Wuss,” accused Olivia taking a sip of her wine.

“Excuse me, aren’t you the one afraid of a woman you’ve never met before because you used to date her brother eight years ago?” snapped Anna.

“Touché, bitch,” said Olivia amused by her gentle friend’s outburst.

Anna laughed for the first time all night and couldn’t stop.

“Oh, man,” she said gasping for breath.  “It feels good to laugh.  Ok, tell me more about this guy and David’s mom knowing his sister, or whatever.”

“Ok, so Madeleine Prescott is having a Welcome Home party for David and Rosie, right?  Cause they’ve been away for four years and are coming back to stay.  David got a post in a church on the North Shore somewhere, Danvers, I think.  Anyway, so these people, the Taylors, are currently looking for an apartment in Boston.  And Mr. Taylor grew up on the same street as Mrs. Prescott in Waltham.  They are old friends.  And she has invited them to the Welcome Home party.”

“So what’s the problem?” asked Anna.

“I don’t really know.  It shouldn’t matter, right?  So what I dated her brother eight years ago?”
            “Yah, her brother; the guy you blew off at the theatre on the most romantic date, like, ever,” said Stephanie.

“Mmm-hmm,” murmured Anna into the Newcastle bottle.

“Geez, guys!”

“Look, I’m sorry, that was harsh,” said Stephanie realizing what she’d said.  “But, seriously, you were a bit abrupt with the poor guy.  Oscar told me how gutted he was after you dropped him.”

“So you feel guilty about breaking his heart?” said Anna hitting the nail on the head almost perfectly.

“Yes, no, not really.  I mean, it’s not like he hasn’t done well for himself.  He’s back with the Philharmonic again.  There was an article about him in the New York Times last month detailing his career, his move to San Francisco and back again.”

“Yah, I read that,” said Stephanie unexpectedly.  “It also said he turned down Broadway.  He was asked to do a guest appearance in ‘Fiddler’.”

Stephanie shot Olivia an accusatory look.

“Ok, you cannot blame that on me!”

“Why would we?” asked Anna, not remembering.

“Really?” asked Stephanie.

“What?” said Anna.

“‘Fiddler’ is one of Olivia’s favorite shows, right?”

“Yah, I know.”

“Well, Mister Violin-Man took her on this fancy date that included seeing ‘Fiddler’ and asked her to marry him during it.”

“Oh my god, that’s right!”

“And that’s when she dropped him like a hot potato!”

“Thanks, Steph.  ‘Cause I don’t already think about that night with enough guilt attached to it!”
            “I never really understood this.  Why do you feel so guilty?” said Anna in her practical voice.  “So you didn’t want to marry him?  That’s not something you say ‘yes’ to when you don’t mean it!”

“Cause I did,” said Olivia simply.  “I wanted to marry him.”

“Oh, honey,” said Anna.

“I loved him and I wanted to marry him, but . . .”

“But, what?” said Stephanie coldly, already knowing the answer. 

Olivia glared at her.

“I let Mary talk me out of it.”

“You listened to Mary?  Mary.  Mary, you’re older sister, Mary?” said Anna.

“Yessss,” hissed Olivia.

“But she’s an idiot!” Anna was clearly flabbergasted.

“I know, believe me, I know.  I was really nervous about graduating and the future and I let her convince me that we weren’t destined for a long-term relationship.  That he wasn’t going to stay with me forever.”

“Then he moved to San Francisco where he has made a name for himself, as well as money,” added Stephanie.

“Because I care about that!” said Olivia, hurt that her friend would think her so shallow.

“I know you wouldn’t,” said Stephanie softening her tone.  “I don’t mean to accuse you, but what you did was really cold, girl!  You gave up such a good thing!”

“I did.  And I have to live with that.  And I was doing just fine.  I’d hear about him through the grapevine, I’d read an article that mentioned him, I’d even hear him playing on the radio with the Symphony.  But I never expected to run into anyone connected to him.  It just freaked me out when I heard the Taylors are going to be at the party next week.”

“Maybe she’s a real jerk and you won’t want to spend any time with her?” suggested Stephanie knowing her kind friend liked pretty much everyone.

“Ha, maybe.”

“Or maybe they’re real snobby and not worth getting to know.  I wouldn’t feel guilty about offending snobs!” said Anna.

“I’ll be she mentions him within five minutes of meeting you just to be obnoxious!” declared Stephanie.

“Maybe longer than five,” said Anna, willing to give Mrs. Taylor the benefit of the doubt, yet still willing to suggest she might be evil.

Olivia wiped her eyes as she laughed at her friends’ absurdity.

“Thanks guys.  You know the worst part?”

“What’s that, darling?” asked Anna.

“My sister and her husband are returning from doing missionary work and I’m concerned that some woman who will be at her Welcome Home party is going to hate me because I jilted her brother eight years ago.  How selfish am I?”

“That’s fairly narcissistic behavior.  I’m so proud of you!” said Stephanie, the No.1 Narcissist of the group, with mock pride.