Seeking Sara Summers by Susan Gabriel Page A

at that moment, Sara didn’t want to be captured.
    “I can’t believe you work at Beacon High,” Julia said.
    “I teach English in Mrs. McGregor’s old room.”
    “We had some good times in that room, didn’t we? How is the old place?”
    “The same, really,” Sara said. “Too hot in summer; too cold in winter. A different generation of kids, but the same angst.”
    “I remember that angst,” Julia said.
    “You?” Sara asked. “You didn’t seem to have a care in the world.”
    “You’d be surprised.” Julia sipped her coffee, her long, slender fingers caressing the cup, her nails perfect, but unpolished. Two silver rings graced her right hand, one a simple wide band, the other quite ornate with a turquoise stone in the center. “I haven’t been around teenagers since I was young myself.”
    “Lucky you.” Sara laughed. “I had three teenagers in the house at the same time.”
    “I can’t imagine,” Julia sighed.
    Roberto slid his body under Sara’s hand.
    “Watch out for him,” Julia said. “He has the finesse of an Italian male.”
    “I wouldn’t know,” Sara said.
    “I would,” Julia smiled.
    Sara caressed Roberto’s head. He closed his eyes, as if perfectly content. Sara thought briefly of Roberto’s disdain for Roger and felt pleased that he had accepted her.
    Sara’s thoughts wandered between past and present, bridging the years since she and Julia had seen each other. Julia was different, she decided, yet the same. Beautiful as ever; yet also older, less dependent on her beauty. And still the dominant force in a room. Was the girl she once was permanently imprinted on every woman?
    “Tell me about you,” Sara said. She wasn’t ready to tell Julia about the cancer. If she told her at all. From her experience people changed once they knew. They developed an attitude of pity, peppered with relief that it hadn’t happened to them.
    “I wouldn’t know where to begin,” Julia said. She sat regally on the plush gold sofa, a queen presiding over her court. Even thirty years later Sara served at her pleasure.
    “Your paintings are marvelous,” Sara said. Had she told her that last night? If not, she had meant to.
    “Thank you,” Julia said. “It’s hard to believe I’m painting again. I dabbled a little bit in high school, as you know. But then got lost in my career and didn’t give it another thought until about four years ago.”
    “I wouldn’t call what you did in high school ‘dabbling,’” Sara said. “You won awards. You had an exhibit in the library our junior year.”
    “You remember that?”
    “Of course,” Sara said. “I’ve never told you this. But I was very proud to be your friend.”
    Julia leaned back and looked at her. “You were always so sweet, Sara.”
    Her face burned from Julia’s compliment. Sweet? Had anyone ever called her sweet?
    “I’m not sure why I gave up art,” Julia began again. “Except that I needed to make money if I was going to go all the places I wanted to go. So I went to law school and worked in London for a number of years. Traveled all over Europe when I could get away, which wasn’t often. But then at some point it just wasn’t enough. I had to try the painting again or I would have always wondered. The great ‘what if?’ you know?” Julia paused thoughtfully.
    Yes, Sara knew about the great ‘what if?’ She had been thinking about it a lot lately. What if Julia had never left Northampton? What if they had gone away to college together like they had planned? Sara probably would have never married Grady nor had their children. But would she be happier?
    “Now that I think about it,” Julia began again, “coming back to painting was like being reunited with an old friend. Kind of like us.”
    Several seconds of silence passed. But not the kind of silence she was used to with Grady. This silence felt full instead of empty, pregnant instead of barren.
    “Would you like to go for a walk?” Julia