I saw her. She looks old and tired. Very tired. She still smells like Noxema and she still has the little white flecks around her nails. Sheâs just older. I told her I was sorry.â
âYouâre crazy! Why would you tell that old tyrant such a thing?â
âSo it was a little lie. I think she needed to hear it. Sheâs never going to forget me, thatâs for sure.â Casey laughed. âI always wanted to be unforgettable.â
âIâll never forget you,â Nicole cried.
âThatâs enough for me,â Casey said, hugging her friend.
âMe too.â
âIf I donât leave now, Nicole, both of us are going to be blubbering in our wine. I want to remember you with a smile and to know I skipped out to leave you to clean up this mess.â
âAu revoir, chérie, âNicole said, wrapping Casey in her arms.
âAu revoir, Nicole. âA moment later Casey was out the door, tears streaming down her cheeks.
Casey walked slowly, her hands jammed into her pockets for warmth. She was spending this last night in the student quarters because sheâd turned over her apartment to a young intern whoâd taken possession of her quarters at noon. She smiled when she realized she was homeless, though not for long.
Tomorrow, today actually, was all planned. She would say her own personal good-bye to Paris. Then, at four oâclock, she would take a taxi to the airport and fly to California with one stopover in New York City.
She had a house now, a home, and a small bank account in U.S. currency. Six thousand American dollars. Her inheritance. Sheâd read the letter from the American law firm of Quigley, Quigley, and Archmore a dozen times before she fully comprehended it. It had taken her a full hour to digest the information the attorney had given her over the phone when sheâd finally made the decision to call. Sheâd called again when she made the decision to travel to California. Nolan Quigley said he would see that the utilities were turned on and he would leave the key in the mailbox. Heâd told her to stop by his office at her convenience to sign the necessary papers. He also told her he would tell her what little he could about her father, though Jack Adams had only been a client for a year.
Casey shivered in the cold night air. She really did have a father, one who thought enough of her to leave her his house and his money. She knew her name was a real name, not one made up by the nuns, the way Nicoleâs name was. The lawyer had told her in a kindly voice that her mother was a streetwalker and her name was Rene Beauchamp. Sheâd cringed a little at the news, but having a real mother with a real name was the only thing of importance.
It was all behind her now. Tomorrow she would start a new life. No regrets.
The dimly lit hospital lobby had seemed like home for many years. Sheâd worked double shifts more times than she could remember. She always worked the holidays so the married nurses could be with their families. She stayed on extra hours to be with critical patients, on her own time with no pay. She lived for her work. It was her life.
Sheâd been stunned two nights ago when she went off duty to find the nurses and doctors assembled in the day room shouting, âSurprise! Surprise!â It had been a wonderful going-away party. More wonderful because her colleagues had meant it when they said she was a good nurse and she would be sorely missed. Theyâd given her a beautiful gold watch and the biggest bouquet of flowers sheâd ever seen. Sheâd wept then. At the end of the party the Chief of Surgery took her aside and said, âThere will always be a job for you here if you want to come back. You are one of the finest, most dedicated nurses Iâve ever worked with.â Then heâd handed her such a glowing letter of recommendation that sheâd cried all over again.
The lobby was
Rebecca Hamilton, Conner Kressley