Page 30 of Love Conquers All

Graham got off the phone and sat at the kitchen island, watching the birds twitter and play in their bath outside the window. Valerie came down the hall, humming to herself.

“I got a call about the charges,” Graham said. “They’ve been dropped.”

Valerie raised her hands in excitement. “This has been quite the week!”

Graham laughed and sipped his coffee. “I don’t understand it.”

Valerie looked conspiratorial. “Do you think Sylvie had something to do with it?”

Graham considered this. “I guess she’s higher on the food chain than I am, in some respects.”

“You’ve been in the messy thick of it,” Valerie agreed. “And she’s been writing from the safety of a desk. Making contacts. Gaining power.” Valerie put the kettle on the stovetop and her hands on her hips. “What do you think about that?”

“About Sylvie stepping away from the action?”

Valerie nodded.

“I think we’re not teenagers anymore,” Graham said. “Maybe I should stop acting like one.”

Valerie’s eyes were wounded. “Your idealism is inspiring for me, honey. It’s weird to say, but I don’t want you to stop.”

Graham was quiet, thinking about that day so many years ago when he’d realized that Sylvie was gone. Exhausted, brokenhearted, and confused, he’d finished painting the sad fabric for the Fourth of July Festival and hung it over the top of the sailboats. He’d watched partiers and drunken millionaires milling about underneath the sign for hours. Graham had tried to get their attention, but it was no use. Posters didn’t do anything.

“Have you asked her why she left yet?” Valerie asked tentatively as though she could read Graham’s mind.

Graham shook his head. “I don’t know if that’s my business. And we were seventeen years old, you know? Maybe she doesn’t even remember.”

“She remembers,” Valerie said. “A woman never forgets her origin story.”

Graham ached to hear this, knowing that Sylvie’s origin story involved abandoning him.

Five minutes later, Graham got a text from Sylvie that read:

I don’t need a ride tonight. But looking forward to seeing you later!

This was a surprise for Graham, who’d stirred with longing at the idea of picking Sylvie up in his car. But he had to respect Sylvie’s wishes. He wrote back:

can’t wait till later!

Graham said goodbye to his mother and went home to change into a pair of slacks and a button-down linen shirt. Withhis aviator sunglasses and his wild hair, he looked the part of a handsome environmentalist, a man on the brink of doing something radical. It wasn’t really the truth. In reality, he was a widower with a broken heart and a million ideas that hadn’t come to fruition.

Hilary Salt’s mansion had a gate that opened for him immediately. He drove his electric vehicle down the long driveway lined with stately trees and parked next to his surprise: a charging station! As he hooked up his car, Hilary stepped into the soft light of the early evening and smiled at him.

“I don’t know if I told you, my new car is a hybrid,” she explained. “I don’t need gas on an island as small as this one.”

Graham grinned wildly. “That’s what I like to hear.”

It was just as he and Sylvie had once thought.Convince the world to do better, one person at a time.

That was when he noticed Sylvie’s car in the driveway. No surprise, it was also an electric vehicle, navy blue.

“Sylvie’s on the veranda,” Hilary said. “Come on in!”

Graham followed Hilary into the most glorious and overwhelming home he’d ever entered, reminding himself that Hilary’s mother had organized the decor, the Swedish actress who thought “more” was better. Sometimes it was gaudy, but often, it was magnificent. Graham couldn’t fathom what it was like to live in a place like this.

“It’s like a museum,” he said finally, thinking of the Art Museum of Chicago.

Hilary laughed. “It’s a bit much, I know. But my fiancé and I have many plans to make this place more environmentally friendly. We want to pester you for more info.”

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