Page 87 of Unconventionally, Elle
Me:HAHAHA
Rach:HAHAHA
Finn:Uh-oh, Jamesie.
53
Now
I was waiting in the coffee shop for Finn and Jackson for our official debrief of the Academy Awards. We'd had to keep delaying because of my deadlines.
Louie and I were sitting in our usual spot with my latte, and John had gone above and beyond this time by making latte art of Louie himself. I glanced at the door and noticed Finn and Jackson enter the café. When they saw me, they gave a quick wave and got in line to order their drinks.
Once John gave them their orders, they turned to me, and it looked as if they were holding back laughter. Finn's eyes were gleaming, and his lips were drawn inward. Jackson's face was red as a beet, with the occasional involuntary sound escaping his lips. I also noticed Finn had his hand in his pocket and so did Jackson.
I felt an odd tension in the air. Something was off--not bad but off. The boys walked up to the table and Finn grasped my arm, literally jumping to share his news.
"Elle, we have something to tell you," Jackson said, smiling at Finn with an equal glint in his eye.
I had absolutely no idea what was going on other than they were acting bonkers.
They held each other's gazes and then nodded in unison. Together they threw their left hands in my face and yelled, "Surprise!" Both boys had a gold band with diamonds nestled snug on their left ring finger.
The shock rendered me speechless.
"We're engaged!" they yelled in unison. Finn broke into the happiest tears, and Jackson was holding on to his arm while hopping up and down.
I jumped out of my chair and grabbed both of them in my arms. "Oh my God!" I yelled back, and all three of us jumped up and down and babbled like children at Disney World for the first time.
"Oh my God, so beautiful! You must tell me everything!" I looked at both of their tearstained faces.
Jackson was grinning from ear to ear, and Finn was trying to keep up with the tears rolling down his cheeks. The boys shared every detail of their perfect proposal when Jackson asked Finn the question on the Charles River only the night before.
The best part? I was the first to know.
I don't know why I opened the typewriter case to look inside. My grandmother's typewriter had sat untouched on my desk since I moved to Boston. For some reason, though, today I felt like I wanted to touch it. I wanted to use her typewriter and feel her with me. Maybe I'd write a few lines of poetry or just a letter to my future self, telling her how proud I was of her already.
There wasn't any paper in it, and the ribbon was still in the case, so I opened it to find the ribbon, and that's when I saw a tiny piece of aged yellow paper sticking out from a hiddenpocket. Well, I guess it wasn't really hidden, but I didn't know it was supposed to be there.
I gently pulled the pocket open and reached for the paper. That's when I noticed it was a thick stack of papers held together with an old, rusted paper clip. I walked over to my bed and sat down, my chest tight, tears rolling down my flushed face.
It wasn't just a vintage piece of paper that I'd found. No. I'd uncovered Grandma Di's competition manuscript. I stayed up all night reading it, and I finally understood why my grandmother had made the decision to forego her independence and get married. Why she'd turned away from something that I thought was her true calling.
It was because she'd wanted to. It was entirely her decision and my grandfather had let her have that choice, just like her main character's love interest let her make hers. She'd wanted to be a mother and a wife more than a writer. That was her true calling.
54
Now
Springtime in Boston was busy, like an emergence from a long hibernation. Flowers were starting to pop up out of the snow, grass was finding its way out of its dormant stage, and the birds were singing sweet melodies.
After gaining a new perspective from my grandmother's manuscript, I rewrote my original story for the competition, the one I never submitted. Then Emma helped refer me to some agents she knew in the area and in New York, and I submitted to them to see if they'd be interested in working with me to make my story a reality.
Unfortunately, I received zero responses. When I reached out to Em, she told me it could take weeks if not months for agents to respond, so I was in limbo. I decided that there was no better time to go to New York for a few days with Louie to see Rachel. She was settled into her apartment in Dumbo, and Central Park had become one of our favorite meeting spots.
Rach was at work, and I was relaxing in her guest room with Louie watchingThe Office, per usual. While scrolling through social media, I had two emails come in back to back.
Hi Elle,
