Marnie

"I'll go back to Boston," Lauren offered, not thinking about the consequences.

"And quit your position?"

"Yes ... yes, it'll mean I'll have to resign."

"Before your two year contract is over?"

"I suppose that's true."

"You can't do that. If you quit you'll forfeit your right to get your position back at Boston University. You'll have your two kids to support when you get back. How are you going to do that without a job?"

Reality was now setting in for Lauren, though she was struggling with her emotions.

"Lauren?"

Lauren started softly sobbing.

Marnie said the unsaid. "I think we need to be apart."

Lauren couldn't collect herself enough to respond.

"You know we can't be here ... together ... and yet not," Marnie continued. "I won't be able to concentrate. All I'll be doing is thinking about you, and how I can't have you. You know it's true."

Tears started streaming down her cheeks. She couldn't speak, so Marnie did.

"I'm looking to transfer to another program."

Her words hit like a lightning bolt. Lauren wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, her mascara smudged on her face. It was her heart speaking.

"No. Please don't do that. I can't bear the thought of it."

"I'm looking at a program in Galway, and another one in California."

"Galway ... California ...," Lauren repeated dejectedly. Galway was on the west coast of Ireland, more than two hundred kilometers away. California was of course an ocean away. She knew it was over but didn't want to admit it to herself. Lauren wore her emotions on her sleeve, and Marnie could tell her words cut deep.

Marnie put on her brave face, not showing that her own words were daggers in her heart as well. "Lauren. You can't afford to lose your job. You have responsibility for two children. I don't have any ties like you do."

"You can't leave me."

"I have to."

"Marnie," Lauren said, her plea mixed with tears. "Can we ..."

"Goodbye Lauren."

* * * * *

Tears flowing down her cheeks like the omnipresent rain, Marnie had no recollection of how she got dressed and into bed that night. She lay there, restless and unable to sleep, staring at the moonlight reflecting on her ceiling, with no more tears to cry, wondering if she could move on after discovering true love for the first time.

Guinness climbed up on the bed and laid his blocky head on Marnie's leg, looking at her with soulful eyes, as if to share her angst.

She petted her puppy and he wagged his thick tail sympathetically, beating it against her bedsheets.

"Oh Guinness, what should I do?" she lamented.

He raised his eyebrows as if he understood her dilemma.

Then she thought about her parents, and her promise to finish her advanced degree, and then to the justice being meted out to Pamela Wentworth. Finally content, she put her arm across the silky fur of his barrel chest and fell fast asleep.

* * * * *

Marnie's adventure will continue . . .