On the ride back to Minneapolis, Adam felt as though his soul had been cleansed. His trip allowed him to reflect on where he had been and take a careful look at where he was going. For the first time in his life, he had no idea, which was the most liberating part of it all. Up until the day he got fired, Adam’s entire life felt predetermined. After high school, college was the only choice, even though he had really wanted to try acting in L.A. for a year or two. And somewhere along the line in college, he just knew he was going to law school, even though he had no real interest in the work. Following law school, he needed to find a high-paying job to repay his student loans. Before being fired, Adam was like a caged hamster running on a wheel — going nowhere, but going too fast to notice. Now, Adam’s life was up in the air. It felt scary and extremely exciting.
Adam had taken his collection of crooner CDs along for the trip because it had been so long since he had listened to them. He loved them all and knew every word to almost every song these guys ever sang. For eight straight hours, Adam sang along with his idols — belting out tunes, tapping his hands against the steering wheel, and using his cell phone as a microphone. He felt a freedom and a happiness he hadn’t felt in a long time.
_________________________
The periods of long pauses were becoming more excruciatingly painful with each telephone conversation, dinner, and Blockbuster night. Jen was only able to communicate with Quint in bed — there, everything still clicked. It just happened out of the blue — a week ago Tuesday, to be exact. It probably had started sooner, but Tuesday was the first time Jen realized that she had nothing in common with Quint other than the way their bodies fit together. The nightly phone conversations were the first to trail off. Once they had worked through the topics that all new couples talk about — favorite movies, college stories, old relationships, and sexual likes and dislikes — there wasn’t much left to talk about. Quint was enamored with the fact that Jen was a professor at his school and an older woman. Jen was turned on by the prospect of a younger man. But soon the novelty for both of them began to wear off.
Page 69
