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Chapter 1
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It was just supposed to be a trip.
A trip of self-healing. For discovering one's worth and meaning in life after a traumatic breakup.
Pray Eat Love
sort of thing.
Carly's travel companion Veronica had come up with the brilliant idea of going to Europe. She agreed because she found herself lacking the patience to come up with a travel plan. She needed to get away from California. Veronica, who was her college roommate and family friend, had plenty of time and money to spare. Veronica booked all the flights, hotels, trains, limos, clubs, and shows. The first half she appreciated, the second half not so much.
Veronica was a party animal and she was not. They both came from well-to-do families. Carly's family runs a successful winery in Sonoma, while Veronica's family business is in shipping and logistics. But Carly was never much of a consumer of luxury goods. Her family's fortunes afforded her horseback riding lessons from a young age, which cultivated her interest in animals. When it came time to choose a major at her local college, UC Davis, she went into veterinary medicine. Her family only expressed slight disappointment that she didn't want to continue running the family business. Her parents eventually persuaded her younger sister, Lydia, to major in managerial economics also at UC Davis. Her parents stopped worrying about no one wanting to carry on harvesting grapes and manage wine club subscriptions.
She met her ex-boyfriend through family gatherings. He was getting a business degree on the east coast and was visiting relatives during the summer. They hit it off quickly. He was attractive, athletic, and came from a wealthy family. In other words, they "matched" on paper. Their romance blossomed during the summer and he would fly back at least once a month to the west coast to visit her, often staying for extended periods of time during the holidays. Their long distance relationship was maintained through daily doses of FaceTime and sexting. Like all young college couples, they were at the peak of their erotic explorations.
She imagined a happy future as she applied for residency to east coast veterinary hospitals -- he would graduate and get a job somewhere, probably New York, and she would move in with him. Her parents would miss her, but she was looking forward to life in a big city as a young professional couple.
One morning, that all came crashing down when she inadvertently read his phone. He usually kept his phone in his pocket and under his pillow at night. Her nature was not to pry but to trust. While he was taking a morning shower, his phone vibrated continuously. She eventually got annoyed and curious enough to pick up his phone. Her heart nearly stopped beating when she read the texts.
Hey babe.
Miss u. When are you coming back?
Its cold today. Is it warm in Napa?
The sender's name was shown as "M". Just M.
She held the phone and felt she had been hit by a car.
"How could I be so naïve?" Instead of blaming him, she blamed herself for not having done enough detective work. To be so trusting of someone she only got to talk on the phone for an hour or two every day and had sex with once every month. She abstained from other men, drugs, and partying...while he flirted with another woman.
She thought about all the ways she'd stay cool and get to the bottom of this, but as soon as he stepped out of the shower, water dripping from his half naked body, proudly showing his lean and muscular frame that used to attract her so much but now repulsed her, all she could utter was: "How could you....!"
He blinked and said "Huh?"
"Who is M?"
She anticipated denial and anger, but he just shrugged and said, "Oh, a friend. Did she text me?"
"A
friend
doesn't call you `babe` and tell you she misses you!" She could barely recognize the high-pitched screaming voice that was coming out of her. She had always been so rational, so controlled - until now.
He still played it cool, "That's just the way she talks. Stop being so dramatic!" he added a hint of irritation to his tone, "I'm not cheating, OK?"
"OK." She took a deep breath, "Then unlock your phone and let me read it."
As she had expected, he froze.
"No?" Her heart sank, and from the deep abyss within rose a deep, deep fury. "Why not? If you have nothing to hide."
"It's private, OK?" He stuttered. "I got messages with other friends and stuff. Would you let me read your phone? All your texts?"
"Yes," she quietly replied, "because I have nothing to hide."
"You're gonna break up with me over this? He said throwing up his hands. "Over some ridiculous text? Over nothing!?"
"We're done here." Tears rolled down her face. Carly leapt off the bed and started to get dressed. "Get out!"
"OK, OK, I'll leave," he sighed, "just - call me if you change your mind about making a big fuss out of this, OK? I still love you, baby." He left.
She cried the whole day. She cried the whole weekend. She drank bottles and bottles of wine from her family's cellar, locking herself in her room staring at nothing. He never called her. She never called him. Spring break was over. Then, as the new semester came, he updated his Facebook status to single, then "in a relationship", with someone whose name started with M. Selfies at parties of him and M began to fill his wall. She unfriended him.
Her residency application came back and matched her to a veterinary hospital in New York. She requested a re-match and got a residency in Austin, Texas, which she then applied a delayed start which would give her a 3-month break.
She needed to go somewhere and reset. She was lost in life.
Most of Carly's school friends were busy beginning their residency. Only someone like Veronica, who didn't really have a job except occasionally helping with running the family business, had the time and money to go on a trip. Carly took the good with the bad. She would travel with Veronica across Europe, doing a bit of silly sightseeing (lots of selfies with gorgeous backdrops that Veronica insisted on putting on Instagram everyday), some art museum and church tours (which she enjoyed), walking around ancient streets, and mandatory partying in the evenings.
By the time they got to Prague, Carly was worn out. They danced all night at an ultra-upscale nightclub with Veronica at the center of everyone's attention. She downed a few drinks, had a few dances, and found herself annoyed trying to get men's hands off her. She didn't want to get touched, kissed, or laid, so the nightclub was clearly the wrong place for her.
Carly shouted a quick "I'm gonna go get some fresh air!" to Veronica and went outside. The night air was cool and refreshing, but the neon lights and the chatter from inside the clubhouse still bothered her. She wrapped her long cozy shawl around her and started walking away from the major roads and all the action. It became quieter, and quieter.
Until it was just her.
She wasn't worried about being lost. She had her phone with google map. She looked around and walked past tall walls with gates, beyond which glimpses of majestic mansions could be seen. Some of the mansions were flying flags from different countries. She figured she had stumbled upon an area where consulates and foreign diplomats lived.
She could still hear cars passing by frequently just two streets away on the major thoroughfare. Her gait was deliberate and slow as she thought about what it meant to live in a foreign country like this. She never lived abroad, only visited foreign countries for family vacations. She sometimes envied friends who had grown up all over the world because of their parents' work. Often they spoke multiple languages fluently and continued to have connections overseas. Often, they seemed to know just what they wanted for both their career and romantic life.
She was sure she wanted to be a veterinarian, but she wasn't sure how love would play out in her life. Growing up as an attractive girl, she never had a problem with finding guys to flirt with, but taking that one step further, to live together forever...seemed remote.
She stopped just before turning a corner, staying still in the dark of the night.
Is this all there is to life?
she wondered.
Get a job, make money, get married, maybe have kids, send them to college, retire?
That's what her parents did. They seem to enjoy the lifestyle of running a vineyard under the California sunshine, where harvest season is busy but business is good, and every day ends with good food and wine. She secretly found her parents' life boring. In part, that was why she went into caring for animals. She chose to specialize in equine surgery and emergency care. She had a bright mind, steady hands, and had lifelong experience with horses. She exceled in her program. It was actually somewhat awkward for her to apply for residency in New York City, where there was little demand for equine veterinarians, but she did it out of her foolish romantic dream. The re-matched hospital in Austin, which had an equine surgery center, was a much more suitable career choice.
Her mind wandered off to think of her family's vineyard, her stable with the horse she still had back at home, and her ex. She barely noticed the black sedan driving down the road ahead of her. No one would have noticed her, as she was concealed in a dark corner and had been standing there for a good while. The sedan went was out of sight. The sound of car doors opening barely registered in her mind -- those were just everyday background noise. That was, until she heard a quiet, broken off scream.
She stepped out of her dark corner just in time to see a man shooting through the open car door. The man turned to look at her.
She froze.
The next moment the splitting sound of a shot broke through. The man bent down and put a hand to his abdomen. He'd been shot. Shouts could be heard from inside the mansion next to the gate.
A car came screaming beside her. The door was open and an arm reached out and yanked her in while the car sped toward the faltering gunman. More shots were fired, some clearly aimed at the car. The gunman managed to dive into the passenger seat just before a bullet went past the open car door putting a hole through it. Somehow both car doors got closed and the car accelerated at an insane speed, making deadly sharp turns through the narrow aisles of the city, causing her to tumble inside the car. She was barely holding on.
The driver, though not visible from where she was, shouted and cursed in German. After the driver repeated a few times, she figured out he was talking about the gunman in the passenger seat being shot.
The man who dragged her into the backseat was still gripping her arm. He spoke to the gunman, surprisingly, in perfect American English, "Where are you shot?"
"The stomach!" The gunman responded in coarse, heavily accented English.
"Can you stop the bleeding?"
The gunman groaned didn't answer. His breathing was heavy and irregular.
Her backseat cohabitant repeated the question, this time with more urgency in his tone, "Can you stop the bleeding?"
The gunman continued to groan but seemed incapable of doing anything else.
Then, Carly's medical instinct kicked in.
"Bring him to the back!"
