A Bridge of Her Own (26 page)

Jane handed the mic back to Lacey and calmly walked off the court with the Rams fight song echoing all around her.

Lacey ran after her and pulled her into a big hug. “You were amazing!”

By that time, local reporters were making their way over to them shouting out questions to Jane.

“Um, let’s get you out of here,” Lacey said, grabbing her hand and pulling her to the nearest exit.

They made a clean getaway. Lacey pulled over into a parking lot to catch her breath.

“Did I really just do that?” Jane asked Lacey with a sideways glance.

“You sure as hell did. There should be no question now. Holy crap. Wyatt has got to be losing his mind right now. I do think you went too easy on him, though.” Lacey giggled.

“Hush,” Jane said, pushing her shoulder.

“He deserves worse for everything he has done over the years,” Lacey went on but then, seeing the look Jane gave her, said, “Alright, alright. I’m done."

When they got back to their apartment, Jane was shocked to see Gabe waiting by her door.

“Hey,” she said uncertainly. “What’s going on Gabe?”

He held up his phone with a video of her at the game. "Matt is at the Rams game and sent me a video he took of the halftime show. He thought I would really enjoy it. I’m also pretty sure it may have already gone viral on YouTube, too, just so you know."

Jane covered her face with her hands.

“Pretty public way of clearing up the status of your engagement,” he laughed.

“I suppose. Hey, Lace, can we have a sec?” was all Jane could manage in response.

“Sure. Good seeing you, Gabe,” Lacey said before heading inside.

“So the thing is I would still like to keep seeing you if you would like to still see me,” Gabe said, looking pretty nervous.

“I do want to keep seeing you,” Jane began. “But I want to take a bit of time first to let all of the mess that may come from what I did today settle down first. Maybe lay low for a bit.”

“I’m good at laying low,” Gabe said, grinning.

“Not that kind of laying,” Jane laughed, flushing.

“You don’t have to deal with this all alone, though,” Gabe replied more seriously, taking her hand.

“That means so much to me, Gabe, but I don’t really know how to explain this so bear with me. I feel like I need to take a bit of time to center myself. I feel a bit adrift and can’t really meet you in the middle feeling this shaky about myself."

“I deserve that," he said, hanging his head. "I never should have let the whole situation with you and your ex bother me as much as it did."

"Gabe," Jane said. "Don't be crazy. If the roles were reversed, I would have done the same thing. Believe
me, I really want to pick up where we left off. If I think about it any longer, I may just drag you upstairs right now but—"

"But," Gabe repeated.

"But," Jane continued, leaning against him. "I just want the dust to settle first."

"Just please don’t leave me hanging too long," he said kissing her forehead.

He left, looking back at her with sad eyes.

She went inside and relayed their conversation to Lacey.

“Did I do the right thing, Lace?”

Lacey stared at her open-mouthed, “I thought you really liked Gabe."

“I just feel like I need a break,” Jane confessed, suddenly looking very exhausted. “I think I’m just going to go lay down.” She gave Lacey a half smile and went to her room.

Jane was asleep in no time. Ronald came and snuggled into her neck. Luckily, her phone was downstairs. Lacey fielded calls from local reporters and sent a call from Wyatt straight to voicemail.

When Jane woke the next morning, she felt so refreshed. She had had a vivid dream of this beautiful bridge. The idea of it symbolizing everything that she was going through really struck her. It was the concept of moving from one situation to another, from point A to point B. Before Wyatt had come back into her life, she had actually thought she was over him.

While she had no romantic feelings for him in any capacity at this point, she at least now could admit that he still had some power over her. If he had not, she would have had no issue telling him from the start to seek greener pastures elsewhere.

Sure, she had spoken up for herself yesterday in front of what felt like the world. She cringed, remembering what Gabe had said about it being on YouTube. Even though she had faced a giant fear yesterday, she felt that his power over her would not truly be gone until she could look him in the eyes and truly stand up for herself.

What the bridge in her dream reminded her was, despite all her bravery yesterday, she had not crossed that bridge yet and would not be able to say those words to Wyatt until she had. She also felt that while Wyatt was an obstacle, she would need to overcome possibly what she feared the most was disappointing her mother. She had never even told her parents about Gabe before her heart to heart with her mom. He was a perfectly nice guy, but she still wondered if her mother would think he was good enough compared to Wyatt.

As Jane mulled that thought over, Ronald began head bunting her knee in search of attention. She picked him up and carried him downstairs to feed him. Lacey had the news on, and they were showing film footage of a fender bender on a local bridge. Setting Ronald down quickly, Jane watched, reminded of the bridge from her dream. It was not the same bridge on the news, but it made her wonder if her bridge was real and maybe even local. She really didn’t understand why, but she really wanted to put that image onto canvas.

Offended by his abrupt descent, and now obvious lack of breakfast, Ronald meowed loudly at her feet. Realizing this, Jane apologized to her disgruntled feline and filled his bowl. When she came back into the room, Lacey asked her why she was acting like a space cadet. Jane told her about her dream and the feeling that the bridge was familiar.

Lacey laughed, saying, “Um, we live in the River City, so there are plenty to choose from."

That was not a bad idea, Jane thought. “Want to
come check some out with me today?”

“Bridges?”
Lacey asked.

“Yep,” Jane replied happily, getting up to get some cereal.

“Will there be a lot of walking?” Lacey asked nervously.

“Probably not.
I was just thinking about driving around,” Jane said in response.

With that, Lacey agreed to go.

“Bring your camera,” Jane called out from the doorway and then waited for Lacey by her car.

As they drove, Lacey caught Jane up on all of the calls she had missed. Jane had to laugh at her can response to all of the reporters who had called. “Jane Martin has no follow up remarks to her public statement yesterday. She would, however, like to remind you that prior to yesterday, she did reach out to you, and you were not interested in any of her comments at that time."

“If I ever need a press secretary, the job is yours,” Jane replied. She was dreading listening to Wyatt’s message, though.

They drove out past Jane’s parents’ house and down Patterson Avenue. There was a cemetery on the left, and Jane was struck by the trees that lined the road in front of the cemetery. There were power lines running above the trees, and each tree had been severely pruned to avoid the lines overhead. The deep cuts into the crown of each tree resembled a gaping mouth. That along with the cemetery behind them gave them an overall creepy look. Jane shivered to herself then asked Lacey to snap a picture of them and drove on.

They started with the World War II Veterans Memorial Bridge that was part of route 288. It felt like the longest bridge, not that the James River was wider beneath it as it covered a stretch of farmland as well as the river. Jane had Lacey take a couple of pictures as they passed over it and then Jane turned west and then cut back towards the river to take a couple more pictures. It was not the bridge from her dream. While it was long, it wasn’t very inspiring.

Now on the south side of the river, they continued east down
Robious and crossed the river again. This time, they took the Willey Bridge with Lacey protesting that they should have stopped at Stoney Point to shop on the way. This bridge was definitely more interesting than the last. It curved and winded with river vegetation folding in on both sides. Again, Lacey took a couple shots as they passed over. Finding a spot to take a long shot picture was a bit tricky but not impossible.

“I thought you said we wouldn’t be walking,” Lacey groaned.

“Come on. It’s like an adventure.” Jane was having the best time.

Lacey was just mad that she had stepped in a puddle and now had squishy shoes. The bridge was more interesting than the first, but it still wasn’t the one from her dream. When they got back to the car, Lacey took her shoes off and set them in the back window to dry. They crossed to the south side again, this time on the Huguenot Bridge. It was similar to the 288 bridge but not as high above the water. The water below it was like glass, with less trees or rocks breaking the surface. Lacey didn’t even need reminding to take pictures as they crossed this time, but blaming wet shoes, waited in the car as Jane went to take some pictures from the ground.

“I’m starving,” Lacey said as they made their way to the Powhite Parkway Bridge.

Getting closer Jane said, “Shit. It’s a toll road. Do you have any change?"

Lacey did and, as they crossed, Jane pointed south. "What’s that bridge? Take lots of pictures."

“I don’t think that’s a bridge for cars. Maybe it’s for trains,” Lacey said, studying it.

Once back on the north side, they stopped for food. They ate in a hole in the wall sandwich shop, and Lacey asked Jane over the whole bridge thing. Jane could not explain it, but she felt like the concept of a bridge was speaking to her. Lacey rolled her eyes, but this was the most excited she had seen Jane about anything, so she just shrugged and went along with it.

Their next bridge was the Nickel Bridge. They looked up in advance whether it was toll or not to make sure they had enough money for it. It was, but they had change from lunch so they were covered.

As they approached the bridge, Jane began slapping Lacey on the shoulder. “This is it. Take pictures. Take lots of pictures."

“Ouch! Stop hitting me, and I’ll take pictures. Geez,” Lacey shouted.

Once over, they took the first exit. Jane parked and got out to take more pictures. Once she got back in the car, Lacey asked

“Are we going home now that you found your bridge?” Jane wanted to cross one more, which they would have to do anyways to get back home. It was a bridge they were both already familiar with, it being close to downtown. It was the Lee Bridge. From it, Jane got a two-in-one because the Manchester Bridge was close enough to the east for Lacey to also take pictures of as they crossed.

Lacey’s shoes were dry enough that she agreed to walk around with Jane. What made this one special was that it had a pedestrian suspension bridge that ran beneath and crossed over to Belle Isle. During the Civil War, the island had been used as a prison for Union soldiers. Lacey always thought the place was creepy because so many people had died there.

Jane took more pictures, even aiming across the river towards Hollywood Cemetery. She was having a terrific time until some kids on bikes asked if she was the chick from the YouTube video. She figured that was her sign to go home. On the way back, she stopped by a pharmacy and printed all of the pictures they had taken.

Once home, she laid them all out on her bed while Lacey took a nap. She set her easel up and starting with the bridge from her dream, using pastels to draw it. She would refer to the photos from time to time, but mainly just drew from memory. The pastels she used gave her piece a soft smudgy effect. She lost track of time and had to get up to turn on her overhead light because it had gotten so dark outside. Her drawing wasn’t complete, but it was close. She stretched her arms and walked downstairs.

Lacey was awake, snacking on the sofa while she watched Real Housewives of somewhere. Jane made herself a bowl of ice cream and joined her. Ronald, smelling her food, started crawling all over her for a taste. She gave in and let him lick some off of her spoon. She told Lacey about her drawing, sending her upstairs to check it out.

Lacey came back down mouth-dropped. “Jane that is beautiful."

Jane blushed and thanked her.

“I think I might try and do all of the bridges,” she admitted.

She wasn’t sure if she would be able to do it, but she felt really inspired. She was actually bummed that she would have to go to work tomorrow. She would have preferred to stay home and work on her project. She must have been hunched over pretty bad while she drew, though, because her shoulders and back felt pretty sore. When she finished her ice cream, she left the bowl for Ronald to lick and went back upstairs to take a bath.

She ran the water as hot as she could stand it and added some shower gel to the mix to make it a bit bubbly. The bath was so hot she could just barely stand in it, feet burning, for a couple minutes before she dared to sit. Once she was all the way in, she relaxed and let the hot water uncoil her abused muscles. As she lay there, she began to formulate a plan.