Chapter 34

19:15 PDT Friday, October 11^th, 1991

Stern Hall

University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720

"I haven't done this in years," Deb said to Kate.

"What, walk on a college campus?"

"No, I meant 'wait to get signed into a dormitory'," Deb replied.

"You're sure she'll be here?" Kate asked for the fourth time.

"Denise was sure," Deb replied, sanguinely.

A few moments passed, while Deb smiled at the student behind the desk, and then Lynne trotted out of an elevator.

"Oh, my gosh, what are you two doing here?" Lynne seemed really excited to see her guests, Kate saw. "Never mind, tell me upstairs," she continued. "It's ok? They're signed in?" to the girl at the desk.

Receiving affirmation, Lynne pulled the two of them to the elevator, and then she eyed Kate's large totebag meaningfully.

Kate caught her eye and winked.

"This is an All-Woman dorm?" Deb seemed more than idly curious.

"Um," for some reason Lynne blushed, and wouldn't look at the other two women. "When I was starting out, I decided I didn't need boys as a distraction." Kate and Deb shared a grin, and then Lynne spoke to the corner of the elevator, "The new term is 'single-sex residence'," and looked back at the other two, momentary embarrassment forgotten.

As soon as the elevator opened on the third floor, Lynne bounded ahead. "It's right down here..." and laughing, the two older women followed the excited girl.

Once in the small concrete-walled room, Lynne offered seats on the blonde-wood bed and the unoccupied chair. Kate took a quick inventory – off-white walls, institutional blue carpet, beige drapes, and blocky furniture. "Jess, these are my friends, the ones I was telling you about. Kate owns the vineyard, and Deb is a lawyer." Outside the large-format window was foliage from what looked to be an oak tree, obscuring whatever view may have been out the window otherwise.

Wide-eyed, Jess stood up to shake the older ladies' hands. Kate had an impression of a shy, mousy type, wearing a sweatshirt over jeans and hiding behind her hair and glasses. With a mental shrug, Kate heard Jess give a small squeak as Kate began pulling bottles of wine and plastic cups from her tote bag.

Deb gave Jess a reassuring smile, Kate saw, and while Lynne asked, "What are you two doing here?" Kate started pulling the cork from a bottle of Chardonnay.

"Can't two friends visit another friend?" Deb asked in a teasing voice.

Lynne gulped at that, Kate saw, and a moment later she thrust the first glass poured at the younger girl. "I have something for you, and I think it's good news," she said. "Drink ... its Friday night, and you're in college. You shouldn't be studying."

Jess seemed surprised when Kate handed her a glass, too. "Go easy, Jess, if you're not used to it. It can leave you feeling really bad in the morning," Kate murmured.

Nodding, Jess took an exploratory sip, and Kate smiled at her.

"What do you have for me, Kate?" Lynne was curious.

Not wanting to keep the girl on tenterhooks any longer, Kate withdrew the par Avion envelope from the side pocket of the tote. "I think it's got to be good news, but in case it's not, we're here," she told the anxious girl.

Trembling, her eyes as wide as Kate had ever seen them; Lynne took the envelope from Kate's fingers. With a shy look around the room at the others, Lynne opened it, and sat down on Jess' bed to read it.

"Oh," she exhaled, while the others watched, and then, "Oh, wow." Through the sniff and runny eyes, she smiled at Kate. "Can I bring a date for Christmas and New Years?"

"It's good news?" Deb asked.

"Oh, yes," Lynne sobbed, as she launched across the small carpeted space between the beds, and hugged Deb. Releasing Deb quickly, she hugged Kate, too.

"I think it's good news," Deb said, seriously, to Jess.

The other girl in the room just stared at Deb, and then, as if becoming aware of the cup in her hand, drank some of the wine.

"Read it," Lynne said, thrusting the letter at Kate, and Kate began to read out loud.

"Ma Cherie Lynne, it is my hope this finds you well, and your studies going well also. I write with a heavy heart, as I come to terms with your absence from my life. My days and nights are filled with the thought of you, and I find the everyday to be grayer, lacking luster and light." Kate paused, and swallowed, then continued. "I do not know how you will react to this news, I can only hope it is with joy, as we had parted both agreeing nothing could come from our friendship. And yet, I cannot escape thoughts of you, and the joy we had shared in our short sojourn. I can only hope you feel similarly. I tried to avoid thought of you, to go through the motions expected of me with the local girls, and I find myself doing so with distaste, for they are not you."

Kate took a deep breath, and finished. "So, I hope against hope that perhaps you harbor some similar emotion for me. I have leave for the traditional holidays, and if you were amenable, I would come visit for the year-end, Noël and L'Annee. I am, of course, waiting, Ensign Robert Bertrand-d'Avigny."

"Kate," Lynne said, in a small voice, "why me? Why would he choose me? He's not..."

"Shh," Kate soothed her. "You're smart, and you're beautiful and dynamic, and you're going places, Lynne, and that's attractive as hell." Kate judged the young woman before her, and then added, "And, you were probably really good in bed, too."

Lynne was caught with the cup of wine at her lips, and she snorted her laughter into the cup, causing a spray that soaked her face. Deb coughed politely to cover her own smile, and wordlessly handed her a handkerchief from her purse.

Kate was aware of a blushing Jess watching in wonder as the older women began describing techniques Lynne could use on her young French lover, assuring Lynne she'd need to go way over the top to beat what "those French Riviera girls" knew how to do, each supposed 'technique' getting more improbable and more graphic as the wine cups were refilled.