Lucky T (25 page)

"You know what? I'm glad I lost that T-shirt."

"You are?" Asha said, her mouth dropping open. "But it's your luck!"

"It was," Carrie said. "But if I hadn't lost it, I never would have met any of you."

The kids all smiled at one another and Carrie held the necklace out to Manisha. "Wil you help me put it on?" she asked.

Manisha undid the tiny clasp and Carrie turned her back to the kids, lifting her hair up so Manisha could fasten the necklace around her neck. When she stood up to look in the mirror, all the kids watched her proudly. Carrie smiled at her reflection and laid her hand over the medal ion, taking a long, deep breath. She looked at Dash, Akhtar, Manisha, Trina, and Asha in the mirror and grinned. Carrie had been blessed with a lot of luck that summer, both good and bad, and the result of it all was-- she was happy. She turned around, crouched down, and wrapped her friends up in one big group hug.

"You really like it?" Akhtar asked.

Carrie squeezed her eyes closed to keep from crying. "I've never loved any gift more."

That night after lights-out, Carrie found Dee standing on the balcony, leaning against the wrought-iron rail. He was wearing a pair of long cargo shorts, a dark blue Tshirt, and the Birkenstocks that she'd seen him walk in all summer. She closed the door behind her and he turned around. His surprise was written all over his unbelievably gorgeous face.

"Hey," Carrie said.

"Hey," he replied.

She took a few steps across the balcony, pushing her hands into the pockets of her lemon-colored capri pants. Now that she was here, she had no idea where to begin.

"How do you like the necklace?" Dee asked, breaking the silence.

"It's beautiful," Carrie said, happy just to be talking. "Was it your idea?"

"No, actually," Dee said. "The kids came up with it all on their own. They really adore you, Carrie."

Carrie walked over to Dee and stood right beside him. She leaned over the balcony too and gazed out into the night sky.

"What about you?" Carrie asked. "It doesn't seem like you adore me anymore."

Just then Carrie and Dee both looked at each other, and their eyes were locked in a magical trance.

"That's not true," Dee said, his face turning red in the cheeks. "I--wel , you know, I lo--"

Suddenly a cat made a loud shrieking sound and Dee stopped talking.

Oh God, was he about to say he loves me? Carrie thought. She looked up at the stars and invoked the spirit world. C'mon, throw me a bone!

"What were you going to say?"

"Well, I wanted to say that I . . . am sorry, Carrie," Dee said.

Noooooo! "I love you" is way better than "I'm sorry."

But no matter how much Carrie hoped he'd say it, Dee was already off in another direction.

"You were right. Kids need to have fun. If today proved anything, it proved that. And you realized how important that was. I guess I just didn't see it."

Carrie swal owed hard. "Listen, I had it pretty good growing up. I mean, doing my homework in my own air- conditioned room with my mom's help and everything? Turns out that wasn't quite the tough life I thought it was."

Dee smiled and took her hand. "So, you forgive me?"

"If you forgive me," Carrie said, giving his hand a squeeze.

"Good," Dee said. "Because I couldn't bear the idea of you leaving tomorrow without saying good-bye."

Carrie was seconds away from kidnapping Dee and stuffing him in her duffel bag. "Me neither."

"I can't believe that your time in India is already over."

Carrie looked up at him and grinned. "Oh, it's not over yet."

Half an hour later Carrie skipped onto the dance floor in Dee's marketplace, wearing the sari he gave her, and paused right in the center of the mayhem. The band played a fast, bass-heavy song and the young female singer looked as if she was having the time of her life, her long hair flying everywhere as she danced and swayed and sang. Dee finally caught up to Carrie and stood in front of her, bemused but grinning.

"What are we doing here?" he shouted over the music.

"This!" Carrie said.

She curved one arm over her head, the other out in front of her chest, snapped her fingers, and wiggled her hips. Dee laughed and covered his mouth with both hands, shocked.

"Where did you learn that?" he asked.

"I have very talented friends," she said, dancing around him in a circle. Thanks to a few dance lessons from Manisha, Trina, and Asha, Carrie felt totally comfortable with her moves, shuffling along expertly to the beat and holding her head high. "So are you going to dance with me or what?"

"I can't believe you did this," Dee said, moving to the beat and spinning to keep up with her. "It must have taken you hours!"

"Hey, I wasn't that bad," Carrie said as everyone around her started to twirl. She jumped right in, spinning and spinning and never getting dizzy. Thanks to a little tip from Asha about whipping her head around to keep one stationary object in sight, Carrie could twirl for hours.

Just like before, Carrie lost Dee in all the blurring lights and colors. She laughed as she spun, feeling like a little kid who had just learned the pleasures of twirling for the first time. Then suddenly Dee grabbed her arm and she stopped, breathless and giddy.

"What?" Carrie asked, looking up into his eyes.

"You're beautiful," he said.

Carrie's heart whirled along with the rest of the dancing crowd. "What?" she shouted, pretending she couldn't hear him.

"You're beautiful!" he said a bit louder.

Carrie narrowed her eyes and shook her head slightly. "Yeah, speak up, Dee, so the people in the cheap seats can hear you."

"You're beautiful!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, throwing his hands in the air.

A few people around them grinned and rolled their eyes. Carrie stepped closer to Dee; every cell in her body was shuddering with anticipation.

"So, were you going to kiss me again?" she said. "Because my time in India's pretty much over and if you don't do it in the next thirty seconds, I may just be forced to attack you."

Dee grinned, took a step back, and crossed his arms over his chest. He raised his eyebrows, challenging her.

Carrie laughed. "Al right, then. This is all your fault."

She reached up, slung her arms around his neck, and kissed him, feeling euphoric as her lips touched his. Dee picked her up off the ground and held her close, twirling her around under the stars. When he finally put her down again, Carrie was completely awestruck by the emotion she saw in Dee's eyes "You know what, Carrie Fitzgerald?" Dee said, touching his forehead to hers. "I can't believe how lucky I am to have fallen in love with you."

Carrie had never felt so relaxed and at ease in her life. "But you don't believe in luck," she murmured.

Dee ran his fingers along her cheekbone, kissed her on the nose, and whispered into her ear, "I do now."

Carrie kicked back in her aisle seat and stretched her legs as far as they could go. Celia was gazing out the window, looking down at the clouds below them. Doreen was nestled in the middle seat, flipping through a copy of InStyle magazine, which Carrie thought was a wonderful change of pace from her usual reading material. Could it be that Doreen was actually going to invest in the art of looking good and being nice? Only time would tell .

Doreen nudged Carrie's arm and pointed to a photo of Donatel a Versace, who was wearing a snug-fitting black rayon sheath dress that had a plunging neckline. "What do you think?"

Carrie squinted and made a strange face. "Yeah, that's a little . . . extreme."

"You're right,"-Doreen agreed. "Not like I could walk into study hal wearing that."

While Doreen kept paging through the pretty pictures of celebrities and their wardrobes, Carrie began wondering what Dee was doing at that very moment. Carrie unzipped the front pouch of her backpack and pulled out the note he had given her that morning with strict instructions for her to read it on the plane. Now was as good a time as any.

Dear Carrie, I remember you telling me that you hate flying, so I just thought I'd remind you how much you mean to me and how much you mean to the kids. When you start to get anxious, reread this note over and over again and know that we're thinking of you.

Thank you so much for an incredible summer. Can't wait to see you over Thanksgiving break. It'll be my first trip to the States, and I know you'll take good care of me.

Miss you already, Dee Carrie sighed. She missed Dee so much that she was actually having physical pain. Doreen leaned in and started reading over Carrie's shoulder.

"Aw, a letter from your love machine."

Carrie rolled her eyes. "Stop."

"You love him. You're going to have a mil ion of his babies," Doreen teased.

"Are you finished?" Carrie asked.

"Hmmm . . . one more," Doreen replied. "Carrie and Dee, sitting in a tree--"

"Al right, enough!" Carrie said, laughing.

"Fine. Ruin my fun." Doreen snickered. "So do you think this is going to work out? There are several continents between you guys."

"Who knows? Maybe. Weirder things have happened, right?" Carrie said with a wink.

"Yes, like you and I sitting next to each other without getting into a catfight," Doreen said, faking a fearful shudder.

Carrie laughed and then began to give Dee's note another read, just so she could have that I'm-so-crazy- for-this-guy feeling all over again.

"Hey, wait a second," Doreen said after catching another glimpse over Carrie's shoulder. "What does that say after the PS?"

Carrie looked down, read it quickly, and her eyes bulged. Then she folded the paper up as swiftly as she could and tried to distract Doreen.

"Hey, check that out. Are we flying over Guam?" Carrie asked, pointing out the window.

"Nice try, Carrie," Doreen said distrustfully, then grabbed the note out of her hand. She took a closer look at the postscript and let out a weary sigh.

"Oh my God. 'Tell Doreen about the special medical research they're doing in Brazil'?"

"It's our little inside joke," Carrie said, trying not to laugh.

"Very funny," Doreen replied.

"Oh, Doreen. You know we love you."

"Yeah, yeah. Sure you do," Doreen said, returning her gaze to the magazine. "So what's the first thing you're going to do when you get home?"

Carrie touched her fingers to her Ganesha medal ion and began to think of all the loose ends she was going to have to tie up. There was meeting with Piper and getting ready for her junior year of high school. She'd have to do a bunch of shopping with her mom and attend a couple of the summer parties that her friends would be throwing. But there was one thing that Carrie knew she needed to do literally the second she stepped off the plane.

"I'm going to call my dad," she said. "He and I need to have a nice long talk."

"This is Akhtar and Dash on the basketball court," Carrie said, handing her father another picture to add to the rapidly growing pile on the table in front of him. "And this is Dee with the girls."

"Handsome guy," he said, studying the shot. "Not good enough for you, but then, no one ever will be. You should know that up front."

Carrie grinned and sat back in her favorite booth at the Starbucks near her house. A week had passed since she had returned from India and already her father was there, as promised. They had been chilling at the coffee shop for almost two hours, talking about her trip and Dee and the kids and the fund-raiser. Her father had sat there listening the entire time, his brown eyes rapt with attention.

"I'm so proud of you, Carrie," her dad said, flipping through a few of the pictures again. "This looks like it was an amazing trip."

"It was," Carrie said, taking a sip of her latte. "I still can't believe I did it."

"I can. I always knew you were a thril seeker," her father said with a smile.

"So, Dad, is this okay?" she asked tentatively. "I mean, I hope you didn't get in any trouble for switching your schedule so last minute to come here."

"No, everything's fine," her father said reassuringly.

Carrie noticed there were a few more lines around his eyes than usual and his hair looked lighter, which reminded her just how long it had been since they had seen each other. But even so, her dad still radiated this amazingly positive aura. It was one of the reasons Carrie liked being around him. Just being in his presence made her feel content and loved.

"Carrie, you have no idea what went through me when you told me how much you missed me," he said, taking the conversation in a more serious direction. "I always thought ... I always thought you were really angry at me for leaving and I suppose I thought you wanted me to stay away."

"You did?" Carrie asked, baffled. "I was only upset because I didn't get to see you enough."

"I know that now," her father replied. "You really need to understand that me being away a lot was just me chickening out. You hadn't done anything wrong. It was just that I was having trouble dealing with the situation. I look back and wish I handled things differently."

Carrie leaned over the table and held his hand. "Well, maybe we can just start fresh."

"I was thinking exactly the same thing," her dad said enthusiastically. "In fact, I talked to my manager the other day and she's working it out so that I'll get one flight through San Francisco per week."

"You're kidding!" Carrie said excitedly. "Once a week?"

Her father grinned widely. "Turns out I actually have enough seniority to pul some strings. Imagine that."

"Wow. Dad, that's amazing," Carrie said. She couldn't believe it. Talk about wanting to handle things differently. If she had talked to her dad about her feelings a long time ago, he would have found a solution, just like he had today.

"Hey! Maybe we'll even take a trip together this year," her dad said.

"That'd be cool," Carrie replied. "Where?"

"I don't know. Anywhere particular you want to go?" her father asked as he swirled the coffee in his cup.

Carrie pretended to ponder the question. "Um . . . I've always wanted to check out London."