Waking the Wolf

3. Sylvie’s Last-Ditch Attempt

3

Sylvie’s Last-Ditch Attempt

SYLVIE SLEPT BADLY on Saturday night. She was excited and had high expectations of meeting David again the next day, but at the same time, she was daunted by the likelihood of more rejection. Every time she began to drift off to sleep, panic would crash down on her and wake her up trembling with apprehension. She longed to be with him again and reach out for the life they’d once had, but deep down she realized she was probably seeking the impossible. However, she had to find out for sure even if it was painful.

She had at last fallen into a sleep of emotional exhaustion before dawn. She awoke abruptly when her mother came into her room to check on her daughter.

“Chérie, it’s ten o’clock. Isn’t it time you were up?” she asked as she drew the drapes.

Sylvie sat up and looked about her in befuddlement. She felt rough. Her eyes were swollen and her limbs heavy.

“Maman?”

“Sylvie, it’s Sunday. You’re going to meet David. Remember?” reminded Yvonne.

“Oh, no!” sighed Sylvie, slumping back onto her pillows. “I didn’t get any sleep last night. I must look dreadful and it’s so important for me to be at my best today. I want David to see what he is passing up.”

“You don’t want to hear this… but… you’re pinning far too much hope on this meeting. I don’t want you to be crushed even more. You’ve come such a long way this week. Wouldn’t it be better left well alone?”

“You don’t understand. I need to understand why David did what he did.”

“Sometimes, Sylvie, there isn’t an answer. Sometimes in life you have to let things go.”

“But, Maman, you’re the one who always says we should go the extra mile,” argued Sylvie.

“Sylvie, you are so emotional about all this that you’re beyond reason. I’m going to stand back and let you do what you need to do. I’ll be here for you whatever happens. Now, let’s get you out of that rumpled bed and into the shower and get you looking something like normal before you venture off to the lion’s den.”

Sylvie smiled. “That’s funny—David a lion!”

“That’s my girl,” said Yvonne, pulling the covers back before shooing her daughter across the room and into the bathroom. “I’ll go get some breakfast ready while you beautify yourself, my lovely.”

When Sylvie walked into The Wanderer at one o’clock, she looked good. Several of the female customers gave her the once-over as potential competition, and all the male customers glanced at her—all save one. David was seated at the back of the cafe with his back to the door as if he wasn’t interested in the comings and goings. At the sight of his stiff posture, Sylvie’s stomach fluttered with apprehension. As she approached the table and walked round it to sit down opposite him, his face was white and drawn. This was as much of a strain for him as it was for her, but she wasn’t going to run away. She had to get back the David she knew, her David, the David who was fun to be with.

Sylvie waited for a few moments for him to acknowledge her presence, but he kept his eyes fixed on the table.

“Hi, David. It was good of you to agree to meet with me today.”

He barely nodded.

“David, this is hard for me, too.”

She pulled out a chair and sat down. “Would give me some idea of why you decided you had to break off with me? It would help me to get over all this,” she began.

David shifted in his seat and didn’t answer.

“Please, David. I don’t want to beg, but please answer my question.”

“If you don’t know, what is the point in my telling you?”

“Please, David.”

“Sylvie, you haven’t noticed me for a long time, not really. You’ve been so busy getting ahead and proving that you’re better than me.”

The injustice of his words struck Sylvie with the impact of a physical blow and she shot backwards in her seat. Her sudden movement brought Lisa over to the table.

“Are you guys all right? Can I get you anything?” she asked Sylvie anxiously.

Sylvie waved her away. “No, we’re fine,” she said, conscious of the hollowness of her assertion.

Lisa gave Sylvie a reassuring pat on the shoulder and backed off.

“David, would you change your mind if I gave up my idea of having a career and stayed at home?”

That brought David’s head up. “How can you be so ridiculous? How am I supposed to afford a stay-at-home wife in today’s recession when I’m starting up a veterinary practice from scratch?”

“What if I had some other sort of job—one which was not as demanding?”

“You don’t get it, do you, Sylvie? When a thing’s over, it’s over.”

Sylvie put her hand out to touch David’s but he pulled it back, folded his arms across his chest and glared at her.

“So, everything we’ve been through together was all for nothing, David?”

“You’ve got it. Where’s your pride, Sylvie? How can you come begging to me like this? Any other woman would have gotten the message by now.”

Sylvie shoved back her chair and rose to her feet. She snatched up her purse and retorted, “David, you’re right. You’re oh so right! I must be mad to be trying to salvage any sort of relationship with a man like you.”

She walked out of the cafe as quickly as she could before her trembling legs gave up on her.

Outside, she leaned against the front of the shop next door, wrapping her arms around herself and she stamped her foot in fury. How dare he speak to her like that? What gave him the right to judge her behavior?

“Sylvie, Sylvie, are you all right?” asked Lisa who’d followed her friend outside.

Sylvie looked up to meet Lisa’s concern. “I’m fine, Lisa. Just dandy! That bastard! That two-faced nasty bastard! I’m so mad I’m afraid I’ll burst.”

“You’re angry? Really angry? Oh, Sylvie, that’s so good.” Lisa chuckled, and poked her friend in the ribs. “Really?”

Sylvie straightened up, looked back at Lisa and started to laugh. “Lisa, I’m cured. No one, not even David, gets to speak to me like that.”

“He didn’t let you down gently?”

“Nope,” replied Sylvie shaking her head. “How could I have wanted to spend the rest of my life with someone so lacking in compassion? I pity the animals he’s going to treat.”

“Wait here a moment, Sylvie, and I’ll get permission to take the rest of the shift off. We can go for a walk to the park and talk things over.”

Sylvie nodded, “Thanks, Lisa, you’re a good friend.”

While Sylvie waited for Lisa to return, she took several deep breaths, willing her anger away.

Lisa came hurrying up, “Sylvie, you’re better already? You’re not so pale.”

“I’m working on it, Lisa. I don’t like losing my temper and getting mad.”

“You don’t need to tell me that, Sylvie. You’re one of the gentlest people I know.”

“Lisa, it was odd. Something went click—in my head, in my heart or in my gut. I don’t know which—maybe, all three. It’s as if a spell has been lifted from me.”

“Now, you’re getting melodramatic, my friend, but I’m glad you’re no longer besotted.”

“Besotted, was I? Besotted?” asked Sylvie beginning to giggle. “Where did you dig up that quaint expression?”

Lisa caught the giggles, “Oh, I don’t know. Just seems to fit.”

The two girls looked at each other.

“Did you notice how rigid David was?” asked Sylvie between giggles.

“You should have seen his face when you walked out. He looked as if someone had thrown a custard pie at him.”

“Don’t, oh don’t. I’m going to be sick.”

They both had to stop for a moment to get their breath back, they were laughing so hard.

“I’ll tell you what, Lisa,” gasped Sylvie in between spates of giggling, “It’s going to be a long, long time before I allow myself to become besotted with anyone else. It’s too painful.”

“Right, no more besottedness for either of us. Agreed?”

“Agreed,” answered Sylvie firmly.

Arm in arm, the two girls walked along the pavement to the park. Thick piles of autumn leaves covered the pavement. Lisa kicked at them as she walked along. “I haven’t done this since I was a kid,” she said.

Sylvie watched her friend with envy. She was wearing her most expensive heels in a bid to charm David. This would be the second pair of shoes destroyed in a week, but what the hell? She joined in. It was great to be silly and childish for a few moments at the end of what had been such a stressful week.

When they reached the park, they found an empty bench near the entrance and sat down.

Sylvie turned to Lisa, “We’ve been laughing about all this and I said I was cured, but that’s not really true.”

“Sylvie, you can’t get over a long relationship like yours in an instant. It will take time. You should get away from here for a bit. Give things time to fade.”

“Run away, you mean?”

“No, it wouldn’t be running away. It would be giving yourself a chance to turn the page, as they say, and begin the rest of your life.”

“Where do you suggest I go? And what would I do?” asked Sylvie.

“You’ve finished your degree. It’s a good time to take a break, say a year. How about approaching Professor Templeton with a view to taking a sabbatical? Maybe he’d offer you some suggestions.”

“It’s a good idea. There’d be no constant reminders around pulling me back into my time with David. It would give me the opportunity to get back my self-respect. It wasn’t funny to be dumped at the altar in true clichéd fashion. I can tell you, it’s going to take me some time to get over being a laughingstock.”

“And people will forget. Something new will come along to entertain them, and your misfortune will be history.”

Sylvie considered for a moment before saying, “I’ll contact Professor Templeton as soon as I get home and ask him if he has any ideas, and if he will give me leave of absence.”

Sylvie telephoned Professor Templeton as soon as she returned home that afternoon and he said to come in first thing on Monday morning. He could squeeze in twenty minutes with her before his tutorials began.

Monday was one of Yvonne’s days for her student-counseling clinic, and so Sylvie asked her for a lift. Her mother dropped her off outside the elegant antebellum building in which Professor Templeton had his office.

Every time Sylvie visited his office, be it for a tutorial or for advice, she thought how lucky he was to be Dean of the Veterinary Science School and work in such a beautiful place. As she walked up the path to the front steps, she admired the majesty of its white Palladian pillars and the evergreen magnolia on the right of the building. It was as resplendent in autumn as in summer. Not so the floribunda rosebushes lining the path; they were mere skeletons of their summer selves.

A bit like her. Conserving their energy and preparing for a new burst of life. Where would she be next summer? She told herself to get a grip and not keep the Prof waiting. She hurried up the steps and upstairs to his study.

The Professor had obviously been watching out for her as he came to open the door as she reached it. “Come in, m’dear.”

He drew her into the room, closed the door behind her and pulled her towards him, wrapping her in a bear hug. “You look wonderful, Sylvie. You’ve got color in your cheeks again and the light is back in your eyes.”

Sylvie didn’t believe him, “Really? Better than the last time you visited us?”

“Miles better, my dear. You’re nearly back to the goddaughter I love so much. What happened? Here, come and sit down before you answer.”

Sylvie sat down in one of the comfortable armchairs in front of the Professor’s desk, and he took the other.

He leaned forward to hold her hands and asked, “So, my child, what has changed? David hasn’t had second thoughts, has he?”

Sylvie shook her head. “No, Prof, it’s not that. When I met him yesterday, I realized that you can’t make someone love you. I have to accept that it’s over and move on with my life. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about.”

The Professor let go of Sylvie’s hands and leaned back in his chair. He studied her for a few moments and said, “I can guess what you want to talk to me about. Your mother called me last night and filled me in on what you—”

“Oh, I wish she wouldn’t do that. I love my mother deeply, but I need to handle this myself.”

The Professor patted Sylvie’s knee. “There, there, my child. Your mother loves you and only wants what’s best for you and, anyway, she gave me a head start. I put out some feelers immediately and I’ve found a wonderful opportunity for you.”

Sylvie sat up straighter, “What sort of opportunity?”

The Professor chuckled, “I thought that would surprise you. A result already and you haven’t even asked me for help yet.”

“Don’t tease me, Prof. Go on, tell me.”

“I’ve found you a six-month placement in France—”

“In France? But that’s on the other side of the world.”

“No, no, my child. Don’t exaggerate. It’s only on the other side of the Atlantic.”

“Yes, but France. What sort of placement?”

“There’s a wild life conservation project in the South East of France. In the French Alps. They need a helping hand over the winter months, preferably someone with veterinary experience. You would fit the bill perfectly, Sylvie.”

“But what about my graduate course here? What about my thesis for my PhD?”

The Professor tutted. “Slow down, Sylvie. Give me a chance to explain. I have arranged for you to take a year’s sabbatical. Your place on the graduate program will still be here for you next year. Your experience over in France can count towards your thesis.”

“You said ‘winter’. Does that mean I would leave immediately?”

“Well, almost immediately. Isn’t that what you want, Sylvie?”

How wonderful it would be to escape from everything that reminded her of her wedding fiasco and from the pitying looks of her fellow students, to get right away for six months, discover fresh ideas and meet new people.

“But, Prof, who’s going to pay for all this?”

“Sylvie, you needn’t worry about the financing. That’s all taken care of. Part of the funding is from the University and part from the European Union. Consider it for a moment while I pour us both a cup of coffee.”

Sylvie sat back and watched unseeing as the Professor crossed the room to the coffee maker and poured out two cups of coffee. She didn’t need to weigh up the offer for long. She’d already made up her mind when he first mooted the project.

The Professor put a cup down on his desk at Sylvie’s side. “Aren’t you going to ask me what the conservation project is all about, Sylvie?”

Sylvie smiled, “Go on. You’re dying to tell me.”

“What is your favorite animal, m’dear?” teased the Professor.

Sylvie considered for a moment. It couldn’t be. “Oh, no, not wolves?”

The Professor laughed, “Thought that would surprise you.”

“Wolves? In the south of France? I’ve heard something about that, but don’t have any details. How did you manage to persuade them I would be a useful addition to their program?”

“Some merit on your side, my child. I mentioned the volunteer work you had carried out with the Yellowstone re-population project during your vacations. Plus, a large dose of nepotism. Reminded them your father had been a foremost expert on Canadian wolves before he took up his post with us down here in Mississippi.”

Sylvie was alarmed. “Oh, I hope they’re not going to expect me to be an expert, too.”

“Not at all. They’re expecting someone with a degree in veterinary science, an open mind and a love of conservation. And you fit the bill, don’t you, Sylvie?”

It was too marvelous to be believed. Sylvie jumped out of her chair to give the Professor a thank-you kiss.

“There, there, my child,” he said, detaching her arms from round his neck. “I haven’t finished telling you everything.”

“There’s more?”

“I’ve arranged for Lisa to go with you—”

“What?” gasped Sylvie. “Lisa as well?”

“Don’t worry. I’ve already spoken to Lisa, and she’s thrilled at the chance to go to France with you. Apparently, they can make use of her knowledge over there as there are some prehistoric sites in the same national park. Lisa says she’ll be able to work up a comparison with the prehistoric sites here in the US.”

Sylvie clapped her hands together. “I can’t take all this in. It’s a fairy tale. This time last week, I was so miserable. I wanted the earth to open up and swallow me, and now I am going on an adventure to another country, another continent, to study my favorite wild animal.”

The Professor gave her an affectionate look. “Sylvie, you deserve it. What happened to you should never happen to a loving young woman. Now you really must go, m’dear, as my students are waiting.”

Sylvie gave the kindly old man another kiss and turned to leave the room. At the door, she spun round suddenly, “But what about my mother, Prof? I don’t like to leave her alone.”

Professor Templeton smiled. “Don’t worry about Yvonne. We’re fond of each other. I’ll make sure she’s all right and keep her company while you are away.… Now, off with you.”