We Are Still Tornadoes
Page 18
Love,
Cath
P.S. Finals start on Monday. I have three exams and one Poetry paper to crank out, and then, about two weeks from now, my first year of college will be done and I will officially be a sophomore!
P.P.S. Just kidding about the social faux pas thing. Or so you hope!
* * *
AGEE’S MEN’S CLOTHING
Where Men and Boys Shop
EAST BLOOMFIELD, MARYLAND
* * *
May 10, 1983
Dear Cath,
I guess I’ll just have to hang out with the junior girls, then! They seemed more mature anyway.
As for how Samantha took the news, let’s just say it didn’t go over very well. And that would be an understatement. In case you’re wondering, I’m a “pathetic loser” and a “fucking piece of shit” who “led her on” and “wasted her fucking time” when there were plenty of other “better looking” guys who would “walk over a pile of shit on fire” just to be with her. (How’s that for overusing quotation marks?) So she broke up with me. Again. And I can’t even pretend that it hurt this time, because it didn’t. This may sound terrible, but it kind of felt like a relief. I think I’ve known it wasn’t right since I visited her, but it was hard to admit that when I thought I might be going to school with her.
So that’s over. I actually had a harder time when I told the band that I’m leaving at the end of the summer. And they were considerably cooler about it than Samantha was. No one called me a “fucking piece of shit.”
Now I have to get back to work. Not only do we have to put all the summer clothes out, but I need to teach the Moms how to reconcile the books and how to calculate the withholdings on their paychecks. And I have to order some more stationery for the store because somehow most of it disappeared this year. Do you have any idea how expensive stationery is? It’s not cheap.
Good luck with your next final, college girl.
Scott
P.S. I had to look up “faux pas.” If you’d just written “fo pa,” I would’ve gotten it.
P.P.S. And whoever said I wrote “Um” about Samantha anyway? I never had trouble saying “I love you” to Samantha, even though I’m not sure I meant it. Maybe I wrote that song about someone else.
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
May 13, 1983
Scott—
WHAT?
Who?
Cath
* * *
AGEE’S MEN’S CLOTHING
Where Men and Boys Shop
EAST BLOOMFIELD, MARYLAND
* * *
May 15, 1983
Dear Cath,
Think, college girl. Use that big brain of yours. Who wore a red dress to our senior prom?
If you can’t figure it out, we can talk about it when you get home.
Scott
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
May 18, 1983
Scott—
Well, Nancy Gilmartin wore that low-cut red minidress. Linda Hester wore that red one with the white collar. The only other girl who wore a red dress was me. I wore that red one with the spaghetti straps that you teased me about. Remember how you kept saying the straps didn’t look strong enough and you kept threatening to cut them? Funny, very funny.
Hold on.
Wait a second.
Wait another second. I haven’t gotten very much sleep lately because of exams, but … me? Do you mean me?
Cath
* * *
AGEE’S MEN’S CLOTHING
Where Men and Boys Shop
EAST BLOOMFIELD, MARYLAND
* * *
May 20, 1983
Dear Cath,
Um, yeah, you. I was going to tell you when you got home. Or sing it to you.
Great dress, by the way. Very red.
Scott
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
May 22, 1983
Scott—
Well, um, right back at you, college boy.
Right back at you.
Now, if you don’t mind, I’m having trouble breathing for obvious reasons, and I have to run to turn in my Poetry paper before 5 p.m.
I’ll swing by the post office on my way. I may get home before this letter does. I can’t wait to see you!
Much love,
Cath
JUNE
I’m so happy we’re in the same place again. And I meant what I said last night.
I love you, too.
Holy shit! I think your mom saw me leaving your room in the middle of the night!
Holy shit, who cares!
JULY
Happy Fourth of July, sweetie!
I think you left these in my room. They don’t look like mine. Although I would look pretty good in them.
You’re so WEIRD! But I adore you anyway.
Are you coming over to babysit with me tonight? There’s going to be popcorn! And a screaming baby!
AUGUST
Last-minute gig at Duffy’s tonight. Be there or be square.
Tell the lead singer I’m crazy about him.
Tell that girl in the audience that I know.
Two weeks to college! Yippee!
Thank you for the best summer in the history of summers!
WAKE FOREST UNIVERSITY
August 27, 1983
Dear Scott—
Welcome to college, freshman!
Love you,
Cath
P.S. Nice underwear. I warned you that college guys wear boxers. I told you a million times. When you’re the only guy in your dorm sitting around in tighty-whities, don’t come running to me.
P.P.S. Okay, you can come running to me.
P.P.P.S. You can always come running to me.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
From Susan
I’d like to thank my husband, Kevin, and our daughters, Haley and Hannah, for reading early drafts of the manuscript and providing great feedback and loving support throughout this project. You guys are my rock and I wouldn’t have the strength to venture forth into this new world without you.
I’d also like to thank my sister Liz Sesemann, my sister and brother-in-law Kada and Jay Jedlicka, as well as my father, John Stevens, my stepsister Cathy Silver, my dear friends Jennie Treeger Bowen, Mary Donald Mehigan, Gary Lisker, and my Cooley LLP friends Erin Ramana, Jack Lavoie, Tony Calabrese, and Michelle Schulman, among others, for their kindness and enthusiastic support of this book.
Special thanks to our agent, Steven Axelrod, and our editor, Rose Hilliard, for their excellent and professional guidance and help.
And importantly, I’d like to thank my coauthor, Michael Kun, for asking me to write this book with him; for his kindness, patience, support, and friendship; and for bringing out the writer in me.
From Michael
There are many people whose kindness and support contributed to this book. I start, of course, with thanks to my wife, Amy, and our daughter, Paige. Amy read early drafts of the book and provided just the right amount of encouragement, and in addition to being understanding when I was typing while she was trying to sleep, Paige supplied the name of the dog in the book, which she would like me to acknowledge here. And I just did.
Thanks to my mother, Beatrice Kun.
Thanks to our editor, Rose Hilliard, for her enthusiasm and guidance, and our agent, Steven Axelrod, for putting the book in her hands. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with such a talented and generous editor. And if any readers have a problem with the fact that some occasional foul language has snuck through the final draft of the book, kindly send your complaints to Rose in care of this publisher. I’ll just throw your complaints out if you send them to me.
Special thanks to my longtime friends Dave and Carol Weymer, who provided valuable assistance with matters relating to their alma mater, Wake Forest University, which plays a prominent role in the book.
Thanks to friends who read early drafts of this book and shared their thoughts, especially Pete and Beth Johnson, Michael Callahan, Bill Stein, Ther
esa Hoiles, Gary Campbell, Andy Bienstock, Howard Cohen, Arlene Lynes, Sandra Siciliano, Brent Houk, and Stan Smith.
I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to thank my former writing professor at Johns Hopkins, Stephen Dixon. I simply cannot say often enough that I would never have written or published a word had our paths not crossed many, many years ago.
And I can say the same thing about my coauthor, Susan Mullen, who encouraged me to start writing again after I had given it up to attend law school. I thank her for that and for working with me on this fun and unusual project. It has been a pleasure. There is no other writer who I could have written this with, let alone one who could do it with as much joy, patience, and tolerance.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
MICHAEL KUN is the author of the novels You Poor Monster, The Locklear Letters, and A Thousand Benjamins, among other works of fiction and nonfiction. He is a graduate of the Johns Hopkins University and the University of Virginia School of Law. He practices law in Los Angeles, California, where he lives with his wife, Amy, and their daughter, Paige. You can sign up for email updates here.
We Are Still Tornadoes is SUSAN MULLEN’s first novel and first collaboration with Michael. She is a graduate of Duke University, where she studied English literature, and the University of Virginia School of Law. She practices law and lives in Northern Virginia. Sue has been married to her law school classmate Kevin Mullen for twenty-six years and they have two daughters. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
1982: August
September
October
November
December
1983: January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
Acknowledgments
About the Authors
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the authors’ imaginations or are used fictitiously.
WE ARE STILL TORNADOES. Copyright © 2016 by Michael Kun and Susan Mullen. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover illustration by Olga Grlic
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Names: Kun, Michael, author. | Mullen, Susan, author.
Title: We are still tornadoes / Michael Kun and Susan Mullen.
Description: First edition. | New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2016.
Identifiers: LCCN 2016010640 | ISBN 9781250098405 (hardcover) | ISBN 9781250098412 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: Man-woman relationships—Fiction. | Mate selection—Fiction. | Friendship—Fiction. | First loves—Fiction. | BISAC: JUVENILE FICTION / Love & Romance. | JUVENILE FICTION / Family / General (see also headings under Social Issues). | JUVENILE FICTION / Social Issues / Dating & Sex. | GSAFD: Bildungsromans. | Love stories.
Classification: LCC PS3561.U446 W4 2016 | DDC 813/.54—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010640
e-ISBN 9781250098412
Our e-books may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, extension 5442, or by e-mail at MacmillanSpecialMarkets@macmillan.com.
First Edition: November 2016