Prologue
Fifteen Years Ago
The four mortarboard tassels flicked away the past and ushered in the future as they arced in the afternoon sun. The circle of friendship that withstood four hard years started its inevitable loosening; the glue that bonded their foursome eased away as the cheers across the quad died away. The clock started a lifetime of mesmeric ticking, a time for potential to become performance.
The first hand thrust the caught cap onto a head of bouncing red curls. Bree Carter choked back tears as she flicked the tassel from her eyes. “I can’t believe it’s all over.”
Andy Summers grabbed his mortarboard and spun it between his fingers, his lithe forearm muscles rippling as the billowing gown’s sleeves fell away. “This moment has been so far away for years and now that it’s here, it doesn’t seem real.”
Another hand snatched a graduation cap destined to fall onto the head of a stunning young woman with jet-black locks. Eliza Williams. “I know, Breezy. It’s hard to believe we’re finished, but now the next chapter of our lives begins.”
Lincoln Horne casually swung his graduation cap by its tassel. A perfect smile beamed from under contoured, don’t-care rusted-blond hair. “And I can’t wait for that next chapter to start.” He gave a cheeky wink to Eliza.
Bree wiped away a runaway tear. “I’m not ready. I’m happy enough to stay here.”
Andy smirked at Bree. “Out of the four of us, you’re probably the one with the least to worry about. An audition in New York and the chance to record your own CD? I just hope you remember us when you make it big!”
Bree bit a quivering bottom lip. “I don’t know . . . It’s a long way to go for a long shot. What if I fail?”
Eliza scolded her roommate with a waggling finger, an action she’d perfected in their dorm room. A replacement mom without the undercurrent of guilt. “It’s your chance to prove everyone back home wrong.”
Andy threw an arm around Bree’s shoulders. “I believe in you. If I didn’t I wouldn’t have lent you the money to go. I want to help you achieve your dream, and now that I’ve come into some money, I can.”
Lincoln bowed theatrically to the group. “No need to thank me again for the tip, Mr. Summers. I thought you’d like to know our star player would be a last-minute withdrawal against Clarendon University. No one else knew, so I’m glad you acted on my advice.”
Andy beamed. “It started the biggest lucky streak ever! Long may it continue. I’ll be a millionaire before I’m thirty.”
Lincoln placed a firm hand on Andy’s shoulder. “Slow down, buddy. I’ve told you a thousand times before. Life is more than what we earn; it’s the good we do with it.”
Andy bowed his head in deference. “Thank you, Brother Horne.”
Eliza’s black hair swayed as she tut-tutted, back in her familiar den mother role. “I told you to be careful, Andy. You don’t want to head down that road.”
“What road? You have to live a little, Lize. Anyway, when you’re a huge name, Breezy, I know you’ll pay me back with front-row tickets for life.”
They shared a laugh, the common soundtrack to life at college. Except this time it petered out, almost as if the soundtrack was entering its coda.
Bree’s tears returned. “So when do you leave, Linc?”
Lincoln’s enthusiasm bounded into the conversation. “Eliza and I leave in two weeks. I can’t wait to start building the school in Uganda. Now that graduation is out of the way, we can really focus on changing the world, you know? And I’ve got a big surprise planned for us.”
Bree patted Lincoln’s arm with a quizzical glare at Eliza, who rejected her plea with the tiniest shake of her head.
A frown cut through Lincoln’s wide-eyed innocence. “What?”
Eliza crinkled her nose. “I need to postpone the Africa trip for a while.”
Lincoln’s mouth dropped open, and Bree squeezed his waist.
“Something’s come up—an internship in fashion—and it just feels like the smart move is to take it. Maybe we can talk about going out and changing the world after that’s over.”
Lincoln’s grin slid from his face as he folded his muscular arms. “When did this come up?”
Eliza looked away at the dispersing crowd as Andy nudged her. “Good for you, Lize. I’m so proud of you.”
A thin smile settled on Eliza’s face as she studied the ground. “Thanks, Andy, you’re a pal.”
Silence descended on the foursome—unheard of in the nonstop chatter since that chance grouping in their first anthropology project in Professor Snowden’s classroom and cemented in mind-numbing lectures, which had forged a four-year friendship and one romance.
Bree shifted the conversational gears to kickstart the conversation that was grinding to a halt. “You guys have gotten me through college. That won’t stop, will it?”
Eliza left Lincoln’s brow-knotted grimace unreturned. “Of course not. Let’s just enjoy the moment. Aren’t we celebrating at Andy’s place?”
Andy grinned. “It will be my pleasure to host my favorite Flagstaff College alumni with all the food and drink money can buy, courtesy of the little birdie Lincoln knows inside our basketball program.”
Bree frowned at Eliza. “How will we make sure we won’t drift apart?”
“We’ll make it work. We don’t have to be in each other’s pockets to still be in each other’s lives. Enjoy the opportunity in New York.”
Andy smoothed his oversized gown. “If Bree’s worried we’ll lose touch—and I don’t think she has any reason to be—let’s put something in place to catch up in what . . . ten, fifteen years? We can share our stories of greatness and how we got there.”
Bree wiped away another tear. “What, like a dinner?”
Andy guffawed. “A dinner? You’ll be a famous musician by then, so you can pay for us all to travel to the other side of the world!”
Bree waved off Andy’s enthusiasm, which only drew another finger waggle from Eliza. “You won’t get that recording contract if you don’t start believing in yourself.”
Lincoln leveled a pleading look at Eliza, who mouthed back, Not now.
Andy snapped his fingers. “Why don’t we go back to the beginning? In that very first project in anthropology class, we studied outback Australia. What do you think about heading there?”
Bree shuddered. “All those spiders and snakes? Are you sure it will be safe?”
“You’re presuming we’ll survive the next fifteen years.” Andy thrust his hand to the middle of their circle. “So what do you say? Who’s in?”
Bree’s smile emerged through the tears as she placed her hand on top, followed by Eliza’s. Lincoln’s hand was the last to join, his brow furrowed as he failed to catch Eliza’s eye.
Eliza looked around the circle with a frown. “Fifteen years! That’s our thirties. Middle age! That’s so far into the future.”
Lincoln forced a smile. “So was graduation.”
Bree folded her arms, pinning down her gown now billowing in the growing warmth of the afternoon breeze. “Can you imagine what we’ll look like?”