Read Online Take Another Look by Rosalind Noonan - Free Book Online

Saturday night, with music blaring, patrons gathering three-deep at the bar, and barely room to breathe out on the dock. But inside at their table, people gave Jane and Marnie room to work.
    They were putting the finishing touches on their masterpiece when a customer came in and told Jason to turn on the television over the bar, reporting that something had happened to Lady Di. One of the guys remarked that he had never liked her, but Marnie defended the former princess.
    As Jason turned the music down and clicked on the television, word spread through the crowd. Conversation dropped to a murmur as people turned to the TV over the bar. Paintbrushes in hand, Jane and Marnie pressed in toward the television screen, riveted as reporters showed the dark streets of Paris. They were talking about Princess Diana in the past tense; listening closely, the subdued patrons of the bar learned that she had died from injuries sustained in a car accident.
    Jane and Marnie shared a hug.
    â€œIt’s so awful,” Jane said. “She was starting a new life.”
    â€œShe seemed happy, being out of the restrictions of royalty,” Marnie agreed.
    Jane had always admired Diana, from the fairy-tale story of a young nanny plucked from relative obscurity to become a princess, to the survivor’s tale of a woman who dared to buck age-old tradition and free herself from an unhappy life. Jane saw herself in Diana’s struggles, at least in the first part, with an ugly duckling turning into a swan. And this was the summer when Jane had ascended from ordinary to something special. Pretty, popular . . . independent.
    As Jane sat at the table and contemplated life and death, the way things could change in a heartbeat, Marnie brought over two frosty v-shaped glasses.
    â€œLemon drops, on the house,” Marnie announced, handing one to Jane. “Jason said it’s a gesture of thanks for saving Smackdaddy’s coffin from coming in last.”
    Jane lifted her glass in a toast. “To Lady Di. I can’t believe she’s gone.”
    â€œIt’s like losing a friend. Does that sound deluded? I mean, it’s not like we hung out with her.”
    â€œBut we watched her become a princess. We saw her get married.” The royal wedding had been one of Jane’s earliest memories. The fancy carriage—just like Cinderella’s—and the long train trailing down the aisle of the cathedral.
    â€œMy mom cut her hair short like Diana’s. And those beautiful evening gowns. Sparkling and sleek. She was living every girl’s dream of a life.”
    â€œOr so we thought.” Jane took a deep sip from her drink. It was her second of the night; she’d been nursing a hard lemonade as she painted. But now she wanted more than the light social buzz. She took another drink as she wondered about the path of Diana’s life. “Do you think Diana ever found happiness?” she asked Marnie.
    â€œI don’t think happiness is something you find. It comes in fleeting moments. Like a flower in full bloom or a bubble floating along. Each moment of joy is short-lived. The bubble will burst. But there’s always another one floating your way, eventually.”
    That was Marnie: poetic, ever hopeful.
    There was more toasting to Diana mixed with conversation on the finite nature of life.
    â€œYou’ve got to live for the moment,” Jason said emphatically, and the group gathered at the bar drank to that sentiment.
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    When Jason announced last call, Marnie turned to Jane and told her she’d be going home with Jason. “Are you okay on your own?”
    â€œNo problem!” Jane exclaimed, maybe a bit too emphatically. How much had she had to drink? She’d lost track. But she’d eaten a good absorbent dinner, and the drinks had been spaced out over time. She’d be fine.
    As she stood up to leave, the periphery of her vision was dull and fuzzy, and it seemed to require a