Tuesday & Max

41

LAY MY DREAMS DOWN AT YOUR FEET

BABY WATCH OUT WHERE YOU STEP

AND THERE'S NO NEED FOR US

KNOWING ALL THE ANSWERS YET

Spring ends in a haze of tipsy celebrations, over-sung musical numbers and frantic revision. The transition to summer brings with it Tuesday's birthday but also her exams, and a combination of Candice's research, Julia's not-so-subtle prospectus placement around the apartment and Max's once-upon-a-time reassurances have her tentatively wondering about university after all.

Her mother was right about a lot of things, and she did her best. She raised Tuesday in the wake of an awful relationship while she was probably still recovering herself. She remained positive even when the doctors gave her the news, when they removed the cancer and took with it two distinct parts of her feminine identity, when she recovered on the sofa as Tuesday edged around her, intimidated by everything that had happened. She believed in love and light and protecting what was left of the earth. She didn't believe in wearing a seatbelt. She loved herbal tea and weird gin and food you couldn't buy in normal supermarkets. She thought Fleetwood Mac's The Rumour was the best album ever recorded.

So, yes, her mother was right about a lot of things.

But it's only recently hitting Tuesday that her mother was wrong about things sometimes, too; or that the things she held true for her own life don't necessarily have to be so for Tuesday's.

As she brushes her fingers across the glossy pages of the City University course page for their BA in Costume for Performance Design, she feels only a little bit guilty, turning her eyes to her mother, who stands in her bedroom window.

"I'm sorry. But I like it."

Her mother smiles and disappears. It's okay.

She still has plenty of time—one more entire year—to decide if it's what she really wants, and that's okay too.

For the first time, Tuesday has a party for her birthday. It's not a big affair. Candice, Harry, Jon, Niamh and the twins Anna and Amelia crowd into the living room of the flat. Julia and Richard take a half-day's holiday each to put up terrible sparkly banners and balloons. They even get her a huge birthday girl badge, which she wears grudgingly. Everyone sings. Everyone eats cake. Niamh has a big house and laidback parents, so she suggests they all head over there to watch films on her massive TV (and, Tuesday assumes, a few of them want to get drunk, too).

Everyone heads out to pile into the twins' and Niamh's cars, but Harry and Jon stop at the door.

At Candice's questioning expression, Jon says, "You go ahead, meet you there."

"Yeah," Harry adds breezily. "It's such an exquisite summer evening that I do feel like a train ride—don't you, Jon?"

"I do."

"Fresh air on the platform, nice little walk to Niamh's castle... perfect."

Tuesday shakes her head, smiling at the warmth of the love for them both that almost wants to burst out of her chest. Her inner blooms for them have been growing for a long time, but now their tendrils gently cradle her heart, threatening to drift to her throat and choke her with grateful tears. "It's okay, guys. Amelia is a careful driver, I can trust her. I think I can get through a twenty-minute drive."