the train arrives, and we board, then walk up the stairs of the train and down a few cars until we find seats in the observation car where we can look out and watch the landscape pass by.
“It blows my mind that you’ve never been to the Art Institute.”
“Rub it in, why don’t you! I’ve been to art museums, just not that one.”
“Well, we’re going. No ifs, ands, or buts.”
“What are you working on?” I ask Maya, seeing her eyeing her phone.
She groans. “I got another passive-aggressive message from one of my professors about missing class today. So, I emailed him back passive aggressively that I’m going to the Art Institute of Chicago and told him that sometimes a field trip is better than college. Now he messaged me back and I don’t know what to respond. I don’t want to just keep up this meandering non-conversation. Know what I mean?”
“Definitely. I would say that sometimes the best response is no response. If you keep responding, you’re implicitly setting the standard that you can be available for him at all times, at his whim.” I chuckle. “He doesn’t pay your salary, remember? We pay tuition to go there. So, relax. Life is better experienced person to person rather than digitally.”
Especially between us, I want to add, but I don’t want it to come out the wrong way. I’ve never enjoyed someone’s company as much as I do Maya’s.
She closes her phone and puts it away. “You’re right about life and phones. Life is better experienced in person.”
She then turns her gaze out toward the plains of Illinois that are beating by and watches the scenery with me.
“The observation car of this train is beautiful. Do you know where this train line rides to and from?”
“This line makes birth in Chicago, rides through the great plains of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska, heads through the Rocky Mountains to Salt Lake, then veers into the wilderness of California. The line ends in San Diego.”
“I didn’t think people still took trains.”
“A lot of people don’t.”
She grins. “But you do.”
Grant shrugs. “I think we both know by now that I’m not ‘most guys’.”
The train ride into Chicago is gorgeous, and we watch as the cornfields change to occasional houses to the suburban sprawl of Aurora, Naperville, and the other suburbs of Chicago.
Before we know it, we’re pulling into Chicago Union Station.
With our bags, we walk up the stairs and out the exit of the station, and we’re greeted by skyscrapers, the Chicago River, and hundreds of men and women bustling about the city in suits, ties, and trench coats. Even though it’s not uber cold, it’s windy, and mid-January in Chicago is not for those who have a weak tolerance for low temperatures.
Our hotel is just south of the Chicago River, in a beautiful skyscraper hotel.
As soon as she opens the door, Maya drops her bag and runs toward the window like a little kid.
“Oh my God, Grant! This view! Look, the lake!”
I drop my bag and calmly walk behind her to the window. “Yes, it’s…” I spin around and look at the bed. “Maya, how many beds did you order?”
“Two.” She turns around and sees the one bed, then looks at me. “Uh oh. It’s just one bed, isn’t it?”
I nod. “I’ll call down and—”
“Wait,” she says. “This view is awesome, though. What if they give us a room with a crappier view?”
“Maya, you have a boyfriend. I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Well, I’ll tell him. It’s not like you’re going to make a move. We already know what the deal is with us.”
“Of course, we do.”
“I’ll call him and tell him—I mean, ask him—if it’s okay. And then let’s head to the Art Institute of Chicago! Oh my gosh, I can see it right down there!” She points.
“I’ve got a question for you,” I say.
A cold breeze rocks our faces pretty hard, but we turn a corner around a skyscraper and the wind dies down.
“Do tell.”
“Do you want to just meander around the museum, which is totally fine, or do you want to do things ‘The Grant Way’?”
Her smile broadens. “Of course, this couldn’t just be a normal visit. Tell me about ‘The Grant Way’.”
“So, the ‘Grant Way’ is we look at art and use it to reveal our subconscious.”
She leans in. “Ooh la la. Tell me more, my Woodsman Zenmaster.”
“First, you’ve got to tell me if you have any big decisions you have to make right now that are looming over