The Lost Girls by Jennifer Baggett Read Free Book Online

and even put a chunk of cash away for a rainy day. I wasn’t doing a ton of travel writing, but my freelance career had taken off.
    So had my social life. For the previous two years, it had been on life support, barely breathing, but it made a quick turnaround once I left the office. For the first time since I could remember, I spent my free time catching up on friends’ lives, rather than working through my bottomless to-do list. I accepted invitations to go to yoga classes and see movies. I arrived on timefor happy hours instead of making excuses for missing them. I sharpened my pool skills, played darts, and rediscovered how to flirt. I went out on dates with inappropriate men, then commiserated with my girlfriends about the futility of finding a decent guy in Manhattan.
    My days were laid back and calm, my nights intense and unpredictable. I stayed out far too late too often but no longer had trouble getting out of bed in the morning. I felt as if I’d moved to New York City all over again. But though I fully embraced this newfound freedom and felt more certain than ever that I’d made the right decision not to boomerang back into another job, I knew this couldn’t be the endpoint of my transition. There had to be some other destination, some reason things had worked out exactly the way they had.
    Again and again, I found that my thoughts turned to travel, the vagabonding bug I’d caught from Baker and the plans I’d made with Jen and Holly back in Argentina. I allowed myself to consider what would happen if our idea to backpack around the world—a concept that had seemed so ephemeral months earlier—ever solidified into reality. Exactly what would it take to set the wheels into motion? Could I really leave the life I’d created in New York to go backpacking like a college kid?
    In theory, I guess I could. My lease expired in about a year. I didn’t have a full-time job. Despite plenty of social activity, I’d yet to meet a guy I wanted to get serious with. I wasn’t sure whether to feel thrilled or depressed that, at twenty-six, I didn’t have a whole lot more tying me down than I had when I’d graduated.
    Considering my commitment-free existence, I knew there would be few times in my life when it made more sense to travel. And I might have decided to do it on my own—or at least gone to Central America for a few months to hike through the rain forests, go to language school, and eat as many frijoles negros asmy digestive system could handle—except that Jen and Holly sealed the deal for me.
    The three of us had been meandering through the stalls at the 26th Street flea market, one of our favorite Saturday activities, when I asked them if they’d remotely consider making good on that wacky round-the-world idea we’d had at Iguazú Falls.
    â€œActually, I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately,” Jen admitted.
    â€œMe too,” said Holly, looking up from a tray of garnet rings she’d been examining. “I was half kidding when I said I’d go, but for some reason, it doesn’t really seem so far-fetched anymore. Would it really be so ridiculous to take a few months off before we all get tied down?”
    â€œNot at all,” said Jen as we strolled past a rack of vintage dresses. “For argument’s sake, even if we started planning right now, we still wouldn’t be able to get on the road until next summer. By then Brian and I will both be twenty-eight, and if we haven’t determined our status at that point, I’m running away for sure.”
    â€œOh, that’s right…your age deadline.” I said. “Look, you and Brian will figure things out. You’ll have been together for nearly four years by then. I’m sure he hasn’t been with you this long unless he figures you’re marriage potential.”
    â€œThat’s the thing,” she said softly, an odd note creeping