Jessica Darling is running through Newark’s airport trying to catch her flight to St. Thomas, for the wedding of her high school friends Bridget and Percy, when she runs smack into her past. Literally. Out of the blue, she actually runs into her first love Marcus Flutie. Right there in the airport.
Marcus was looking out for her as he’d heard her name over the airport intercom. It stopped him in his tracks. Could they be calling for her Jessica Darling, his Jessica Darling and not the porn star, at the Newark airport, just as he’s there too? So he’s alert but not quite ready when she not only shows up right in front of him but mows him down in her rush to catch her flight.
They catch up for a few awkward minutes, the first time they’d seen each other in years. Then Jessica has to go, rushing to catch her flight. She is the officiant for the wedding after all. She has to make it to the Virgin Islands on time. But she gets to the desk at the gate, and the woman working there points out that the door is closed. Once the door is closed, there is nothing more the airline can do.
As Jessica finds herself later standing in line at customer service, along with 20 members of the Barry Manilow International Fan Club, who had also missed their flight (they were heading to Las Vegas for the last night of his farewell tour), Marcus spots her again. He sees her standing in line, waiting to get another flight to St. Thomas, and he can’t make himself move on.
Once Jessica gets through the line and has a ticket for the next day, she bumps into Marcus again, and the two of them decide to sit down and talk over coffee. Marcus talks about his time at school, his major, his work helping out in Louisiana as they are still rebuilding from Hurricane Katrina four years previous. Jessica talks about her friends, her family, her work.
They wait for the next flight to the Virgin Islands, to see if Jessica can make it on standby. But when they get to the gate, they see dozens of other people in front of her, and she gives up. They decide to get a hotel room for the night and take the shuttle. And while they don’t have anything special planned for that hotel room, the more time they spend together, the more they realize what they want from each other.
And apparently, it’s Barry-aoke with the also-stranded members of the Barry Manilow International Fan Club.
Perfect Fifths is the final installment of Megan McCafferty’s Jessica Darling series that started way back in high school. Now, Jessica and Marcus are in their mid-20s, and the story comes full circle. I listened to the audio book for this one, and Katie Schorr once again is the ideal voice of Jessica as she finally gets the chance to catch up with Marcus in person. With memories and anecdotes from the previous four books, Perfect Fifths is a lovely look back at the decade these characters have lived since the series started and a perfect ending as well.
If there is one thing that I always wanted more of in the Jessica Darling books, it was time. I wished they would slow down. Instead of one book being several years all in one volume, I wanted time to slow down, to be with these characters for longer. I finally got my wish. Perfect Fifths doesn’t capture several years all in one book. In fact, it doesn’t even capture 24 hours. There are lots of flashbacks and old memories to look back on, but the book happens in real time, just Jessica and just Marcus, face to face for the first time in years. We’re not reading journal entries or letters (although there is some of the word salad poetry). I loved this version of the story, all happening right in front of my. My only regret is that this is the last book in the series. The world needs more smart, strong women like Jessica Darling!
A copy of the audiobook for Perfect Fifths was provided by Macmillan Audio through NetGalley, with many thanks.
