Chapter 3 KELSEY SEEKS HER FORTUNE
Chapter 3
K ELSEY S EEKS H ER F ORTUNE
Zachery holds my arm lightly as he leads me away from the crowd to a quieter spot.
This is a good move. We can escape Desdemona without actually leaving. I’d rather work on a laptop, where I can pull up histories and open multiple windows, but my phone will do, as long as she doesn’t catch me. Desdemona gets incredibly angry if she spots me staring at my screen at an official function.
We wander away from the tables and end up in a quiet corner, where a bored-looking woman in a flutter of gold scarves sits in front of a fake crystal ball.
“Oh, look,” Zachery says. “Should we find out what our futures hold?”
“By an actress?” I whisper, not wanting to insult her to her face. But even so, this is one terrible gig, especially if you’re seen by industry influencers. They’ll remember.
“I hear she’s the real deal.” Zachery leads me forward.
I’m not sure about that. Lots of actors take any work they can to keep the dream alive. “Do we have to?”
“It looks like she could use a customer.”
He’s right. And I’m a sucker for someone who is faltering in public.
I sit in the red-cushioned chair opposite the woman. “Tell me my future.”
She adjusts her scarves as she lifts her arms.
“Such a lovely young woman,” she says with a gravelly voice. “Someone beautiful enough to be on the screen, but sensible enough to stay out of the fray.”
Okay. Score one for her background knowledge.
“I’m Kelsey,” I tell her. “What do I need to know?”
“Do you wish to understand your past or reveal your future?” Her hands press into both sides of the glass ball at the center of the table, and it starts to glow.
Nice parlor trick.
“Future, please,” I say. “My past is pretty simple.” And something I don’t talk about at Hollywood parties.
The ball swirls with a concoction of light and fog. This is a nice prop.
She runs her hands over the surface. “Southern girl. Came to California, drawn by the industry.”
That’s an easy hit. “I never lost the accent.”
She nods. “Skilled. Smart. Knows how to play the part but longs for something more meaningful. Something to call her own.”
My stomach clenches, but I force a smile. “Isn’t that all of us?”
“Indeed.” She peers into the ball. It illuminates her face, revealing all the lines around her eyes and mouth. She’s older than I first thought. What an illusion!
“You’re single,” she says.
I hold up my hand. “No ring!”
“But you haven’t dated in quite a while. In fact, my fair girl, you have never been in love.”
I glance up at Zachery. He stands with his hands behind his back, his white shirt glowing from the ball. He nods at me encouragingly.
“I thought this was about my future.”
“It is. You long for love,” the woman says. “But your time is running out, as you have always suspected.”
I stifle a gasp. My mother died of breast cancer just shy of forty. Will it get me even earlier in life?
“Am I going to ... die?” My voice catches.
Zachery steps forward. “Hey now.”
The woman waves him back. “Not yet. But this life amongst those who pretend to be something they’re not is beginning to tarnish your hope. Soon, your faith in love will completely wither.”
My throat feels thick. I want to play this off. It’s generic advice, like a horoscope or Dear Abby.
But it hits me hard. I have been feeling increasingly jaded. I love watching romance on the screen, but I’ve never been able to feel it myself. Everyone seems after something, like they have some other motive for asking me out. It’s never pure like sunshine. It’s a fake tan from a bottle.
The woman has my attention.
“What do I have to do?”
She peers into the ball. “You must go on a journey, away from this poisonous life, and find a love you can believe in.”
Zachery plunks both hands on the table, rattling the flimsy legs. “What do you mean, a journey away from here?”
I ignore him. “Where should I go?”
The woman sits back. “Return to the land of your birth. Take the long way.”
“Back to Alabama?” I haven’t visited my father in years. “Why?”
“You are a great lover of romance stories. Think of the ones that move you. That make you feel something. Seek out the honest worker. The small-town community. Remove yourself from the big city, the harsh lights, the jaded.” She waves her arm at the party, where sparkling dresses glitter as people move. “And along the way, you will find him.”
“The one?”
She leans forward, her face so close to the ball that it’s almost white. “The very one.”
I glance at Zachery to see if he believes her, but he’s scowling.
“Are you sure?” I ask.
“Most definitely. But don’t delay. You must find your great love before summer’s end or it will be too late.”
“That’s only three months!”
“It’s enough.”
“What if I don’t find him?”
“Your faith will disintegrate to dust.”
I hold on tight to the table’s edge. “Do you have, like, an exact date? I work better with a deadline.”
She laughs, but it’s rough, like a cackle. “Before the summer moon turns to autumn.”
I lean forward. “Mid-August, then? September 1?”
She holds my gaze. “You will know when your time is up.”
My breath comes fast. I try to pull up the rational side of my brain, but she’s kicked me into panic mode, thinking about my mom dying so young, and how I’ve wasted so much time dating unlovable scoundrels.
Zach takes my arm. “We should go.” He seems displeased to have brought me here. “Come on, Kelsey.”
I stand up. “Thank you.”
Her ball goes dark, and she no longer looks old, as if only the strain of premonition aged her.
Zachery leads me away. “I think we need more champagne.”
I keep looking at her, astonished at her youthful face. What just happened? Did she hypnotize me?
We thread our way through the tables as I try to shake off the unsettled feeling. Zachery procures more champagne, and I sip it absently. Should I do what she said? Go home this summer? Take the long way?
There’s a splash. A woman has fallen in the pool, and two men in outfits worth more than the average mortgage payment of an Alabama farmhouse wade in after her.
She looks up at one with big heart eyes. Yup. She did it on purpose. She orchestrated her own meet-cute.
Is that what the fortune teller meant by learning from the movies I love? Maybe my encounters need a nudge?
I should go back and ask.
And get her name.
I could look up her history. I bet she’s done method acting on paranormal activity and that’s how she got me so out of sorts. Heck, the way she could use lighting to age herself may mean she’s worked in makeup or special effects.
But there’s a crowd around the pool watching the woman get pulled from the water. I have to fight my way through them to go back the way I came.
“Are you okay, Kelsey?” Zachery asks, but I ignore him. I want to find out more about this fortune teller. If I can prove she’s a fake, then I don’t need to listen to a word she said.
But by the time I make it to the corner where the woman was, her table is gone.