Chapter 21
Twenty-One
Despite the drink carrier Margarette had provided me when I picked up the teas at the café, they were dangerously close to toppling as I navigated the sidewalk to my grandmother’s shop.
I’d dropped in to deliver some of my new paintings and collect payments for the ones that they’ve sold.
She’d mentioned that with the holidays coming up, a lot of people stopped in for drinks while shopping.
With how quickly my paintings were selling I took it as another clear sign I should stay a while longer.
“Josie, dear, what are you doing here already?” Lori beamed from right outside her shop. She was taking down the sign she typically kept outside that read Energy Healer.
“I had to drop some stuff off at the café so figured I’d swing by early and wait for you to finish up.” I handed her a tea.
Since she’d had to work so much lately, she was closing up early today so the three of us could do dinner together.
Three days remained until the full moon but who was counting?
Certainly not me.
“Theo is just finishing up with someone. Come in, it’s freezing.” She held up a finger to her mouth indicating we should be quiet.
Once inside, the warm, fragrant air hit me immediately.
There was something nostalgic I felt every time I came into my grandmother’s shop even though I’d only been a handful of times throughout my life.
She claimed it was the energy my soul needed.
I used to nod and placate her any time she told me something like that, but with all the revelations lately, who was I to know?
Maybe she was right. There really was something to this energy healing after all.
Theo’s deep voice floated back to us as we tiptoed inside the shop, closing the door silently behind us.
“Loss sits heavy with you,” he said. “It’s overtaking everything else.”
“I feel it,” the older man said. “It consumes me.”
“Here.” Theo handed him a large translucent crystal. “Put that here. Focus everything into it. You need to feel the loss, compartmentalize it, and allow other feelings to break through that are being stifled.”
The man nodded, closed his eyes, and focused.
My heart clenched watching Theo. He lit up in a way he rarely did. He could finally connect to people through energy healing.
He was always listening and watching. It made sense that he would be so hyper aware of the energy surrounding and flowing through others.
Losing him would gut me, but his realm would be lucky to have him. I hoped more than anything he’d find his place there. Thinking about him not belonging made me feel nauseous.
“Let’s wait over here, dear,” Lori whispered, leading me to the side and into a storage closet full of dust and boxes. I set the drink carrier down on one of the giant chests.
“How are you doing?” she asked, taking a sip of her tea.
“I’m all right.”
She dipped her chin in that obnoxiously knowing way. “You and Theo have gotten fairly close.”
There was no sense in denying it. We hadn’t been hiding anything from her, and even though she’d been busy she wasn’t blind.
“He’s amazing,” I admitted. “Like no one I’ve ever met.”
“He’s quite the unique soul.” It was clear how fond of him she’d become. He probably reminded her of how differently she’d wished things had gone with her own son. How she longed for family who embraced her instead of ran. I could relate.
“I’m going to miss him.”
“Me too.” She squeezed my arm. “I wish he could stay.”
“Speaking of staying, I’ve decided to stick around for a bit. As long as that’s okay with you.”
Her smile widened. “I would love that, dear. You can stay forever if you want.”
I laughed. “I’m not sure about that, but I feel more inspired here than I have in ages.”
“Might have something to do with Theo.”
A pang then. It had so much to do with him. I hoped I’d be able to put on a brave face and say goodbye the day after tomorrow.
“I wish he could stay too,” I whispered.
“Have you said that to him?”
I snorted at the ridiculous notion. “How could I? We only just met. That would be, like, a crazy thing to admit.”
Her eyes went all soft as they shifted to the door where we could still hear the slightly muffled conversation between Theo and the older man.
“Eyes are the window to the soul you know.”
I shrugged. “I guess.”
“They are. And his eyes find you in every room.”
The air in my chest seemed to grow solid as I tried to remain calm. “Lori, please. I can’t handle hearing that.”
“Do you believe in soulmates?”
“Soulmate? Are you serious?” My head fell back as I groaned. “Are you trying to make this as physically hard as it can possibly be?”
“They’re not what people think necessarily,” she continued, ignoring my distraught reaction.
“Your soul can have a multitude of forms. Various universes that exist simultaneously. There isn’t one soul destined for you but there are only certain ones that can align with yours—that you have that connection with—in one universe.
An energy that will never be matched. It’s hard to come by. ”
Heat ensnared my neck.
I wanted so badly to tell her that was all bullshit.
That I barely believed in love let alone soulmates.
But Theo had crash-landed into me harder than a tsunami wave.
The connection I felt with him was almost physical.
I could feel him in the next room. Something I couldn’t even see pulled between us, tugging me toward him.
“He’s leaving. That’s that.”
She frowned and shook her head. “That is never that.”