Chapter 6 #2
"No. I believe her cousin Lucy is," Gregory said.
"Well, I, for one, am not interested in summoning any ghosts," Rose said.
“It's all fake," Gregory assured her.
Stephanie said, "It's..." Then she shut up as if she didn’t want to reveal that she believed in all this.
"I'm game," Marvin said.
"Who’s dead that you want to talk to?" Rose asked, sounding curious.
"No one in particular. It will be interesting if she conjures up someone out of the blue," Marvin said.
"It's really not a good idea," Stephanie said. "And we’re not doing any fortune telling."
As if she were the boss.
"Yeah. I want to do that too," Marvin said.
Rose glanced at Gregory. He wondered if she was thinking what he was thinking. That Sascha would give Marvin a bogus reading too.
They finished their food, and both Gregory and Marvin threw a ball at a large red button, taking turns dunking the clown in the dunk tank.
Rose finally pulled Marvin away, and she perused the arts-and-crafts section.
Stephanie and Gregory walked with them, though only Rose appeared interested in the crafts.
She bought a couple of hand-carved deer that he knew she would place on the fireplace mantle at Christmastime.
Gregory gave Marvin a growly look for not paying for them since they were a couple.
Then she bought a couple of handmade baby blankets for Kat's babies.
She did make Marvin carry them, though he hadn't indicated he would until she shoved them at him. Gregory had never spent any time with the two of them on a "date" in the month they had been dating, so he didn't know how Marvin would treat Rose. Already, Gregory's hackles were raised.
Marvin saw Lucy's booth and made a beeline for it. "I thought it might be more private, like inside a tent. It seems to me there would be too much noise out here to concentrate."
"If it wasn't fake, sure," Gregory said, not that he knew what someone would need if they were real psychics, if there were such a thing.
There was no one in line at Lucy’s booth, which made Gregory think of a restaurant or store that wasn’t popular and that it was a waste of time. Gregory swore she looked like Marilyn Monroe because of the way her blond hair was styled and the flared 60’s dress she was wearing, all in white.
Whereas Sascha was flamboyant in her colorful clothes and red hair, Lucy was glamorous. Kat was wearing a gypsy-costume too, a long multi-scarf-like skirt and peasant blouse, but her colors were more natural and complemented her dark brown hair.
Prescott was sitting behind them, talking on his phone, probably taking care of business.
Marvin handed Lucy his tickets. She studied him for a moment, then looked at Rose, shifting her gaze to Gregory, then to Stephanie. She pointed her long, painted red nail at Stephanie. “You have several ghosts wanting to speak to you.”
Gregory smiled. He could just imagine. Then he reminded himself that this wasn’t real. Still, he thought it would be funny if it were true.
“I’m not here to get a reading.” Stephanie looked pale and like she wanted to leave that minute if anyone wanted to go with her.
Lucy turned her gaze to Marvin. “You don’t have anyone in mind to speak with. Unless you want to speak with your last ex-girlfriend.”
Rose looked at him, her lips parted. Gregory got the distinct impression that Rose didn’t know about any ex-girlfriends.
“She’s dead?” Marvin asked, looking shocked.
“Just one of them.”
“Who?”
“The last one. Rene Hoffman?”
Marvin looked pale. “How did she, uhm, die?”
“Rene, do you want to speak to Marvin?” Lucy asked.
His eyes grew huge. Gregory wondered how Lucy would know Marvin had a girlfriend who had died, if she had.
But also, he had just randomly come up to pay her for a reading, so how would she know anything about Marvin?
Though Gregory was already checking his phone to see if the story about Rene was true.
He found Rene had drowned in her car when it left a rain-slick road and ended up in a lake.
This reminded Gregory of Sascha and Raymond and their near miss with death in the river.
“She’s angry with you for seeing her best friend behind her back.
She was driving too fast for the road conditions on a stormy day, and she lost control of her car.
It ended up in a lake, and she drowned. She said she would never forgive you for cheating on her with her best friend before that happened, and she had broken up with you. ” Lucy glanced at Rose.
His sister’s lips were parted, and she looked as pale as Marvin. “I don’t know any Rene Hoffman.”
“No, you don’t.” Lucy turned to Marvin. “Rene hopes you never find love. She has said her peace. She’s gone.” Lucy took a deep breath and let it out. “Does anyone else want a reading?”
Gregory shook his head. “I think we’re good.” He took hold of Rose’s hand and squeezed it. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. I want to see Sascha.”
If Rose planned to break up with Marvin over the ghostly revelation, mainly because he hadn’t told Rose he had cheated on his girlfriend, resulting in her being the ex, maybe Rose did end up with someone else. Fenton? Gregory didn’t believe there was anyone in Rose’s future named Fenton.
“I told you not to dredge up the dead,” Stephanie said haughtily.
Marvin frowned at her. “I didn’t know my ex-girlfriend was dead.”
A man stepped up to Lucy’s booth and paid her. “I would like to speak to my beloved wife.”
“Marybeth? She’s here, thrilled to talk to you. She wants you to know how much she adores you and will wait for you to join her.”
“What are our nicknames for each other?” the man asked, as if needing confirmation that this was all true.
“You called her Swan Song because she’d been a ballerina when she was younger, and she called you Grease Monkey because you were always tinkering on vintage cars, restoring them and selling them.”
He laughed and wiped tears from his eyes.
Gregory hurried after the others as they got in the long line for Sascha’s booth. He glanced back at the old man, unable to hear what else was said, but Lucy was smiling and nodding.
Rose was standing quietly next to Marvin. She finally glanced over her shoulder and asked Gregory, “Since you hung around for the elderly man’s reading, did he hear what he wanted to?”
“Yeah. He was overjoyed.” How would Lucy know what the man and his wife called each other unless she knew them or they had shared that information with people she knew? Yet, he couldn’t imagine she would unless this was a great con job and he was a plant.
A crowd began to line up at Lucy’s booth as Gregory and his companions drew closer to Sascha’s.
“I’m not doing this,” Stephanie said as they got closer to the front of the line.
“Did Sascha do your reading when you were here with Prescott?” Gregory asked.
“No. She was out sick. Kat did because she was trying to steal Prescott from me.”
Which she did.
“I hope you don’t feel like this is the same situation all over again,” Marvin said.
“No,” Gregory answered for Stephanie. “Because we aren’t dating. Stephanie and Prescott were.” He knew Stephanie was interested, but he sure wasn’t.
When Marvin and Rose reached Sascha, she smiled at Rose. “Thanks for everything last night.”
“You’re so welcome. Do you feel better today?”
“I do. Do you want me to do a reading for you again?”
“Sure.” Rose handed her a bunch of tickets. “Who is Fenton and where do I meet him?”
Sascha closed her eyes and ran her hand over a purple-tinted crystal ball that had to be for show, as she hadn’t used one the other night. She opened her eyes. Green eyes, the color of emeralds. “Uh, you run into each other.”
“Where? Like at a restaurant or something?”
“In cars.”
“A car crash?” Rose looked horrified.
“You’ll both be fine.”
Rose glanced at Gregory, as if he could change the fortune teller's outcome. He couldn’t help but be furious that Sascha had conjured such a terrifying vision of his sister's future. Wasn’t this supposed to be all fun and fluff?
“That sucks,” Marvin said, handing his tickets over to Sascha. “What do you see for me?”
“Bars.”
Marvin laughed. “Yeah, I like to frequent several bars.”