26
“I can’t believe you actually flew out your sister’s psychic.” Valerie squeezes my arm as we walk through Anders’s house—he’s missing, of course, because he claimed he wouldn’t be able to keep a straight face at everything planned—out to the backyard.
“No worries,” I say. “Anders paid for everything. I’m just the idea girl.”
“Still,” Valerie says, adjusting her Libra necklace, “everyone else always rolls their eyes when I talk about this stuff. You’re the only person who doesn’t make me feel like an idiot for believing in astrology.”
Knowing this is all a ruse makes the statement sting, but I smile as we step onto the deck.
Anders helped me drag a circular table out of his basement. It’s now sitting on the pale wood deck overlooking his meticulously trimmed lawn—mostly bare, except for a tiny patch in the corner where a younger Olive and Anders built a fairy garden.
My heart pounds—just thinking his name turns me into a puddle of affection.
I shake it off. This is the final push. The biggest pressure yet between Valerie and John.
Just then the “psychic”—Taina, of course—emerges onto the deck. “Greetings,” she says in a thick Spanish accent.
A snort escapes before I can stop it. I cover it with a cough, but Valerie doesn’t notice.
She’s wide eyed, watching as Taina circles the table and stops in front of her—coincidentally both wearing white dresses—to inspect her with a dramatic flair.
She moves her hand, each finger heavy with rings, and waves them as if pulling Valerie’s scent toward her.
She hums deeply before sitting across from a hopeful Valerie.
“You’re confused,” Taina says, placing her hands in a prayer shape on the table covered in a white tablecloth.
Everything but Taina’s rings, layered necklaces, and hair is without color—purposefully plain, so she could “easily read the colors of Valerie’s aura,” she’d said, after “extensive research” on Spanish psychics she found on a Reddit thread. She took notes all night.
“Your soul is splattered with emotion,” Taina continues. “So much so that your inner self has become a shadow lost in a dark room, unable to find itself.”
Valerie stiffens.
“I’ll give you privacy,” I say, phone secretly recording under the table.
Valerie grabs my hand. “Stay,” she whispers. “Let me know how you feel about her when we’re done.”
I drag over a cushioned chair and sit beside her.
Valerie rests her hand on the table. “How long have you been doing this?”
Taina impressively lifts a single brow. “How long have you known how to breathe? My gift was passed down to me by my mother at birth. Our seer ability has traveled through generations, given to the next in line, taken from the one who births.”
I focus on the gold chains on her neck to keep from laughing. But then I see Valerie’s face—how much she believes this—and guilt digs into my ribs. If she knew this was all fake, would she lump me in with everyone else who dismisses her?
I’ve always cared. But now that Anders and I have decided to be together—really together—everything feels heavier. My head scrambles, my heart falters, and guilt gnaws through my chest as violently as an energized woodpecker, first thing in the morning, on a brand-new tree.
“A honey psychic,” Valerie says—a term I’ve never heard before. “My last psychic was the same. I didn’t tell anyone that.”
“Fate binds you to the familiar. The familiar shall guide you.”
I should’ve never let her binge-watch a marathon of low-budget Lifetime magical movies last night. Taina might be pulling from all of them at once.
“You have the biggest decision of your life to make,” Taina says. “Figuring out if you want to say ‘I do.’”
I snort. “Yeah, that’s not exactly brand-new, top-secret information.”
Taina holds a finger to her nose. “The universe whispers to me about you. It says you need a cleansing.”
“Focus on Valerie, please,” I mutter.
“You’re wavering.” Taina presses her fingers into her temples. “You see a name that is not the one you’re meant to wed.”
Valerie freezes. Panic flickers before she smooths her expression. “What name?”
Taina closes her eyes, tapping her nails on the table. A long pause. Then she opens them. “Nick.”
Valerie glares at me. “You told her.”
“I did not.” I totally did. But I thought she was too drunk to remember telling me about him in the first place.
Valerie leans toward Taina. “Tell me something only I would know. Something no one else could guess.”
Taina closes her eyes, humming something familiar—until I realize it’s a Bad Bunny song. I discreetly kick her under the table, and she switches melodies.
Her brows furrow in mock pain. Then, right on cue, clouds gather and thunder rolls faintly in the distance.
Or maybe our mom is rolling in her grave, ready to claw out of her coffin and strangle us both for this brujería. I can picture her making the sign of the cross with her fingers and whispering a prayer to ward off whatever spirits she thought this would invite.
She believed even saying “Oh my God” was a sin to confess before entering heaven. I say her signature forgiveness prayer in my head. Just in case.
Thunderclaps. Taina opens her eyes. “When you were a child, you wanted to be a ghost hunter.”
Valerie grips my arm. “I’ve never told anyone that.”
“The universe hears you anyway.”
No way that was a lucky guess. If I had to bet, Taina’s late-night drive was to Bethany’s house to hack Valerie’s search history and take notes on her niche interests. Taina once told me she could track a cheating boyfriend’s incognito tabs. In another life, she’d be recruited by the NSA.
“Okay, okay,” Valerie says, mostly to herself. “I have been thinking about Nick. A lot. Why am I doing that? What does that mean?”
“Often when we think we’re happy,” Taina says, “our memories echo truths in our souls.”
“I think I’m happy?” Valerie echoes. “I am happy.”
“Then why are you here?”
Valerie hesitates. “Clarity.”
“And what clarity will you gain from one not of your heart?”
“What do you mean?”
“Perhaps,” I interrupt, “the universe could explain itself less cryptically.”
Taina raises a silencing finger, then clasps Valerie’s hand. “If your heart teeters, you must place it on the scales and see to which side it breaks.”
Valerie pulls back. “I can’t see Nick again. My family would kill me. I promised I’d never see him again.”
Taina doesn’t flinch. “Then why does he still visit your thoughts?”
Valerie wavers. I can see the answer forming, her eyes flicking toward the tablecloth like the answer might be embroidered into the hem.
“Valerie,” I ask gently, “why do you think you keep remembering him? Is there something John lacks that Nick didn’t?”
Her brows knit. I’ve hit something.
She groans, tossing her head back. “It’s my stupid brother. He got in my head. Don’t tell him I said that.”
“What did he say?”
“That John’s terrible with money. And to be careful with mine. I brushed it off, but now, I don’t know, it’s messing with my head.”
“And Nick wasn’t?”
She shakes her head. “He came from money, so it wasn’t even a factor. But he had his own issues.”
“What kind of issues?” I press, softly.
She hesitates, then gives a small shake of her head. “I don’t want to get into it. It doesn’t matter.”
Taina drums her palms against the table again. “The more you speak of him, the more the universe screams. The voices are loud.”
Valerie’s eyes widen slightly. Then narrow. “What voices?”
“They are yours,” Taina says calmly. “They just sound different when you try not to listen.”
Valerie flinches.
For a second, I think she’s going to settle down. Ask more questions. Stay in this a little longer. But then—
“No.” Valerie stands abruptly. “I can’t. I won’t see Nick again. I’m sorry. I have to go.”
“Valerie—” I call, but she’s already halfway across the garden.
Taina sighs, sagging in her seat like she’s winded. I slump into my chair and groan.
Taina grabs my hand and rubs my palm. “I see a great deal of back pain in your future.”
I yank it back. “Please break character.”
“I don’t know.” Taina wiggles her brows. “Think I found a new hobby.”
“How about we focus on the hobby you are good at,” I say. “How fast can you find Nick’s contact info?”
“How fast can you make your signature mofongo?”
“An hour and a half?”
“Make it tasty.” Taina grins. “All right, plan time.”
I raise a brow. “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Oh, absolutely,” Taina says, pulling out her phone. “The universe speaks to me.”
“I’ll kill you.”
“Just tell me what you need from me. You’re going to invite him down, right? Set up a meet-cute?”
“I don’t know what that means.”
“God, Lucy, read a book, will you?”
“Anyway,” I go on, “if you mean getting him down for the Jack and Jill party this week, then sure.” I sort through blurred, drunk memories of our night of venue hunting. “I think he lives in North Carolina.”
“Not at all too far; doesn’t even warrant a flight.”
“Can you get me his contact info?” I ask. “Some general info on him?”
“Can a dog bark?”
I give her an exasperated stare.
“Okay, I’m on it. How are you going to get him down?”
“I’m pretty sure Valerie changed her number when she moved on to her next boyfriend. I can pretend I’m her with mine.”
“All right, we’re doing this.”
“I’m doing this. And then after this,” I add, folding my arms, “you’ll book a flight home, right?”
Taina freezes. “What?”
“I appreciate your help, and it’s been nice seeing you, but I have to finish this up on my own.” And you have to go back home before Mathew realizes you’ve been helping me all along.
She shakes her head. “No way, it’s getting good. I’m not leaving yet. What if you need me again?”
“I won’t,” I promise, “but thanks.”
She crosses her arms against her chest. “No.”
“Taina, I’m serious.” My brows pull together. “This is my mess; you’ve done enough to help.”
“Why can’t I stick around the whole time? I’m your sister,” she snaps, eyes flashing. “It felt like you were finally relying on me. You don’t just cut that thread now because you feel like it. Why can’t I be around, just in case?”
“I’m not pushing you out,” I say, even though I absolutely am. “I’m just letting you off the hook.”
Taina’s voice sharpens. “I want to be on the hook.”
“That doesn’t make any sense.”
“It does, and you know it,” Taina says. “Besides, you do need me. Not just for wedding wrecking, but God, you need a reminder to lighten up a bit. Not freak out after you overthink about what you and Anders have fallen into. Live a little.”
I open my mouth, shut it, then snap back, “I think I’ll be fine. The wisdom you showed before seems to be missing now.”
Taina scoffs. “Wow. Just like that, you view me as the fragile little sister not able to help out when it matters.”
I blink. “Taina—”
“No, don’t backpedal now,” she says, quieter.
“You’re always going to be this way, Lucy, aren’t you?
Always going to dip one toe into trusting me, then yank it back the second it feels uncomfortable.
Always going to share a little, hide a lot more, and push me away when you think you’re showing too much. ”
I run a hand through my hair. “That’s not fair.”
“It’s not”—Taina gets up—“and I’m getting a little sick of it.”
She leaves me there, guilt rising in my chest and something heavier under it—something embarrassingly close to shame.