“It can’t?” I’d repeated slowly. By this stage, I was hanging on her words, and so were my friends.
“Mmmmmm, I see now,” she’d said, waving her hands around the cards as if they had now transformed into a crystal ball.
“What do you see? What do you see?” I jumped in. My friends had moved closer too. It was clear we were all thinking the exact same thing.
“Mmmm, this curse has cost you great pain over the years.”
“Tell us more,” Melusi half shouted, waving at the cards.
“But you are trying to lift the curse in the wrong way.”
“What should I do?” I sounded quite frantic now. I was fully invested in this woman’s words, despite her numerous one-star ratings.
“You have to go back to the beginning, to where the curse was cast. You can only undo the curse at the source.”
“At the . . . What does that mean?” Yo asked. She looked as if she was the most taken in by all of this.
“Whoever, or whatever circumstance caused the curse, you must go back and redo what wrong was done in order to undo it.”
I widened my eyes and looked at my friends. Their eyes were as wide as mine.
“That means . . .” Russ started.
“Logan M. McAdam Junior,” Sarah concluded.
That had been the second time only that I’d actually searched for him. I wasn’t sure I believed in going back to the source to break the curse, but of course, after receiving information like that, one couldn’t help one’s curiosity.
I hadn’t found him. I’d searched on social media, even called some old school friends. But nothing. It was as if he’d dropped off the face of the planet. There would be no going back to the source, even if I’d wanted to. Ever.
CHAPTER 8
Ash
Dear Max,
I showed the locations to Sebastian and he absolutely loves them. (Well done to you—do you have any idea how rare that is?) He wants you to book them for the shoot, and also arrange with them for me to scout the locations and conduct sun surveys.
Curious to know how the client schmoozing went. Was the cheese worth $12,000 a day?
Leigh
———
Dear Leigh,
Glad to know Sebastian is happy with the locations. I was starting to think we weren’t going to get them right. Are the shoot dates still the same? Just want to confirm before I book. I’ll speak to them about you scouting the locations. Are there any dates that do not suit you, travel wise?
The cheese went down really well. So well, in fact, that I think I might have to give you a commission. Will 10% suffice?
———
Dear Max,
The sooner I can conduct the surveys, the better. Some of the shots are very complicated, so the more prep work I can do, the better. Am okay to travel anytime.
10% seems a bit too generous. I don’t think three cheese suggestions warrants that much compensation.
———
