Sudden pops like champagne bottles being opened made me turn to the older man who had fetched Lem.
“Uh, look. I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m getting real uneasy about all of this. Can we go somewhere quieter so you can explain what’s happening?”
Lem rushed up to me and grabbed me in a hug. His intensity reassured me a bit but also made me try to step back.
“No! I won’t let you go. I’ve waited too long.”
I looked up to his face. His arms locked around me as I breathed in the wood dust around him. I sneezed.
“Look, I’m not going anywhere,” I said, sniveling andignoring the celebration going on behind me. I swiped at the moisture dripping from my nose. “I just want to know what’s happening.”
Since Lem looked like I’d hit him, I added a soft, “Please.”
He grabbed my hand. Like the handshake I shared with the Doc, our hands tingled from something that felt like a power surge.
I glanced at Lem in surprise. He smiled and nodded.
“Now you know,” he said softly.
“No, not really.” I raised our clasped hands. “All I know is we’re holding hands, everyone around us is celebrating something, and I’m starting to feel like I shouldn’t be here.”
Lem nodded.
“Got it.” He turned, dragging me with him. “Let’s go to the back and talk about this.”
Did I want to know? Or did I want to run?
I noted all the doorways as he pushed through the crowd. Along the way we picked up Doc, who joined our little parade.
Except for everyone congratulating Lem and me, visions of Shirley Jackson stories I’d read in school kept flashing through my mind. What was the endgame here? Was it as gruesome as some of hers?
The four of us piled into a broom closet sized office, meant to hold two at most. Lem pulled me around the desk and gave me a little shove to sit in the chair behind it. He sat next to me in the guest chair. The other two men stood along the wall, Doc leaning on a filing cabinet, the other back against the closed door.
Lem snuggled close, taking my hand in his. His touch felt good and settled me to listen as Doc took the lead.
“We’re sorry if we made you feel uneasy. It wasn’t our intention.” He took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “The story begins forty years ago with twenty-five-year-old me moving hereto get away from city life. I built a little store on the road from the valley to the mountains, a waystation, if you will. Others joined me.
“Then something odd happened. I started seeing connections between people. Love lines. I started pairing people up in my mind. When they paired up for real, I began telling people about my visions.”
Lem turned to me.
“Don’t worry. If you don’t believe him, I don’t blame you. I didn’t believe it either at first.” His excitement and outpouring of love energized me. Seeing or feeling this, he leaned over and kissed me.
The world lit up in fireworks and exploded with sweet feelings.
My jaded self tried to scoff, but I was too caught up in the excitement of the moment.
Slowly, softly Lem pulled away.
“I’m the only one left unpaired. Unloved,” he whispered. “I thought Doc had forgotten me. Or was shunning me.”
“Lem…” the Doc began, but Lem waved him away.
“I know this is hard to believe. That you and I are fated or whatever. You don’t have to believe. Just stay long enough to give it a try.” He sighed and squeezed my hand. “Please. I know you want to run. But, please, stay. At least for a little while. Is it too much to ask?”
My inner cynic scoffed.
My inner romantic sighed.
