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“Okay. P. I. N. K.” As I said each letter, I opened and closed the paper. “Now, you have to choose one of the numbers written on the flap right here.” I showed her where I had written different numbers inside the origami.
“I pick three.”
“Okay, but before I open the flap, you have to ask a question.”
“And the fortune-teller will give me an answer?”
I nodded.
She took a deep breath, and never took her eyes off the paper in my hand. “Does Ricky like me?”
I opened the flap with the number three on it and smiled when I read what I’d written.
“What’s it say?” She jumped a little.
I showed her and smiled. “It says ‘absolutely.’”
Lyssa shot her arms in the air and spun around, then came back in for another skull-to-the-gut hug. But I didn’t mind. For a kid, she hugged pretty tight. But there was something different about it. Something like sheer happiness behind her little arms clutching me.
“Thank you, Paige,” she whispered, and my chest twisted so tight, I thought my ribs were going to crack under the pressure.
“You’re welcome.”
When she let me go, I handed her the origami and she held it like it was the most fragile thing in the world.
“You should go show your friends. Show Ricky.” I winked and she smiled. Sticking her little fingers in it, she ran out of the kitchen, yelling for all her friends. But when I saw Leo standing in the doorway, my smile turned to shock and I blinked a few times.
“How long were you standing there?”
He grinned and leaned casually against the doorframe, looking all sexy and relaxed. “Long enough to know you’re magical.”
My blush got a little out of control so I smoothed my hands down my dress and did my best to will it away.
“If I were magical, I would have used my powers by now, trust me.”
“You just made Lyssa’s day,” he said.
I shrugged. “I folded some paper.”
“No, it’s more than that. Don’t you get it, Paige? It’s who you are.”
“I’m a secret origami expert?” It wasn’t a skill I could put on my resume so I didn’t count it as anything worthwhile. Up until right then when I had seen Lyssa’s face.
He gave a slight smile but shook his head. “You’re unique. Even with things you don’t feel comfortable with, you still manage to make them work. You’re capable of so much more than you give yourself credit for.”
I glanced at my feet. Hearing Leo say I was capable, stand there and dish out words like that, made confidence rise and bat away some of the doubt I’d been carrying around for so long.
“Yeah, well, I still think I’m in the doghouse for over-sugaring Lyssa last time.”
Leo smiled. “Nah, Regan is pretty easygoing. She was just surprised by you.”
Even though I wanted to correct Leo and inform him that Regan wasn’t my biggest fan, I decided against it. Because it didn’t matter. Regan made it clear where she stood about me and, in all honesty, she was never mean to me.
I shook my head, jarring the thoughts away, and looked at Leo.
“So,” he straightened and took a step toward me, “where did you learn to tell fortunes?”
“It was something Amy and I used to do as kids. It was our go-to game.” I thought about how many times I’d sat in her bedroom. Ten years old, talking about what our lives would be like someday. Who we’d be someday. It was before everything went to hell and there was still a child’s hope in me. The memories made me both so sad and so happy that I continued sharing. “We would spend hours laughing and asking that damn thing every question imaginable.”
