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She shoos me off. Actually, to be more accurate, she shoves me off—down the dark hallway that leads to the stairs up to her store-top apartment. I ignore the weird vibes of our parting and follow her command until I’m halfway down the hallway and the bathroom door flings open and someone steps out.
“I’m so sorry, dear, pardon me.”
Her face isn’t familiar, but she looks like most women in my aunt’s book clubs: in her fifties, wild curly hair, lots of jewelry, smells like a mix of sage and roses, although the rose part could be the lingering scent of my aunt’s bathroom hand soap.
“No worries at all.” I step aside to let her pass, but as she moves by me, she halts mid-step. Turning, she grabs me by the wrists and looks straight into my eyes, pinning me to the wall with her intense stare. I get the strange sensation she’s looking for my soul.
“You don’t belong here.” Her words feel like arrows piercing my chest, and even though I don’t think she intends them to be an insult, they feel like one.
“I’m Livi’s niece. I’m not part of the book club. I’m just heading up to her apartment.”
I move to leave, but she doesn’t let go of my wrists. She steps in even closer, studying my face. “That’s not what I meant. You’re notfromhere. You don’t belong.”
She lets go of my hands and steps away. There’s enough room between us to escape now. To slip away from her and her eerilyintense stare and retreat to Aunt Livi’s apartment, where I can ease my feelings with pinot grigio and the stash of mint chip Aunt Livi keeps in her freezer for emergencies, but I’m rooted to the spot.
“What exactly do you mean?”
She reaches for my hand, turning it over. She opens my palm and runs her index finger from my wrist to the tip of my middle finger. “Your aura is off. It’s not of this world. You don’t fit here. This is not where you’re supposed to be.”
I snatch my hand away, suddenly defensive. “Why would you say that?”
She tilts her head to the side, grabs a fistful of what I think is air from above my head, opens her palm, and studies it. “You’ve changed things.”
I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Yes, of course I’ve changed things. That was the whole point. I wanted to change my life to one that never had Stuart in it.
“What’s wrong with changing things if it’s for the better?”
She studies me, squinting her eyes, tutting softly to herself. “What may be better for one may not be better for all. We are all tiny threads in a greater tapestry. If you pull one, you may risk undoing everything.”
The wordswhat the actual fuckare on the tip of my tongue, but I suck them back as we’re interrupted by another middle-aged woman. This one is short and a little round in the middle, with light-blond curly hair and big glasses. Far less judgy eyes. “Are you ladies waiting for the restroom?”
I shake my head.
“You go right ahead, Rosaline.” My mysterious companion waves her in. “God knows with the amount of tea I’ve been drinking, I’ll need it again by the time you’re done.”
This time, I do take the opportunity to exit. I climb the backstairs two at a time and don’t breathe until I’m in Aunt Livi’s apartment with the door closed behind me. That was weird, right? Three weeks ago, I wouldn’t have thought twice about that conversation. I’d make some sort of joke in my head about the contents of her tea and move on with my life, but now I’m not sure. There’s a weird gnawing in the pit of my stomach. I’m rattled. And I really need to talk to someone.
Kiersten’s phone goes to voicemail, but she calls me back two minutes later as I am pulling the emergency ice cream from the freezer and scooping myself the sizable bowl needed to cope with hearing that my life choices might be dooming the entire universe.
“How’d things go today?” she asks. “You going to become a millionaire business mogul and support your sister and her ridiculous family?”
Oh yeah, Priya’s meeting. I almost forgot.
“Meeting was great. It might be a decade or two until I’m rolling in it, but I promise to put you up in a nice retirement home.”
Kiersten snorts. “I’ll take it.”
“Are you busy right now?” I ask her. “I’m over at Aunt Livi’s, and I need some moral support.”
Kiersten lets go of a long breath. “Problems with lover boy?”
“No. Actually, things with him are really great. It’s my other problem. I’m worried I might be causing a permanent rift in the space-time continuum.”
There’s the muffled sound of Kiersten’s voice on the other end, as if she’s covered the phone with her hand and is talking to someone. “Give me thirty minutes. I need to make sure Riley finishes his math homework, then I’ll be over. Are we coping with booze or sugar tonight, and do I need to stop at the store on my way?”
I stare down at Aunt Livi’s near-empty ice cream container.“Sugar. And yeah, maybe pick up a tub or two of ice cream.” It may take more than one bowl until I feel okay about potentially destroying the universe.
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