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But I have that thought too quickly, because just as I thought that we were getting somewhere, Candice closes back up again, rolling into a prickly, defensive ball. “Yeah, I suppose,” is all she says, and when June smiles gently at her to try and get her to articulate her thoughts, she shrugs. “Anyway, your card is the three of clubs.”
I blink, my mouth dropping open. “How did you know?”
“Lucky guess,” she says, pursing her lips like it was nothing. I didn’t exactly give her a whole lot to work with.
“Well, you’ve got the ace… of hearts?” I guess, not confident in my choice at all.
Candice rotates her card slowly to show me the ace of hearts in her hands. June claps in delight. “Oh, brilliant. I love it when people are meant to be!”
“It’s a guessing game,” mutters Candice, her expression darkening as she folds her arms. “It doesn’t prove anything.”
June reaches out and puts her hand on Candice’s knee. “Sometimes the threads of the universe know things thatwedon’t yet and pull together to surprise us. It’s important to keep an open heart and mind.”
The way Candice recoils from June kind of makes me cringe, so before Candice can make any more snide comments, I say, “Okay, what’s the next activity?”
With a flourish, June grabs another deck of cards and splits it elegantly in half so she can hand a stack to each of us. I take a look at the set I’ve been given and it seems to be a bunch of random questions with no particular theme at all.
“We’re going to play This or That!” announces June with delight.
From the grimaces that Candice and I exchange, I get the feeling this is going to be a long night.
CHAPTER21
CANDICE
Iget up early. I’m a morning person anyway, but I like to stay in bed till at least seven a.m. on a Saturday. But it’s five thirty and I can’t stand the sound of Aiden’s breathing anymore and I’m terrified that he’s going to reach out in his sleep and grab me like some demon in a horror film.
Would that be so bad?
Right now, yes, it would be. I’ve barely slept, and I’m so tense from keeping my guard up that my shoulders are creaking like ancient trees. I shouldn’t be so unfair on Aiden — from the horror on his face yesterday, he wasn’t expecting pseudo-psychoanalysis either.
When I saidretreat, he was probably expecting something more like an extended lavish spa day. So was I.
The idea of spending another day with June does not fill me with joy.
We played more card games last night in an attempt to further assess our compatibility, but really it was all guessing games and party tricks. It’s the kind of thing that’s fun with people you like, at an actual party, but in a dark room with a woman who keeps insisting that fate is drawing me and Aiden together, it’s utterly unbearable. Eventually I had to pretend to be tired to get out of anything else — which today isn’t going to be that much of a lie at all.
Is it so bad that I want to lie by the pool for a while instead?
I stare out of the window for a while, looking at the trees waving over the oasis. It is a beautiful place. I can barely see the water from here, but birds circle overhead, black shadows against the lightening sky as the sun begins to rise. I wish I’d stopped last night to look at the stars.
Aiden’s breathing changes suddenly, like he’s about to wake up too, so I shove some shoes on my feet and leave the room as quietly as I can, making sure the door doesn’t slam behind me. Of course, I will have to see him again today, but I want to be ready for it.
I wander down towards the restaurant, hoping that breakfast starts at six a.m. It’s still early, but if I can at least get a table, it’ll give me something to do. I should have brought my book.Ugh.
I’m completely alone in the restaurant, but fortunately I am allowed to look at a menu and order. I’m about to tuck into a giant stack of pancakes when, to my despair, a figure with long, strawberry-blond hair and a loose floral dress waltzes in and takes a seat across from me. “Good morning! Did you see the sunrise? Oh, isn’t it gorgeous?”
I nod in agreement with all of June’s questions. I’m so not in the mood for a conversation at this time of day.
She orders some granola for herself and starts telling me about the dream she had last night about running naked along a beach, the sand under her feet and a storm rolling in from the sea. I wish I’d slept well enough to dream. Or is it when youdon’tsleep well that you dream?
Thinking about that means I miss her question, which I only realize when she stares expectantly at me. I swallow my mouthful too fast and it gets stuck in my throat, so I can only choke out a, “Sorry, what?”
“Are you excited for the day?” she repeats with a smile.
I nod as politely as I can, hoping that my breakfast struggle is covering my total lack of enthusiasm. “What’re we doing?”
“I’ve got a couple of things planned, but today is a little more self-guided than yesterday, you’ll be pleased to hear.” The glint in her eye suggests she knows exactly how annoying I found yesterday, and I get a tiny twinge of guilt for thinking badly of her.
