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Delia’s hugging Burke, who’s whispering something in her ear, and Josie and her boyfriend have quickly made themselves at home and are setting up what looks like a crystal ball on the kitchen island. They had to shove aside the Existential Dilemma Turkey to make room, which seems appropriate for some reason.
Josie has on a black veil, and a colorful dress that might have been purchased in a sealed bag reading Fortune Teller at one of those Halloween tents. Her boyfriend looks like he might have raided my collection of brown shirts.
“Hey,” I say to Mira under my breath as I slide an arm around her. I have this urge to always be touching her, reminding myself that she’s here. “They’re kind of like us.”
She scowls at me. “If you’re implying I’m the Josie in this equation, I’m not happy with you, and next time you piss me off, you have to one up yourself from the last time you groveled. So you’ll need to come up with more than forty-two reasons why you love me.”
“You act like that’s a challenge.”
Someone clears their throat loudly, in a way that’s meant to make people listen, and of course it’s Josie.
“Hi, Josie,” I say, because presumably you’re supposed to greet people who have come to your home to spend the holidays with you.
“Danny,” she says with a nod.
“We’ve heard a lot about you,” Shane says.
Izzy has already returned to the slime show, because apparently a psychic has nothing on the draw of a crafting slime.
“I haven’t heard anything,” Ruthie says, giving me a dirty look. She should know by now that I’m no good at gossip or remembering whom I’ve told what.
“I’m the one who knew your brother and his girlfriend were soulmates,” Josie says. “I told him months ago, but it took him a while to listen.”
I feel everyone looking at me, their attention like legs skittering across my skin. Mira pokes me in the ribs.
“What?” I say, dumbfounded. “That’s not true. You were much vaguer than that implies.”
Josie shrugs. “A woman needs to maintain some mystery, and the veil is rarely transparent.” A triumphant expression crosses her face. “But I was right, wasn’t I?”
Her boyfriend gives her a little nudge, and she sighs and announces, “This is Poe.”
He lifts a hand. “Hi, everyone. We brought bean dip. Thanks for having us over.”
No one who lives here invited them, but it would feel rude not to say anything, so I nod and say, “Of course,” which is not really a rational response.
Mira kisses the side of my face, and I’m suddenly grinning.
“So, who will it be?” Josie asks, flipping the veil over so it covers her face. “Who’s brave enough to face the future?”
I probably surprise everyone in the room by raising my hand, as if I’m a kid in class she can call on, not a man in the living room of his own home. But Josie shakes her head. “We already know enough about your future.”
She puts out a finger and toggles it around before landing on Shane.
He looks surprised and then disinterested, shaking his head. “No, thank you. No offense, but I don’t buy into that stuff.”
“You don’t need to,” she says. “The future catches up with all of us.”
“Sure,” he says with a chuckle. “Of course.”
Ruthie puts a hand on her hip as she turns toward Shane.
His eyebrows hike up. “What?” he asks.
“Are you afraid of having your fortune told, Shane?”
“Of course not,” he scoffs. When Ruthie doesn’t look away, he sighs and heads over to the kitchen island, where Poe’s now snacking on some bread that had been set out for later.
Shane sits on the stool across from Josie. She hums under her breath, staring at him, then bows her head to look into the crystal ball.
