that, then they’re going to have to get over it, especially considering I need to spend time with you right now,” before I quickly tack on, “while I’m cursed.”
“You’re not cursed.” Her eyes pinch as she looks at me, tripping over something I’ve said, though she isn’t voicing the objection.
“What?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “Nothing, I just…” she blows out a breath. “I should get going. I have to meet my dad soon.”
“Liv,” I object.
She shakes her head. “No. I need to get going anyway. I didn’t realize how late it was. I’ll see you.”
I raise my coffee cup in a toast. “Friends.”
She taps her cup to mine, her smile strained. “Friends.”
20
Olivia
“Olive Oyl!” Dad calls, waving an arm as I step into the front entrance of Pacific Place. Behind him, Ross and Colton are chasing each other, a Starbucks in each of their hands. So much for father-daughter time.
“Hey,” I say, sharing in one of our awkward one-armed hugs that always make me miss my mom.
“How are you? Was this too early? Did you have to drag yourself out of bed?” He goads me, not realizing my new norm has nine feeling like I’ve slept in. But that would require reminding him that I have theater practice in the morning three times a week and classes three mornings, leaving me with Sunday to sleep in.
“You brought the boys,” I say.
He chews his gum as he watches them nearly run into a woman pushing a stroller, and yells at them to stop horsing around. They don’t. “Yeah. I thought it might be nice if we all spent some time together.”
I take a drink of my coffee that’s gone cold to keep from saying something I may regret later.
Dad claps. “Boys, let’s go. We’ve got shopping to do.”
Ross stops, and Colton crashes into him, spilling coffee and nearly knocking them both over.
We wander the ground floor with the boys bickering and Colton complaining about his coffee-stained shirt until Dad finally gives in and tells him to pick a store to buy a new shirt. I’m still trying not to associate this with Arlo and his coffee and beer-stained shirts when I notice the woman we’d tracked down to ask about Arlo’s curse going down the escalator.
“I’ll be right back,” I tell Dad.
“What? Where are you going?”
“I need to talk to that lady.” I leave before he can specify who, my stitches imploring me to slow down as my skin stretches and pulls with each swift step.
“Excuse me. Excuse me,” I say, working to catch her attention.
I finally catch up to her and reach out to touch her arm.
She startles, but then her face relaxes. “I came and saw you two weeks ago with my friend,” I explain.
She nods, her eyes gliding across my face like she’s trying to memorize me, or maybe curse me. It’s intrusive and blatant and has me releasing her arm and taking a step backward.
“You said you knew me, knew my mother and you—”
“Olivia,” Dad says, his voice harsh and fast as he stalks toward us.
I shake his words off and turn back to the woman. “I think you were mistaken. I was born in Austin, Texas, and my mom’s name is Holly, but something you said was right, and so I’m wondering if you’re from Austin, too?”
Her smile turns sad as something flashes in her eyes like two puzzle pieces fitting into place.
“Olivia. We’re waiting on you. Let’s go.” Dad stops beside me, his hand on my back.
“Frank,” the woman beside me says my dad’s name like it’s a swear word.
He shakes his head and moves his arm from my back to my arm.
“You know each other?” I ask.
Dad’s gaze hits me like a bolt of lightning—fast and harsh. “She’s had a shop in Seattle for years. Anyone who’s lived here for long knows about her. She likes to charge exorbitant prices for herbs and call them medicine.”
His rude words and ruder tone have me wincing as I look at the woman, hating that his cruelness is filling me with a sense of validity I didn’t realize until now I needed—wanted.
“I know, but I met her recently…”
Dad shakes his head again. “Anything she told you was a lie. She makes the news every couple of years for making ridiculous predictions, and they’re never true.”
“But she knew about that woman I told you about—Ellen.”
Dad’s attention cuts to the woman for a second and then back to me. “She’s a liar. A crazy liar. Trust me. You don’t