“I’m throwing my hat in the ring, staking a claim, making my intentions known. It’s kind of like … a dog peeing on a fire hydrant.”
“I could’ve done without that visual.” She assessed my outfit as I tied on the apron. “Why do you feel the need to put all your goodies on the front line for a man?”
“It’s more for the competition,” I answered, twisting my hair up and sticking a pencil in it to keep it out of my way.
Lily shook her head and added a shot of espresso to a latte.
I threw up my hands. “What? Do I look that bad?”
“No, you look that good,” she said, spooning foam into a mug. “I just want your self-respect to be intact when all this is over. I assume Michael is your fire hydrant?”
“Yes.” I picked up the order pad to see what was next and then poured milk into a metal cup before attaching it to a steamer. “I’m sorry for bailing on you yesterday,” I said over the hissing noise. “You’ve been here two mornings in a row, haven’t you?”
“No worries. Vanilla latte?” she called out to the crowd before turning back to start the next drink. “Just help me get through these orders, and I’ll forgive you.”
We worked in silence for a few minutes until the crowd dissipated. Lily picked up a glass of ice water and downed half of it before asking, “Where are you headed?”
“I don’t know exactly. There are a couple of places I think he might be. Or he could be someplace else altogether. That’s why I came to talk to you.” I was done with secrets. My best friend needed to come clean. Even if it meant I had to do the same. “I wanted to ask you to help me.”
“Help you?” she asked, crunching down on a piece of ice and narrowing her eyes.
“Help me … find him.” I wouldn’t chicken out. I wanted everything out in the open. “The way you find things.”
Lily choked on her ice before seizing my arm and dragging me toward the back office. She yanked me into the room and slammed the door behind us.
“What the hell, Lily?” I rubbed my arm where she’d grabbed it.
“How do you know?” Lily’s breath came out unevenly.
“I don’t know anything specific,” I confessed. “I just had an idea.”
“I’ve tried so hard to keep it a secret.” She stared at me with wide eyes. “When you asked me my opinion about the supernatural the other day, I got the feeling you were on to me.”
“Actually, I asked you the question about the supernatural stuff because of me.” I opened the door, sticking my head out to check the shop for customers. Only a couple of people sat in the orange chairs by the front window. I pulled my head back in and shut the door.
Lily sat down on the edge of the desk. “Please don’t tell me you’re a vampire. Vampires are so overdone.”
“I swear on every coffee bean in the universe that I’m not a vampire,” I promised her, laughing. “But … I can … sort of … see people from the past. Talk to them.”
“Is that what you saw that day in the cafeteria? A ghost?”
“Yes, but it’s a little more complicated than that.” I smacked my forehead with my hand when I realized I’d just given her Michael’s standard answer to me. “It would take a while to explain, and I’m kind of in a hurry. But am I right? About you?”
“Em, there’s so much tied up in what I can do—what I promised my abuela I would never do. It’s not dowsing. It’s not like I use a divining rod, or even a pendulum, even though I wear this one.” She fingered the tiger’s eye pendant that always hung from a silver chain around her neck. I thought she wore it because it matched her eyes. “The short answer is, yes, I can find things.”
“Why is it such a secret?”
“I don’t know all the reasons.” Lily’s mouth turned down at the corners. “But Abuela has very strict rules about what I can actively look for. Inconsequential things, like my keys or a recipe she’s misplaced, occassionally. But a living, breathing human? Never.”
“But the other day—you knew she was back from the bank before you saw her.”
“I knew the bank bag was back. And I knew Abi had the bank bag. I’ve developed loopholes over the years.”
“Have you ever talked to anyone about it?” I thought of the Hourglass. “Like a professional?”
“A professional what? Abi would kill me if she knew I told you.” She inclined her head toward the front door. “I’m sorry I can’t help you find Michael. I know you’re in a hurry. Go.”
“I’m not if you want to talk—”