The woman blinks.
“Look, I know you were trying to help, and I’m sure in some version of the future I’m meant to be with Colin, but I feel like I need to tell you…I tried to take your advice, I tried to find my ex-boyfriend, and it’s just not the path for me.”
She takes a sip of her cider, then puts it down. “Who’s Colin?”
Ah. Apparently she sees faces but not names. “My college boyfriend. I kind of never got over him, or so I thought. But then he came here, and it was like this perfect fated moment, except it wasn’t perfect at all.”
She takes a bite of pie, unperturbed by my inner turmoil, but I can’t seem to stop babbling.
“I believe you think you saw someone for me, I really do,” I say, trying to break it to her gently. “But while Colin and I are compatible—I mean, he’s a Libra, hello—I don’t love him. I love someone else, and he means so much more to me than any prophecy or vision or destiny…”
My voice falters as I realize what I’m saying. Not that I might love Mark. Not that I think I love him. Not that I’m trying to figure things out.
I’ve already figured it out. I figured it out so long ago, I’ve just been an idiot, hiding behind Magic 8 balls and forcing someone else to make the decision for me, because it was easier. Easier to have a fortune cookie tell me my future, because it meant that I couldn’t make mistakes.
“Except I did make one,” I whisper. “I failed to see what’s been in front of me the whole time, and I love him.”
I say it again, louder, the truth of it making me laugh. “I love Mark.”
I see a few people look at me, including Erika, who rolls her eyes from across the room but smiles a little.
I need to find him. Tell him. Win him back.
I stand up and look down at the woman. “You were right about my parents’ anniversary. I’ll give you that. But you were wrong about the love of my life being an ex-boyfriend.”
“I never said that.” Her voice is clear and steady.
I frown. “What? Yes, you did. At the train station, you told me—”
“That you’d already met your one true love. I never said you’d dated him.”
I’m about to tell her I’m not in the mood to bicker over semantics, but then the pieces click into place.
You’d already met your one true love. I never said you’d dated him.
I close my eyes and laugh. “Mark. You were talking about Mark. This whole time…”
I laugh harder, a vaguely crazy sound, but she doesn’t seem to notice.
She pushes her plate toward me. “Can I have some more pie?”
“Pie. She wants pie.” I laugh again and head toward the door. “Erika, can you get the woman another slice of pie? I’ll owe you.”
“Don’t mess this up!” she calls after me.
I don’t intend to.
In fact, I have the perfect plan.
December 24, Late
My plan is brilliant, I’m still confident of that.
There’s just one problem. While it’s brilliant in theory, it’s dependent on one thing I can’t control: Mark needs to be here.
And he’s not.
It takes me only an hour to get everything I need, although I did have to beg Jackie at the drugstore to keep the shop open a touch past her 5:00 P.M. Christmas Eve closing time so I could get everything I need.