“Heather gave me a job when I had nothing.” Lorna cut the pie into equal slices. “You gave me a place to live when I couldn’t remain in my apartment. Without both of you, I would still be locked in misery over Glenn’s betrayal. You helped me say goodbye to him, and I was able to then let go of the past.”
Lorna dished up the three plates and carried them into the living room, overlapping the edges of two of the plates so she could carry them with one hand like a waitress. She set them on the coffee table. Vivien followed her.
“You encouraged me to say yes to William,” Lorna continued, “and I have never been happier. After everything you have done for me, there is no way I will abandon you when it’s time for you to find your peace. Whatever you want, whatever you need, I’m here for you.”
Vivien nodded, touched by Lorna’s words. Her voice was soft as she answered, “I want Troy.”
Lorna smiled and nodded. “We know. We felt it after you came home with tacos.”
“Part of me feels like I should feel guilty, you know,” Vivien continued, “but I don’t, so then I feel guilty about not feeling guilty. Somewhere along the way I’d become stuck on the idea of Sam. I’d been told my entire life that women in my family only get one shot at love. If that love died, then we were cursed never to have it again. I really believed that, but then I met Troy and…”
“The world shifted?” Lorna supplied.
Vivien frowned. “Why did you phrase it like that?”
Her grandmother had always described meeting her true love in those terms.
Lorna shook her head and shrugged. “I don’t know. It was the only way I could think to describe the feeling I picked up from you.”
“I never thought it was possible, but maybe Heather is right. Maybe you can have more than one love of your life. Sam will always have a place in my heart, but Troy, he’s…”
Lorna gently rubbed Vivien’s upper back. “I know.”
Vivien didn’t know how to finish the sentence. Troy was here. He was her age and maturity level. He gave her something she’d been missing for years. He was the future, possibilities, her next chapter. Maybe the feelings weren’t meant to be put into words.
“But Sam is…” Vivien lifted her hand helplessly to the sides.
“I know,” Lorna said. “I think you’re trying to come up with a simple answer in a complicated situation, but I will say you are allowed to be happy.”
The door opened, and Heather rushed inside. “What did you mean when you said Sam is back, and are you all right?”
Heather looked around the home as if she could find the answer about Sam for herself.
“Yes, I’m all right,” Vivien assured her. “I think I know what he wants me to do.”
“She needs us to go to the beach with her,” Lorna put forth. “There is no way she should go alone.”
Vivien explained all that had happened, so everyone was on the same page.
Heather nodded. “I should have insisted you stay home today.”
“I should have stayed home with you,” Lorna added.
“Have you ever known me not to live my life?” Vivien asked, more of Heather since Lorna was a newer friendship. “I’ve followed my psychic instincts since the day I was born. I honestly didn’t feel like Sam wanted to harm me. If I stopped listening to the signs and started living in fear, that is when I’ll really be in trouble.”
“But the water…” Heather gestured weakly in the direction of the beach. “How can you say that wasn’t intentional?”
“I don’t have all the answers, but I have to believe in what I feel. If I can’t trust myself, then I am not sure how to live,” Vivien said.
Heather glanced at the two women and then down at the coffee table.
“That smells fresh,” Heather said, pointing at the pie.
“Lorna made it,” Vivien said.
“I thought maybe having sugar around might help the cravings after we use our magic. Maybe even if we eat before we séance,” Lorna said. “Plus, I like to bake.”
“That’s a brilliant idea. If we sugar load before a séance, maybe we won’t feel so drained after,” Heather agreed. “By this logic, it would practically be irresponsible of us not to eat more desserts.”
“We do like being responsible adults.” Vivien grabbed a plate and sank into a chair.
“It’s a hard job, but someone has to eat this pie.” Heather sat on the couch and picked up a plate. Lorna joined her.
After several bites, Heather said, “What happened with Troy last night? I have been waiting all day for details. We tried to stay up to see how asking him on a date went, but you didn’t come home.”
Vivien smiled. “Troy and I… Well, let’s just say that he was a surprise—a very good surprise.”
Ordinarily she would have told her friends everything, but with this story, she decided to leave a few of the details out.
Chapter Fourteen
Sand pushed its way between her toes as Vivien walked barefoot over the beach. The sound of the water lapping against the coast created a backdrop to the distant screams of children playing along the shoreline. Occasionally the murmur of voices from the distant public beach caught on the wind.
Vivien loved the smell of the ocean, the hint of salt and seaweed. Depending on the time of year, the breeze would carry the fragrance of wildflowers from the vegetation along the edge of the sand. Though she couldn’t smell the wildflowers today, the strong memory of them tricked her senses and she imagined them lingering in the fresh air.
“The water seems too cold to let children play in it,” Heather said, zipping her lightweight jacket as the breeze coming off the water became stronger.
Vivien had changed into a pair of leggings and layered a long sweater over a t-shirt. She carried her sandals, preferring the feel of the sun-warmed sand beneath her bare feet.
“Do you see him?” Lorna asked, not for the first time. She’d appeared on edge since they left the house as if she were on alert to fight off anything that tried to come near them.
“No,” Heather and Vivien answered in unison.
Lorna kept to the wet sand where it was easier to walk in her sneakers.
Heather stayed between them. “Any clue on where we’re going or how long until we get there?”
Vivien wasn’t sure where they were going. All she knew is that when they walked toward the water where Sam had first led her, she had the urge to turn left and stroll along the slight curve of the inlet. “I have no idea.”
“Good thing we brought our phones to call a cab,” Lorna said. “If we end up walking another ten miles, there is no way I’m making the journey back.”
Heather laughed at the exaggeration. They were scarcely a mile from Vivien’s home.
“Is your hip bothering you?” Vivien asked, concerned.
“No, I’m just being dramatic.” Lorna said.
As they neared an old walkover, Vivien stopped to study it. The metal had rusted, and the boards had bowed until it appeared less like a functioning walkway and more like the skeletal remains of an ancient serpent, blown from the ocean and smothered in the sand.