Lucky 33 (Love in the District #2)

26. My Psychic

CHAPTER 26

MY PSYCHIC

B elinda had suggested that Amy listen to music or podcasts while cleaning to keep her brain busy, and it had been a genius idea. She had been able to keep her body busy with cleaning and her mind occupied with her favorite true crime podcast that she’d gotten behind on that summer.

Amy was almost feeling good. It was nothing short of a miracle that Laura had been busy with wedding planning and work since Amy’s breakup, so she hadn’t noticed Amy’s radio silence. Goodness knows that won’t last much longer.

Mystic Natasha’s instructions to give herself time and fight her sadness and anxiety were working. I can’t believe I’ve become a person who regularly consults my psychic. Ugh. I just called her my psychic.

Lots of things were different since her birthday, and Amy would never have been able to predict any of them. It was a year of change, all right, but she hadn't expected so much of it. I guess Natasha did tell me to expect the unexpected.

Brit had suggested that Amy write down her feelings so she could organize them and process them. Amy had argued that it wasn’t her thing, but Brit had been prepared with an answer. “Has whatever is your thing been working out for you? ”

No.

She'd gotten herself a fancy journal during her last trip past Paper Source. If she had to write down her thoughts, she wanted to at least do it in something pretty.

Amy considered what Natasha had told her during her last visit. If she remembered correctly, the psychic had told her to work on fighting her anxious nature since it was clouding her perspective. Amy thought a good place to start would be to write down her list of anxiety-driven thoughts.

I may never find love again.

Drew lied to me (I think).

I hurt him.

He won’t forgive me.

He won’t want to talk to me.

He’s going to tell everyone how awful I am.

I am awful.

I’m too hard on myself.

What will happen if I’m not hard on myself and let my standards drop?

I’m part of a cosmic joke.

I have to buy all new wine glasses.

Laura is going to judge me.

I self-sabotage.

Did I ruin Drew’s new friendship with Jake and Tim?

What if he moves away and there’s no one to tell me and I never find out because we’re not talking and no one he would tell knows to tell me?

Why is this making me more anxious? She put her journal away and looked at her phone. 3:33 p.m. Ugh. She saw an alert from Twitter about UVA’s football schedule. Let’s see … The homecoming game was going to be against— No. Duke. Come on.

Amy opened her balcony door and sat in her rarely used Adirondack chair. The door above her slid open and her upstairs neighb or came out to sit. He was a charming elderly man who played his oboe outside since it annoyed his wife. He had told Amy once that his wife was practically deaf, so it suited her if he played on the balcony. He had hoped it wouldn’t bother Amy. She told him honestly that she would love to hear him, and it would be a pleasure to have regular oboe serenades from above.

After her neighbor worked through his regular warm-up scales, he began playing a familiar song. It took her a moment to realize it was the Star Wars theme song, but when she did, she had to get out of there.

Amy took the next day off. One good thing that had come out of her relationship with Drew was finding out that a day off didn’t hurt anything with the business. She had left the city and driven west before realizing she was heading toward the pie store in Round Hill. She wished she hadn’t shared where she went on long drives with him. All she wanted was to get out there before they closed and eat a pie all by herself. Now I can’t have that. Not that it was a good idea.

As she headed back east, Amy figured she might as well get telling Laura about Drew and the drama surrounding the whole ordeal out of the way. She called her sister and waited while the phone rang.

“Where have you been hiding?” Laura asked as her greeting.

“It’s a long story. Are you home?”

“No, I’m at Jake’s. What’s up?”

“Is it okay if I come over there?”

“Probably. Hang on.” She could hear Laura and Jake’s muffled voices through her car’s speaker. Is it too late to back out? “Yeah, it’s cool. You coming now?”

“I’m about 30 minutes away. Is that okay?”

“Yeah, come on up,” Laura said before hanging up on Amy. Rude .

Laura answered the door wearing heavy, garish makeup and a stiff updo. Amy couldn’t help making a face.

“Yes, I’m aware,” Laura said, ushering her in.

“I didn’t realize you were attending clown college,” Amy said dryly. Jake honked a laugh and stopped immediately when Laura glared at him. “What’s with the hair and makeup?”

“I went for a bridal hair and makeup consultation today. Suffice it to say I’ve taken her off my list of potentials.”

“You haven’t even set a date. Why are you doing this now?” Amy asked.

Laura pouted. “I thought it would be the most fun part of wedding planning, and hair and makeup are crucial, and— I just wanted to, okay?”

“Don’t get huffy with me, youngblood. I’m your elder,” Amy teased.

“Where’s your manly sidekick?” Jake asked Amy. Amy’s face crumpled and Jake looked worried. “What? What’s wrong?”

Laura’s overly made-up face paled at Amy’s reaction. “Ames, what happened?”

Amy flopped down in Jake’s leather recliner. “You remember how Drew committed a crime?”

“Allegedly,” Jake said. He and Laura sat on the couch and looked at her anxiously.

“Okay, allegedly. Hang on. No, it’s not. The problem is he did. Wait, no. That’s not the problem.”

“You’re not making sense. Slow down and start from the beginning,” Jake said calmly.

“I’ll start back at the Class 2 misdemeanor revelation.” Laura and Jake nodded, waiting for her to continue. “I couldn’t get that out of my head. The more I thought about him possibly having been to jail and not telling me about it, the more spun up I got. Everyone told me to slow down and let him tell me when he was ready—if it was his record that Laura found.

“You know I’m not a patient person. I kept getting more upset about the whole thing. So, against everyone’s advice, I went to his place, lobbed accusations at him, barely let him talk, dumped him, and stormed out. I haven’t had any contact with him since.”

Laura and Jake sat in stunned silence.

Huh. I expected a lot of words, not silence. “Guys?” Amy asked.

“What were you thinking?” Laura shouted, lunging toward her. Jake held his fiancée back but looked just as troubled as she did.

“I was thinking that he had lied to me. And I was right.”

“Are you insane?”

Maybe?

“Let me get this straight,” Laura said, sitting down, trying and failing to calm herself. “You used information you shouldn’t have had, blindsided him with accusations, broke his heart, and now think you’re the victim?”

Amy shifted uncomfortably. She had known this wouldn’t be an easy discussion, but wow. “You’ve been quiet,” Amy said to Jake.

“I agree with Laura. That was uncool, Amy. Did you give him a chance to tell you the story?”

No. “Um.”

“So no,” Laura spat.

“No.”

“Did you get any information?” Jake asked.

“Just that he claimed it was for one night and complete BS. He mentioned something about the judge wanting to make an example out of him because he thought Drew was a privileged UVA kid.”

Jake steepled his fingers and leaned forward. “And what did he say when you accused him of lying?”

“He said that it wasn’t a lie. It was something he hadn’t told me yet because he didn’t think it mattered for our relationship.”

“And you disagreed with that?” Jake continued.

“At the time, yes. Now? I’m not so sure. ”

Laura had been quietly steaming and finally spoke again, “I’m so mad at you. You had a man who loved you. You loved him back. He was perfect for you. You were happy. Why did you do this? Are we back to the old self-sabotaging Amy?”

Ouch. She’s right, but still.

“I’m trying hard not to be. I messed up big time by approaching him like that. I went in there blinded by some self-righteous need to call him a liar. I know I’m in the wrong, but I don’t think this can be fixed. Would you talk to me again if you were him?”

“Yes,” Laura and Jake responded in unison.

“You can’t be serious.”

“Well, not without an apology and a much saner approach,” Jake clarified.

“Then what do I do?” Amy asked.

“Well, when Jake and I broke up over my snooping, I made the mistake of tracking him down and acting unhinged. I don’t suggest that,” Laura said.

Jake grimaced and made a crazy motion by his ear. “I second that. But, once we got together and were able to talk things through without all the emotion, we worked it out. Amy, you need to try. At least apologize. I’m not going to say that your story will be like ours and you’ll end up engaged, but the first step toward that is rebuilding trust,” Jake said.

“Any tips on how to do that?”

Laura thought for a moment and said, “Can you drop a note off for him?”

“At his apartment?”

“That might be too much of a reminder of your breakup. What about at his office? I’m sure he has a department secretary you can leave it with. Then, let him make the next move once he’s ready,” Laura advised.

That’s a good idea. How can I do it without running into him while over there?

“Think it through and stay calm and rational. We can read over y our note if you like. I can give you the guy’s perspective,” Jake offered.

“Thanks, you two. I’m going to let you get back to your evening. Laur, I suggest your next step be renting a sandblaster to get all of that off your face,” Amy smiled, getting up to leave.