“It’s not your fault.” I exhale. The music fades and the next song begins to play.
“This is interesting music,” he says. “What is it?”
“The Nutcracker.”
“Hmmm. Is this the song you dance to?”
“No,” I laugh. “This is Mother Ginger and her polichinelles. Have you never seen the ballet?”
“Polichinelles?”
“Like clowns, but sometimes they’re called gingerbread children.”
He shakes his head and chuckles. “Did you say Mother Ginger?”
“Mmhmm. Why?” I remove both shoes and set them to the side. Picking up my latte, I take a sip.
“Nothing. It’s just funny that Ginger is named Ginger and has a bunch of kids, so I guess it’s like she’s the town’s very own Mother Ginger.”
“Oh my god!” I shriek.
“What?”
“What if that’s it?” I pop up and move across the floor to my coat, digging out the schedule for the competition that’s still there. My pulse quickens as the pieces start to click together.
“What if what’s it?” Everett asks.
Unfolding the paper, I scan the words. I can’t believe I didn’t see this before. It was literally right in front of me the whole fucking time.
“Can you please tell me what’s going on?” he asks.
“Sorry, but I think I figured it out.”
“Figured what out?” His eyes crease and he tips his head as I walk back to join him.
“We’re inThe Nutcracker,” I marvel, sitting back down next to him.
Laughter shakes his whole chest.
“I’m sorry?”
“Specifically act two,” I clarify.
“What?”
“We. Are. In. Act. Two. Of.The. Nutcracker.”
He sits up a little straighter and rubs his hands over his face and down his beard.
“Claire, that’s impossible.”
“Says the man who woke up here a few days ago married to me in a place that doesn’t exist on any map anywhere.”
“First, Stella was a witch who trapped us here with crystal magic and now we’re in the?—”
“I think we were wrong about that. I think she’s the Sugar Plum Fairy,” I say. “That’s why the crystals didn’t work.”
“And who does that make me then? The Nutcracker?” he asks, sipping his latte.
