“You tell me.”
“I see him seeking satisfaction and peace in a green area…”
“He’s a farmer,” Bea mutters while we both settle onto the cushions. “You just described the job that everyone knows he does.”
“And we are here to talk about you, not your brothers.” Madame Petty smiles at Bea. “You wish to know how many children you two shall have.”
I succumb to an unexpected coughing fit.
The light flickers inside the tent, extra sunbeams suddenly bouncing about the interior as though someone’s opened a window.
Madame Petty looks behind us. “The future is often surprising,” she says to someone over our shoulders. “Coughing, choking, and gasping are natural responses to what I’m likely to discover.”
I glance behind me and spot Pinky, backlit in the doorway as he peers in on us.
Bea looks at Pinky too, but she rolls her eyes at him.
He briefly studies me, smiles, and shuts the flap again, plunging us back into dimness.
While I’ve had my back turned, Madame Petty has extinguished all of the candles, and the interior of the tent is quite blurry to me now.
I failed to bring my glasses, as I didn’t expect to be in a dark room. Everything is hazy inside.
Everything except Madame Petty’s voice.
“Beatrice, shall we discuss your future first?”
If it’s possible to feel a person stifle a sigh, that’s exactly what I believe I’m feeling Bea do right now.
“Let’s get it over with,” she says.
Madame Petty’s figure nods. “Good, because I’ve been feeling something ominous brewing for you for a while now.”
“That was last weekend. Jail. Bet you heard.”
“No, it started before that.”
“When that tree fell on my car and Ryker’s dog disappeared and the glitch happened with Hudson’s tuition and he had to reregister for fall classes but couldn’t get into half of them that he needs and the toilet backed up in Daph’s apartment and we were without water for almost two full days?” Bea says.
I make another noise. “Good grief, when did this start?”
“The week before you got me tossed in the slammer.”
“All of thathappened within a week?”
“Yep. Probably something with Griff too, and he’s just not telling me, but honestly, he’s twenty-three and a professional athlete. If he can’t handle himself now, I made a lot of mistakes.”
“Having met your two other brothers, I’m certain you did a wonderful job with the third as well.”
“Someone will betray you,” Madame Petty announces, interrupting us.
“Shocking,” Bea replies. “That’s so out of line with everything else that’s happened lately.”
“Someone close to you,” Madame Petty continues.
“Like Daphne?”
“I see a man…”
