“The point is,Isaid it,” I continue. “And everything I touch lately turns to… not gold.”
She stares at me. “Huh. And how would your theater-specific wording affect my nonactor brother in a different state?”
I rub my hand over my face. “I don’t know. I think maybe we’re now connected in this inexplicably bizarre way because of the fortunes.”
“As much as we want to, we can’t always explain why bad things happen,” she says.
She’s right. I’m uncomfortable, and I’m trying to find answers for why everything’s gone the opposite of how they usually go in my life.
Hazel hands me her second slice. “You didn’t break my brother’s legs, Logan. Lately, there have been more fortuitous events thanI’m used to, but the rest of them? That’s life,” she says with a shrug. “That’s how it goes.”
“Not for me. Our past fortunes are irrelevant now. But your present and future ones were that you’ll experience a loss, and that you’ll have a painful event that will shake you,” I recall. “Not only did everything I just told you happen, but we lost one of our main actors to a movie shooting in Hollywood. The new guy is taller than I am. We need to modify the height of a few doorways. We’ve been working around the clock.”
“Losing an actor was your loss?” Hazel asks.
“Yeah, besides the destruction and chaos.” I shake my head. “You know what, ignore me. I should be grateful that I have a smart, talented team who’s willing to work through these problems. It’s amazing I get to do what I do at all. This is my first time being a head carpenter. Of course there are going to be problems. What’d I expect?”
“It can still be frustrating,” Hazel says, cataloging my reaction.
“I need to look at the bright side. I’m going to learn something from this. I’m probably delirious from the lack of sleep.”
She makes a sympathetic face. “There’s a really good chance that’s true. Has anything gone right?”
I try to think of something, anything. “We put the fire out?”
“Everything you’ve said does sound chaotic.”
“And my fortunes were that I’d come into abundance and that next month is when I should execute on any ideas or goals. Given that we’re not in October, that one’s still to be determined.”
“How do I fit into this exactly?” Hazel asks.
“Technically, you were holding the lottery ticket when we won,” I say. “That was my abundance fortune.”
“That’s a huge stretch. With my luck, we wouldn’t win a contest where everyone’s a winner.” She eyes her plushies, looking skeptical as she says this.
Sounds like Hazel and I have both had challenges. I’m probably so off base with my fortune theory.
I try to focus on something else and land on the pizza. “Thanks for sharing with me. I may have to rethink my usual.” As Hazel drags a fry through ketchup and lifts it to her mouth, her bracelet catches my eye. “Were you inspired by Doc and Marty?” I ask.
She reaches for her wrist. “This was my mom’s. All the charms fell off except this bird one,” she says, like,See? Not good.“I thought I had lost it forever. But then someone… found it.”
“That’s very—”
“Don’t say it.”
“Fortunate.” I can’t help but point this fact out.
“I’ll admit that happening is uncommon for me,” she says.
All this good luck and bad luck. We need answers. And if the bird on Hazel’s bracelet isn’t a sign, I don’t know what is.
We need another fortune reading.
“What I do want you to tell me is”—Hazel waves the lottery ticket—“how big of a tip do we need to leave?”
Chapter 6
LOGAN
