“I tried to tell you,” Mateo says.
“I remember,” I assure him. “And I think my heart monitor sounded threatening, yes.”
“Yes.”
“And so, you took the words back. You took away my pain. Like you take away people’s pain every day in your job.”
And now Mateo truly smiles. Now his lips stretch wide, and his teeth gleam. “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
We grin at each other.
“I imagine there are people in Nashville with pain,” Mateo says.
“Back pain,” I agree.
“Hip pain,” Mateo adds.
“Neck pain,” I say.
“Leg pain,” Mateo says.
“So much pain. Please Mateo. Please cure the pain of the people of Nashville. The men who wear those giant cowboy hats. Disastrous for the spinal cords.”
Mateo turns off the music, and he flicks on the lights. “I should tell Daniela I’m leaving.”
“You should,” I agree. “Maybe you should pack your things first.”
“Okay.”
I proceed to march through the room and take anything that seems to belong to Mateo more than to a spa. His sweatshirt, for instance, needs to come with us. So does his phone. So does?—
I stare at a book that lies behind the planter. The title is… absurd.
“What is this, Mateo?”
Mateo’s face pales, then pink scatters over it. His blood has decided to dance today. Mateo is trembling too, and I frown, because I do not want Mateo to tremble.
“I’m sorry,” he blurts out.
I scrutinize the book. The titleisstrange…
“I manifested you!” he exclaims. “I asked the universe for you.”
Something warms in my chest.
Something grows.
I am a wildfire.
“Let me see.” I take the book and flip through the pages.
And then, right at the end of chapter one is a worksheet written in Mateo’s neat, curved handwriting.
“You don’t have to read it,” Mateo says.
I stop. Then start to close the book. “Okay.”
