“‘Seven bad omens in a row.’”
“Well, crap. Rule number six.”
“I know.”
“The nightmare?”
“If I had to guess, I’d say Jake McNealy.”
“That little shit ass,” Gigi shook her head, though a small smile played about her mouth. “What’s he doing back in town?”
“I don’t plan on finding out.”
“You never could stay away from that boy.” Gigi’s deep laugh made the day that much brighter. “You and your mother. You know your momma was a rounder. Round heels. Round as a moon cake. She’d fall back for anything or anybody.”
Sadie stilled. Gigi rarely, if ever, spoke about her mother. And she didn’t relish the implication that she was like her in any way. Her mother had left. Sadie never would.
“One time I thought someone was stealing meat from our freezer in the garage,” Gigi continued. “I went out there every day for a week, and the stock was dwindling. So finally, I stayed up one night with a shotgun to catch whoever it was. And it was your mother. There was a naval ship docked a few towns over, and she was taking all the meat to them as payment for passage onto the ship.” Gigi shook her head.
“What do I do?” Sadie asked, thinking about the hundreds of times she’d asked Gigi that same question during their back-porch talks.
“One thing your heart’s never been is fickle,” her grandmother said with a pointed look, which was about as close to a warning as she was willing to give. “Rule number twelve.”
“‘Curses are for keeps, so make sure they’re worth it,’” Sadie quoted. “And it has been. Worth it, I mean.” She thought of the years she’d spent trying to find a loophole in her curse. “But sometimes I wish … I guess it doesn’t matter. I’ve got two heartbreaks left, and I’m not wasting another one on Jacob McNealy.”
“We’ll see about that.” Gigi’s rumbling laugh ended in a cough. “Your problem is you try to keep everyone at arm’s length. You’re so afraid to lean on someone because it means there’s trust there. And if you trust, it hurts worse when they leave.”
“Seth used to say I’m too nice because I want people to like me,” she argued.
“There’s a difference between needing and wanting. You use that sharp tongue of yours as a shield, and you use those capable hands to soothe the wounds.”
Sadie leaned back against the porch rail and stretched her legs out. Sitting out here with Gigi was always her favorite part of the day, but she didn’t like the razor-edged words that were burrowing under her skin. They felt like a mirror she didn’t want to look into.
“I don’t need anybody anyway,” she answered. “I have you and Raquel.”
“And your brother.”
“Really?” Sadie asked, looking around in mock earnestness. “Because I don’t happen to see the shithead here.”
“Just because he’s not here doesn’t mean he’s gone,” Gigi countered.
“Gone is gone,” Sadie said quietly. She wanted to be so mad at him that she didn’t care he’d left. She wanted to be rid of any last shred of hope. Because the hope was what hurt so much.
“Listen, sugar,” Gigi said, clearing her throat. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
Sadie’s eyes snapped open, and she leaned forward, not liking the tone in her grandmother’s voice.
“I want to start by saying I’ve had awhile to come to terms with this, and I know in time you will too,” she started, and Sadie’s whole body went numb. There was a pressure in her ears that made everything muted.
“It’s stage four,” Gigi continued, and Sadie’s heart constricted. “I’m an old broad—I’ve lived a long time. I couldn’t ask for anything more.” Her tone was sure as summer rain as Sadie’s world started falling apart.
She didn’t move. Couldn’t.
The dirty C word.
Cancer.
She stared at Gigi as a fire raged through her veins.
“Magic,” she croaked out.
“Honey, magic can’t cure cancer. If it could, I’d be a saint by now, and we both know I’m rotten to the core.”
“You’re not,” Sadie said, shaking her head like a buttercup shuddering in a gale. Her eyes burned with their ache to cry. But if she started, she might not stop. And she refused to break down in front of Gigi. “Okay,” she said, taking a deep breath through her nose. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to get through this. Everything will be fine.”