Page 17

S ophie hadn’t planned on making a pit stop on the way home from dinner. She’d wanted to get home as soon as possible because she was going to talk to Bryce for the first time. Something told her to stop off at Café Du Monde, though. She didn’t know what that something was, but she knew she was in the mood for beignets. While waiting in line for well over twenty minutes, checking her phone, she thought about calling Bryce, but she wanted to be alone when they talked. It was only after getting her order and sitting down at an empty table alone that Sophie knew what was going on: she was delaying her drive home. She was doing it on purpose. She was too nervous to talk to Bryce, who would be here tomorrow. Bryce would be in New Orleans tomorrow , and Sophie would get to see her after work, but it was all too much.

She finished her first of three beignets and pushed the plate away. She didn’t really want the sugar. She just needed some time to prepare herself for the conversation, and she knew that if she’d gone straight home, she would’ve called Bryce right away. Leaving her unfinished order on the table, she stood and went across the street toward Jackson Square, aimlessly walking around it once before she started around it again without thinking.

“Hello.”

Sophie turned on instinct and noticed a woman sitting at her folding table and chairs, with Tarot cards present.

“Oh. No, thanks,” Sophie replied and gave her a polite wave.

“It’ll all work out.”

“Sorry?” Sophie said.

“What you’re worried about; it’ll all work out.”

“Oh, I’m a local. You don’t have to…” She motioned with her hand toward the cards and the woman’s setup. “You know.”

“I’m not,” the fortune teller replied with a smile. “I’ve not asked you for money, have I?”

“No. I just meant that I know how this works,” she said.

“Do you now?” The woman laughed a little. “Because I certainly don’t.”

“You don’t know how the cards work?” Sophie asked as she took a step closer to avoid the walkway and the gathering crowd.

“I know how the cards work. I don’t truly understand how my gift works, though.”

“Oh,” Sophie said, feeling silly for participating in this conversation.

“You don’t believe me.”

“Not really.” Sophie chuckled. “Sorry.”

“Very well. I don’t want to try to convince you, but I can tell you’re here for a reason, so let me say something specific.”

“Specific?”

“There was a bar. There was a woman. There was a kiss.”

Sophie’s eyes went wide. Her jaw dropped. How did this woman know that? Then, she remembered that the whole story had been posted online.

“Did you read that somewhere?” she asked.

“No,” the fortune teller said with a head shake.

“There wasn’t a picture,” Sophie said to herself, thinking about how the blog was all words with no photo of her or Bryce on it, so this woman couldn’t have known even if she’d read the blogs that it was Sophie.

“She’s coming back soon. You’re here walking around because you’re scared.”

“How do you–”

“I told you that I don’t truly understand my gift. I just trust it,” the fortune teller replied. “You’re scared, which is normal, but it will work out.”

“Work out how?” Sophie took another step closer to her.

“Well, you’ll never know that if you don’t talk to her, will you?”

“I’m calling her when I get home,” she replied, finding herself actually conversing with this woman about her plans with Bryce.

“But you’re here instead.”

“I’m talking to you. I was about to leave.”

“You were about to make another lap,” the woman said with a smile. “If you want my advice, I’d say skip it and make that call.”

“Yeah?”

The fortune teller nodded.

“Will we... I mean, when you say work out…”

“You’ll find out for yourself soon enough,” the woman replied. “Now, I have a paying customer behind you.” She looked over Sophie’s shoulder.

Sophie turned and found three college-aged girls checking out the tables of fortune tellers and Tarot card readers. She didn’t know what else to say, so she moved out of the way, and one of the girls sat down in the chair. Sophie looked at the woman once more, who just winked and smiled at her, giving Sophie one more reason to be totally confused. Then, she walked on, but she didn’t make the lap she’d intended. She turned around and walked briskly toward the parking lot, where she’d managed to find one small spot for her car.

Shortly after that, Sophie opened her front door and walked inside her apartment. She was trying not to take the fortune teller seriously, but the woman had known so many things that there was no way for her to know. Maybe she just had some kind of gift that was tied to Sophie’s behavior. Sophie had probably looked confused or pensive to her while she’d been walking. Had she gotten her phone out? Did this woman have such amazing eyesight that she’d somehow read her emails while Sophie was walking?

Sophie had no decent explanation, so she just changed into her sweats and a T-shirt and climbed into bed. It was now later than she’d anticipated getting home, so she didn’t know if Bryce would still want to talk. They were seeing one another tomorrow. It could wait, right? Bryce could hear her voice tomorrow when they met up. No, she’d told Bryce that they could talk tonight. Plus, the apparent psychic at the Square had told her that it would work out. She’d told her to go home, and Sophie had listened. She should probably keep listening and see what happens.

Sophie Santiago : Is it too late for a call?

She waited only a few seconds before the three dots appeared. Then, they turned into Bryce’s simple message.

Bryce Wilburn : No way.

Sophie smiled, bit her lower lip, and held on to it as she pressed the phone icon by Bryce’s name. Then, she swallowed hard, let go of her lip, and put the phone to her ear as she slid farther under her blanket.

“Hi,” Bryce said.

Sophie closed her eyes at the sound of the voice she’d heard in her mind over and over for a year. It was a little different because they were on the phone, but it was Bryce. It was her Bryce.

“Sophie?”

“Oh, sorry,” she said. “I kind of forgot to say anything because your voice… It’s you.”

“And it’s you,” Bryce replied. “God, it’s you.”

“I can’t believe it.”

“Me neither.”

“I knew it was you. I mean, we’ve been messaging, but this…”

“Is so much better?” Bryce asked. “I hope.”

“So much better is seeing you tomorrow.” Sophie smiled to herself, feeling like a giddy schoolgirl with a crush.

“God, I get to see you,” Bryce said. “I can’t explain how good it feels knowing that. I’m all checked in.”

“And this time, you’re actually getting on the plane, right?” Sophie teased.

“The sixth time is the charm,” Bryce joked back. “Nothing will stop me from getting on that plane, Soph. If my flight gets canceled, I’ll find another one. If they cancel all of them, I’ll get in the car and deal with all the speeding tickets to get to you.”

“How are you still single?” Sophie said as she chuckled.

“Because I’ve been waiting for you,” Bryce replied. “No pressure.”

Sophie laughed harder and said, “I tried to find you.”

“I tried to find you ,” Bryce told her.

“No, I mean, I really tried. I went back to the bar over and over again so many times; I think they named that sofa after me. I’ve walked around New Orleans. God, the day after, I thought I saw you at Café Du Monde, and I ran after some car, trying to get to you.”

“You were there the day after?” Bryce asked.

“Yeah, I called in sick. I was–”

“Soph, that was me. I was there, too.”

“What? Really?”

“Yeah, we got an Uber. You were there?” Bryce asked.

“I ran after that Uber until I realized I’d never catch it. I thought it was you, but I convinced myself you were a figment of my imagination.”

“We just missed each other,” Bryce said, sounding sad. “What could have happened? We could’ve known each other this whole time.”

“Well, we’re here now. We can’t go back in time, or else I wouldn’t have gone downstairs for another drink. We could have avoided that stupid fight.”

“But we wouldn’t have had our first kiss in that corner.”

“We could’ve had it on that sofa and another one after that, and–”

“Ended up at your place?” Bryce asked.

“Yes,” she said softly. “And I still would have called in sick the next day, but for an entirely different reason.”

Bryce didn’t say anything for a long moment.

“Bryce?” Sophie checked.

“We could’ve had that,” Bryce spoke and paused. “It’s just sad to me that had I not gotten pulled away and taken to the police station for something I had nothing to do with, you and I could’ve had that.”

“Maybe we still can,” Sophie suggested. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I know how much it hurt when I lost you, and I don’t want that ever again.”

“Then, we won’t lose each other,” Bryce said definitively. “No matter what happens when we meet, we won’t lose each other, Soph. Even if it’s not meant to be for us romantically, there’s clearly something here. Don’t take this the wrong way: I have no desire to just be your friend, Sophie. I want more. But if that’s how it works out, I’ll have to be okay with that because I don’t want to lose you again. I’ve been telling people that this is about closure for me, just in case it doesn’t end how I want – or, really, begin how I want – but we have that night at the bar and a million messages exchanged between us now. I know things about you. You know things about me. It’s not just those few hours between us anymore, is it?”

“No, it’s not,” she said with a smile as she rolled over in bed. “It’s more.”

“Soph, I haven’t been with anyone since before I met you. I went on some dates because my friends wanted me to move on, but nothing happened. I haven’t even kissed another woman since that night.”

“Me neither,” Sophie shared. “And same. I thought I needed to find someone else, but no one made me feel how you did that one night, so I didn’t want to.”

“There’s no pressure on that happening this visit. We can see how things go.”

“I know,” she replied.

“I get to see you soon,” Bryce said.

“I can’t wait,” Sophie said honestly.

“But you have a whole day of a terrible work meeting tomorrow, and it’s late,” Bryce added. “I should let you get some sleep. I want you well-rested.”

Sophie’s smile widened, and she said, “I don’t want to hang up.”

“Neither do I,” Bryce replied.

“Will you just talk to me for a little while longer?”

“Sure. What about?”

“Anything. I just want to keep listening to your voice,” Sophie replied.

“I can tell you about Kelsey and Megan.”

“They’re an and now?” she asked.

“Not exactly. But I was right.”

“Kelsey likes her?”

“She definitely has feelings for Megs, yeah. I thought that was the case, but I was still surprised when she told me.”

“She’s never been into women at all?” Sophie asked.

“No. Not once has she been into a woman, according to her, and I’ve never seen her show any interest. Megan has been in love with her for years, though, so I’m worried.”

“But if they love each other, that’s good, right?”

“Yes, but Megs is dating someone for the first time in forever.”

“Do you think Kelsey would risk hurting her?”

“She doesn’t want to, but I get the impression that she’s really struggling, so she might tell her.”

“Maybe it’s for the best that Megan knows. It’ll allow her to make the decision for herself.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Bryce said. “Tell me about your interviews. You have a few lined up, right?”

“Can we talk about that when you get here?” Sophie asked.

“Sure. Is everything okay, though?”

“Yeah. I just don’t want to talk about work. I’d rather talk about you and me and our friends or what we’re going to do when you get here.”

“What do you want to do?”

“Just exist with you,” Sophie replied. “In the same place at the same time, no longer missing each other.”

“I want to touch you, Sophie. Even if it’s just a hug or holding your hand.”

“I want that, too.”

“Then, we’re clear on that,” Bryce said. “I will be hugging you when I first see you. Get prepared.”

Sophie let out a tired laugh and said, “I’ll do my best.”

“Good. Hey, Soph?”

“Yeah?”

“You should get some sleep,” Bryce suggested. “Text me when you wake up?”

“I will,” she replied with a smile.

“Good night, Sophia Santiago.”

“Good night, Bryce Wilburn.”