The show wasn’t called MILFs, of course, or even Psychic Babes. It was titled Model Medium and featured “supermodel” Hannah Braaten as she went about her daily life, which somehow consisted of equal parts celebrity sightings, photo shoots, ghostbusting, and readings with ordinary people who wept a lot. Most of the readings seemed to be spontaneous and involved random men and women Hannah met along the way, although how anyone could have a chance encounter with a psychic medium who has a full camera crew following her around remains a mystery to me.
The episodes that seemed to create the most buzz, however—and the most on-demand views—were those that featured “fledgling” psychic medium Kayla Janas, whose skills seemed to blossom under Hannah’s watchful eye.
Unfortunately, there was a problem with the chemistry between the two women. In the beginning, it was fine. However, as the episodes mounted up, Hannah started coming off less like Kayla’s friend and mentor and more like a jealous older sister. And as pretty as Kayla was, standing in the shadow of Hannah’s otherworldly beauty gave her an accessible girl-next-door vibe that had the audience rooting for her—and against Hannah. They call it the underdog syndrome. Plus, it was obvious that Kayla was a straight-up better psychic medium than Hannah. As a result, Hannah’s show lasted thirteen episodes, an inauspicious number, before it was replaced by Medium for Hire, which was all Kayla all the time. It’s still on the air. You can look it up.
But that was way down the road. Before Kayla became a cable TV star, she made one last visit to the Dunston home.
We had a dusting of snow just before the holidays to make all those people hoping for a white Christmas happy. Afterward, it started snowing and kept snowing all the way until May. The Twin Cities were buried under seventy-seven inches; some places in Minnesota had as much as a dozen feet. Snowfall records fell that had stood for over a century. What’s more, it got cold and stayed cold. We set a record—thirty-six consecutive days with temperatures below zero, so the snow didn’t melt. It just kept piling up. The drifts and mounds became so high that strolling along a shoveled sidewalk was like walking through a trench.
It was near the beginning of this weather pattern that Nina and I went to visit the Dunstons. Kayla arrived soon after. Shelby had been expecting her, of course, but Bobby had not, and while he was polite, if not downright charming, I could tell that her presence made him anxious. I began to wonder if any unsolved homicides or kidnappings had occurred recently that I was unaware of.
Only Kayla didn’t come to see Bobby. Or Shelby. Or me, either, for that matter. She was there to speak to Nina.
“Why?” Nina asked.
“I have a message for you.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Ms. Truhler—”
“Besides, I don’t even know if I trust you.”
“I appreciate that,” Kayla said. “But I only need a few minutes of your time. You don’t have to believe a word I say.”
“Then why should I listen?”
“The message isn’t so much for you to hear as it is for your mother to speak.”
“What does that mean?”
“Our sins aren’t just wiped away when we go to the other side. We have to suffer the way we made other people suffer. We have to feel the pain we caused and accept the full consequences of our past behavior. We need to take responsibility. And whenever possible, we have to make amends to the people we harmed. We have to make restitution. That’s why I’m here. Your mother needs to confess her sins out loud to the person she’s hurt the most.”
“She needs—?” Nina said.
“Walking around with the weight of her crimes, that really sucks. Living with the guilt and shame of her past wrongdoings—it’s preventing her from moving on.”
“You’re saying you came here to help my mother, not me.”
“Nina, your mom can’t move forward without your help.”
“That’s just too damn bad.”
“You can’t move forward without hers.”
“Be very careful, little girl.”
“Self-centeredness must be replaced with awareness of other people,” Kayla said. “Where we were selfish, we must be selfless. Where we were angry, we must be forgiving. Instead of indifference, we must begin to care. Otherwise our misery just goes on and on and on.”
“Well, we can’t have that, can we? By all means, let’s talk about human misery with my mother.”
Kayla glanced around her. Nina did the same. They saw Shelby, Bobby, and me watching them. I didn’t turn around to look, but I was willing to bet that Victoria and Katie were standing at the top of the staircase listening, too.
“C’mon,” Nina said.
She took Kayla’s arm and propelled her toward the front door. Kayla was already dressed for winter, and Nina grabbed her coat on the way. Once outside, they walked across the porch to the sidewalk near the street.
I couldn’t hear them, yet I stood at the window and listened carefully just the same.
The conversation seemed intense. No one was screaming; of course, Nina had never needed to raise her voice to express her anger.
Shelby stood next to me.
She stroked my arm.
“It’s going to be fine,” she said.
“If it isn’t, I may never forgive you.”
The exchange ended. Kayla turned and started walking down the sidewalk. Nina watched her go.
She called to her.
Kayla stopped.
Nina walked up to the young woman, wrapped her arms around her, and hugged her tight.
They hugged for a long time.
Finally they parted. Nina kept her hands on Kayla’s shoulders. She leaned in until their foreheads nearly touched. Nina spoke slowly, carefully. Kayla nodded as if she were being told something that she was relieved to hear.
They hugged again and parted again.
It was Kayla who was crying, not Nina, when they separated and walked off in opposite directions.
I left the window and headed for the Dunstons’ front door.
Shelby took my arm.
“Wait,” she said.
I went back to the window.
Instead of coming back inside, Nina crossed the street and walked into Merriam Park. She climbed the small hill, her boots sinking into the snow as she went, and took refuge among the oak trees there.
I moved to the door again.
Again Shelby stopped me.
“Not yet,” she said. “Rushmore, you must trust me on this.”
I wasn’t sure that I did, yet Shelby was the only person in the world who was allowed to call me by my first name, so …
I gave Nina time alone. A lot of it. The sun slowly arced across the sky and started setting behind us.
“Okay,” Shelby said.
I grabbed my coat and started out the door. I zipped up and put on gloves as I crossed the street. My shoes were smothered by the snow, yet I didn’t care.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
Nina had been crying, though her tears were dry by the time I reached her.
“Thank you for not rushing over the first chance you got to ask if I was all right,” she said. “To see if you could make it better.”
“I figured you needed some alone time.”
I owe you, Shelby.
I pointed at an ancient oak tree.
“Did I ever tell you about the time that I kissed Mary Beth Rogers right over there?” I asked.
“You did. Whatever happened to her, anyway?”
“I have no idea. I don’t really want to know. By not knowing, I can always remember her the way she was that night. The way I was.”
“It’s a pleasant memory. Your first kiss. Why change it? The bad ones, though—the bad memories you need to do something about.”
“Is that what Kayla told you?”
“In her way.”
“What did she say about your mother?”
“I might tell you someday, but not now,” Nina said. “Is that okay?
“Sure.”
“It’s not a deep, dark secret. It’s just … I haven’t really got it figured out yet.”
“I understand.”
“You’ve always been kind to me in that way. Understanding, even when you didn’t.”
“Actually, I would say it was the other way around,” I said. “You putting up with me all these years, with my investigations, with my constant intrusions into other people’s lives.”
“You’ve done a lot of good, McKenzie. So many favors for so many people. Will you do one for me?”
“Of course. Anything.”
“Don’t say that until you’ve heard the favor,” Nina said.
“Anything,” I repeated.
“Will you marry me?”