CHAPTER 17

It wasn’t until Jenna and I were back in our dorm room—with thirty seconds to spare before the two o’clock curfew—and I was getting ready for bed that I remembered the necklace I’d put in my pocket for safekeeping.

I sat on the edge of the bed and looked at it again. It was really pretty. I wished I’d bought one for myself. Next week, I would. I was sure the vendor would still be there.

“What’s that?” Jenna asked.

“Oh, a necklace Brady bought for his sister.”

“He buys things for his sister? Wow. My brother doesn’t know the first thing about buying me something.”

“I helped him pick it out.” Saying that sounded weird. Like maybe we were shopping for something much more important.

“I’m really glad you’re hanging out with him,” Jenna said.

“Only because it means he’s not hanging out with Tank all the time, and you have some time alone.”

“Well, there is that. I’m so crazy about Tank, Dawn. It’s scary sometimes.”

“Tell me about it.”

“But it’s exciting, too. It’s everything.” She sat in the middle of her bed and brought her legs up beneath her. “Did you feel that way about Drew?”

Did I? Gosh, it was suddenly hard to remember. All I could remember now was being hurt and angry at him. Like that moment of seeing him with someone else had totally destroyed any good feelings I’d ever had for him. Had I been scared when he asked me out? Nervous? Excited?

“I can’t remember, Jenna. That’s so weird.”

“You know, sometimes I think about what Sara said about you rebuilding. I thought she was talking about New Orleans. But what if she was talking about your heart?”

“She didn’t know my heart needed rebuilding.”

“She doesn’t need to know stuff. She just sees things. She said you had to be careful with the tools. I thought she meant hammers and saws. What if she meant Brady?”

I flopped back on the bed. “You’re really giving too much thought to all this.”

“It’s the puzzle solver in me. I can’t help it.”

I rolled my head to the side and looked at her. “She said I could get hurt. If I wasn’t careful. Jenna, I don’t think I’ve been careful. I think I’ve fallen for him.”

“That’s a good thing, Dawn. It means you’re over Drew.”

“No, it means I’ve set myself up to be hurt again. We agreed this was a Big Easy–only relationship.”

“So, change the terms of your agreement.”

“What if he doesn’t want to?”

She sighed. “Do you have to doubt everything?”

I sat up. “Me? Doubting? You’re the one trying to figure everything out, trying to solve the puzzles, wanting all the answers.”

She came off the bed. “Well, I’ve never been in love before, and I don’t know if I like it. I thought having a boyfriend would stop all the questions, but there’s just more of them.”

I smiled. “Yeah, it’s a bummer, isn’t it?”

“The future is just so”—she threw her hands up—“vague. There are just so many possibilities.”

“And going to see a psychic sure doesn’t help.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She sat back down on the bed. “So what are we going to do?”

“You think I know?”

Laughing, she shook her head. “No, actually, I think you’re probably more confused than I am.”

“Well, thanks a lot.”

Her cell phone rang and we both jumped. Then mine rang.

“Time for good-night calls,” she said.

Okay, I guessed tonight we’d moved to a new level. I mean, we’d spoken that one night before I went to bed, but it had been on Jenna’s phone, so it didn’t really count. Oh, heck, maybe it did.

I answered, “Hey.”

“Did I wake you?”

“No.” I stretched out, rolled onto my side, and my knee touched the sack the necklace had been in. “I forgot to give you your sister’s necklace.”

“It’s yours.”

My brow furrowed. “What? No, I’m not talking about the beads, I’m talking about—”

“The fleur-de-lis.”

“Yeah.”

“I bought it for you. Why do you think I let you pick it out?”

“But you said it was for her.”

“I thought you’d go all weird on me if I bought you something.”

“Weird?” I said, offended. “I don’t go weird.”

“You go weird. You worry about what I really feel or what you really feel or what we’re thinking. You’re expecting me to hurt you, and I don’t know how to make you stop expecting that.”

I wrapped my hand around the charm. “I’m a mess. I don’t know why you hang out with me.”

“I hang out with you because I like you. You’re funny and fun and you believe in ghosts—”

“I don’t believe in ghosts. I just had some weird stuff happen tonight.”

“Are you sleeping with the light on?”

I hated to admit it, but—

“Yeah, we probably will. Jenna wants to.” When in doubt, blame it on your friend. I figured we’d at least keep on the light in the bathroom with the door partially opened.

“About the necklace,” I said.

“Yeah?” I heard the impatience in his voice, maybe even a little bit of anger. I couldn’t imagine Brady being angry.

“Thank you. I really wanted one for myself, and this one will always be special. Remind me of my time here. My time with you.”

“Good.”

“But, you were very sneaky having me pick it out.”

“I thought it was clever. If I’d known you longer, I might have known what to get, but we’re on the short-term plan here. Right?”

“Yeah. Short term.”

“End of summer.”

“End of New Orleans.” And that made me sad.

“Okay, then. See you tomorrow.”

“What are we going to do?”

“I figure the least you can do is my laundry.”

“What?”

He laughed. “No go, huh? I don’t know what we’ll do, but it’ll be sometime in the afternoon. I do have to get my clothes washed. Maybe we’ll just hang out by the pool.”

“I like that idea. I could use a day of not doing anything.”

“Okay. Then. Tomorrow.”

“Yeah. Night.”

I ended the call, set my phone aside, sat up, and looked at the necklace. I could feel myself smiling. It was the smile of someone who was totally and completely happy. It was the smile of someone who wasn’t worried about getting hurt.

I put the necklace on. It felt right. Suddenly everything did. I wasn’t even worried about Saraphina’s prediction.

But maybe I should have continued to worry about being careful.