“But you can’t say that to someone who is head over heels for her boyfriend. They’ve had a big row now. Broken up over this.”
“Well, in theory, wouldn’t that make me right?” I pulled my stubbornness around me like a cloak. I hadn’t been wrong in my reading. “If they were so much in love and perfect for each other, an astrology reading shouldn’t have been able to tear them apart, right?”
“Be that as it may … it’s landed you in hot water, again, and without a place to live from what I can gather.”
I glanced to the pile of luggage in the corner of the room. It wasn’t much, but it was mine.
Tears welled.
“Aye,” I said, defeat filling me.
“Come home, Liora. We’ll sort it out. It might do you some good to take a break from this and focus on what you really want out of life.”
I gulped back a sob. It wouldn’t do to cry to Zara. She’d always known exactly who she was and what she wanted out of life, while I’d clung to astrology because it was what I loved. But it appeared that it didn’t love me back. Maybe it was time to admit defeat and set my sights on becoming employable in a different profession.
“I can’t?—”
“You can. I’m delighted to be back in Loren Brae. And you will be too. Things have changed, Liora. It’s a good place to land, at least for a little while. Come back. Mitch misses you.” I grinned as Mitch, her guide dog, barked in the background when he heard his name.
“I …” I looked around the tiny hotel room, largely taken up by my luggage, and sighed.
“Okay, Z. I’ll take some time off. I’ll come back to Loren Brae.”
Loren Brae.The incredible town I’d once thought would be my forever home until I’d royally screwed that dream up. Surely, nothing like that would happen again though.History couldn’t repeat itself.Right?
CHAPTER TWO
Liora
It wasn’t Loren Brae I’d hated, specifically, that had sent me running. The wee town set on the rocky shores of Loch Mirren came into view as I crested the hill in my ancient Fiat, and I couldn’t help but smile at the postcard picture it made. Colorful buildings toppled over each other, the loch spread out at their feet, with a charming castle tucked in the hills in the backdrop. Clouds bunched together on the horizon, the sun spearing through the gaps, highlighting the perfectly round island centered in the middle of the loch.
I shivered when I looked at the island. It had always given me the heebie-jeebies, and much like my ability to screw up my life, nothing had changed. Awareness prickled over my skin as I tore my glance away from the island and kept my eyes on the road, following the instructions my sister had given me. She lived smack dab in the middle of the wee downtown, in a ground-floor flat that we were most definitely not going to share for any longer than necessary. In fact, Zara already had a line on a placefor me to stay and given my budget constraints, which were heavy, I’d be happy to take anything at this point.
Somehow I needed to figure out how to make money.
I suspected my old fallback, waitressing, was about to come firmly back into my life. If I wanted to get back on my feet and figure out what I wanted out of my future, I needed some space to deal with the basics first. A place to live, enough money to pay my bills, and only after that would I be able to deal with the heartbreak of having to accept that my astrology career had finally spiraled and crashed in flames.
I’d once thought I’d have my very own shop, pretty shelves lined in crystals and tarot decks, a cozy room for private readings, and a function space to host classes. I truly believed, down to my pink sparkly painted toes—though the paint was well-chipped now—that everyone could benefit from learning more about their birth chart. It was self-help in its most elemental form, a tool that could be used to understand oneself more deeply, and a way to help center a decision-making process.
And yet.
Here I was, blinking back tears of frustration, as I shifted into park and heaved in a deep breath, and then another, as I stared at my sister’s front door. Painted a bright red with a scruffy pad to wipe muddy boots at its foot, it was both serviceable and welcoming. Just like Zara. My no-nonsense sister always seemed to have the answers to everything, and she navigated the world in almost total darkness. It was hard living up to her expectations at times.
Still. I would get through this. As I had every other speed bump in the past. Taking another deep breath, I pulled from my endless well of optimism that had fueled me through many a crisis in the past.
“It’s just a new adventure. You’ll maybe even meet some new friends. Z says she loves her new boss.” I quietly cheered myself up as I unbuckled my seat belt and got out of my car. “Plus, you get to see Mitch.”
My sister’s guide dog was a bouncy golden retriever that adored cuddles when he wasn’t working. I was much the same.
Heaving my backpack out of the back seat, I left the other luggage in the boot and went to knock at the door. Barking sounded, and Zara’s stern voice admonished Mitch, before the door swung open.
“Z!” I beamed at my petite sister and drew her in for a hug. We rocked back and forth like a metronome, and I breathed in her scent. She’d worn the same perfume forever, a spicy mix of anise and cocoa, and it instantly soothed me. Being back with Zara meant everything was going to be just fine. We were a team against the world, not that I particularly enjoyed depending on her to solve my problems, but somehow things always seemed less complicated when I was with her. Which, admittedly, was at times annoying. I didn’t want to lean on her as my crutch through every big disaster in my life. Hopefully, this time, I wouldn’t need to ask too much of her.
Mitch bounded around our feet, clearly not in work mode, and Zara sighed and pulled back.
“Mitch. Sit.”
Mitch sat, instantly, though his bum wriggled in excitement at seeing me. His mouth lolled in a doggy smile, and his eyes were alert as he looked up at me.