I'm With Cupid
Page 14
“I’ve wanted to be strong for you. I thought if I was all right, then you would be too.”
“Can’t we both be honest?” she asked.
He nodded and took a sip of coffee. Real coffee, Lena realized. Not just hot water.
“All right,” her dad said. Then he laughed suddenly. “You know, I realized that I must have been pretty lonely to go to all that trouble to get Marguerite to go out with me again. I wouldn’t have pursued her otherwise.”
“Really? But you guys have so much in common. It seemed like the perfect match.”
“I thought so too at first. The only trouble is that I hate scientists. They’re boring.” He laughed again. “I know how that sounds. But can you imagine me talking to someone exactly like me for hours? We’d bore each other to tears. I need someone who’s interested in other things. That’s why your mom and I worked so well together, at least for a while.”
“So you’ll try dating again?” she asked. “Even though it’s all just brain chemicals?”
“The science is part of it, of course. But maybe I’ve been oversimplifying a bit because it made me feel better after what happened with your mom. Love might be chemicals, but it’s more than that. And honestly, I think I’ve done enough moping around. It’s time for me to have a life again.” He chuckled as Professor let out a joyful bark in the backyard. “If our old dog can find love, then I think any of us can.”
“As long as you don’t have a date the first weekend of December,” Lena said. “Because you’re coming to see me in the school play.”
Her dad’s face lit up. “What? You got in after all?”
She told him about the emergency auditions—without mentioning the supernatural stuff, of course. “I’m going to be a playing card! I only have one line, but it’s a whole line! You’ll get to hear me speak onstage!” She was giddy just thinking about it.
“Wow, Chipmunk. I can’t remember the last time I saw you this excited.”
Lena laughed. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt this excited.
Her phone beeped, and Lena grinned wider when she saw it was a message from Marcus.
“Who’s that?” her dad asked.
“My boyfriend,” Lena said. Then she froze in shock as she realized the words that had come out of her mouth. She had a boyfriend. A real one! Wait until she marked that in her calendar! Okay, it didn’t seem fair that “get into the school play” and “first boyfriend” would fall on the same day. Or maybe it was more than fair. After all, how lucky could one person get? At this rate, she’d be done with her checklist in no time. Even though she had to admit that it didn’t seem all that important anymore.
“Boyfriend, huh?” her dad said. “And what does this boyfriend of yours have to say?”
She opened the message, and her stomach sank as she read it.
Meet me at the hospital. It’s Olivia.
• • •
Lena prepared herself for the worst. Who knew what their powers swapping back might have done to Olivia?
But when she got out of the hospital elevator, she was surprised to hear what sounded like a party coming from Olivia’s room, people laughing and chatting. She poked her head in and spotted Marcus sitting on a chair, talking with a redheaded man who looked vaguely familiar. But most important, Olivia was sitting up in her bed and laughing along with them. She was awake!
“There you are,” Marcus said, catching sight of her. “Keith, Olivia, this is Lena. She’s the one I was telling you about. My, um—”
“His girlfriend,” Lena said, which made Marcus beam back at her so brightly he could have been a supernova.
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Olivia said. “Marcus has been singing your praises. Thank you for helping me in the park that day.”
Lena shot Marcus a questioning look. What was going on here?
“Olivia woke up yesterday,” Marcus explained. “And the doctors say if everything stays the same, she’ll be able to go home next week.”
“Wow, really?” Lena said. “That’s great.”
“Then maybe the two of us can have our first official date,” Keith said, taking Olivia’s hand.
Suddenly, Lena recognized him. He was the redheaded man who’d called 911 that day in the park.
Marcus smiled and gave Lena a knowing nod. She couldn’t believe it. Even though these two hadn’t been zapped with a “love boost,” they’d somehow wound up falling in love with each other? Lena remembered the spark she thought she’d seen in Olivia’s chest. It hadn’t been her imagination after all.
“But how?” she asked. “You were in a coma!”
Olivia laughed. “I’m not sure. Keith said he sat here and read to me for hours. And when I woke up, I felt like I’d known him for years, even though I’d never seen him before.”
“I can’t explain it, but I just knew I had to be here when she woke up.” Keith shrugged. “It’s one of life’s mysteries, I guess.”
“Maybe it was supposed to work out this way,” Marcus said.
Lena shook her head in wonder. Maybe it all was.
Epilogue
Eddie stood outside the hospital room, listening to Lena and Marcus chatting with the young woman and her new match. He was relieved it had finally all worked out. If the mess had dragged on for a day longer, no doubt he would have been on probation again, not to mention all the irreparable damage it could have caused. He had his hands full as it was, putting everything back in order.
He grabbed his phone and dialed. “Yes, ma’am,” he said when someone answered. “Both love matches were successful, after everything.”
He paced around the hallway, listening. He wasn’t sure how Marcus and Lena had managed a love match for Olivia when neither of them had even zapped her, but he wasn’t going to question it. One thing he’d learned on the job over the years was that you could always count on surprises. For example, the love match between Lena and Marcus suddenly working out after all this time had been a shock. They’d been zapped last spring during their math project, and nothing had come of it. Eddie had figured it wasn’t meant to work out. But maybe they simply needed to spend more time with one another. Or maybe they needed all this craziness to bring them together. Whatever it was, he was happy for them. He only hoped they were strong enough to handle what was coming next.
The voice on the other end of the phone grew louder, and Eddie realized he hadn’t been paying attention. “What was that, ma’am?” He listened again for a long while, and then he sighed. “Well, they think everything is back to normal. I thought I would let them enjoy things for a little while before I turn their worlds upside down again.” He sighed again. “They will have plenty to deal with soon enough.”
Acknowledgments
My thanks to L. M. Boston for her haunting novel The Children of Green Knowe; its mention of a play in which Cupid and Death accidentally swap arrows inspired the premise of this book. Thank you to Heather Kelly, Megan Kudrolli, Susan Lubner, Susan L. Meyer, Patty Bovie, and Josh Funk for their feedback and brainstorming help. As always, thank you to Ammi-Joan Paquette and Aubrey Poole for constantly pushing me to make my work better, and to my family and friends for continuing to wave their pom-poms book after book. And thank you to Ray Brierly, to whom this book is dedicated, for reading more versions of my novels than anyone should ever be forced to and for slipping me pieces of chocolate when I need them the most.
About the Author
Anna Staniszewski lives outside Boston with her wacky dog and her slightly less wacky husband. She was a Writer-in-Residence at the Boston Public Library and a winner of the PEN New England Discovery Award. When she’s not writing, Anna teaches, reads, and tries to keep her magical powers under wraps. Visit her at www.annastan.com.
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