The policeman smiled and said, “The baby is fine. See?”
Tori followed his pointing finger to see the man rocking his little girl, talking to another officer. They both looked fine. Then the man looked at Tori and pointed at her as he spoke.
It only took Tori a moment to realize why. She looked down at the floor littered with peanut M&M’S – yellow, green, blue, red, brown.
The policeman laughed. “I’ve never seen anyone take down a gunman in quite that way before.”
“I’m sorry.” Tori didn’t know what to say. What had she been thinking? She never would have interfered like this a few months ago. The policeman questioned her about what had just happened, but Tori’s mind darted around like a chickadee. Since she’d stopped seeing her psychiatrist and stopped taking her medications, she felt better than ever. Freer and more alive. But maybe she shouldn’t allow herself to be quite so free. Walking up to a man with a gun!
The meds kept her from any kind of spontaneous action or uncontrolled emotional response. Maybe that was better than, than…whatever just happened.
“Are you okay?” The policeman looked at her closely.
Tori wasn’t sure of the correct response. She was alive – thank God – and she was going to see Joe again, and day eleven of married life. But…she wasn’t exactly feeling well. Her stomach was calming down, but she felt herself beginning to shake from the inside out.
“Let’s sit you down for a minute, shall we?” The policeman took her arm and escorted her outside toward his car.
The bitter cold night air helped clear her head. As they walked past the stretcher where the wounded man lay, Tori paused. Had everyone thanked him? He certainly deserved their gratitude. She bent down. But she didn’t know what to say. What words were enough?
“You’re very brave,” she murmured, touching his uninjured shoulder briefly. “Thank you so much.”
He glared back at her. “What? Your suit at the cleaners?” he whispered fiercely, “Or is this your day off?”
Tori pulled back a little. “What?” Why was he attacking her?
“I’d think a guy with a gun would be enough that you could use your powers before someone gets shot,” he spat at her. “But no, had to be the hero, huh? Had to wait till you were the only superhero who could save the day. That’s why I work alone. Superheroes like you are just superegos. You don’t care about anything but your media image!”
The EMT moved Tori out of the way. She heard the man moan as they hustled him into the ambulance.
What was he talking about? When she called out to the gunman she was just…worried, scared. That’s all. It was probably a stupid thing to do, but it distracted him enough so that Eddie could grab him.
The policeman put his arm around Tori as she swayed on her feet. He tucked her into the back seat of his police car. “Why don’t you put your head down?” he suggested.
Tori shook her head. She just needed to get her bearings. The car was warm, and she closed her eyes, leaning back into the seat. She let her mind wander as she tried to relax. She tried not to think about what kinds of people had been sitting in the back of this police car lately. Could lice survive the winter? Ugh, best not to think about it.
Her thoughts returned to the conversation with the man who’d been shot. It hit her then – was he saying he was a superhero? Tori’s eyes flew open and she turned in time to see the ambulance pull away. She’d met a superhero?
She flopped back against the seat. No. Impossible! Her parents had always insisted the “superhero” stories in the news were publicity stunts. Crime was on the rise and the city government would say anything to look like they had it under control.
She’d heard her mother’s voice saying a hundred times over the years, “There’s no such thing as superheroes. A few freaks out there who want to be more than they are, but no one has any kind of supernatural power.”
Tori accepted this version of the world. It made sense. It was logical, orderly. To believe that people might have supernatural abilities opened the door to possibilities Tori didn’t want to consider. She and her sister Lexie had enough freak factor with the strange things that sometimes happened around them.
This guy accusing her of being a superhero did seem a little freaky, that’s true. Of course, he’d been shot, lost blood, was probably out of his mind with pain. But that other guy…
Tori’s mind drifted back for a moment to Halloween. Some kid had grabbed her purse and taken off. Tori chased him, but she tripped and fell. Moments later a man dressed as Zorro appeared, gorgeous and thrilling. He helped her get her purse back, and picked her up like she weighed no more than a doll. Then he kissed her like–
Tori shook her head and opened her eyes. Sure it was a great kiss, but she never saw him again. She met Joe a couple days later, fell madly in love with him, and married him on Christmas Eve.
She straightened her shoulders. She had no intention of thinking about another man now that she was married. But she wondered if her parents were wrong. Maybe superheroes did exist. If so, they weren’t all freaks. Not Zorro anyway.
Still, why would this possible “superhero” accuse her of being a superhero? Maybe in the pain of getting shot, he…got confused. In her mind’s eye, Tori saw the look on the robber’s face as he put the gun down. There was something about it, something familiar. Her mind tripped and twisted with roiling emotions and panic-infused imagination. She needed to stop this crazy thinking.
But her brain wouldn’t stop working on it. Now she remembered. Last night when she and Joe had stopped over at her sister Lexie’s and little Ben wouldn’t go to bed, she’d used her Aunt Tori voice and forcefully insisted he go to bed. He’d looked at her with that same funny look on his face. Then he did. The barely-three-year-old turned and went to his room without another word.
And a few months ago. When Lexie told her that it wasn’t just that Tori could convince people of things, but that she could force people to do things. And Lexie had only said that because – oh my gosh, that’s right – Tori had insisted that Lexie tell her what she was thinking.
Tori felt her breath coming quicker but she couldn’t catch it, she couldn’t breathe. She kept trying to breathe, but the air just kept going in and out of her mouth without hitting her lungs and she couldn’t get a breath and–
The door opened and the policeman said something but Tori couldn’t catch his words and then he was pushing her head onto her knees and still talking and she thought she heard, “That’s it. Breathe.”
Tori gulped in air, then tried to slow down and get the blood to stop pounding in her head. It’s not possible. It simply wasn’t possible to live for twenty-seven years and not know…not make the connection.
She’d test it. Then she’d know. It wouldn’t work, and then she’d know her mother was right. There was no such thing as superheroes. No such thing as super powers.
Tori looked up at the cop. “I need some M&M’S. I went in for M&M’S and I need them, please.” She knew she was jabbering, but she had to know. “Please get me some.”
“Just take a deep breath and–”
She glared into his eyes, hoping and terrified and feeling very, very alone. Her gut burned with heat. “I need M&M’S! Please!”
The cop stopped in the middle of his sentence. He looked at her for a moment, then stood up and turned back toward the store. When he came back with every kind of M&M’S flavor the store sold, Tori fainted.
A Note From Kitty
I hope you enjoyed readingA Very Merry Superhero Wedding as much as I enjoyed writing it! I never intended to write this story when I started the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series, but the idea is fascinating to me. How can two people meet and immediately know that they want to spend the rest of their lives together — and then do it successfully?
If you enjoyed this book, check out the short story prequel, “Superhero in Disguise,” the story of how Tori and Joe met on Halloween, and Unexpected Superhero, book one in
the Adventures of Lewis and Clarke series, where Tori finds out why she’s different.
I love connecting with my readers, so please sign up for my newsletter on my web site and say hi on social media!
Web site: http://kittybucholtz.com
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Twitter: @KittyBucholtz
And if you really want to make my day, I’d love for you to post your thoughts about the book in a review. Thanks so much!
If you haven’t read it yet and you like romantic comedies with a chick-lit style of writing, check out my first book, Little Miss Lovesick.
About the Author
Kitty Bucholtz grew up forty miles east of Traverse City, Michigan—a town that is a smaller but surprisingly similar version of Double Bay, Michigan, the setting of this book. She went to college in Traverse City, met and married the love of her life, and waved goodbye to everything she knew when she and her husband John struck out for parts unknown.
Their adventures included going back to school, changing careers, and traveling Down Under. Kitty now writes wherever John is working on a film. They spent three years in Sydney, Australia, where Kitty earned her M.A. in Creative Writing from University of Technology, Sydney, while John made a penguin named Mumble dance.
Only God knows where they’ll wind up next—but they’re pretty sure it will be another cool chapter in their adventure!
Book Clubs!
If you would like to readA Very Merry Superhero Wedding with your book club, Kitty has a gift to send you and your club members! You can also plan a video call with Kitty and your club.
For details, email your name, email address, phone number (optional), and city/time zone to [email protected].
A Very Merry Superhero Wedding (Adventures of Lewis and Clarke) Page 16
