“Lizzie, yes you did. That morning. You said you didn’t want a mouse, you wanted a snake. Now, I don’t understand why you’d want something scaly instead of soft and cuddly, but it’s your pet.” She turned to hang her coat up and said, “You’re half undressed. Go put something decent on.”
“Grandma. I don’t want a snake. You misunderstood me. I said I wanted to be a snake. Meaning...” Oh, hell, I sounded like a freak.
“Meaning what? Why would you want to be a snake? What a ridiculous notion.”
“Oh, never mind. Where did you get it? It needs to go back. I can’t sleep with a snake in my room. Why is it in my room, anyway? Right next to my bed!”
“I bought it from a very nice man. It was his son’s, but his son just got married, and the new wife refuses to keep it. It’s a caramel corn snake. I thought that was perfect, because you love caramel corn. Oh, and he’s almost fourteen years old. Isn’t that remarkable?”
“Remarkable.” I would never be able to eat caramel corn again. “Well, call whoever you bought it from. I’m not keeping it.”
Grandma Verda huffed. “I spent days arranging this for you.” She picked up a book with a whole bunch of disgusting slimy snakes on the cover. “Maybe you need to read up on them and then you’ll want to keep him.” She flipped the book open. “Corn snakes can live for thirty years, Elizabeth! Sometimes more.”
“I appreciate the thought, but listen. Snakes scare me. I don’t want to own one, I don’t want to feed one, and I can’t imagine changing his cage. I am a bad person to own a snake because he wouldn’t get the proper care.”
“That’s why I bought you this book. Feeding him is easy! I bought you plenty of frozen rodents.”
Did she say what I thought? “What?”
“Frozen rodents. I didn’t think you’d want to feed him live ones.”
Ugh. “And they are where?”
“In your freezer. Where else would they be?”
She’d probably heat one up for him in my Calphalon pan, too. I gagged at the thought. Of course she wouldn’t; I mean, cat food was a far different thing than frozen rodents. But still. “Um, do you feed it to them frozen?”
Grandma Verda slapped the book on the table. “Read the book. Find out for yourself.”
“Give me the number, Grandma.”
She pouted but dug in her purse and handed it over. Of course she frowned at me. I didn’t care.
I dialed the number, all the while trying to calm myself. When the man answered, I said, “Hi. My name is Elizabeth Stevens. My grandmother purchased a snake from you? Well, it was a mistake and, honestly, it needs to go. I can’t keep it.”
When I finished my conversation, I sighed in relief. “He doesn’t want it back but had another person interested in it. He’s going to have him call me.”
“Fine. I was trying to make you happy. Don’t ask me for anything ever again if you’re not going to keep what I buy for you.”
I ignored the pout in her voice. I mean, really. A snake! It was like my worst fear come to life. Why do you think I wanted to be a snake? Because I was scared to death of them, that’s why.
“We need to move it out of my bedroom. I can’t sleep with it in there. And when does it need to be fed again? I’m not doing that.”
“Oh, for pity’s sake. Calm down. He doesn’t need to be fed for five to seven days. You’ll have to move him yourself if you want him moved. I had Scot bring him over and set everything up.”
“Scot? As in my brother Scot?”
“Yes.” Grandma Verda shook her head slightly. “I worry he’s on drugs. He laughed the entire time he was here.”
Of course he’d laughed. He got to be part of the greatest joke in the world. I was going to kill him. “I’ll call him. Right now.”
I darted a glance toward my bedroom. Damn. A snake?
Maddie peered into the snake cage. “He’s kinda cute. You sure you don’t want to keep him?”
“You’re serious? You think he’s cute?”“His colors are gorgeous. I always wanted a snake when I was growing up. My mother had a ridiculous lifelong fear of snakes, so she always said no.”
Let me tell you, this boggled me. How could I be friends with someone who wanted a snake as a little girl? That’s just— weird. “Maddie, you’re one weird chick.” I went to open the freezer, then remembered what was in there. “Can you get the ice out?”
She looked at me strangely but pulled the ice out, apparently not noticing the box clearly labeled as disgusting dead rodents. “When was Scot here?”
“Earlier today. But he made me wait five whole days before coming. The jerk. He thinks this is just too funny for words.”
“You really slept on the couch?”
“Um. Yeah.” I shivered. “I really want the snake gone. Do you want him? If this guy doesn’t come through?” I’d never visit her again, but she could come here, right? Right.
“Hmm. Maybe. I’ll think about it. You’re all alone to-night?”
I nodded. “Vinny is home from the hospital, so Grandma’s been spending all her time over there.”
Maddie knelt down in front of the snake. “Hey, what’s with the white stuff in his mouth? Is that normal?”
“No clue. Don’t care. He won’t be my problem soon.” Hands on hips, she said, “Yeah, but he is now. So, you should find out about the white stuff.”
She had a point, as much as I hated to admit it. “All right, I’ll call . . . someone, in the morning.”
She sipped the lemonade I’d poured for her. “Good. So, have you heard from Miranda recently?”
“Not a peep, which is strange. Of course, I haven’t really done any magic lately, so maybe it’s connected.”
Flipping her blonde hair behind her shoulder, Maddie grinned. “Maybe you should tonight then!”
I shrugged. The magic thing? I don’t know. It had kind of lost its appeal after all the setbacks. “Hey, why don’t we get a movie tonight or something? Or go out for one?”
“Can’t. Spencer is taking me to his parents’ for dinner. I’m a little nervous. What if they don’t like me?”
“What wouldn’t they love about you? You’re beautiful, smart, funny, and you like snakes. They’ll adore you.”
We were silent. Maddie watched the snake slither around and do what ever snakes did. You know, snakey stuff. I, on the other hand, devoutly ignored the beast. I knew I was being stupid about this, but I couldn’t help it. Pictures of snakes made my skin crawl, and while I knew there was nothing wrong with having a snake as a pet, I was flat out uncomfortable with every single aspect of owning one. Tomorrow I’d call around to some pet stores to see if they’d take him. Whoever had wanted him apparently didn’t any longer, as they hadn’t contacted me.
“Have you talked to Nate yet?”
I’d told her about Kevin, and while I hadn’t said anything about Nate, she wasn’t stupid. I shook my head. How could I miss him so much? I hadn’t figured that one out yet.
“Why not?”
I set my glass in the sink. “Not sure what to say, I guess.” “How about you’re sorry for upsetting him, but nothing happened between you and Kevin. Tell him the truth. You care about him, and you’re not dating anyone else.” Maddie pointed at me. “You’re going to stay unhappy until you deal with it.”
“I am not dating anyone else, but I’m fairly sure Nate is. So, what’s the best that can happen? He accepts my apology and kindly informs me he’s involved with someone else?” I shook my head again. “It would suck, and I’d be putting myself in the line of fire. Not doing it.”
“You owe him an apology, if nothing else. You should have seen him that night, Liz. He was totally freaked out. I’m not so sure he is involved with anyone, because he definitely looked like a man who had feelings.” She paused a moment. “For you.”
Hope bubbled up, but I quashed it. I knew what I’d seen, and the expression on Nate’s face when he’d looked at the red-haired woman had been filled with love. I�
�d bet money on it. “No. You’re wrong. I wish to God you weren’t, but you are.”
“Well, you’ll never know for sure unless you take a stab at it.” She winked. “You could always whip up something magical.”
“No, that’s what got me into this in the first place. I don’t want to be with anyone because of a spell.” I mean, there wasn’t any doubt now. That amazing night on the couch? Yep, it had to be the result of the banana muffins. Only, for me, everything I’d felt was real.
Too real.
“Yeah, I get that. I was joking, anyway.”
Wanting to change the subject, I asked, “You want some cookies? I baked them yesterday.”
She looked at me like I was crazy. “Don’t get me wrong, but, um . . . I’m a little wary of eating anything you bake at this point.”
I stuck my tongue out at her. “No reason to be. The cookies are clean,” I teased. “Word of honor.” I hesitated. “But there is something I’ve been wanting to talk to you about. I think I should bake you something new—”
“Absolutely not. I’m not going through that mess again,” she interjected.
“Just listen to me before you say no. I’m thinking it might be smart to bake something to take off the effects of all the other spells. You know—just to be sure. I don’t want you getting so miserable again.”
She shook her head. “I’m feeling terrific. I don’t want to screw with that. You fixed what ever was wrong, so let’s just leave it alone.”
“Are you sure?” It made me happy to get something right, but I didn’t want to leave anything to chance.
“I’m positive. But if I start feeling weird again, I’ll let you know. Deal?”
“That works. Just don’t wait too long if you think something has changed. Promise?”
“I promise.” Then, she checked her watch. “I need to take off. Spencer will be here soon, and I bought a gift for his parents I want to wrap.” She put her glass in the sink and gave me a hug. “Try to have a nice evening. Take a bubble bath, read a book, relax. It’s the weekend, ya know?”
After Maddie left, I roamed around my apartment, not sure what I wanted to do. I briefly considered going to see a movie on my own, but it didn’t appeal enough to put forth any real energy.
Switching on the TV, I sat on the far corner of the couch, where I couldn’t see the snake. Boredom clawed at me. It had been a while since I’d sat there, alone, on the weekend.
On a whim, I ran to the kitchen and tried phoning Jon and Andy, thinking they might want to hang out, only no one answered. I thought about calling Kevin but couldn’t do it. It wouldn’t be right. Not yet. Maybe in a few months we’d become hang-out buddies. And then, I noticed my answering machine was blinking its new message light, so I pushed the button.
“Betty, it’s me. Give me a call back. On my cell.”
BEEP.
“Hey Betty, it’s me again. Still waiting for your call.”
BEEP.
“Are you screening me? Come on, I just want to talk to you. It’s important.”
BEEP.
“Elizabeth, this is Marc. I’ve called you three times over the last three days. Please—call me back.”
The light went out, indicating there weren’t any other messages. Was I desperate enough for company to call my ex-husband? No. But I had to admit, he’d piqued my curiosity. If it was due to the magic cake, it certainly had taken long enough to work.
Though, Marc was definitely stubborn and possibly had held out that long. But what if it was something else? And, why did I care? Would I take him back? Now?
Shoot. I seriously didn’t know what to do. Making a decision, I hit the delete button and returned to the living room. I picked up my half-finished unicorn rug, plopped down on the couch, and began latch-hooking.
Nice. Somehow, I was right back where I’d started. Miserably alone, crafting something meant for kids in my crappy apartment with absolutely nothing else to do.
Interesting, really, how the exact same place could mean so many different things. This same living room I sat in depressed had been the scene of three different men kissing me. Three different men, all handsome, all desirable in their own ways, interested in me. Nate on the couch, hands all over my body, inside my body, eliciting responses from me I didn’t think were possible. Jon, bewildered, confused, and his sweet kiss. And Kevin, dancing with me to silent music, confusing me even more.
I’d also cried many tears on this couch over Marc and our marriage. Our divorce. Spent way too much time feeling sorry for myself. For my life. God help me, for the person I’d become. I remembered promising myself to change. To not do this self-pity crap again. But it seemed, at least for tonight, that’s exactly what I was doing.
“No. I’m not going to,” I whispered. Sudden energy propelled me to run around my apartment, grabbing every single latch-hook rug I owned. Why the hell I’d bought so many of them when I never finished any, I had no clue. Yanking open a drawer in the kitchen, I pulled out my scissors and stacked the rugs on the counter, one on top of another.
“You’re history, Mr. Unicorn,” I muttered, choosing that one first. The scissors cut through the plastic and the yarn, the tearing sound oddly gratifying, and slowly, I dismantled the rug, dumping the pieces into the garbage as I did.
Bits of yarn floated in the air, and I sneezed. Weird, but the simple act of destroying crappy home craft projects was extremely pleasurable. When I finished demolishing the final one, I shoved the trash can under the sink and slammed the cupboard door shut.
“Better.” But strangely, still not enough. My eyes whipped around, trying to find something else—anything else I could do to prove to myself I’d changed. That I was a different woman now than I was a year ago.
You see, it was suddenly of extreme importance that I wasn’t the same person Marc had abandoned for someone else. Misery pulled at me, but I shoved it away.
“No more. No. No. No,” I cried. Loneliness surrounded me. It came in a giant wave, almost suffocating me with its strength. My breathing hitched in my throat, the air pushing out of me in short, fast gasps. I gripped the counter. This was going to stop tonight. It had to stop tonight.
“What am I supposed to do?”
She arrived then. All at once, a fragrant rush of roses permeated the air. My skin tingled. And then, oddly, the air changed. It was as if someone had turned my AC on full blast.
“Miranda? Talk to me. Tell me what to do!”
No response. Didn’t she know I needed her?
“I know you’re here. I can smell you. You have to be here for a reason, right? Why else would you keep returning? I’m thinking it’s to help me. But you’re not really helping and, trust me, I could use the help.”
Still no response. Damn. What good was a ghost grandmother if she refused to talk? Then, the weirdest sensation came over me. It was as if someone placed their hands on either side of my face and applied pressure. I allowed it to happen, I stopped resisting, and my head turned until my gaze rested on my refrigerator.
“What? You’re hungry?”
Of course, no response. I flipped my gaze around the room again, only to have the hands force it back. And just like before, I was staring at the refrigerator.
“Okay, okay.” Walking to it, I swung the door open and examined the contents. “Juice. Milk. Leftovers. Condiments.” Nothing that jumped out at me. Nothing that made any sense. Nothing that would make this agony go away.
A hand grabbed the back of my hair and forcibly pulled down. Hard. My neck yanked backward with the tug, and my head jerked upward. Now, my eyes rested squarely on the freezer. Ah. That.
“Got it. Thanks.” Opening the freezer, I closed my eyes and reached around and past the disgusting dead rodent box until I found it. Pulling it out, I sat down on a chair and unzipped the bag. I turned it upside down... and the foil wrapped cake fell to the table.
I picked at the foil, not quite ready to unwrap it. The last time I’d seen the actual cake ins
ide had been over a decade ago. When I believed in love.
When I believed in forever.
When I believed in... Well, when I believed.
I wanted to throw it away, like I’d done with the rugs. But somehow, I knew that wasn’t enough. I needed to open it. I needed to look at it. And then, I needed to get rid of it.
If I did that, would I be throwing my dreams away with it? Well, yeah, that made sense. In a stupid life-altering, change your destiny, new-age sort of way. My hand shook as I gently peeled back the foil. I’d been smart enough to put the cake in plastic wrap before covering it with foil, so nothing stuck.
There it was. White on white. Crushed icy pink roses, smushed a bit, but still recognizable. Oddly, it didn’t look as if it were a decade old. It didn’t appear to hold the key to my future. It was a hunk of frozen cake. Nothing more. Nothing less.
I made the mistake of picking it up. As soon as my skin touched it, everything changed. Instead of sitting in my kitchen, I was once again at my wedding, then at my reception, various scenes flipping by speedily, like a DVD on fast-forward. Just as before, my real world bled away. It was as if I had stepped into the past. But as a ghost. It felt real, but I knew it wasn’t.
After the reception came our honeymoon. Then our first home. Then our second. And then, finally, the one we’d built together. While all of this was happening, emotions were zipping around inside of me. At first they were amazing. Love. Happiness. Fulfillment. But negative emotions soon followed. Frustration. Sadness. Wanting a baby and Marc’s refusal. No longer cuddling together on the couch at night. Fights. Recriminations. Guilt. More fights.
Guilt? I tried to grasp what was being shown to me. I tried to understand why it was even happening. And then—suddenly— everything slowed down. No longer on fast-forward, the vision in front of me was of that night, in heart-wrenching slow speed, flickering before me. My thirty-fourth birthday. Except this time, I watched Marc’s face as he spoke to me. His hand shook when he gripped the chair. He told me he was leaving me. And then, when my prior-self turned her back on him, cursing him, I saw regret shimmer over his expression.
A Taste of Magic Page 24
