My shoulders slumped as the hope building inside of me was snuffed out because I thought Aria’s words ruled Chloe out. She wasn’t jealous of me and she had no reason to be. While I did okay in school, Chloe killed it. Everyone loved her—my parents, our teachers, and all the kids at school. The one and only person she didn’t get along with was me. If anything, I was jealous of her.
“Because of this,” Madam Aria continued, “you must try different things than in any of your other lives and you will need to be patient. I can see an alternate version of your future in the ball that isn’t what it should be. In that future, you would both be unsettled and unhappy because you are meant to connect in every lifetime. Neither of your souls can thrive without that connection. Without it, the lessons you’re meant to learn in this lifetime would be lost, which would set off a cycle of discord between you that will continue over many lives. Do you understand?”
I understood nothing but nodded anyway. Okay, I thought, she’s just pulling your leg. Smile, say thank you, and leave the tent. Go back to the carnival, have some funnel cake, and ride the tilt-a-whirl a few more times.
“Thanks, Madam Aria.” As I spoke, I stood and pushed in my chair.
She grinned up at me as though she knew something I didn’t. I was just at the exit of the tent when something happened that changed everything.
“By now you’ve noticed that no other girl has ever caught your eye. There’s a reason for that. Your heart and soul has always known who it belongs to. In order to win Chloe, you’ll need to be strong and believe with your whole heart, ” Madam Aria called from behind me.
My eyes widened in surprise as I spun to face her. I was stunned to find that she had gotten up from her table and was just a few feet behind me.
“Ah, yes,” she crowed, a good amount of satisfaction in her tone. “Now I’ve got you thinking.”
Hell yes, she did.
“I, uh… how do you know her name is Chloe?”
Aria grinned like a Cheshire cat. “I saw her in my ball. I know you think she doesn’t like you, but that isn’t the case. It will be many years before you understand that. You have her heart—always—but you haven’t earned her trust yet. That’s what you must focus on. Show her that you’ll always be there. If you do not succeed, your soul will never be fulfilled and you will repeat this pattern for many lives to come. All things are connected. You will be rejected many times, but if you stick with it, I promise it will be worth it. Good luck.”
Then, as if nothing weird had happened at all, she waved her hand dismissively, turned, and walked back to her table.
* * *
Chloe
Age 19
The way Madam Aria looked at me made me feel itchy and uncomfortable. Unlike most kids in town I’d only ever had one reading from her. It was supposed to be fun, a little bit of fluff. I’d been fifteen and fixated on the idea of my mother coming back into my life—something that I’d hoped and prayed for every single day since she packed up and left.
The note she’d left had explained in a very cut-and-dry way that being married, and having a child, wasn’t what she wanted. Fame and fortune was. Of course I only found out about the note later. At three, I hadn’t been the sharpest knife in the drawer. The fuzzy memories I had indicated that my father hadn’t been surprised by her defection because there had been signs from the beginning.
They’d met in college, him for business, her for theater. She’d been certain she’d be the most famous actress of her time, but when that didn’t happen right away, she decided to get married—and fifteen months later, I was born. She’d played that part for a hot minute before deciding that stardom was still her destiny. In an effort to save the marriage, Dad uprooted everything to move from Bliss to Brooklyn so that my mother could land a “breakout role” on Broadway. She’d been adamant that it was only a matter of time.
It hadn’t been, and she’d blamed the lack of roles on the fact that she’d been married with a child. I think by the time she left, my dad was happy to see the back end of her, and looking back, I can’t blame him.
It wasn’t like that for me, though. I wanted a mom. What I got was a have a nice life, I’ll send presents when I’m famous letter that I hadn’t even read until a few years after the event.
She hadn’t been in contact at any point after she left, nor had she gotten famous. The reality I refused to accept was that she was one of the most spectacularly selfish people on earth. I’d held onto hope for her return in the way that only someone with faith could. At least I had, until Madam Aria looked at me over her swirling purple crystal ball.