Page 22 of Destiny

“What’s up?” Bea asks.

“Mr. Harold is here and looking for the throat singing album you recommended to him at the coffee shop the other day.”

“Oh, yeah! Huun-Huur-Tu. I saved it behind the counter for him. Let me go get it.”

“Wow. She uh, she really likes throat singing. She added a bunch of songs to my playlist.”

“Yeah, she says it ‘speaks’ to her.”

Then, an awkward silence falls upon us, and I really feel my age—having absolutely nothing of substance to say to this “cool” young person.

“Did that hurt?” I randomly ask, pointing to where she appeared to have a piercing through the flesh between her eyebrows.”

“My third eye? Nah, it's not too bad. The tongue and septum were way worse.”

The first one was self-explanatory, but I have no idea where the second one is, and I’m not sure I want to know.

However, she seems to catch onto my confusion. “Or the ‘bull ring’ as older people seem to have a hoot calling it.”

“Ah.” After that, I understand.

Then, I seem to have inadvertently invited her to tell me all about her body modifications, and I feel faint when she decides to show me her split tongue.

“The . . . the piercing wasn’t enough?”

“No.”

Bea returns shortly after, and I breathe a sigh of relief.

“He’s fun,” Micky says before heading back out on the floor.

“Oh, God. She showed you her tongue, didn’t she.”

“That she did, yeah.”

“I’m sorry. She just likes shocking people.”

I swallow hard. “Consider me shocked.”

Chapter 3 – Bea

After Marco left the store, he called me a few hours later and asked if I could pick Aurora and Alessia up from school because he had to stay late with a client. Of course, I agree. And before heading over there, I swung by his office, where he said he’d have their booster seats sitting outside.

“Hey, girls! Do you need help getting buckled in?”

“Nah.”

“Okay. How was your day at school?”

“Good,” they answer at the same time.

“That’s good. What did you learn?”

“That Rome is the capital of Italy!” Aurora blurts out.

“Oh! Wow. That’s true. You know what else? That’s also where your dad was born.”

“Yeah, I told Miss Sullivan that,” her sister says.

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