Page 107 of Here One Moment

It’s possible Allegra would have received a sterner rebuke for not reporting the incident if it hadn’t been for her dreadful prediction. Trina is just one of the many people treating her with kid gloves. She might miss all this tender loving care after she turns twenty-nine.

Although she won’t miss seeing her poor parents so distressed. They are now aware of the three correctly predicted deaths. It’s not like “the Death Lady” is the lead story on the evening news, but articles have been popping up online, and of course their eyes were caught by the clickbait headlines.

“So now I will admit I am a little worried,” said her mother. “I am worried this awful woman may have some kind of special ability. Possibly. It is very unlikely.”

“I am not at all worried,” said her dad, looking extremely worried.

Her mother has been busy getting the deities onside, just like she did when Allegra and Taj studied for their final school exams. Allegra has received multiple special blessings: some at home, some at temple. Her mother has also been FaceTiming various relatives in Mumbai, and a cousin’s wife’s auntie has put them in touch with one of the best astrologers in India, so famous and well respected he regularly appears on television. This impressive person is studying Allegra’s birth chart right now. Presumably in between television appearances. He will come back to them with his professional opinion.

Her father, meanwhile, thinks the treadmill is the answer. Endorphins! If Allegra goes more than three days without a run, he’s on the phone to her.

Her brother is insultingly, actively unconcerned about her mental health and pretended to hide the knives when they were there one night for dinner. He suggested Allegra’s bag should be checked for pills as if she were a psych-ward patient.

“This is not a joke, Taj!” cried her mother, but later that night Allegra caught her rifling through her bag.

They stop at another lookout and Jonny says, “Not thinking about jumping, are you?”

“Well, I am,” admits Allegra. “But not because I’m suicidal. Doesn’t everyone think about jumping when they’re up high? A friend told me it’s got a name: the ‘call of the void.’ ” It wasn’t a friend, it was the ex-boyfriend who dumped her after the seafood special. “He said something about a French philosopher calling it ‘the vertigo of possibility,’ like it blows your mind that you’ve got the freedom to choose whether to live or die.”

“Sounds like a smart friend.”

“Not really,” says Allegra, and then she comes clean. “Idiot ex-boyfriend.”

“Ah,” says Jonny. “Sounds like a tosser.”

As they head down toward Watsons Bay, Jonny clears his throat. “Oh! I’ve been meaning to ask you!”

Allegra’s stomach drops. The man is a terrible actor. Whatever he is about to say is not something that he has just remembered, it is something important to him.

“My parents are having a fortieth wedding anniversary party. It’s in a couple of weeks and I wondered if you’d, uh, like to be my…plus-one? Sorry, that sounds too formal. Do you want to come and meet…uh…do you want to come?”

Home visit! He’s suggesting a home visit! The episodes of The Bachelor where the contestants do the home visits with the Bachelor’s family are so painful to watch and obviously impossible to miss. Once they meet the Bachelor’s family, the contestants are overly invested. They see themselves joining the family. They see their futures! But only one girl can win that future. At least two will have their hearts broken on national television. That’s how they get the ratings.

Allegra feels genuine panic. The lattice-topped pie was only the beginning. Meeting the family takes it to a whole new level of official. If she meets his family she will be expected to introduce him to her family. She will have to tell Anders. She will have to be in this. No more holding back. No more pretending this doesn’t mean anything, and once it means something, then she will have no cover, no defenses, and he can then choose, at any moment, straight after they’ve ordered the seafood special for two, to say, “This isn’t working for me.”

And if it hurt that much with that boyfriend, who was such a loser, how much will it hurt when Jonny does it?

“Oh!” she says. “Oh, right, when is it? I’ve just got a few things coming up so it’s possible the date might not work.” Now she’s the one speaking in an awful, false high voice.

“It’s fine,” he says coolly. “Don’t worry about it. Too soon to meet the family. Much too soon.”

“No, I wasn’t—”

“It’s fine, Allegra.” She has hurt and embarrassed him, and the sick feeling in her stomach tells her it’s too late to protect her heart anyway. She’s already overly invested. She’s all the way in. She wants the rose. She badly wants the rose, and the viewers at home are covering their faces with their hands, mortified for her.

“Jonny,” she says. She’s an idiot.

There are no other contestants, Allegra.

She has to salvage this.

Allegra hears pounding footsteps. A runner gaining ground.

“Allegra!”

She turns.

It’s Anders. He’s at the crest of the hill, running like a maniac down toward her, and he’s not a runner. His form is terrible. Jay would not approve. Arms flailing.

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