Page 69 of Faking the Face Off

“It’s been a week?”

I’d gone to meet Mia at Mom’s crystal shop to make me feel better, but it’s been less than five seconds since I walked in the door and she’s already pointing out the bleeding obvious.

“Yep, but let’s not talk about it.” I pick up a pretty chunk of rock, a light-blue crystal formation, and hold it in the air. “What’s this one?”

Mia peers at me over her glasses. “Angel Aura Quartz. Celestite. It helps call your guardian angels.”

I turn it over in my hand, inspecting it. “Cool.” I place it on the counter before pacing down another section of the shop. If I have any guardian angels, now’s the time for them to appear. “Anything to bring your woman back into your arms?”

Mia looks my way with irritation bubbling behind her eyes. I can tell this, she’s my sister. She hops off the stool and comes around the counter to join me. She fishes something out of a basket on a display table and hands it to me.

“What’s this?”

“Kyanite,” she says, looking at me as if I’m the one who’s speaking in tongues right now. “It’s the stone of chakra balancing.”

The Kyanite is a dark-blue gem that’s been shaved into small chunks and stored in a tiny glass jar. I hold it up and look at it in the light.

“Will this help me get Anna back?”

“No.” She snorts with laughter as she walks away.

“You’re no help.”

“And you need to think for a minute. You told me she wanted space. Right?”

I lift a shoulder and let it drop. “Yeah, I guess.”

“Well, give it to her.”

“I am.”

“Are you thinking about what to do if?—”

I hold up a finger. “When.”

“Okay,” Mia says, holding up her hands in mock surrender, “when she gets in touch, what are you going to do?”

“What do you mean, what am I going to do? I’ll do whatever she wants.”

“Eh.” Mia makes a face, prompting me to press her for more.

“What’s that?”

“What?”

“Your face. What is it?”

“It’s my face.” She widens her eyes and sticks her tongue out.

“No, what are you thinking? That face, the one with the look right now, says I’m gonna screw up.”

She cocks her head to one side. “Okay, look. I’m not saying she’ll necessarily be into it, but if I were you—which I’m not, because let’s face it, I would never fake a relationship—I would start thinking about a grand gesture.”

All of the years growing up with sisters and being forced to watch rom-coms floods to mind. “Like in the movies?”

Mia claps her hands together. “Exactly!”

“I feel like this is the kind of thing that could get me into trouble.”

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