Page 69 of Misfortune and Mr. Right

“That’s fine. Whatever you think is best.”

I turn to walk out the door, groping around the wall and door briefly until my hand connects with the handle. Just before I open the door, there’s the sound of cellophane crinkling, followed by a crunch.

“What was that?” I ask.

“Nothing,” Olivia answers me.

“You do know when people saynothing, it always means something, don’t you?”

“Are you throwing my words back at me?” she asks. There’s a playfulness in her tone that’s not usually directed at me.

“It’s a fact.”

She bends down and picks something up off the floor.

“It’s … a fortune cookie.”

“Another one?” I ask.

“Yeah. Weird, huh?”

“Maybe we kicked it in from the hallway.”

“Yeah, maybe.” She doesn’t sound convinced.

I’m not either, but that’s the least of my preoccupations right now.

Olivia Pennington is coming to my apartment.

And it’s not so she can suffocate me in my sleep.

If you scanned my brain, you’d see this thought and nothing else:Olivia. Olivia. Olivia.

I open the door. When we step into the hallway, Olivia opens the wrapper to the cookie. She pulls the slip of paper from the crushed shards of cookie.

“Want to do the honors?” she asks me.

“You stepped on it. I think it’s your cookie.”

But she holds the fortune out to me, so I take it and read it aloud.

“When someone offers you help, accept the heart behind the offer.”

“It does not say that,” Olivia says, looking up at me as if I’m joking. “You’re totally making that up.”

I hand her the paper.

She reads it, shaking her head in disbelief.

“These cookies are so strange.”

“And, yet …” I wink at her. “Not bad advice.”

She shakes her head but follows me to my apartment.

This time, when Olivia walks in, she looks around. She’s not focused on Rhett, who popped out of his bed, ran past me, and is profusely wagging his tail as if he’s personally witnessed the second coming of Christ. I hear you, buddy. I’d wag my tail too.

“It’s like she never left,” Olivia says. The words are soft and careful—personal, and not especially meant for my ears.

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