Page 41 of Yours to Conquer

“I can still see you doing that. On a bad day, I’ve seen you toss anything that was in your way.” Kat smiles at me. She’s probably remembering the time she thought she lost my favorite pair of earrings. I picked up my jewelry box and flung it at her. All the jewelry spilled everywhere, and as fate would have it, the earrings in question lay at her feet as if saying, “I’m right here.”

The pink-haired pixy leads us to a private room. There is a back table full of cups, plates, and saucers. Sharpie pens in all colors litter the table, as well. In front of us is a cinderblock wall. Faceless people of each gender are painted in various places on the wall. All skin colors and hair colors are represented. All you need to do is imagine a face, and you’re set.

Kat walks to the table and picks up a plate. She writes the name Mara on it and sets it aside. She picks up a plate and pen for each of us. Roxy takes her plate, writes the name Eddie on it, and places it off to the side. I look at my plate for a minute and eventually scribble the name Daniel across it.

“Let’s do this together, girls.” I hand safety goggles to Kat and Roxy and lead the way to the yellow line that’s painted across the floor. It’s a safety line to avoid stray glass splinters that might pop back at you.

We line up in a row, and I count down from three to one. I find the blond-haired male figure on the wall and picture his face. As I shout the final number, the plates fly. The crashing of glass against the wall startles me at first, but then I laugh.

“What’s sofunny?” Roxy asks.

“I don’t know. It’s just that it’s not as scary when you’re the one doing the throwing. The sound of breaking glass sends me running, and yet here I am—throwing glass—liking the sound.”

We walk back to the table to get more plates. Roxy tries a cup. We write the names of people who have done us wrong or things that have held us back. In the process, we toss all of those fears away. I take one last plate and write the name Blake Havers on it. I look to my right and see Roxy write creepy lurker on her plate.

We step up to the line and slam the last bits of frustration into the wall. I take my phone out of my bag and snap a picture of the debris lying on the floor and send it to Anthony.

I turn to Roxy and ask, “Who is the creepy lurker?”

“There has been this guy that has been across the street staring at the house. I wonder if he’s a homeless guy, but he’s dressed nicely, so I didn’t think so. Have you seen him before?”

Kat and I look at her like she has three eyes. “No, what does he look like? Are you sure he’s staring at the house?”

“He’s tall and slender. He’s dressed nicely, but I can’t make out his facial features. He was wearing a baseball cap. I walked onto the porch and stared him down, and he left.”

Kat shakes her head. “Don’t mess around with that. Call the police the next time he shows up.”

I leave their conversation as my phone beeps. I have a text.

It looks like you had a lot of therapy. How did it feel?

So much better than I thought it would. I think it was a great idea. We probably put you in the poor farm with the number of plates we broke.

It’s not possible. I’m glad you found it helpful. I could break a few plates myself. However, I’ve learned my lesson and will resort to screaming in a pillow inthe future. You can be the official plate thrower in the family.

I think I’ll pass. Maybe we can have a scheduled day a month to come here and break things. I miss you.

I miss you too. I’ll talk to you later. Call me when you get home.

I head back to the girls and herd them out onto the sidewalk. I take one of their arms in each of mine and lead the way to the Lily Pond. We walk into the little hole-in-the-wall with the best egg foo young known to man.

We decide to eat family style. We order the egg foo young, of course, chicken with cashews, and shrimp with lobster sauce. We eat until we are ready to bust.

The server brings the bill with three fortune cookies. I snag everything before anyone can get to it.

“Okay, you have to answer a question before you get a fortune cookie. Who wants to go first?”

Roxy raises her hand. “I’ll go. What kind of question?”

“Whatever I want to know.” I think for a minute before I ask, “Roxy, have you ever been in love?”

“Nope, hand the cookie over.” She lays her palm flat in front of me. I place the cookie in her hand. “Make sure you eat the cookie before you read the fortune, or it won’t come true,” I warn.

“Kat, when is the wedding?” It’s not a good question because she tells me everything, anyway, but I’m hoping she has some new info.

“No plans yet. If it were up to Damon, it would be yesterday, but I’m just getting used to living together. I’m not sure I’m ready for a joint checking account yet.”

“Wait. You’re marrying Damon Nobel, and you don’t want to have your name added to his checking account? Are you nuts?” Roxy asks.

---