Page 54 of Fake-Off with Fate
For the briefest of moments, I don’t think. I just snuggle into him and feel the heat emanate from his body. The sensation is pure heaven, so I let myself relish in his strength. Unfortunately, panic returns quickly.
“You don’t know they’re going to be okay,” I tell him. “They might be hurt. But even if they make it through the storm, they have to survive for God knows how long and in what kind of conditions until help arrives.”
“I don’t think your parents’ fate is to die in a hurricane. Especially when the whole reason they went away was to save their marriage.”
I turn toward him so quickly, I nearly head butt him. “You believe in fate?”
“I don’tnotbelieve in it.” He explains, “It’s hard to think that everything happens by random chance.”
“Do you think you coming to Maple Falls was your fate?”
He looks pensive before answering, “I don’t know. All I know is that I would have never moved here had Allegra not left me. Not only that, but the hockey player I’ve loathed most in my career is on my team, and I learned that the reason I’ve disliked him was based on an inaccuracy.”
“So, you think you were meant tocome here?”
“I met you, didn’t I? Making a new friend seems like something that might have been written in the stars.” The twinkle in his eyes causes goosebumps to pop up all over my body.
As terrified as I am for my parents, Jamie is making me feel better. “I suppose that’s possible,” I tell him.
“Why would fate put me through a break-up, and reunite me with someone I’ve vowed to avoid only to harm my new friend’s parents?”
“You make fate sound like it’s an intelligent force.”
He thinks for a moment before explaining, “We all have different beliefs, but I think that we get to choose the people who come into our lives before we come here. I don’t think every action and outcome is known, but I think we give ourselves the opportunity to achieve the best result for ourselves.”
Our conversation is taking a philosophical turn. I like knowing Jamie is a deep thinker, even though it surprises me at the same time. Not because I don’t think he’s smart, I just never think of professional athletes as ponderers of life. For clarification, I ask, “You think when we were still in heaven, you and I sat down and decided to be friends in this life?”
“Why not?” he asks.
“And you think our friendship is worth losing Allegra for?”
He exhales loudly before answering, “I think that maybe Allegra has chosen something different for herself.”
“Maybe she’s changing her mind,” I offer. “If you thought enough of her to stay with her for three years, maybe she’s worth fighting for.” I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, because the more time I spend with Jamie, the more I find myself composing scenarios where we can be together.
“I guess it’s possible.” He doesn’t sound like he believes it though.
“It’s in line with your belief system,” I tell him. “You think we bring people into our worlds by design but what happens between us when we get here is up in the air.”
“I think,” he says as he pulls me closer, “that we still havefreedom of choice, but within the confines of some basic parameters. It’s kind of like fate but without being cut and dry.”
If that’s so, then it’s possible for something more to happen between me and Jamie. But it’s also possible he’ll get back with Allegra. Either way, I decide, “Maybe whatever happens to my parents is their fate and has nothing to do with me.”
“Exactly,” he says. “We’re all our own people and we all have our own agendas. They just overlap throughout our journeys.”
Resting my head against his shoulder, I tell him, “I sure hope my parents have a happy ending to their journey. This hurricane may not be my fault, but I don’t think I could live with myself if something bad happened to them.”
“Then let’s decide nothing bad will happen to them. Let’s send them all the positive energy we can.”
“You mean pray?”
“Prayer, energy, call it whatever you want. No matter the name, it’s all positive.”
With my head still leaning on my new friend, I silently ask God to protect my parents and all the other people on the island. I ask Him to help Maple Falls stay the lovely town it’s always been. As a final boon, I ask that He help guide me in my life so that I might find my own happy ending. If that ending includes Jamie Hayes, all the better.
CHAPTER 26
JAMIE
