Page 38 of A Spot of Tea
“No,” Mackenzie said. “I’m not sure how to do that without sounding like I’m jealous.”
“Well, you’re not jealous, so that would be on her for imagining it,” Cora said simply. “He’s a jerk.”
“He is.”
Eliza returned and took her seat. “Ready to start the game?”
“Do you believe in soulmates?” Cora asked Mackenzie.
She stared at the stack of cards on the table. “Absolutely not.”
“Really? Why not?”
Mackenzie threw the booklet onto the table and started laying out the pieces for the game. “Because it’s something made up by the diamond industry.”
“Maybe you’ll feel differently when you meet yours. Steve wasn’t your soulmate.” Cora turned to Joey. “What about you?”
“Believe in soulmates? Sure.” He poured another cup of tea from the pot. “Steve still could’ve been her soulmate.”
Mackenzie’s narrowed eyes flashed up at him, her lip curled. “Are you serious?”
He went on. “Just because you don’t end up together doesn’t mean you weren’t soulmates. Maybe some soulmates are supposed to show us hownotto live our lives.”
That had been his experience. There was a time when Joey had been a romantic. His girlfriend in college had given him a stuffed puffin after a trip they’d taken to Maine. The bright-billed birds had captured his imagination – they could fly at speeds over fifty miles an hour, dive two hundred feet into the ocean, and they mated for life.
He'd kept the little puffin on his bed, and his girlfriend started calling him Puff-Puff – sickeningly-sweet, but it didn’t bother him. They were soulmates; he was sure of it.
He woke with only her on his mind and dreamt of her gentle smile when he slept. Joey could see their future as clear as a movie in his mind – their wedding, their coastal cottage with flowers spilling from the windows in the spring. He could feel the heat of the sun on his skin, he could smell the briny air.
“You might be on to something there,” Mackenzie said, eyeing him. “Steve convinced me we were a power couple. After the same goals. It turns out he’s a liar and a cheat and maybe a sociopath.”
“Definitely a sociopath,” Cora said with a nod.
“So I’m pretty sure I want nothing to do with the way he lives his life.” She paused. “Or the way I was trying to live mine.”
“See? Maybe next time you’ll see it coming,” Joey said. “You can leave before you’re left.”
Eliza took a deep breath and puffed out her cheeks. “This is turning into some sort of soulmate support group.”
Mackenzie laughed. “No, it isn’t. He couldn’t have been my soulmate. How did I not realize that until Joey started pontificating?”
Though that was the exact opposite of what Joey had said, he smiled. “Happy to be of service.”
His own soulmate had left him, and it was entirely due to his own mistakes. There was no wedding. No cottage. No flowers.
The breakup had left him heaving, completely empty, completely lost. He later found out there was some debate whether puffins did, in fact, mate for life. Though they returned to the same mate every year, it was possible they were only returning to the same burrow, and the particular bird waiting there didn’t matter as much.
Joey had read on. He’d learned puffins spent more than half the year out at sea, alone, and realized the beautiful life he’d imagined was nothing more than a fantasy. One that wasn't meant for him.
He had to be completely gutted to see it, but once he did, he left, flying around the world, living his life the way he was supposed to: alone.
He looked up from his cup of tea. Eliza’s eyes were focused on him, but she snapped them away, back to the booklet in her hand.
She cleared her throat. “Should we just start playing and I’ll explain the rules as we go?”
It was hard to tell in the low lighting, but it looked like her cheeks were a little pink. Her stare was fixed on the booklet, allowing him a chance to look at her – the gentle slope of her nose, the curve of her lips…
His heart thudded against his ribs and his breathing picked up. Joey looked away, staring into his teacup.
