Page 4 of Reluctant Chemistry

Reclined on the sofa the next day, CeCe realized she’d left her favorite boot in Luka’s car. Maybe she could contact him through the SAR office, leave a thank you box of chocolates or bottle of wine with an attached note asking him to drop it off at the library where she worked.

She closed her eyes briefly, thinking of the man who’d come to her rescue. Did Luka read? Possibly. There was something overtly sexy about a guy who enjoyed a good novel, and CeCe loved those social media posts of hot guys reading books on trains or in cafés.

Her phone pinged with a text alert, and CeCe grabbed it off the sofa table beside her.

Molly:How’s the ankle?

CeCe:Painful and annoying.

Molly:Sorry, I was outside with Jessie and didn’t realize you’d left. Travis was on my case all night, kept asking where you were.He reckons he’s still in love with you.

Travis. CeCe had lost count of how many times she’d excused his behavior. How often he’d failed to turn up when he’d said he would. The days of no replies to her texts. She could visualize their future: Packing his lunch and doing his laundry, just as his mother did now. Friday night drinks with the girls. Saturday nights hanging out at the rugby pavilion. Lying awake next to him in the early hours, never feeling he truly ‘got’ her. Never getting to experience that all-consuming passion she craved.

CeCe:Was that before or after he called me morbid and boring?

Molly:What?He’s a dick.

CeCe:Yep!

Molly:When can you go back to work?

CeCe:In a few days. Mum’s been fussing over me, bless her.

Molly:Okay. Keep me posted. xx

CeCe dropped her phone on the sofa. With the aid of a crutch, she maneuvered herself over to the window and stared out toward the western hills. The sky had brightened, the sun sitting high overhead. She checked the clock on the wall. Almost one, but her parents had gone out for lunch, and she couldn’t be bothered fixing herself anything.

As was often the case when alone, thoughts of Anna drifted into her mind. What would she be doing if she were still here? Would they be on better terms, best friends again?

She returned to the sofa, picked up her phone, opened her Favorites, and hit the Call icon. The usual eight rings before it clicked to answer.

“Hey, it’s Anna. Please don’t leave a message. Text me. We’ll talk later.”

“Hi, it’s me. I…” As always, CeCe struggled to find the right words. “I guess I just wanted to hear your voice. I know it’s been a while, but the truth is, I miss you. More than yesterday or the day before. I miss you so much, and I want…want you back.”

It was the first message she’d left in quite some time. Usually, she’d listen to Anna’s recorded greeting then hang up. But she’d visited a clairvoyant the week before, a woman named Rita with wild auburn hair and a welcoming smile. Rita had told her Anna was desperate for contact and to look for butterflies because that’s how her spirit would present itself.

Skeptical by nature, CeCe still couldn’t decide whether the reading had been a profound step forward, a coincidence, or a load of garbage. Didn’t most clairvoyants use butterflies as their medium of choice? Were millions of past souls truly floating around summer gardens, all delicately beautiful and having a marvelous time?

CeCe limped out onto the veranda and watched a monarch butterfly flit from plant to plant, wondering why butterflies morphed into their most exquisite incarnation at the end of their life cycle.

Was Anna floating on updrafts and sunbeams? Could she hear CeCe’s voice? Feel her pain?

No. She couldn’t.

Because Anna was dead.

2

Constrained

Luka glanced up from the map on his phone screen as his boss, Brad Jones, walked into the office. “Morning.”

“It’s hot out there already.” Brad sank into his chair and booted up his computer, his armpits soaked with sweat. “Any word on the missing hunter?”

Luka stood and crossed the small space to drop a pod into the coffee machine. Before moving to Tulloch Point, he’d thought the exchange program would be a waste of time, but he’d certainly seen plenty of action over the past month. “Nothing as yet.”

“I hear you had a rescue of your own last night.”

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