Page 82 of Date with Destiny

Crystal places a kind hand on my arm, barely disguising a glance back at Celeste. ‘But I can offer you a ten per cent discount as you’re the daughter of my special friend, Celeste Bretherton!’ She puffs up, proud of her generosity, and I smile weakly.

‘That’s great,’ I swallow hard, knowing there’s no way in the world. ‘I’ll, er, I’ll be in touch.’

‘It was so wonderful to meet you all,’ she says magnanimously, handing me a crisp white business card. ‘Would you girls like a selfie?’ Myfanwy yelps a delighted affirmative and the three of us crowd in front of her phone. I try to smile as the flash goes but I feel a little disappointed. Actually, more than that: I’m crushed, deflated. Ofcourseshe charges. What did I think was going to happen? That she’d sit me down and spell everything out for free? Even back then at the funfair, she charged me a fiver. And with the way inflation’s been going, a price increase of £14,995 seems about right.

As we leave, filing back out the way we came, at lanyard guy’s heels, Celeste is silent. But the moment we exit the building – twenty-five more selfies later – she explodes.

‘Why didn’t you tell me she was your fortune teller?’ she growls. ‘Why did you lie? Youtrickedme into arranging all this!’ I cower, feeling terrible. I should’ve told her, I should’ve explained. Celeste paces back and forth angrily, before jabbing a finger back towards the building. ‘That woman was the one you met when you were young? You should’ve told me! Why are you hiding things from me?! Youkeephiding things! What have I done to deserve this? You’re always shutting me out! You’re always lying! You don’t seem to like me or want me around. You let me stay up all night worrying about you and wondering where you are—’

‘Mum, that happened once.’ I try to find the firmness in my tone. ‘And I’m really sorry again—’

She interrupts furiously. ‘You never tell me where you’re going or what you’re doing! You can’t wait to get out of the house every day! What’s so terrible about me that you want to escape so much?’

Myfanwy takes a small, protective step forward, still acting as my shield. ‘Celeste,’ she starts in a warning voice. ‘You’re not being fair.’

‘It’s none of your business!’ Celeste looks even angrier. ‘You stay out of it!’

Myfanwy turns to me calmly. ‘Gin, do you want to come stay at mine and Sonali’s for a while? This is not a healthy situation.’

Celeste turns white at this. ‘Howdareyou?’ she shouts and a couple of people in the street look over. ‘You have no right! You’re always interfering, Myfanwy, always trying to get between Ginny and me! You want to steal her from me!’

‘A person can’t bestolen, Celeste,’ Myfanwy starts to redden. ‘Ginny doesn’t belong to you! She doesn’t owe you anything. She’s an adult, her own person! You want to control her and it’s not OK!’

I feel myself starting to shake. I hate this so much. They both love me, they both want to protect me, and they’re both talking for me.

‘Please stop!’ I get out at last. ‘Please, both of you. I don’t want you to argue.’ I turn to Celeste, speaking calmly, ‘Mum, I should’ve been honest with you about Crystal, I’m sorry. And we need to talk properly about everything, but not right now, in the middle of the street.’ Now I turn toMyfanwy. ‘Myfanwy, thank you for the offer, but I can’t live with you guys. You’re just about to—’ I stop myself saying the obvious: that they’re about to get engaged. Project Proposal is still a couple of weeks away and Celeste has no idea. ‘You’re, er, a couple and I don’t want to live with a couple of lovebirds!’ I try to make my tone playful, to lighten the mood as they both stare at the ground. I sigh. ‘Please, you guys? Let’s not argue?’

Celeste nods at last. ‘I’m sorry for losing my temper with you both,’ she says quietly and Myfanwy takes a deep breath. ‘I’m sorry too – I shouldn’t get involved.’ She glances at me a little reproachfully and her message is clear: she shouldn’thaveto get involved, because it’s time – after everything I’ve said and promised – that I should be more honest with my own mother. And I will. But not today.

We return to the car in silence, my whole body vibrating with misery.

Finding the fortune teller was a bust, my mum is furious with me, and I’m still no closer to finding a soulmate.

I pick up my phone, flicking to the camera roll. At least I got a selfie with Crystal Ball.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Obviously I don’t want to see or speak to or even hear about Mikey’s existence ever again, but I’ll be honest, so far this party would be way more fun with a few of his magic mushrooms.

We’re an hour into Sonali’s birthday party, the event Myfanwy has thrown together as a proposal cover, and it’s not reallyhappeningyet. People are awkwardly milling about in corners barely speaking, the music is too low and the bartender keeps disappearing, so the booze isn’t flowing like it should.

The trouble is, Myfanwy is too nervous. She’s usually really on top of things like this, making sure everyone’s having fun, turning the tunes up and ordering shots at the top of her voice so everyone gets involved.

Instead, she’s sitting in a corner, looking beautiful but pale and sweaty.

I stride across the room to join her. ‘You have to calm down,’ I tell her out of the side of my mouth, worried someone might be watching.

‘I’m trying,’ she hisses. ‘I’m just so scared. What if she says no?’

I shake my head. ‘Ofcourseshe won’t. She’s going to be so happy.’ I feel a pang.Isshe going to be happy about a public proposal like this though? I hope Myfanwy knows what she’s doing. I swallow hard.

I’ve been feeling so conflicted about Myfanwy’s proposal plan. I’ve talked myself in and out of telling her not to do it so many times, and then it was suddenly too late. But I think I’m doing the right thing by not saying anything – it’s not my place to tell Myfanwy how she should propose. She and Sonali are in love, Myfanwy knows what her girlfriend would want, she knows her best.

She looks around. ‘Well, I can’t do it if this party doesn’t improve,’ she says sadly. ‘It’s terrible so far. There aren’t enough people here!’ She looks at me anxiously. ‘Do you think more people will turn up? You invited loads of extra people, right?’

I regard her with bafflement. She knows literally everyone I know. Our friends are the same people. Suddenly she pales, looking behind me in the distance. ‘Oh,’ she says quickly. ‘I forget to mention someone I did invite!’ I turn in slow motion as she continues, sounding panicked. ‘I asked Zach to come and I meant to tell you, I’m really sorry. But he designed the ring for me, I couldn’tnotinvite him to the proposal party!’

‘It’s fine!’ I choke out, watching in slow motion as he approaches across the room. ‘Of course you invited him.’

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