Page 25 of Through the Snow Globe
“No. My life is over,” the teenager huffed.
Diana shut the door behind her and stepped over to sit on the girl’s bedside. “Boys come and go. It’ll be okay.”
Addy slid her gaze over with interest. “How did you know this was about a guy?”
“Oh. Well . . . Isn’t it always?” Even Diana’s troubles were about a guy these days. Not that Linus would ever intentionally break her heart. He was the kindest, sweetest man Diana had ever known. She was the one who’d broken his heart by dodging the wedding talk and making him think she regretted saying yes to his proposal.
“What would you know about guy troubles? I bet your life is perfect. So perfect that you never have any problems.” There was more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. She sat up and breathed a sigh, her slender body folding over her knees.
Diana looked at the teen for a long moment. Addy had been hounding Diana about her personal life since the day Diana had walked in the front door of her home. Diana didn’t mind sharing about the simple things, like what she enjoyed watching on TV or her favorite food, but Addy was like a journalist with a lead. She liked to ask invasive questions like how Diana and Linus met. Was it love at first sight? What was the wedding theme going to be? Where was Diana’s family and why didn’t she talk about them?
“Okay,” Diana said. “If you want to talk about what’s bothering you, we can,butwe have to do it during your physical therapy. That’s why I’m here after all.” Addy was weak after her last round of chemotherapy. She could barely stand at the bathroom sink for ten consecutive minutes to fix her thinning hair and put on the little bit of makeup that she wore. Diana was working on helping her build endurance and teaching her energy conservation techniques so she didn’t wear out so quickly.
Addy blew out another exasperated breath as she sat on the edge of her bed. “Fine. We’ll talk while I moisturize. Or you can talk because that means I’ll be expending less energy, right?”
“Glad to know you’ve been listening to me at least a little bit,” Diana said.
“We can trade stories. Like real friends.”
No way was Diana going to get into what had happened with the snow globe or how time was repeating itself with a sixteen-year-old. Although Addy might be the most likely to believe her.
Diana angled her body toward Addy’s. “Go ahead and stand. I’ll walk with you.”
Addy rolled her eyes. “You don’t have to worry that I’ll fall. I can walk to the bathroom, you know?”
“Then do it,” Diana challenged.
Addy stood and headed toward her personal restroom, talking to Diana at her back. She might know how to conserve energy, but she wasn’t doing it. “All my friends have stopped calling. It’s like they’ve completely forgotten about me. You’re the closest thing I have.” She stopped in front of the sink and looked at Diana through the mirror, her breathing already heavy. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly.
Diana pulled up a chair that she’d placed in the bathroom for Addy. “Sit.”
“I’m not an old lady,” Addy protested. “I don’t need a chair to brush my hair.”
“No, you’re a stubborn teenager.” Diana pressed her hands down on Addy’s shoulders, guiding her to take a seat. “This is part of energy conservation.”
Addy rolled her eyes. Then she took the brush that Diana handed her. She hesitated as she looked in the mirror, lifting the brush to one side of her head.
Diana could see the sudden, unmistakable look of vulnerability in the girl’s expression.
Addy’s hand trembled as she looked at herself. Then she lowered her brush and dropped it down in the sink. “My hair is fine like this. It doesn’t need brushing.”
Diana reached into the sink, picked up the brush, and handed it back to Addy. “It’s part of your therapy. We lift the brush versus lifting weights in the gym,” she said, trying to make the girl smile.
Addy wasn’t smiling, though. Instead, she had a thick sheen of tears in her blue eyes.
Crap.Diana suddenly remembered this visit. How could she have forgotten? She’d unintentionally made Addy cry the first time she’d gone through this day. And she was thoughtlessly doing so again.
Addy snatched the brush from Diana’s hand and ran it through her thinning hair as tears streamed down her face. Then she lifted the strands that fell out for Diana to see.
“This is why my friends don’t care about me anymore. It’s why Jay is more interested in Sierra than me too.” She threw the brush back down in the sink with a loudclink.
Diana’s lips parted for a moment. “I-I’m so sorry, Addy.” Addy hadn’t told Diana about Sierra until yesterday, which was Christmas Eve. Somehow Diana had gotten her to tell her sooner in this new timeline, though. That was something else that had changed.
Mrs. Guzman was wrong. Diana could use this day to alter what would happen, but right now she was only making things worse.
“Sierra is supposed to be my best friend, but she’s stealing my boyfriend while I’m stuck in my bedroom prison going bald. I hate my life!” Addy lowered her face in her palms and her body shook as she cried.
Diana placed a hand on the girl’s back. “That’s not true. Your life is better than you think, and you’ll be back at school before you know it.”
