Page 45 of Perfectly Matched

Once she gathered all the information, she shuffled back and tossed her notepad on her desk. As she grabbed her cell to call Tegan, she stared at the cubicle behind her, and the strange gut feeling resurfaced. And with it came the same faraway voice that seemed to whisper Hannah’s name. Yeah, so much for gut feelings, she scoffed at herself and dismissed the sensation. Yet, there was something deep down that told her there was more to that feeling than just the simple nuance of an intuitive tingle. As the scanner screeched again in the background of her mind, she robotically hit Tegan’s number and walked her through what was going on as she dismissed her feelings and shifted into autopilot.

That evening, she finished up the show with only three mistakes. When everyone gathered in the studio, she was the last to shuffle in. She listened as Jason scolded and drew attention to the errors, knowing that each word was directed at her. She kept her head down and lingered as everyone filed out in front of her.

“You going out with us tonight, Payson?” a production assistant called out as he opened the back door.

“Oh, I think I’ll pass tonight, but have a drink for me.”

He nodded and left as she returned to the newsroom. She glanced at the corner office, and Jason was leaning back in his chair, talking on the phone in an animated way. She knew he would probably be here another hour, reanalyzing and reevaluating the show. She looked at him, then glanced again at the tropical brochure.

No, she decided. The future that he represented was not the vison she saw for herself. She wasn’t sure exactly what herfuture looked like, but she knew it wasn’t like his. She grabbed her purse and shut down her computer.

“It’s time to get off the merry-go-round,” she whispered to herself. Because going around in a circle wasn’t the same as going forward. “I need a life,” she mumbled and made a promise to start looking for another job.

As she walked out the back door and headed toward her car, she paused as a slight wind blew past, causing her to shiver. The familiar tingle pulled at her gut, as she glanced around the parking lot. “Hannah?” she said as her instincts kicked in and told her she wasn’t alone. “Anyone there?” she called out as fear gripped her.

A person appeared in front of her. Startled, she jumped back.

“Sorry, Payson, I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Payson scanned the woman wearing tight jeans and a T-shirt, black leather biker boots, and had a stone necklace dangling halfway down her chest. “Who are you?”

“I’m Piper. Hannah’s friend.”

The tension Payson was holding in her shoulders dissipated as she smiled. “So you’re Piper? I’ve heard a lot about you.”

“From Hannah?”

“Hannah and Tegan both.”

“It would be nice to see Tegan again. I have never met anyone who plays cards as well as she does.”

“Well, she’s not here. She’s over at Gimbauld’s, grabbing a drink. But I’m sure she’ll be at the tables soon enough.”

“Thank you, but Tegan is not why I’m here. Hannah told me what happened between you two. And I just wanted to tell you that she’s miserable. I’ve known her my entire life, and I have never seen anything get her this down.”

Payson pushed past Piper and opened her car door. “You can tell Hannah I don’t date people who can’t be honest about who they are.”

“Hannah was being very honest in who she is.”

Payson closed the door and lowered her window. “Oh really? When she told me she was a cupid, as in shoot an arrow in someone’s heart, that wasn’t totally delusional?”

“She is a cupid. In fact, she’s our island’s best.”

Payson stared. She needed to warn Tegan that they both seemed to be attracted to crazy women. “Sure, she is,” she said as she turned over the ignition. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m not going to waste my time on another version of a cupid story.” Payson threw the car in drive, and Piper materialized next to her. “Jeez!” She slammed on the brakes. “What the hell?” A blink later, Piper was again outside. “How did you—”

“You need to open your mind and listen to me. Really listen, Payson. Because what I’m about to tell you is going to sound crazy, but I can assure you, it’s the truth. Just please, hear me out, then I’ll leave you be so I can go play cards.”

Payson threw the car in park and folded her arms. “Fine, you have five minutes.”

Piper began telling Hannah’s life story, ending with the chapter that included Payson. Five minutes turned into an hour, and although Payson’s mind wrapped around the story, she spun her own version. Somewhere in everything that Piper was saying were probably bits and pieces of the truth, but Payson didn’t want bits and pieces; she wanted the whole deal. When Piper finished, she reached in her front pocket and handed Payson a piece of paper.

“What’s this?”

“It’s where Hannah will be tomorrow morning. If you believe any of what I’m telling you, then be at that location around ten. Give it some buffer time, and look around. Really look around. A tree, a rooftop, she likes to shoot from above.”

“Did you say rooftop?”

Piper nodded. “She told me that the day she was on the rooftop about to shoot Madison’s companion arrow in your heart, you saw her.”

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