Twist of Fate

by Sheri L. Brown

  “Amazing. That was her husband.”

  “Just go back upstate and celebrate her life and your relationship with her. I know it was special, I can feel it.”

  Claire smiled and finished the last sip of tea in her cup, “I’ll call you when things settle down and I’m back in town.”

  “Yes, and let me know if you need me to help you move. I texted my driver and he should be waiting for you outside. Now, come here and give me a hug, Claire, and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks. By then Paolo and Francesca should be acclimated.”

  Claire wrapped her arms around her new friend and gave her a particularly big hug, “I’ll call you when I get back in town.”

  “You better… Namaste,” Candy said smiling as Claire walked out the door, “And don’t forget to see your yoga teacher again… I think it’s important.”

  Claire walked out of the building and saw the car at the curb.

  “Are you Claire Sinclair?” The driver asked.

  “I am.”

  The driver opened the door and let her in. Claire couldn’t figure it out. Candy didn’t seem like she had money for a lot of things, let alone a driver. None of it mattered, though, Claire really liked Candy and was grateful for meeting her. She pulled her phone from her pocket to text Candy and thank her for talking to her about Zia. Her phone rang seconds after she hit send. She didn’t recognize the number, but she picked up anyway.

  “Hello?” Claire said.

  “Claire, it’s Ryan.”

  “Where are you calling from? I almost didn’t pick up.”

  “Oh, I’m in California at a hotel.”

  “Everything’s good?” She asked, feeling incredibly far away from him in the moment.

  “Everything is great. They like what I’m doing on the mound, so they wanted to see me out here.”

  “Wow, hey. This girl I met here, in New York. She’s psychic. It’s a long story, but she mentioned you the other day.”

  “Yeah? What’d she say?” Ryan asked.

  “Just that someone I knew was going to be really successful at baseball.”

  “She just said that without you saying anything at all? Really?”

  “Really.”

  “Wow, hey, that’s really cool. How are you? What have you been doing? We keep missing each other.”

  Claire hesitated. She couldn’t remember the last time they had talked. She didn’t like the feeling of him seeming to be slipping away.

  “Ryan, I feel so bad, I don’t remember the last time we talked.”

  Ryan laughed, “I’m sorry… I don’t either.”

  Claire loved his laugh. She giggled. It was good to hear his voice. She told him all about the Skylar rescue. She told him about Candy, getting ready for the funeral, applying to NYU for the spring and about yoga.

  “The instructor was so nice and helpful. I’m not ever going to be a jock, Ryan, but I think yoga is my sport!”

  “Hey, that’s awesome! And you’re excited about moving to New York City?”

  “I am! I think it’s what I should be doing. You know, like fate is forcing my hand… in a good way. I feel really good about everything.”

  “Except missing me,” Ryan chuckled.

  “Yeah, I miss you. I’m so sorry we haven’t talked. I feel like I’ve been so unavailable, but…” Claire’s voice trailed off.

  Her life had been hectic with the Skylar rescue, but also the sudden loss of Zia. She apologized to Ryan out of courtesy, not because she felt obliged. She was going through a lot at the moment.

  “Claire, your favorite aunt in the whole, wide world died in the middle of Skylar running away. You don’t have to apologize.”

  Claire smiled. It was amazing how they were connected. She decided she wouldn’t mention Declan or going for tea or anything else that might make Ryan fell ill at ease. He was working hard and nothing had happened yet anyway. Claire didn’t want to get ahead of herself. Besides, the most important thing on her mind was Zia, the funeral and the statue. They said goodbye to one another and promised to talk once things settled down after the funeral.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  The ride out of the city was uneventful. Sort of. Claire couldn’t put her finger on it, but she felt as though Felicia tried too hard… she was always ready to make a point of something—of anything and everything, in fact—acting as though her opinion was the right one, spurting out words fueled by acrimony while notably absent of thought. Felicia might have been smart, Claire thought, but she didn’t think. The words poured out of her mouth, stirred up a negative vibe, then fell to the floor without a positive effect.

  Claire could see Rachel lift her eyebrows a couple of times while discreetly shaking her head as they rode over the George Washington Bridge. She looked as though she wanted to interject something into the conversation, but Felicia didn’t come up for air long enough to allow a natural segue for someone else to speak. Rachel gave up and continued making eye contact to be polite. Claire watched as she sighed in relief when her phone chimed with some notification. Rachel smiled as she pulled out her stylus and either began to work on something relatively pressing or perhaps it was simply a ruse to do anything other than listen to Felicia.

  Claire sat in silence for a majority of the ride home. She directed her energy trying to replay her conversation with Candy… trying to wrap her mind around the magical world that existed beyond observable three dimensions. She felt good and could really feel it if she let herself go, that Zia was indeed with her. She didn’t want to leave the comfort of that space.

  Yet, Claire couldn’t help but spend some time watching Felicia and trying to figure her out. She watched her and Skylar interact, noticing Skylar only occasionally getting a word in. Her sister, instead of participating in the conversation, spent most of her time enthralled by Felicia’s self-professed worldly viewpoints. It was weird. Claire wondered about her own sensibilities. She, herself, wasn’t worldly at all, so how could she judge whether or not Felicia was full of shit. Claire thought the only way to decipher it would to become worldly herself—whatever that meant.

  This is what Claire speculated as she observed her sister interact with her girlfriend—Small town girl with seemingly normal mother, discovers her sexuality in college, moves to Greenwich Village and becomes… hip. Yes, that was it, Felicia was a know-it-all hipster. Claire took a deep breath and settled herself down. She was happy with her analysis and having something to work with. Engaging with Felicia, she thought, added fuel to her fire. Her ‘worldliness’ kept her in control and fed her ego. She could simply convince Skylar she was really cool. Claire wondered if women closer to Felicia’s age were too experienced to get roped into her nonsense.

  The worst part came when Claire wanted to ask questions about Felicia’s stories, just to get some clarification or perhaps catch her in some sort of a fabrication, but she didn’t want to ruin the experience for Skylar. Besides, Claire thought, she liked the art of the conversation, the exchange between people and the possibility of getting to know someone or learn something new. The more Felicia talked, the more information Claire had to work with.

  Claire looked out the window and watched the suburbs as they headed north. Large pieces of land overrun with tract homes slowly gave way to green rolling hills and less frequent suburbs dotting the landscape as they rode up the Hudson River Valley. Claire let out a huge sigh. She loved both the city and the country and she wasn’t sure where she’d be the most content. For now, she decided she’d let life take her exactly where it needed to. She was along for the ride. No fear, just faith.

  The passing scenery put her in a little bit of a daze and her mind began to wander. She could hear Felicia in the distance talking about seven different things at once and it really sounded like blah, blah, blah, blah, blah…. She put her ear buds in to get a small reprieve. Her mind wandered first to Ryan, then Declan and eventually Candy.

  She wondered about the driver who was evidently at her disposal and she wonde
red about the message from Zia. If it were true, if there was a key under the Jesus statue, what was the key for? She pulled an earbud out and gently tapped Rachel on the leg.

  “Hey, Rachel, I have to go to Zia’s in the next day or two, I was hoping you’d come with me,” Claire said.

  “Sure, honey, I told you whatever you need.”

  “It’s a long story, but for now I just need moral support.”

  “Well,” Skylar said, interrupting Felicia, “I’d like to go, too.”

  “I don’t get it, Claire,” Felicia asked, “what do you need moral support for?”

  There was no way Claire was going to tell Felicia why she needed anything, let alone needing support going to Zia’s. She took a deep breath and tried to refocus. She reminded herself how she learned in yoga that everyone is connected.

  Skylar interrupted Claire before the words left her mouth, “Claire was particularly close to Zia, that’s all.”

  It was that, of course, Claire agreed, but she had to find the key Candy told her about. And the truth of the matter was Claire wasn’t going to say anything about her psychic friend Candy’s prophecy of the key. It had to exist. Claire had to find it and then she would know whether to say anything or not.

  “So, Claire, who is your friend that sent you home with a driver yesterday?” Rachel asked.

  It was as though Rachel was reading her mind.

  “Oh, Rachel, I think you would think she’s out of her mind, but I really like her.”

  “She’s my neighbor,” Felicia interjected, “and she’s fucking nuts.”

  “Well,” Rachel looked at Felicia, “some people might say a grown woman dressing as a clown is a little off.”

  Felicia folded her arms and sat back in her seat.

  Claire took another deep breath. It was nice to feel a little quietude for the first time during their ride.

  “She’s very sweet. She’s funny, smart, talented, and creative… and loves animals.”

  “And she reads tea leaves and holds séances, she builds jungle gyms for her small cat population and is almost always covered in paint,” Felicia added.

  “Interesting,” Rachel said, ignoring Felicia’s tone of voice, “so, if she’s always covered in paint, then she must an artist… did you get her last name?”

  Claire thought about it, “No… now that you mention it, I didn’t. I mean, I met her the night I was looking for Skylar and just saw her briefly before we left.”

  “Hm,” Rachel said.

  “What?” Claire asked.

  “There are some talented artists down in The Village who lay low, but are well-known and established in the art world. Well, I’d love to see her work sometime, I can always use a new piece and I always enjoy supporting the art community. But the car… who knows? Maybe she’s eccentric and made it big or maybe she’s a trust fund baby. I’ll find out when we get back to the city.”

  “Does it matter?” Felicia asked.

  “Well, of course it matters,” Rachel said, “I want to know who my granddaughters are hanging out with… and if Candy happens to be an artist, then I want to support that.”

  “Well,” Felicia said, “I’m….”

  Rachel held up her hand, “Not another word young lady….”

  Claire was certain she could hear a pin drop. They rode in silence until they pulled in the driveway.

  Felicia flew out of the car with her overnight bag, “I think I’m going to walk over and see my parents… and then come back over here in a couple of hours, if that’s okay, Skye.”

  Skylar couldn’t help but feel bad for Felicia. She had no idea what she was taking on by engaging Rachel the way she had. Lesson learned, she thought, there was nothing she could do about it at this point. Felicia kissed Skylar on the cheek and waved goodbye to Rachel and Claire before heading down the road seemingly unaffected.

  “She’s something else,” Rachel said.

  “Isn’t she?” Skylar responded smiling.

  It felt like Claire hadn’t seen her mother in weeks when it had actually been just a few days. Sarah was sitting at the kitchen table when Claire came through the back door, followed by Rachel and Skylar. It felt good to be home, but she felt different. Her life flashed before her as she saw herself at twenty-five, at thirty and maybe thirty-five or forty. She saw Sarah turning gray, getting a few wrinkles, happily and patiently waiting for grandchildren... Earl working in the shed with a little less vigor and a little more gray hair. The fast-forward moment left as quickly as it came. Claire tried to shake it off, but in that second she realized she had a lot of things she wanted to see and do before time caught up with her. Her trip to New York made it even clearer.

  “We’re home!” Claire exclaimed as she threw her bag on the counter.

  Sarah got up and smiled, hugging both girls at once, “I am so happy to have the two of you here!”

  “It feels really good to be home, Mom,” Claire said.

  “Hey, Mom, thanks for taking care of the girls and getting them up here,” Sarah said, looking around, “where’s Felicia?”

  “Oh, she went to visit her parents. She’ll be here in a couple of hours,” Skylar said.

  “How was the ride up?”

  “It was quite lovely. I learned all about Claire’s new artist friend in the city and I learned a little more about Felicia, so that’s always a good thing,” Rachel said.

  “Okay,” Sarah said, “what happened?”

  “Nothing happened,” Skylar said, “everything is fine.”

  “Rachel didn’t scare Felicia away?” Sarah asked.

  “No, Mom,” Skylar said again, “she just went to her parents for a visit.”

  “Okay, okay, well then… this does give us time to catch up and you definitely have some explaining to do, Skye.”

  “You know, Sarah,” Rachel said, “why don’t you consider putting the last few days of Skylar’s delinquent behavior on the backburner? Everything worked out and she’s here now.”

  Sarah glared at Rachel without a word. She sighed heavily.

  Sarah had to say something, “You ran away from home, you….”

  “Mom,” Claire interjected, “I think you and Skye need to have a heart to heart… the two of you. She can apologize and maybe you can both move forward.”

  “Fair enough,” Sarah said. And the more she thought about it, the more Claire was making sense. She didn’t know what Skylar was going through. She didn’t condone her poor judgment, her deceptive behavior or her obsession with Felicia, but she was going to try to understand her daughter. Punishing her at this point, Sarah thought, would have been futile and ineffective. She was sure the more she kept Skylar away from Felicia, the more she would disappear again.

  “Look, I just need to say this, Skye, you are my responsibility and you cannot traipse around making decisions for yourself as though you’re an adult.”

  “I will be in like six months,” Skylar said.

  “But you aren’t yet.”

  “Sarah, honey,” Rachel interrupted, “Skylar is moving in with me and she promised to be on her best behavior. That’s really the best we can do in this… tenuous situation. Don’t you think?”

  “Okay, fine, we’ll talk about all of this alone, Skye. But I am choosing where you’re going to school and that’s final.”

  “Fine, but I get to choose where I go to college.”

  “That was always an option, Skylar, don’t turn me into a monster because I’m upset, legitimately upset, by your recent behavior.”

  Skylar sat down at the kitchen table a slumped forward until her forehead landed on a placemat. Claire, Sarah and Rachel all looked at her without saying a word.

  “Hey, Mom,” Claire asked, in order to change the subject, “where are Sadie and Safire?”

  “Oh, I’m picking them up from camp tomorrow morning.”

  “Good, it’ll be good to see them, I feel like they really haven’t been around much this summer.”

  “I know, they�
��re so busy with sports and friends, I haven’t seen much of them, either. But I know they’ll be excited to see both of you and Rachel.”

  “Too bad Zia’s funeral is the time for a family reunion,” Skylar said, only slightly lifting her head.

  “You know, I need to go to Zia’s,” Claire said.

  “Why, Claire, would you go there by yourself? It will be heart wrenching for you. Wait until after the funeral and we’ll all go.”

  “I’ll go with her now,” Rachel said, “We talked about it on the way up. Claire said she needed to go, so we’ll go.”

  Sarah looked at her mother as though she was unrecognizable. She wondered where the new, doting Grandmother persona was coming from. She was pleasantly surprised.

  “Alright, you two, go ahead. Skylar and I need some alone time anyway.”

  Sarah watched as Claire and Rachel disappeared toward the driveway. She sat down at the table across from Skylar with speaking.

  “How long are you going to sit there without saying anything, Mom?” Skylar asked, talking through her folded arms with her head still on the table.

  “Oh, I don’t know. I guess until you’re ready to talk.”

  Skylar lifted her head up. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes damp. Sarah looked at her and smiled.

  “Please, honey, you have to let me be there for you,” Sarah whispered.

  “I have so many friends with mothers that really don’t give a shit about them or at least don’t love them and support them the way you are with me… and I just feel so bad. So ungrateful. But I keep making bad choices just the same. It’s like I just don’t care.”

  Skylar got up and grabbed a paper towel to wipe her nose. She slid back onto the chair and looked at Sarah, trying to smile.

  “I’m so sorry, Mom. I can’t explain what I’ve been going through. And I can’t explain Felicia, but I need to be with her right now.”

  “Oh, Skye, the rebel in you is brilliant if you use it in the right way.”