“I don’t know,” said Mia, her nervous eyes fixed on Theo. “I’m hoping it’s all a lie.”
Hannah peered across the table and was surprised by the tender smile Theo shined at her. He didn’t think she was right at all, but she killed the discussion and he loved her for it.
At five minutes to midnight, Hannah made a drowsy trip to the kitchen and poured herself a glass of water. She crossed into the darkened living room and jumped at the shadowy figure in the easy chair.
“Just me,” Theo croaked.
She pressed her chest. “Jesus. You scared the hell out of me.”
“Sorry.”
She turned on the lamp and faced Theo from the sofa. His eyes were dark. He slumped against the cushions as if he were boneless.
“Are you okay? You don’t look good.”
Theo couldn’t help but grin. Hannah never looked better in her snug white tank top and panties, her bed-tousled hair. While the angel on his shoulder plotted a course of emotional reconciliation, the devil in his sweatpants insisted he was a few deft moves away from couch sex.
“I’m okay,” he assured her. “For now.”
“So you think that girl was telling the truth.”
“I know she was. I see it now, clear as day. Right after breakfast, I’m going to get a nosebleed. Then a splitting headache. By noon, I’ll barely know where I am.”
Hannah sat forward. “God, Theo. Are you sure this isn’t some self-fulfilling, psychosomatic thing?”
“Yup.”
“That’s crazy. You were talking about infinite futures at dinner. How can this be so certain?”
“Well, there’s some wiggle room on the nosebleed.”
“This isn’t funny. I’m worried about you.”
“I know. I can see that. I have to say it’s kind of nice, all things considered.”
Hannah shot a hot breath at the floor, then matched his lazy stance.
“I’ve been pretty pathetic, haven’t I? Taking two weeks to get over a one-week fling.”
“Well, I certainly haven’t helped.”
“I don’t know,” she said. “I think I’ve been angry just for the sake of being angry. Hell, I got mad at you all over again today when that poor fawn died.”
“How was that my fault? I wasn’t even there.”
“Exactly. I was upset and I needed someone to screw me numb. I’m not like my sister. I can’t just draw on inner strength. I don’t have any.”
“That’s not true.”
“I don’t know. Feels like it. So while I understand your reasons for the breakup, and even agree with them in retrospect, I’m still mad that you took away my crutch.”
Theo struggled to stay noble, even as he ripped the clothes off her mental image.
“I’m sorry I can’t handle the kind of relationship you want, Hannah. Sorry for both of us. I’m looking at you now and I’m thinking about what’s coming. I wish I could screw us both numb.”
The grandfather clock chimed in the midnight hour, heralding the official start of October. By the twelfth echoing ring, Hannah clenched her jaw in tense resolve.
“First thing tomorrow, I’ll go to the pharmacy with Amanda. Get you a ton of painkillers.”
“They won’t help.”
“Well, we’ll try, goddamn it. Just because it’s destined to happen doesn’t mean we can’t fight it.”
Once again, she was surprised by Theo’s thin and tender smile, out of place given the situation.
“Yesterday I had a snapshot premonition of you and me,” he told her. “We were sitting just like this, chatting away at midnight in our sweatpants and underwear.”
“Is that why you came down here?”
“No. This was somewhere else. Some house on an army base. You looked a bit older. My guess is that it’s still a good four years away.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah. It’s nice to know there’s at least one future out there where you and I are still alive in four years. Still friends.”
Hannah glumly stared out the window, listening to the owls.
“Friends. Strange word to use for any of us. I can barely separate you guys from Amanda anymore. It’s like you’re all my siblings now. Even you, as screwed up as that sounds.”
The two of them sat in silence for another long moment. Hannah rubbed her eyes.
“You’re a good man, Theo. You’re a good man and I love you and I really hope you’re wrong about tomorrow. You don’t deserve it.”
The augur breathed a long sigh of surrender. It seemed a cruel joke of the universe that the easiest things to predict were the ones that couldn’t be prevented. The pain. The rain. The natural disasters. And yet he couldn’t help but disagree with Hannah’s last sentiment. The girl with two watches had attributed alcohol damage as a primary cause of his neurological crisis. That made it his fault, which strangely made it easier to accept. For once there was justice, there was balance, there was karma in the situation. Theo planned to wield it like an umbrella. Like Hannah’s screwed-up love, he’d carry the blame with him, all the way through the storm.