Easy Fortune: A Boudreaux Series Novella

“I knew you,” he says. “But it’s been a while, and people change. Do you enjoy teaching?”


“Very much.” Talking about my job is easy. “The kids are fun. Sometimes you get a difficult one, or three, but on the whole, kids just want to be heard. They want kindness, with a little badass thrown in.”

“I would imagine that you have the kind badass gig down pat.”

“Oh yeah,” I reply with a laugh. “Teaching is what I was put here to do. I love it.”

“Are you still practicing magic with your grandmother?”

I bite my lip, wondering how to answer this question. One of the things I loved most about Mason when I met him years ago was that he listened to me. When I told him about my gifts he didn’t recoil and mock me. He asked intelligent questions and didn’t judge me.

I’d never met anyone like that in my life, and talking about the craft with anyone that doesn’t practice makes me nervous.

“Hey,” he says and reaches over to take my hand. “You can still talk to me.”

I pull my hand out from under his and shift in my seat. “I do still practice.”

“You’d never show me.”

“Unless there’s a need, it’s not something to just randomly show off.” I shrug. “Now it’s your turn. Tell me about where you’ve traveled.”

“First, we should clear the air.”

“Okay.” I turn to face him now, pulling one leg under me in the seat. “Where the fuck did you go, Mason? And why did you ignore me? If you didn’t want to see me anymore, all you had to do was say so. I’m a pretty reasonable girl.”

“I know.” He changes lanes and takes an exit, then parks in the parking lot of a McDonald’s.

“I’m not hungry.”

“I can’t drive and concentrate on this at the same time,” he says as he turns to face me. “I told you before that I was sorry, and I meant it, Lena. But I’m saying it again. I apologize for the way I handled it, and the way it had to make you feel.”

I tilt my head to the side and listen.

“I was young, relatively inexperienced with women because I had focused on academia for so long, and I panicked.”

“You panicked? It’s not like I told you I was pregnant.”

“Oh my God, were you—?”

“No. God, no. I’m just saying, there was no reason for you to panic.”

“I was offered a job in Tibet. Tibet, Lena. And I knew that I had to go. It was everything I’d ever worked for in my life.”

“Okay.”

“But I didn’t want to. I wanted to stay in New Orleans, with you. You’d told me how close you were to your grandmother, and that being in New Orleans was all you ever wanted. I didn’t want that life. And we hadn’t been together for long. Asking you to go with me—”

“I would have said no.”

He nods. “But then I would have been tempted to stay. I was so fucking lost in you. You’re so beautiful, and you were smart and interesting, and everything in my life shifted because of you. I was losing focus on everything I’d worked so hard for.”

I blink rapidly, soaking in his words.

“And I knew, I had to just go. I’d worked my entire life for that opportunity, and it was the springboard to the rest of my career. I couldn’t pass it up.”

“No. You couldn’t.”

“But I hurt you, and I’m so damn sorry, Lena.”

“You did hurt me.” I nod and look out the windshield, blindly watching a traffic signal turn red. “I’ve worked through some baggage because of that experience. I had trusted you with a lot of myself, emotionally and physically. And then you left, without a word, as if I meant nothing to you.”

“I wish I could undo it. Or at least have this conversation six years ago.”

“You could have been honest with me,” I reply and turn to face him, much of the old animosity gone. Because the truth of it is, he was young, and so was I. “You can always be honest with me. It would have still hurt, but I wouldn’t have wondered what I did wrong to make you go.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.” He leans over and cups my cheek. “The only thing you did was be everything wonderful and sweet. And I’m sorry that I ever made you doubt that. Can you forgive me?”

I swallow hard, unable to look away from him. “Just don’t do it again. I know this time is different, and that I’m here because of your aunt, but when you leave, just tell me you’re leaving.”

“I can absolutely promise that I won’t ever just disappear on you ever again.”

“Okay.” I nod and take a deep breath. “I don’t know about you, but I feel better now.”

“Me too.”

“We’d better go, or we’ll get there too late.”

“We could go in the morning.”

“We might have to travel again all day tomorrow.”

“Good point.” He pulls back onto the freeway and takes my hand in his, then kisses my knuckles. “Thank you.”

“Just drive, Dr. Jones.”

“I love Indiana Jones,” he says with a smile.

“Me too.”

***

“We’re closing in a half hour,” the man behind the counter says. We’ve just arrived, both of us panting from running in from the parking lot. “What’s your name again?”

“Mason Coulter.”

“I’m Ted.” He smiles and reaches out to shake Mason’s hand. “And you must be Lena.”

“I am.”

“You actually have excellent timing,” Ted says and locks the door, turning the sign to closed. “The last group of tourists just left a few minutes ago, and for what I have to show you, well, you’ll see.”

He winks and motions for us to follow him out back. The weather is beautiful today, and the hottest part of the day is over, leaving us with a pleasant evening.

“What are these buckets?” I ask Ted.

“These are the buckets we give to customers to sift through, looking for opals,” he replies. “We do the actual mining, and customers pay for the bucket, then sift through them.”

“That seems like cheating,” I reply, earning a smile from Mason.

“It’s easy,” Ted says with a shrug. “And profitable for us. Not to mention, you wouldn’t imagine the liability cost of allowing people down into the mine.”

“Oh, that makes sense,” I reply with a nod. “So where are we going?”

“Into the mine,” Ted says with a smile. “Something tells me that Mason wouldn’t be content with a bucket.”

“You’d be right,” Mason replies with a laugh. “But your operation here is impressive, and for novice customers, it’s perfect.”

“Thank you,” Ted says as he passes us each helmets. “We’re not going in deep, but you never know what might fall. We’re going to dig for a bit, and then you can sift through what we pull out.”

“Fun,” I reply and watch in awe as Ted sets about pulling dirt from the ground. The operation is bigger and louder and just more than I ever expected.

Before long, we’re standing before a huge, square machine that sifts the earth, making the dirt and sand fall through the mesh and leaving behind large rocks.