Patrons line the streets, enjoying the nice weather and the vendors that border the sidewalk. Avery and Logan walk through the throngs of people, her arm around his waist and his arm across her shoulders, intimately joined. They steal a kiss or a smile every hundred feet, unable to keep their attraction hidden. A bakery comes into view and they duck inside the building, both inhaling the sweet scent of bread and cakes.
“Wow, this place is adorable,” Avery cheers happily as she gazes around the 50’s ice-cream parlor-ish design.
“You’re adorable,” he replies as he lays a gentle kiss on her lips.
She motions him over to a small display of cupcakes at the far end of the room and he stands beside her, admiring the shop’s work.
“We should get some to take back to the office.”
“We could do that.”
“Do you think I should take some to my father’s?” she asks, nervously twisting her fingers around and gazing up at him.
Logan tucks a hair behind her ear and says, “I think he’d like that.”
The high school-age worker places Avery’s selections into two boxes and they head to the register where an older woman greets them. She speaks momentarily with the other worker and comes back to the register to give them their total.
“That’s thirty-five dollars for both boxes.”
While Avery busies herself paying for the cupcakes, the woman inquires, “You two make a lovely couple. Are you from around here?”
“No, ma’am. We live in Carson. Not too far from here.”
“Oh, I’ve been to Carson. Cute town.”
“It is.”
Out of nowhere, she throws out a topic, tossing Logan for a spin when she speaks directly to him.
“You two will be together for a long time. I can tell. You can trust her.”
“Excuse me?”
Avery notices his hackles rising and listens intently as an older man joins the woman.
“This is my wife; she has a ‘sense’ about people. She’s been pretty spot-on since we met in elementary school. She told me in first grade that we’d get married and open up a bakery. I
didn’t believe her until we were twenty-four, closing on the location, and getting married the next week. She’s ‘sensed’ things about… I’d say… eighty couples and has been right every single time,” he says with a chuckle, casting an adoring look at his wife.
Avery and Logan glance at each other, confused by the strange situation.
The woman begins again, looking at Avery, “You’ve lost a lot in your life - more than most. You’re a survivor.” Avery gasps at the accurate depiction.
Then the woman turns back to him and says, “You’ve been lied to by everyone you’ve loved. But she won’t lie to you. You can trust her, love her.”
“Jesus Christ,” Logan murmurs under his breath.
Continuing to speak to him, as if in a trance, she discloses, “You’re the air she needs to breathe; you’re what keeps her alive. She’ll be the reason you live, and you’re what brought her to life.”
The elderly woman takes a deep breath and hands them their cupcakes while her husband looks on tenderly. Avery grabs the bag containing the boxes and glances at Logan nervously.
“Thank you,” Logan says, a bit perplexed and a bit gleeful at her attestation.
When they reach the door, about to step out on to the street, the woman hollers out, “I can’t wait to see you all in a few months. The wedding is going to be beautiful.”
Avery waves to the couple as the door closes quickly behind them and they walk out onto the street, holding hands, but completely silent, busy absorbing the details from the woman’s revelation.
They practically make it back to the car in complete reticence before Avery speaks up, “That was weird, right?”