L. Marie Adeline- S.E.C.R.E.T

“You mean S.E.C.R.E.T.? That, my dear, is a secret,” she said, a sly smile playing
across her lips. “But if you meet with me again, I’ll tell you all about it.”
“Okay.”
“You’re someone I’d like to hear from. And I mean that.”
I knew I was wearing my skeptical expression, the one that made me look a lot like
my father, the man who had told me that nothing in life’s free, nor is it ever fair.
Matilda stood up from the table. When she put out her hand for me to shake, her
bracelet glinted in the sun.
“Cassie, it was quite lovely to meet you. And now you have my card. Thank you for
your honesty.”
“Thank you for … not thinking I’m a complete idiot.”
She let go of my hand and cupped my chin like a mother would. I could hear the
charms tinkle against each other, they were so close to my ears.
“I hope we meet again.”
The door chime signaled her goodbye. I knew that if I didn’t call her, I’d never see her
again, which made me feel unaccountably sad. I placed the card carefully in my front
pouch.
“Making new friends, I see,” Will said from behind the bar. He was emptying a case of
sparkling water into the refrigerator.
“What’s wrong with that? I could use a few friends.”
“That woman’s a little o. She’s like a Wiccan-hippy-vegan or something. My dad
knew her back in the day.”
“Yeah, she told me.”
Will began a long diatribe about stocking more nonalcoholic beverages because people
are drinking a lot less, but that we could charge more for sparkling water and those
special sodas and ciders and probably still make good margins, but all I was thinking
about was Pauline’s journal, and the two men, the one behind her and the one beneath
her, and the way her sexy boyfriend traced his rm hands down her forearm and how he
pulled her into his embrace on the street in front of everyone—
“Cassie!”
“What? What is it?” I said, shaking my head. “Jesus, you scared me.”
“Where did you go just now?”
“Nowhere, I’m here. I’ve been here all along,” I said.
“Well, go home, then. You look tired.”
“I’m not tired,” I said, and it was true. “In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever been more
awake.”