Page 60 of A Shade of Myself
“Favorite food?”
“Steamed broccoli.”
“Hummus.” She tapped her cane across the floor and popped a lid off a Rubbermaid. “You don’t know him at all.”
“I do. Hummus was my favorite food. Not his.”
“You sure about that?” Her magic fell off me and I dropped down onto my heels.
Had I remembered things wrong?
The old woman held a manila envelope in her hand. I stepped forward and a corner of it began to smolder.
“Jake set protections on this. He was worried about who might come around. If I flick my wrist, this envelope is toast. Understood?”
I nodded, vibrating with the strain of keeping myself in place. I couldn’t get to her fast enough to grab it and if I used my magic, she’d burn it.
“I’ll give you one more chance to prove you knew him.”
“I was a kid when I saw him. These stupid questions prove nothing. People’s favorite colors and foods can change.”
“Then I’ll give you an easy one. Did Jake have any siblings?”
Not by blood, but he did have one by choice. “A brother,” I said softly. “Noah.”
“Wrong again.” She flicked her wrist and the envelope burst into flame.
“No!”
She dropped it to the concrete floor, and I ran over to stomp out the flames but she poked me back with her cane. The fire blazed high and bright for a moment and then winked out.
The envelope was untouched.
I gaped at it, and she chuckled, sliding it over to me with her cane.
“Oh, just a little song and dance there, dear. I hardly ever get to put those parlor tricks to use. I hope you don’t mind. But no, you take it.” She smiled up at me. “You gave the answers Jake said you would.”
I snatched up the envelope, which wasn’t even hot. “His favorite food was steamed broccoli?”
“No. But you hated it, so he ate your share. It was hummus, but he let you hog it.”
“Of course he did.” I clutched the envelope to my chest, my eyes damp. “Do you know what’s inside?”
“A letter, though I have no idea what it says.”
“How was he when he wrote it?”
“Heavily medicated at the time. I’m not sure what you’re hoping to find, but it may just be gibberish.”
“He really died of cancer, then?” A knot in my chest eased when she nodded. As shitty a way to die as that was, it was better than him being murdered. “Were there people with him when he passed?”
“Yes, dear. You can rest easy on that. You’d have been there if you could.”
“He told you about me?” My words were sharp, but he might have put her in danger.
“You don’t remember me, Miriam, but I was acquainted with your parents. And I know that only the most extreme circumstances would have made Jake send you away.”
All these years, I’d felt so alone, forced to tell that awful lie about Mom and Dad dying in a house fire. Even if I couldn’t share the truth now, just learning that this woman had known them and didn’t believe the story made me feel reconnected to my hometown in a way I hadn’t since that tragic night. I wish that she’d been closer to Mom and Dad because they wouldn’t have shared their professional dealings with a casual acquaintance.
