Zona took a deep breath. “I think he is.”
“Well, then? What are you waiting for, a cosmic sign? A thunderbolt?”
“Maybe,” said Zona.
She returned home to find her mom and Martin happily cuddled on the couch, overdosing onDeathline. At least someone’s love life was looking healthy.
“Join us,” her mother invited.
Happy as Zona was for her mother she didn’t think she could take a supersized serving of ooey-gooey in her present state of mind. “I have some eBay stuff to do,” she lied, and went to her bedroom. Her Angel Ram finance book was waiting.
She opened to her next chapter: Security Versus Risk.
“Sounds like my love life,” she grumbled.
Life is full of risk. We take a risk just crossing the street. But we take that risk because we know it’s a low risk. We have traffic laws to keep us safe, we have a traffic signal telling us when to walk. With money, as with all aspects of life, you put your safeguards in place and then, when the signal says walk, you step out and walk.
Good advice. For money. When it came to love, Zona definitely needed a signal that told her she could put her foot out. And it needed to be a big, flashing walk signal, a sign from heaven.
Of course, nothing came. She didn’t find any treasure with some cosmic meaning when she hit the garage sales the next day. No ceramic heart, no little wall hanging with Follow Your Heart painted on it. No HopIn passengers that night had any profound remarks to share about love. Oh, well.
LOUISE AND MARTINhad gone for a drive Sunday evening and it wasn’t until Zona was on her way to bed that Louise finally clomped in the door.
“You two are sure becoming cozy,” Zona observed. At least someone in the family was enjoying life.
“We are,” said Louise. “There’s so much more to Martin than I ever realized. Funny, isn’t it, how blind you can be.”
Was that some kind of sign? Probably not. “I’m going to bed,” Zona said. She sounded grumpy but so what? Grumpy was an improvement over miserable.
SHE WOKE UPthat night to a strange bright flash outside her bedroom window. What on earth? She shot out of bed and looked out the window. There it was again. Lightning flashing, illuminating the house next door. A few seconds later a rumble of thunder followed.
But no rain came. A dry thunderstorm. The sky rumbledat her one more time and she saw a flash in the distance. This was creepy. This was... a sign?
“Did you hear the thunder last night?” she asked Louise as she served her an early cup of coffee before Gilda’s arrival.
“Thunder?” Her mother looked puzzled.
“You didn’t hear it?”
Louise shook her head.
“I thought I heard thunder. And I saw lightning.”
Louise looked out the window at the clear, blue sky. “Everything looks dry as usual,” she said. “Did you hear anything, Darling?” she asked.
Darling barked a happy,Who cares?
Okay, had Zona only dreamed that? Maybe she had.
But what if she hadn’t?
She didn’t look Louise’s way as she pulled her premade lunch from the fridge. “Mom, what if I made a mistake with Alec?” Stupid to ask. She already knew what her mom thought about him.
Louise didn’t say anything for a very long moment. Then she asked, “Do you think you did?”
“Doyouthink I did? I mean, you weren’t sure all along.”
“You going to listen to a woman who thought he was an axe murderer? What do I know?”
