“What’s so secret that we’re tiptoeing around and whispering in the laundry room?” Marti asked, glancing over her shoulder. “Are you in some kind of trouble?”
“Is Candice still keeping Mom and Dad occupied in the living room?” Rebekah asked.
“Yeah. Now, what’s up? And talk fast. You know how suspicious Mom gets about clandestine meetings.”
“Okay. So, two things. My boss at work is really breathing down my neck, and I’m running out of excuses. Do you have any insights about whether I’d be safe telling him about my gift?”
“You want to tell your boss? That seems pretty risky.”
“I know, but he’s going to figure it out or fire me or something anyway.”
Marti looked thoughtful. “I’m not picking up on anything in regards to that, so I’m not going to be much help. You’re probably safe to go for it if I’m not getting flashing danger signs and stuff.”
“Oh, great. So basically, I have to decide for myself.”
Marti laughed. “Isn’t that what you have to do anyway regardless of what I tell you?”
“Yes, but you make things easier.”
Marti’s expression became serious for a moment. “That’s just it. Yes, we have cool gifts, but we can’t rely on them so much that we forget about our other gifts—the ones we’ve always had, like common sense and gut feelings. We could get zapped by another power surge someday and lose our powers, and then we’d be sunk.”
“You’re right, and I shouldn’t expect you to follow me around and tell me what to do anyway. That’s not fair to you.”
“But there is something else you wanted to ask me . . .”
Rebekah felt her cheeks get warm. “Yeah. There’s a guy . . .”
“I knew it! I mean, I didn’t know it, know it, but I suspected. Because you’re acting all weird.”
“I’m not acting weird.”
“Yes, you are. Now, tell me about him.”
“His name is Jeremy, and he’s a paramedic. I met him at the hospital—not surprising, because I’m there all the time—and he saw me diagnose two patients. And now he’s suspicious, and he wants answers, but I think he also wants a relationship, and I just don’t know if I can trust him.”
Marti raised an eyebrow. “What’s your gut telling you?”
“That . . . that I can.”
“And you’re right. Again, I’m not getting any specifics here, but I’m also not getting any danger signs. If you were thinking about doing something dangerous, I’d be all over it, so you must be on the right track.”
“Thanks, Marti. I appreciate it.”
Rebekah startled as she heard her mother’s voice. “Now, what’s going on in here? Why are you hovering over my washer and dryer like they’re something incredibly special?”
“I was trying to explain to Marti how to use the washer, and she’s pretending like she doesn’t understand,” Rebekah replied.
“I understand how to use the washer just fine,” Marti replied. “I just don’t understand why I should use the washer when Mom wants to use it for me.”
“Mom, let’s be honest with each other here,” Rebekah said. “Do you really want to wash Marti’s laundry?”
Rebekah had meant her question to be funny, and she was surprised when Barbara’s eyes filled with tears. “It’s like this, honey,” she said. “I’ve spent half my life taking care of you girls. Being your mother is who I am, and now that you’re all grown up, you don’t need me as much anymore. If helping Marti with her laundry means that she still needs me for something, then yes, I do want to do it.”
“Oh, Mom.” Both girls threw their arms around their mother and gave her a tight squeeze. “We’ll always need you,” Rebekah said. “No one else in the world could take your place.”
“Sometimes it just doesn’t feel that way,” Barbara replied. “And now with Heather married and Jessica and Gaylynn engaged, and you about to head off to medical school and Marti graduating, everything’s changing.”
“I was thinking about that too,” Rebekah replied. “But change doesn’t have to be bad, does it? It means new sons-in-law to love, and someday there will be grandbabies, and you’ve always talked about how you want to fill this whole house up on Thanksgiving and Christmas. This is just taking a step closer to that goal.”
“You’re right.” Barbara pulled a Kleenex from her pocket and wiped her eyes. “I shouldn’t be so pessimistic. I think I’ve just lost a bit of myself along the way, and I’m not sure who I am if I’m not a full-time mother anymore.”
“I saw a talk show about this the other day,” Marti said. “I think it was Donahue. Anyway, these women were saying that they woke up one morning and didn’t know who they were, so they went off on these crazy adventures to find themselves. Mom, please tell me you’re not going to get tattoos or run off with a rich Columbian coffee bean magnate or something like that.”
“Dad would be devastated,” Rebekah chimed in.
“No, I’m not going to do anything like that,” Barbara replied, now smiling. “I do think I might take some classes at the community center, though. Macramé would be nice, don’t you think?”
Rebekah wasn’t convinced that one could find oneself while doing macramé because it’s not like you could lose yourself from lack of macramé, but she wasn’t about to argue. If it made her mother happy, she’d support her in it.
***
The next morning, Rebekah lay in bed for a few minutes and allowed herself to bask in the sunlight that was streaming through her window. She had the day off, and she was going to church with her family and then eating at her parents’, and then she was going to take a nap and possibly take another nap too. When she had a lot of shifts, she often went without sleep, and she could feel it catching up to her.
She put on her light pink sweater dress, thinking that the spring weather was just cool enough to get away with it, then grabbed a couple of bangles from her jewelry box. She didn’t have time to eat breakfast, but she grabbed a granola bar on her way out the door, remembering with a smile what Jeremy had said about living on fruit snacks. You did what you had to do sometimes.
When she walked into the church, she spotted her family immediately because they were definitely hard to miss, but she also saw Jeremy there sitting toward the back. She was going to walk over and say hello to him, but Candice came up to her and tugged on her arm.
“Mom says you’re late and she wants you to sit down before the pastor starts talking or you’ll cause an embarrassing scene,” Candice hissed.
“I’m not that late, and yes, I’m coming,” Rebekah replied. She slid into her seat just as the pastor stepped up to the pulpit. All right, maybe she was that late, but still, everything was fine. There was no need to make a big deal out of it.
The sermon was particularly nice, what Rebekah caught of it. She wished she’d had that extra moment to speak with Jeremy before the service started—she wondered if this was his new congregation, or if his persistence had taken a creepy turn and he was now stalking her everywhere, including to her place of worship. Of course, if he was being creepy, he probably wouldn’t admit to it, so talking to him about it might not do any good anyway.
As soon as the crowd started to disperse, she worked her way toward the back and found his pew. “Hi,” she said. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
“I didn’t expect to see you either,” he replied. “I drove past this church last week and thought it looked like a friendly place, so I thought I’d give it a try. Have you gone here long?”
“As long as I can remember,” she said. “What do you think of it so far?”
“It’s great. I really liked how the sermon brought out the parable of the widow’s mite. I’d never thought of it that way before.”
Rebekah wanted to ask him what he meant, but she didn’t want to admit that she’d been too distracted by him to pay attention. “It was definitely thought-provoking,” she replied instead. More lies . . . it was a good thing she wasn’t Pinocchio.
“Hello there.” Barbara had come up behind Rebekah and was now smiling at Jeremy. “I’m Rebekah’s mother. Who might you be?”
“Hello, Mrs. McClain. I’m Jeremy Burton. I just moved to town, and I met Rebekah at the hospital. I’m a paramedic.”
Rebekah watched as her mother’s face took on a whole new layer of happy. “Welcome to Bagley, Jeremy. Will you come over to the house and eat with us? It’s a Sunday tradition.”
Jeremy glanced at Rebekah as if asking her permission. She gave him a slight nod. Yes, she’d been trying to get rid of him, but Sunday dinner was different from dating. And Marti had said she could trust him, so . . .
“I’d love to come, Mrs. McClain. Thanks so much for inviting me.”
“Just follow us over—there are about four cars going that way, so you won’t have a chance to get lost.” Barbara threw a smile at Rebekah. It was all Rebekah could do not to laugh—her mother seemed to think she was helping Rebekah catch a man, but she didn’t know Jeremy and Rebekah had already been out.
“Sounds great.” Jeremy bent down and picked up a messenger bag that had been sitting next to him on the bench. Looked like he’d brought his own Bible. That was pretty cool, actually. Rebekah didn’t know a lot of guys who did that.
She got into her car and pulled out of the parking lot, then glanced in her rearview mirror to make sure Jeremy was behind her. Getting lost wasn’t actually possible in Bagley—even if he got turned around, all he’d have to do was ask someone and they’d set him straight. But it was nice to know he was there, and she realized that she liked how she felt when she was around him.
That didn’t mean she was ready to divulge all the family secrets, but she was getting closer to it.
Once at the house, she introduced Jeremy all around, finishing with, “Our oldest sister, Heather, lives in Idaho now, so you’ll just have to pretend you’ve met her.”
“Well, you sort of have met her if you’ve met the rest of us,” Jessica said with a laugh. “We’re like versions of the same person, except not.”
They sat down at the table and helped themselves to spaghetti. Barbara made her own sauce from tomatoes she grew in the garden, and it was honestly better than any sauce Rebekah had ever tried from the store. Jeremy seemed to like it too and had three servings, which of course made Barbara like him all the more.
“Your family’s great,” Jeremy said as Rebekah walked him out to his car. “Do they always just bring people home from church with them?”
“Yes, all the time,” Rebekah answered. “Especially if that person looks hungry.”
“That’s so awesome. Thanks for including me today.” He rested his hand on the roof of her car. “I meant what I said about wanting to see you again, Rebekah, but I’ll respect your space if that’s really what you want.”
“That’s the problem. I don’t know what I want.” She’d never had so many conflicting thoughts and feelings before. She liked Jeremy—she really did—and two years ago, she would have dated him with no hesitation at all. But that would have been before the Zap, as Jessica called it, and before their powers surfaced. That made everything so much harder.
Jeremy reached out and took her hand, rubbing it gently with his thumb. “At least that’s not a flat-out no,” he said softly.
“It’s not a no. It’s . . . it’s just not a yes. Not yet.” She wished she could give him some kind of answer, but she was still sorting through all the possible outcomes. If she wasn’t in danger of losing her job, that would also make things easier.
“Well, I’m a pretty patient guy.” He grinned, then let go of her hand. “Thanks again for the great meal. I’ll see you later.”
He got in his car and drove away, and Rebekah immediately felt the difference. There was a little hollow spot in her chest now because he was gone.