CHAPTER FOUR
"Are you sure about this?" Phoebe asked as Dana tied the blindfold over her eyes.
"Trust me, cuz," said Dana, removing her hands. "I always wanted to do this, but I couldn't because of the kids. Marty is absolutely in love with his preschool teacher, and Angie is looking forward to her next softball season. Maybe when they're older, we can move away, but in the meantime, I'll just live through you." Dana grabbed Phoebe's hand and lifted it into the air. She placed a dart into Phoebe's open palm, then wrapped Phoebe's fingers around it. "Okay. I've tacked a map onto the wall. As long as you throw straight ahead, you should have no problem hitting a city."
Phoebe wanted to leave Indianapolis and start fresh in a new city. But, she hadn't a clue as to where she would go and how she would get there. She'd shared her thoughts about leaving with Dana, and Dana had proposed this little game. Phoebe would throw a dart on the map and wherever it landed, she would move there.
"You ready?" Dana asked.
Phoebe rolled back her shoulders and shook out her arms. Her heart beat so fast, it threatened to hammer right out of her chest. She licked her lips, inhaled a slow breath, then exhaled through her lips. "Ready."
Dana clapped. "Okay. Go for it."
Phoebe gulped. She knew it was silly, but there were butterflies in her belly. This was her future, and she was casually determining it with a little dart. Wanting to get the anxiety over with, she pulled back her arm and threw the dart towards the wall.
"Oh my God!" Dana shrieked.
"What?" asked Phoebe, pulling the blindfold down from her eyes. She looked at the map. The dart had landed smack-dab in the middle of the Caribbean Sea. Squinting, Phoebe walked to the map and lowered her face closer to the wall. "Jamaica?"
Dana approached her and leaned her arm on Phoebe's back. She too squinted at the map, but then she pulled the dart out. "I think it's closer to Haiti." She drew in a loud breath. "Oh my God! You're moving to Haiti!"
Phoebe whipped around to stare at her cousin. "I'm not going to Haiti. Or Jamaica."
"Why not?" Her cousin looked crestfallen. She waved the dart in front of Phoebe's face. "That's the rule, right? You go where the dart lands. Since it landed between Haiti and Jamaica, I guess you can choose."
Phoebe pinched the bridge of her nose, before shaking her head. "I figured it was an unwritten rule that I was limiting myself to the US."
"What's wrong with Haiti or Jamaica?"
"They're foreign countries. I just can't pack up and move there. I have to get visas. Hell, I don't even have a passport. And, I think they only speak French in Haiti. I don't speak French."
Dana shrugged. "You could learn?"
Phoebe plucked the dart from her cousin's hand. "No way. The US only." As she walked back to where she'd thrown the dart from, she pulled the blindfold over her eyes. "I'll do it again. If it lands in Canada or Mexico this time, I'll have to do it over."
Dana released a heavy sigh. "Fine. Do it again."
Phoebe took a slow breath in, then as she exhaled, she hurled the dart towards the wall. She listened for Dana's excited scream, but none came this time. She pulled the blindfold from her eyes and glanced at her cousin. "What's wrong?"
Dana shifted from foot to foot. Her lips curled as her brows lowered. "Nothing." She shook her head again. "Actually, maybe you want to do it over again." She crinkled her nose and turned to stare at Phoebe. "You don't wanna go there."
Phoebe swiveled her neck to look at the wall. The dart had landed near Canada, but in the United States. Dana's lack of enthusiasm was rubbing off on her as she walked to the map. She pulled the dart from the wall and focused on the small puncture mark left behind. "Tacoma." She turned to face Dana. "Tacoma, Washington? What's wrong that?"
Widening her eyes, Dana joined Phoebe at the map. She leaned onto her tiptoes. "Well, I guess if it's any consolation, it looks a little south of Tacoma." She bit down on her bottom lip, then used her fingernails to pull the tacks from the wall. "Either way. You're screwed."
"Why? I thought it was pretty nice up there." Phoebe left the wall and walked to the small dining room table where she'd left her laptop. She sat down on the chair and opened the lid. With a few clicks of her finger, she opened a website for classifieds in the Tacoma area. "Good news. It looks like there's a lot of hospitals in that area." She glanced over the top of her monitor and grinned at Dana. "It's even near a huge military base."
"I know," Dana said, joining Phoebe at the table. She propped her chin on her hand. "Trust me. I know there's a lot of military out there, but that's nothing compared to how friggin' expensive it is. The cost of living is ridiculous compared to Indy. You're not going to get far on a CNA's salary."
Her cousin was right, Phoebe knew. She'd heard about how much of a tech center the Puget Sound region was. But from her quick search on the web, she'd already discovered several nursing programs in the area.
"I think this will work for me," Phoebe said. "I'm positive there's going to be open jobs for home care aides. I can pick up a second job, if necessary, while I enroll in a community college and get my associate's degree in nursing."
This was the most optimistic Phoebe had felt in months. Since her sister's death, she'd felt like her whole world was spinning out of control, and there was nothing she could do to slow it down. But this felt right to her. A fresh start in a new city was truly what she needed.
She patted Dana's hand. She knew her cousin worried about her own finances. They shared that worry. But Phoebe would make it work, even if it meant busting her ass for the next few years. "It'll all work out. I just know it will." She withdrew her hand and closed her laptop, then she smiled sadly. "I'm sorry for getting you into hot water." Dana's landlord had learned about Phoebe's living in the apartment, and he'd demanded that Phoebe either be added to the lease or leave the apartment by the end of the week.
"Shit. You didn't do nothing. If it wasn't for that nosy broad from next door, everything would be cool. Everything was fine these past few weeks, then she goes and blabs," Dana muttered, reclining in her seat. "But whatever. Maybe it's for the best. There's already a glow about you, and you haven't even moved there yet." She tilted her head and studied Phoebe. "If things don't work out, you can always move back here. You can sleep on the couch until you get your money together."
Phoebe smiled, then glanced around the small apartment that Dana called home. Clean and cozy, it was too small for two adults and three children. She knew she could always come back here, but she would feel like a failure if she ever had to return to sleeping on her cousin's couch.
"I feel like celebrating," Phoebe said, picking up her phone. "When will the kids get home?"
Dana glanced at the clock on the wall, then grimaced. She hopped up from her seat and grabbed her keys from the counter. "Damn it. I should have picked them up ten minutes ago."
"I'll come along. After you pick up the kids, we can grab a pizza on the way back." Grinning, Phoebe slipped from her seat and wrapped her arm around Dana's shoulders. "Who knows, maybe we'll find you a good military man?"