Free Out of Breath (Exposed Series Book 2) by Hazel Kelly Page A

bullshit to me. And I wanted to say it was
against the rules for her not to tell me the truth when she knew so many of my
secrets. I mean, she was the one that made up the honesty rule in the first
place.
    But I didn’t want to pry or make her uncomfortable, especially
when she had been so patient with me. Plus, whatever was really going on, I
figured the truth would come out eventually.
    I just hoped it wasn’t anything too serious.
     

Chapter 12: Dawn
     
        
    I don’t know what it was about her sign that made me stop. Maybe
it was because earlier that day, I’d been feeling disappointed that I wasn’t
religious.
    I realized that if I believed in a man in the sky, there would
be an obvious spiritual guide for me to go consult on the subject of my
imminent death. Unfortunately, by the Church’s standards, I was a habitual
sinner. So to repent now “just in case” seemed like it would be an extremely
false gesture and a waste of time for both myself and the spiritual guide with
whom I would undoubtedly have nothing in common.
    Plus, last I checked, priests couldn’t prescribe anything
stronger than prayer and holding out for salvation. So I had to assume I’d be
happier sticking with my doctor.
    But Madame Ursula wasn’t a priest. She was a palm reader. And
something about the potential for spontaneous human connection and instant
gratification appealed to me in that moment.
    So that’s how I ended up past three purple beaded doorways
underneath a Subway sandwich shop sitting across from a mole and jewel
encrusted woman.
    “What’s your name?” Madame Ursula asked.
    After all the beaded curtains, I expected her to be wearing a
turban or have crazy hair, but she looked like any old woman you’d walk by in a
grocery store. Except for an abundance of fake gold rings and maroon lipstick
that was so dark it was almost black. Which was especially unattractive because
it was seeping into the vertical lines around her mouth. I guessed that Madame
Ursula must have been a smoker, too.
    “Dawn.”
    “Pretty name.”
    I wished I could say the same.
    “Did you want to have your palm or your tarot cards read today?
Or both?” She kept her lips parted when she wasn’t talking as if they might
stick together if she closed them.
    “My palm, please.” As a typical nonbeliever, I was skeptical and
hopeful at the same time. Though I wasn’t exactly sure what I expected- or what
I wanted- her to tell me.
    Madame Ursula nodded, cleared her throat, and put her hands on
the circular table between us. She turned my right hand over and pushed the
skin around, causing different lines to deepen and grow shallower depending on
where she applied pressure.
    Suddenly, her expression fell and she looked up at me. “You’re
dying.”
    “Aren’t we all?” I asked, not wanting to make things too easy
for her.
    “Yes, of course,” she said. “But most of us have more time than
you do. Even me.”
    I swallowed.
    “Your life line.” She dragged her finger along a crease that went
down the center of my palm. “It’s cut short.”
    “How long do I have?”
    She shook her head. “That is not for me to say.”
    “Please.” I wanted her to earn her twenty bucks
    “I don’t need to tell you. You know enough.”
    “I would be very grateful if you could narrow it down,” I said,
trying to imply there might be an extra fiver in it for her. “Tell me if I have
weeks or months.”
    She shrugged. “Perhaps both,” she said, “but you won’t make it
till summer.”
    “Last summer was my last summer?” I asked, hoping I’d misheard
her.
    She nodded.
    “What else do you see?”
    “I see that you have lived an exciting life, an adventurous one.
You have traveled to many places.”
    That was true. And it wasn’t the kind of thing you could say to
just anybody. Or was it?
    “And you had many lovers.” She said without judgment. “But only
two true loves.”
    I nodded.
    “You loved them at the same time and then they