Free Labor of Love by Rachel Hawthorne

like he was trying to confirm that it was there.
    Before lunch, we’d all taken off our gear and washed up with a water hose. He’d put his cap back on then. I’d put mine on too, because of course I had hard-hat hair.
    â€œSaraphina said Dawn would meet a guy—” Amber began.
    â€œShe said she saw a red cap—” I interrupted.
    â€œClose enough.”
    â€œWhat happens with you and the red cap?” Brady asked, settling it back into place.
    â€œNothing. And look”—I turned my attention back to Amber—“nothing that she saw for Jenna has shown up.”
    â€œMaybe it has and we just haven’t recognized it.”
    â€œYou know, I heard a story once about a guy who went to see a fortune-teller,” Tank said. “He wanted to know how he was going to die. She told him that cancer would kill him. So he’s looking in the mirror one day and sees this strange-colored lump on the end of his nose. He’s sure it’s cancer and he panics. Jumps in the car, heads to his doctor, and on the way, he’s hit by an eighteen-wheeler. Game over.”
    â€œSo the fortune-teller was wrong,” Jenna said.
    Tank shrugged. “Maybe, but in a way, cancer did kill him.”
    â€œThat’s kinda convoluted,” Amber said.
    â€œExactly,” Tank said, “but that’s the way all this mumbo jumbo works. You can read anything into it that you want, and practically force what was predicted to happen.”
    â€œSo you’re saying that I’m overreacting,” Amber said.
    â€œI’m saying you’re letting her mess with your head.”
    â€œYou don’t believe in psychics?”
    He grinned. “I didn’t say that.”
    â€œI just really wish we hadn’t gone there at all.”
    I knew Amber was a worrier, but she’d never believed in stuff like this before. Why was she so troubled now? It made no sense.
    I took a long sip of water. I was drinking water like there was no tomorrow.
    â€œI can’t believe that y’all were assigned to the same site we were,” I said. “What are the odds?”
    â€œFive million to one,” Brady said, grinning.
    I’d known him less than twenty-four hours and already we had a private joke. I couldn’tremember what private joke Drew and I had—or if we’d even had one.
    â€œAre you kidding? The odds were stacked in our favor. Jenna called and told me where y’all were working,” Tank said.
    I didn’t know whether to stare at Jenna or glare at Brady. Jenna was leaning against Tank’s shoulder like he was the only thing supporting her, and Brady was studying his sandwich like he was trying to determine what lunch meats they’d stuffed between the French bread.
    â€œYou called them?” I said.
    â€œOh yeah,” Jenna said. “They’re not with a group like we are. They’re like freelancers or something. Just helping where needed, so I called him this morning right after we got here to see if they wanted to help out.”
    â€œJohn was a little freaked that we were here and not on his list. That guy is way too tightly wired,” Tank said. “Apparently there are people you’re supposed to contact to be an official volunteer, but”—he shrugged—“John decided having our muscles was more important thanfollowing the rules.”
    â€œIt’d be insane to turn away someone wanting to help,” Jenna said.
    â€œExactly the point we made. Who’d have thought we’d even have to argue?”
    â€œJohn’s Sara’s brother,” Amber announced.
    â€œReally?” I asked.
    â€œAccording to Sara.”
    â€œGuess she wouldn’t say it if it wasn’t true. Now that you’ve told me, I can see the resemblance, sort of,” I said.
    â€œI asked him if he could see things, but he said no,” Amber said. “He said that’s Sara’s