Free Ignite Me (The Annihilate Me Series) by Christina Ross Page B

loved like
that?   Can you even imagine?”
    “Yes,” she
said.   “I can imagine it.   I long for it.   And I know that you do too.   We all want the kind of love that Ed and
Helen continue to share, but so many of us are so cynical, we don’t believe
that we can obtain it.   And that
comes down to so many reasons—many of which are justified, some of which
aren’t.   But we have to hope for
that kind of love, don’t we?   We
need to press on and pray that we can be as lucky as Ed and Helen.”   She shook her head at me and seemed
undone by what had happened to her.   “Today, I had a profound experience that will stay with me forever.   It was that intense.”
    “Do you think
that he’ll come back?”
    “I’m not
sure.   I think that might have been
enough for him because I could tell that the experience was just as trying for
him as it was for me.   But who
knows?   I can’t get a read on
everything.   So, whether he decides
to return for another session remains a mystery.”
    “Why do you
think you can see some things and not others?”
    “No idea.   But this gift—or this curse, or
however you want to label it—was stronger today than I’d ever
experienced.   Today we’ll call it a
gift, because it was a gift.   I was
able to help Ed reconnect with Helen.   He thought that he’d never hear her voice again.   He thought that he’d never speak to her,
let alone kiss her again.   But he
did.   I don’t know how, but it
happened.   Helen Nickerson plunged
into my body, she claimed it for herself, and she seized the moment to be with
her Eddy again.   That’s the power of
love, and I’m here to tell you that it’s more humbling and awesome than either
of us ever realized.”

 
 
    *   *   *

 
 
    When the pizza
boy arrived a moment later, Rhoda was in no condition to answer the door, so I
answered it for her, paid the admittedly cute, college-aged guy with my own money,
and then carried the pizza into the kitchen.
    “I told you
that I would pay,” she said.
    “After that
story and what you did for that man today?   This one is so on me.”

 
 
    *   *   *

 
 
    When we were
finished eating, I poured each of us a chilled glass of cabernet sauvignon
straight out of the box in the fridge, we went back into the living room, and
Rhoda asked me about my day.  
    It always
seemed a bit funny to me when she asked me how my day went because I generally
assumed that she already knew—at least for the most part.   After all, when I had first gotten home
that evening, she clearly knew that I’d had a rotten day and what some of that
had entailed.   Still, regardless of
what she’d seen or what she knew, I nevertheless always shared everything with
her because there were indeed times when she knew nothing at all.  
    “Blackwell is a
piece of work,” I said.
    “You don’t
say?   Every time an image of her
pops into my head, I see the Black Death cloaked in Chanel.”
    I told her
about my day with her.
    “You’ve likely
already figured this out, but I saw some of that,” she said.   “I’m sorry, Madison.   When it was happening, I could feel that
it was awful for you.   When you left
for work this morning, I knew some of what you were in for, but since you’ve told
me never to meddle, I didn’t say anything.”
    And I’m glad
that she hadn’t.   Rhoda was a
verified psychic—as true as they came—but I needed to fail and win at
life on my own, even if she could spare me from some of the lows before they
hit.   If I allowed her to intervene,
how would I ever grow as a person?   I wouldn’t, so we had established our boundaries.
    “Don’t worry
about it,” I said.   “I’m the one who
insisted that unless you see me being run over by a truck, you’re to say
nothing about what’s ahead for me.”
    “You know, I
almost considered Blackwell that truck.”
    “I handled her
the best that I could.   But she was
a total bitch,