The afternoon felt surreal as Lina tried to find normalcy without Phil. She did the things she always did, some gardening and then laundry, but it felt different knowing Phil wouldn’t be coming home. As she folded clothes from the dryer, she paused with a pair of his underwear in her hand and realized that she would never again see him wearing them as he stood in the bathroom brushing his teeth or sat on the edge of the bed setting his alarm. It struck her then that life without Phil couldn’t feel normal because being his wife was her normal.

She was in the basement in the process of cleaning out her second freezer when Alice joined her. “Did Katie call you?” Lina asked.

“She did.” Alice began to take the frozen packages Lina was pulling from the freezer. “How are you?”

“I don’t know.”

“Do you need a hug?”

“I think so,” she whispered before walking into her mother’s outstretched arms. “I’m lost, Mom. I have no idea who I am separate from him.”

Alice wrapped her in her arms. “That’s because you aren’t supposed to be separate from him.”

“You’re not helping. Can’t you just be my mom and not an astrologer?”

“The two are the same, and I’m trying to save you unnecessary pain. He’s your cosmic soulmate. You can’t escape the laws of the universe. You won’t be able to find happiness without him.”

“Well I can’t find happiness with him either, so I guess I just won’t be happy.” She again began pulling packages from the freezer.

“Is there someone else?”

“What?” Lina spun around. “Of course not! What are you talking about?”

Alice raised her eyebrows. “Adele told me Dr. Drayton has feelings for you, and I’ve looked at your chart. I told you, you need to be on guard.”

“You’re unbelievable, and she’s unbelievable for breaking my confidence!” She began yanking out packages of frozen meat. “He’s the one that cheated. Not—” She stopped midsentence, her eyes focusing on the frost-covered Bible she’d just pulled from the freezer. “What is this doing here?”

“Why did you put that in the freezer?” Alice asked.

“I didn’t.” Lina removed an envelope from between the pages and, as she unsealed it, remembered Katie borrowing it earlier in the summer. “Oh no,” she said as she watched some hair float to the ground. She unfolded a sheet of paper and saw a triangle enclosing the names “Katie” and “Matt.” An image of the boy with the tattoos flashed through her mind.

“Oh, she must have done a spell,” Alice said as she took the sheet of paper.

“That’s exactly what she did,” Lina said. “And it’s not okay. We don’t allow this type of thing in our house.”