“It’s true.” I press my forehead to the cool window, closing my eyes. “I have made a terrible mistake.”

“You think?” The guy sitting beside me belches. “To me it looks like you made the right choice, opting out of that sketchy airplane food. I’m starting to regret that tuna sandwich.”

I turn to look at him. He looks to be around fifty. Balding, with a suit and an easy smile. “Yikes. Did it have any mayo in it?”

“Fraid so.”

“Expect a challenging forty-eight hours.”

He nods in agreement. “That’s my regret. What’s yours? Why did you make a terrible mistake?”

“I broke up with the love of my life because of my insecurities. It’s not the first time I’ve walked away from him. I feel like this is the straw that broke the camel’s back. Rather, this is the point where the rat has been drowned.” Joe’s analogy pops into my head.

The guy tsks: “Rodents are a toughie.”

“This one especially.” I sink into my seat, getting more and more anxious by the minute.

“Do you love this rat?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think this rat loves you back?”

Not anymore, considering my behavior these last seven years.

“I hope so.”

“Only one way to find out if it really drowned, then. Take it from a divorce lawyer who has seen enough almosts in his lifetime. There is one bulletproof plan to finding out if your beau wants you or not.”

“Well?” I ask expectantly.

“Ask him.”

“But . . . but . . .” I can’t believe the words are about to come out of my mouth. “I’m cursed, you see? My mom died trying to save me from getting hit by a train. And then my fiancé died buying tampons for me, even though I didn’t even need tampons. Sorry, sorry.” I wave my hands around, flustered. “TMI. Point is, anyone who gets close to me suffers.”

“Anyone?” The man raises his eyebrows, clearly skeptical. “I should think there are more people around you than just the two of them. What about your dad? Your siblings? Your friends? Their friends?”

“Well—”

“Your coworkers? Extended family? What about your high school boyfriend? And the one that came after him? What about this plane? It’s about to land safely, isn’t it? I don’t know, missy. Seems to me like you’ve attributed to yourself superpowers you can’t really back up.”

He is right. For every Mom and Dom, there are Dad and Donna and Joe and Renn living their best lives. Who am I to deem myself a dark, awful curse?

And maybe there was a dark, awful curse, but it wasn’t necessarily what happened to Mom and Dom. Maybe the curse is the way I view everything. Through dark-tinted glasses of doom and gloom. Maybe the curse is the way I view the world. My fear of happiness.