THE AUDITORIUM at the rec center smelled like floor polish, upholstery cleaner, and that indefinable old-building smell. In this case, I thought the smell might be the bitter tinge of humiliation. So many major events in town happened at the Community Center, and I wondered how many lives had been ruined on that stage? In Leigh-Anne’s grade, there had been a girl named Sydney Linnet who’d puked during her eighth-grade graduation. And at least one kindergartner wet his or her pants every year during the Christmas pageant. I’d suffered the sting of defeat on that stage in sixth grade when David had beaten me in the spelling bee.

And now I was about to be humiliated all over again.

“You know we’re not walking to a guillotine,” Bee said, linking her arm with mine. “Besides, you like being in front of people.”

“I like talking in front of people,” I said, bumping her hip with mine. “Being in charge, directing things, not... performing.”

“Fair enough,” she said, glancing around the auditorium. “Is that the only thing making you look like you missed being valedictorian by a half a point?”

I tried to smile at her, but I know it didn’t look right. “I was just thinking.”

Bee puckered her lips briefly, brows drawing together. “About David?”

Sighing, I nodded, and Bee gave me a quick squeeze. “Look, I get that breakups suck, but... I mean, doesn’t this make things a little easier? Now it’s more like you’re coworkers.”

“Coworkers who are magically bound to each other. Forever,” I reminded her, and Bee’s big brown eyes blinked. “And, not to mention,” I added, “my other ex is also a Magically Bound Coworker. I’m permanently tied to two guys I used to kiss.”

Bee blew out a long breath. “Yeah, okay, that does make it tougher than a regular breakup. But... what were you going to do for the rest of your lives, anyway? Were you assuming that you’d always be a thing, and, I don’t know, get married, have little future-telling babies?”

“It doesn’t work like that,” I said, meaning David’s Oracle powers, but Bee nodded and said, “Exactly. Look at me and Brandon and you and Ryan, and Mary Beth and Ryan... your parents may have met in high school, Harper, but for most people, it doesn’t work like that. You and David were probably going to break up at some point.”

“I guess I could always ask him,” I tried to joke. “See if he knew this was coming.”

There was no way to explain to Bee how fast everything had been, how complicated. For people dealing with a guy who could see the future, we sure hadn’t spent much time thinking about it. We’d always been focused on the present, on getting through one day, and then the next...

And look where we’d ended up.