“Come, ma cher,” she says, and I follow her through the beads hanging in the doorway into a small room with a table and two chairs in the middle. She sits in one and points at the other chair, so I walk in and sit in front of her. She puts her hands on the table palms up, and I don’t know if I should do what she does or not. I don’t have a chance to think about it because she then puts her hands down on the table. “Ca fait mal.” It hurts to say, she says, pointing at her chest. My heart starts to speed up as she closes her eyes. “You suffered a broken heart,” she says. I need to swallow, but my mouth is suddenly dry. “Closed your heart off,” she continues. “Now it’s open.”

“What?” I ask, shocked.

“You will break his heart,” she says, and I want to get up and walk away. “But not as much as your own.” She looks at me. “He’s the one you’ve been waiting for.”

“I don’t.” My voice comes out in a whisper.

“The one who broke your heart; he’s not finished with you.” I gasp. “But you are the one who will finish with him, and then you’ll see what love is.” My mouth goes dry, so dry like a desert. “He’s the one that was for you all along. The one you’ve been looking for was right in front of you, but you ran.” I look at her confused. “You are still running.” She looks down and then looks up. “He’s going to run with you; as long as you run, he’ll be there waiting for you. You can run from love, and you can run from him, but he runs faster.” I’m about to laugh when the bells ring. “He’s here for you,” she says, getting up.

“Who is?” I ask her, suddenly not sure.

“Love,” she says she walks out, and I follow her. I walk through the beads, and I’m shocked to see Mark there.

“I was looking everywhere for you,” he says when he sees me.

I walk to him, my legs shaking just a touch. “I was looking in the shops and stopped here,” I tell him, and he kisses me for the first time this afternoon. “Look at how pretty this is.” I show him the bracelet that I put on.

“It matches your dress,” he says, smiling, and I laugh.

“It does match, doesn’t it?” I say and then go to the counter to pay for it. “How much?” I ask the woman. Looking up at her, I see her eyes are now brown, and I take a step back.

“Accept the gift in front of you,” she says, smiling, and then walks through the beads and disappears.