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There’s ic linoleum at Crazy Cousin Betty’s Waffle House

Okay, ic, exactly It’s this one weird sparkly blue square, in the midst of all the solid, checkerboarded blues and whites I first noticed it when I was six, and I re on Betty’s periwinkle blue skirt and pointing down at the floor Betty, who’d seemed ancient to me even then, knelt down to level her wrinkled eyes with ic square," she’d said "Step on it Make a wish It’ll come true"

"Really?"

She winked "You bet But don’t go just stepping on it every tiic’s not to be messed with, Olivia" And then she stood up, mussed my hair, and moved on

I didn’t believe her Even at that tender age, I could tell bullcrap when I heard it

But then, right after I’d started working at CCB’s, I desperately wanted Robbie Pecorino to ask ht, and boom - two days later, he asked me So, that was cool But then there was the tiiveo, when I enty-two, I used it to wish my mother didn’t have cancer anymore

Twoafter that I ic and could grant wishes, butI kind of believed it was rant wishes And that it was a sadistic little bastard, to be avoided at all costs Whenever I took orders at Booth 9, I always stood either too close or too far away, just in case I absently wished for anything while standing on the square Still, on that Friday night in June as I swished mythe wish that would finally help ether

"You’re not done yet?"

I looked up fro in theroom, mop handle in my hand as one white-Kedded foot hovered over the square, and there was Tobias Shoop, CCB’s night cook, his broad form clad in his standard outfit of crumpled jeans and a black T-shirt He had a s for his face, and one of his front teeth sort of overlapped the other, and his five o’clock shadow caodda this onna kill ht there looking at ain "Do I look like I’ht streaainst the doorja ave me one of his classic Tobias looks - a combination of total focus and h to mistake for romantic interest - and strode toward me "You need help?"

"Nope" I set thewith preers itched to run through that hair, to indulge in the sa up in the first place

"I’o I’ll lock up"

His response to this was to cross to Booth 9, haul himself up on the table, and stare at"You can leave, you know Believe it or not, before you got here, I used to lock up by myself all the time"

"I don’t ht I swished o away and leaveon the square at the ht where he was

"You ever going to stop being mad at me?" he asked

"I’m not mad," I said autoain I wish you’d break out in boils Swish

"I’m not an idiot, Liv I know you’re pissed" He let out a long sigh "Can we at least talk about it?"

"I’d be happy to, but I don’t knohat you’re talking about" Swish swish I hope your ear hair grows freakishly long Swish

"Bullshit"

I stopped et on ood side, you suck at it"

"I’ood side," he said "I just want us to be like we used to be You know Before you got all mad"

Grow a clubfoot "I’rabbed h me, the way it always did at his touch I pulledmy best to maintain an expression of steely indifference, but likely landing soe

"You’re saying we’re fine, then?" he asked, his tone thick with skepticism

"Yep"

He crossed his arht and watch The Holy Grail"

I looked at hihts we’d spent over the last year and a half watching stupidThen those memories had a head-on collision with the ht last Friday, and I stopped softening

A clubfoot and a hunchback "Can’t I have to pack"

He released my ar a little nervous but keeping what I hoped was an air of confidence in my tone "Scotland"

He drew back in surprise "Scotland? Why?"

"Because that’s where the dart landed," I said, keeping a sharp tone of defiance into travel all over Europe You know, like college kids do after graduation"

"What? Backpacking?"

"Yeah The idea just popped in ht, Wow, that’s insane, but the ot money saved up, and between that and the sale of the house - "

"You’re selling your house?"

" - I should have a good six et a job soure I’ll knohere I want to be I’ll waitress again, maybe, but this time in Italy, or Vienna Or, if I have to coo Somewhere war about?"

I stopped to look at hi hith about hihtfully quiet, until you got his that fascinated him, like sci-fi/fantasy novels and the way conspiracy theories spread like viruses of the intellect He was the siht with

And it was ti Going Good-bye"

He absorbed this for a moment "If this is because of what happened between us last week - "

I snorted, a little too loudly "Back it up, Superego Not everything is about you"

"The ti seeged "Ifor you to make the first nored for three days - "

"Christ, Liv, I said I was sorry"

" - ht not have inspired me to print out a picture of you and put it on ht not have thrown a dart at you andmy world map poster by mistake"

"Well," he said flatly "At least you’re not mad"

"I will neither confirm nor deny any of that, but the fact is, when I blew the plaster dust off h, it hit hed and looked at hi for o find it"

He stared at me "This doesn’t make any sense"

And suddenly, insanely, I felt tears come to my eyes "I have to leave first"

He shook his head "What the hell are you talking about?"

"I’ about you" The terror on his face sent a jolt of pain through , not that he was ju to kiss you again I’ve learned my lesson"

"Liv - "

I held out"You’re not a s to leave, and when you do, if I haven’t left first, I’ away for you That’s what happened to my mother with my father I never even knew the son of a bitch, but whoever he was, he took part of her with hi to happen to , horrible silence in whichon the hope that he would take me in his arms, tell , and wherever I went, he wanted to go with ?"

I curled the iving et all e"

He took a step closer "When?"

"My flight leaves on August tenth"

"You bought your ticket already?"

I shrugged "Spontaneity without co"

"Sosix weeks, then?"

"Yeah"

He nodded, then leaned back against the table at Booth 9, one foot absently resting on the square as he did I would have worried, but Tobias wasn’t the kind to , he just went after it

And if he didn’t, he didn’t

He cleared his throat "Every tioat"

"What the hell are you talking about?" I said

"Europe’s lousy with goats That way you won’t forget"

Our eyes locked for a few moments, and I lost all reason In a flash, a dozen scenarios rushed throughhi the caoat, every scenario ending in a kiss

but that kind of thinking was exactly what I was trying to get away froain, and wondered if I could wish this love away through the h my feet

"Liv?"

I looked up at hiht there"

"Do what? Mop?"