One
Emma giggled to herself at the irony of her circumstance. She lay on a beautiful beach, toes in the sand with her skin soaking in the sun. She looked every bit the happy tourist, enjoying the relaxation Virginia Beach had to offer in late July, but inside she remained devastated. Three weeks ago, she was dating what she thought would be her husband, now she was sitting on a beach trying to will herself not to cry.
“Babe, I’m not the beach police but it’s nearly 100 out and you are wearing more than I do going to church. You have to be dying!” Sarah said.
“I’m fine. Just don’t want to burn.” Emma replied. Sarah was the first person she called after the breakup. She wasn’t even sure if she said actual words to her for the first 5 minutes of the call, she just ugly cried and Sarah knew it was either a death or a breakup.
“Suit yourself, but I’m trying to get you into the 6th stage of grief here and you aren’t helping,” Sarah said, not looking at Emma as she tried to achieve the perfect summer tan in a bikini that was just inside of what could legally be worn in public.
“What’s the 6th stage of grief?” Emma asked.
“That’s a hoe phase babe. I need to get you there Pronto.” She said smiling and they both laughed out loud. Emma quickly covered her mouth and looked around to see if her outburst had caught any stares.
“Babe, you live in constant fear of everyone’s opinion. Fuck ’em.” Sarah said and Emma knew she was both right as well as deadly serious about her “fuck ’em” mantra.
“I’m going to get a drink and check out some shops. Are you going to be here awhile?” Emma asked, standing and dusting the sand off of her Capri pants.
“Unless Chris Helmsworth shows up, ill be here. Or Liam Helmsworth. Any Helmsworth will do.”
Emma walked the boardwalk filled with the typical tourist trap shops. She saw a pair of booty shorts in the window that said “Daddy’s little slut” on them and thought that her now ex would have loved those. She fought the urge to cry and was losing the battle.
The call to Sarah had been just minutes after a series of texts from Kyle. Emma had been in the process of choosing her outfit for the night when her phone buzzed showing a text from him. The contact said Kyle followed by hearts. Seeing the contact always made her smile, but the message she saw did not. “We need to talk.” It felt like a gut punch as Emma sat on the corner of the bed and called only to have it declined on the first ring. The text bubbles started moving and she knew what was coming. Half-dressed and already crying, she knew she was getting dumped by text.
Unlike Kyle, Sarah answered on the first ring and shouted “Biiiiiitttccchhh” accompanied by a raging party’s worth of background noise. The sobbing clued her to move outside where she could be the good friend.
“He said I’m a fucking prude!!” Emma yelled into the phone. “He didn’t want to spend the rest of his life in missionary position with a Mormon wannabe. He literally texted that to me!”
“Babe, get your ass down here now. I’m sending you a ticket, don’t fucking argue, just blow town and come see me.” That was Sarah. Emma’s phone buzzed with more apologies and rationale from Kyle as well as more swearing and insisting from Sarah. They had talked for 20 minutes until Emma felt she had cried enough to at least think. She would go to Sarah’s beach house and get her mind together. She arrived a week ago and her mind was in no better place.
Emma knew that following a breakup, everyone had to have a Sarah. She was a walking male fantasy, a schoolteacher that looked like a Playboy centerfold with virtually unlimited money. Her parents were rich, like Amazon or Microsoft rich and she taught school because she only got monthly money from her parents if she was working. The school gave her the summer off and the hours aren’t bad if you never grade papers. Sarah hyped her up every chance she could get, one night just bluntly suggesting they bring random guys home to “fuck it out of her system.” Emma had declined and opted for crying in the shower, but she wondered if Sarah would have really just taken a few guys home and slept with them completely anonymously. Probably, she thought. In fact, she was fairly sure Sarah had done that plenty of times. While she had never seen it in college, Emma had watched Sarah leave a party with more than one guy and not return to their room until early morning.
As the internal questions of Sarah’s torrid love life and its stark contrast from hers played out in her head, Emma found herself in front of the first non-tourist trap shop that seemed to exist on the oceanfront. It was some sort of bizarre and the eclectic randomness of it caught her eye. She walked in and smelled burning sage and a hint of fresh orange. The woman behind the counter greeted her with a welcoming smile.
“Welcome to Enchanted Emporium, is there anything in particular you are looking for today?” The woman asked.
“You don’t happen to carry new lives in here do you?” Emma quipped sharply, then immediately regretted saying it.
“I actually just sold my last new life an hour ago to the new owner of Tesla.” She said chuckling.
“Just my luck.” Emma said, returning the smile.
“So, it’s my business to see things that are none of my business and to try to sell you something to help. I can see that you have obviously been crying and are not having the best week, maybe month.”
“That obvious huh?” Emma said, fighting every urge to run.
“No dear, it’s just my job. I do my best to see people.”
“Well, you saw me pretty well. I got dumped on the night I thought I was going to he proposed to and was told I’m boring. Soooo maybe a mood ring?”
“I don’t think a ring would be necessary to tell what kind of mood you are in.” The woman said with another kind smile.
“I think you are right.” Emma for a brief moment was shocked at how disarmed she was. It was enough for her to try to pit her guard up but she really didn’t see the point.
“So some fool thinks you are boring and broke the heart you gave him. It’s not a new life you are looking for, just a new prospect. Tell me, when he said you were boring, did it bother you?”
“Yeah, it bothered me a lot. Wouldn’t it bother you?” Emma said defensively.
“Not really, but I don’t really value the opinion of men so I’m not a good person to ask.” Emma had to laugh at that. Another person that didn’t seem to care what others thought. Was she the only one that actually did?
“Well, it did bother me. It bothered me a lot actually.”
“Because you felt it was a lie or because you felt it was true.” Emma felt like she had been slapped in the face. There was the reality. When she read what Kyle sent, she knew he was right. He was an asshole, but she knew she was a prudish homebody that could never bring herself to do anything that anyone could judge her for, no matter how much she wanted to be someone else.
Emma broke down crying right in front of a complete stranger. The realization made her mortified, which only intensified the crying and feeling of hopelessness. “He was right.” She said, trying to pull herself together. “I’m fucking boring and I hate it. I hate who I am.”
“Dear, you don’t hate who you are, you hate the little thing preventing you from being what you want to be. Fortunately for you, I do sell a fix for that.” The woman said to her with no hint of sarcasm. Much to Emma’s puzzlement, she seemed completely serious.
“So a mood ring to make me fun?” Emma said trying to figure out the angle.
“You really want a mood ring don’t you? Let me go fetch what I have in mind.” She said trailing off as she went into the back. Emma thought that it probably wasn’t a great practice to leave hysterically crying women in your store alone, but what did she know. As soon as the woman left she felt the strangest sensation like the light of the room had left with her. Like the store was just a little less joyful and dim now that she wasn’t in it. What she wouldn’t give to make someone feel that way.
The woman returned (along with the missed sense of joy) and was holding an exquisite emerald necklace with each stone shaped like a small spearhead. The diamond chain dropped from the usual circle to what looked like a tangled rope of diamonds and emeralds that would drop almost 12 inches right into your cleavage.
“This is what I was looking for. Wearing a piece like this will give you the courage to be who you want to be with time.” She said extending the velvet box containing the necklace to Emma.
“It’s beautiful, but I don’t think I could afford this.” It was one of the most beautiful necklaces she had ever seen, it almost hypnotized her as she looked at it. Each jewel seemed to shimmer independently in the light.
“The necklace is expensive, but not for you. It’s a gift.”
“I couldn’t.” Emma said trying to hand it back.
“You can and you will. Broken hearts take a village to mend and I’m just doing my part. One day you can pass it to another that needs it. Not to mention, it might get you to stop crying in my store, it’s just bad for business.” She said giggling. Emma snorted and let out her second genuine laugh of the day.
“Are you sure?” She said, now not wanting to give this beautiful necklace back.
“Positive. There are just two stipulations. First, before you put it on, think of who you want to be, the necklace will help bring that out of you.”
“The second?”
“If I ever put some mood rings in here, you must buy one.” Emma laughed and shook her head.
“Deal.”
“Now run along and leave all of your pain here. I’ll take care of it for you. Just try to enjoy the day. Outside of that door is a new beginning.” With no explanation, Emma hugged the woman tightly. She wasn’t a hugger, never had been, but the urge just swept over her and it happened before she realized it.
“There, you are feeling better already aren’t you?” The woman asked, radiating happiness from her very soul.
“Actually, I am.” Emma replied. She was trying to find some polite way to end the conversation but the woman guided her out the door. She stood in the sun, seemingly taking it in for the first time that week, and sighed. It felt like her heartbreak left her body in that exhale, if only for a brief moment. She turned and walked back to Sarah never seeing the flash of light come from inside the wonderful little store she had just left. Inside the woman was joined by a man who now stared at her fiercely.
“What in the fresh hell did you get me into this time mother?”
“She needs your help.”
“Is that what I do now? I help people?”
“It wouldn’t be the first time Loki.” She said looking lovingly at her son.
“Why would you bother me with this? Isn’t this Freya’s job?” Loki asked, pacing around the shop and showing his annoyance.
“This isn’t about love, this is about fun. I do seem to remember you enjoying having fun.”
“Well, that’s not entirely untrue. She did have a nice body hidden under those dreadful clothes.”
“See, I knew you would enjoy this.”
“She still has to summon me.” Loki said with just a hint of interest.
“She will.”
The god of mischief smiled ever so slightly to himself. Despite his protests, his mind was already concocting some delightful ways he could turn this little wallflower into something much more fun. He stirred inside wondering what she looked like underneath that modest outfit. What secret lust was she hiding?
Loki adjusted his suit and watched Emma walk away. Perhaps this could be a fun time after all.
