Hello Love Read Free

takes to be their best, most authentic self. On their behalf, I ask that their requests be considered and granted, and that the changes within lead to external changes in their lives. Oh Heavenly Father, goddess mother, spirits of the universe, let our vibrations be positive and our actions harmonious. We will watch for your signs and proceed confident in the knowledge that everything happens for a reason.” She raised her arms, and around the circle the women followed suit, grasping hands until they’d made the points of a crown. “Amen!”
    “Amen!”
    “Amen!”
    “Hallelujah!”
    Arms dropping, hands releasing, the women lost their physical connection, but the energy in the group had heightened. Andrea shot another look at Jade and raised an eyebrow questioningly. Oh Heavenly Father, goddess mother, spirits of the universe, let our vibrations be positive and our actions harmonious ?Jade frowned and flashed her a just-go-with-it look.
    Once Andrea gave in to the woo-woo-ness of the occasion, she found herself melting into it. There was singing, complete with tambourines, and an opportunity for them to take a turn to tell their story, if they so desired. Andrea did not desire a turn of her own. Who wanted to hear another sad story about a defective wife whose husband had left her for a younger, prettier woman? It was nobody’s business, frankly. And besides, she didn’t think she could talk about it without crying, and she hated crying, the way her face got so blotchy and red and her nose began to run. Not happening.
    It occurred to her, as she listened to each story in turn, though, that there were a lot of brave, strong women in this group, and she felt a flush of shame recalling how she’d judged them when they’d first arrived, thinking they were middle-aged, middle-class suburbanites looking for magical solutions to their almost certainly insignificant problems. She’d been so wrong. One by one, the women revealed tales of tragedy that would have kept Shakespeare busy. Problems so seemingly insurmountable that Andrea wondered how some of these ladies got out of bed in the morning.
    There was depression and divorce and cancer and disaster. One woman’s house had burned down three years earlier. “It was horrible, so horrible. But this is the lucky thing,” the woman said, twisting her hands. “We all got out safely. It was a miracle, truly.” She nodded her head. “But I still smell the smoke at random times. It’s only my imagination, but it makes me crazy. That’s why I’m here today. I want to not smell it anymore. I want it gone .I want to be able to move on.” She looked down at her shoes, her voice cracking. “I know it seems silly.”
    But it didn’t seem silly to any of them.
    When the last participant had spoken, Martina cued a round of applause for everyone there. “And now,” she said, when the clapping had died down, “for the most important part of today’s session. Letting the universe know what we want. Making our wishes known.” She approached the lady whose house had burned down and said, “I don’t want to cause you any pain, but usually we write out our wishes, make a bonfire, and burn them, but if that’s a problem, we can think of some other way to release them into the universe.”
    “Oh no. I’ll be okay.” The woman’s face broke into a sly grin. “A fire here wouldn’t bother me. You can’t do it anywhere near my house, though,” she added, which brought a few laughs from the group.
    Martina handed out large index cards, two apiece. As she distributed them, she called out, “For now, just hang on to these. I’ll be giving you directions in a minute. This is a simple exercise, but it can be life-changing if done right, so I’ll need your complete attention.”

THREE
    Down the road, Dan saw the squad car in front of his house and felt his heart thump against his chest. This couldn’t be good. All he could think of was his daughter, Lindsay. He’d just