Letting Go by Kendall Grey Page B

impish curiosity the push it needed to break free of the social straight jacket her mother and her disease kept her cloaked in.
    She checked her watch. Eleven o’clock. There was plenty of time to eat lunch and get to the conference before Mother’s presentation at four. No worries , as the Aussies said.
    Zoe smiled and escaped the protective custody prison of Mother’s scowl. It’d be better to ask for forgiveness later than permission now.
    She walked over to the man. She’d never met an Aboriginal before. His dark skin glittered like a halo, which didn’t make any sense. And the contrast of the pure white hair lent him an otherworldly quality. The deep crinkles around his eyes seemed to say, “Welcome.”
    Zoe wanted to touch him, to see if he was as warm as he looked, but that would be rude. She kept her mitts at her sides. “Hello.”
    The old man met her eye for eye and grinned. He lifted his arm between them. A wooden bird roosted in the tanned nest of his palm.
    “ This bird choose you.” He stretched his hand wide. “Take it.”
    A shiver tiptoed up the rungs of her spine.
    Zoe’s fingers hovered over the tiny falcon. A pull like the moon to the tides drew them closer until they landed on the porous surface. Still grinning, the man nodded. It had to be a trick of the sun, but the halo surrounding him almost looked like a million tightly packed tendrils of light stretching from him into the distance. She blinked. Time to get her vision checked again.
    Zoe gently scooped up the precious figure, brushing the man’s wrinkled skin in the process. Warmth pulsed through her fingers. Zoe met his gaze. Rainbows seemed to swirl through his irises.
    This bird your destiny , the man said inside her head.
    She tilted her head. Destiny? That was a pretty heavy word to be tossing around, especially since telepathy wasn’t real, people didn’t have rainbow eyes, and Zoe could have sworn the little bird was vibrating.
    What the hell? Had the combination of triple X and her dad’s crazy genes finally caught up to her?
    The man shook his head slightly. Must have noticed something on the sidewalk behind her.
    The heat of Mother’s ire flamed Zoe’s back through the thick jacket. The distinctive snap of the clasp on Candace’s purse tainted the cool air and broke the spell. An arm with a five-dollar bill tucked between the perfectly manicured fingers on the end swept around Zoe’s shoulder and flapped impatiently at the man.
    He shooed her off. “No, this a gift. The bird go where it like, and it like her.”
    Lips pursed, Candace fanned the money at him again.
    His bushy white brows squeezed together. Another head shake.
    God, please, Mother.
    “ We can’t accept that and must be going. Give it back and come along, Zoe.” She grabbed Zoe’s elbow and pulled.
    Zoe dug in her heels and wriggled out of her grasp. “Just a minute, Mother.”
    The man looked back and forth between them, his expression a little sad. All that beautiful magic—or whatever it was her rotten brain thought it saw—evaporated. Great. Candace had totally offended the poor guy.
    “ You keep bird. It bring you happily ever after.” The man turned and ambled down the street without another word.
    “ Thank you, sir,” Zoe called after him as he blended into a throng of tourists.
    She suddenly felt hollow inside, as if the man had taken a part of her soul with him. That guy had been someone special. Not like the rock stars whose pictures lined the walls of her bedroom, but a guardian angel who could have taught her things. Life lessons. Deep secrets. How to unlock dreams and transform them into reality.
    Zoe faced his way once more. Gone.
    Mother sighed. “We’ve missed the light. You shouldn’t have taken that thing. That man was a hawker. He could have mugged us.” She tapped her foot loudly on the pavement.
    Ears hot with anger over her mother’s rude behavior and the public scolding, Zoe cooled her jets with a deep breath and