Chapter 1

In our family there was a rule: you had to be married before twenty-five.

On my twenty-fourth birthday, my grandmother came around to push the subject again.

"Hailey Simmons, sweetheart, your grandmother's getting old. I just want to see you settled down. This year, no matter what, you get that marriage license and you have the wedding."

I was about to nod and agree when a row of text suddenly floated up in front of my eyes:

【No! You absolutely cannot get married!】

【All that talk about having to marry before twenty-five, your grandmother made it up!】

【In your last life you listened to her, and on your wedding day she showed up in red and stole your good luck!】

【After that, you and your husband both got laid off, your investments blew up, and the worst part, you took a flat fall on level ground and it killed you outright!】

【And your grandmother? She won a hundred million in the lottery, bought a car and a house, and lived to a hundred and thirty-eight!】

I froze where I stood.

So those images I'd been dreaming over and over lately were things that happened in my last life.

The live-chat kept scrolling wildly, urging me to refuse, begging me not to repeat the same mistakes.

But I looked into my grandmother's kind eyes and slowly nodded.

"Grandma, don't worry. I'll definitely get my license and marry next month."

1

The moment I said it, the live-chat blew up.

【Has she lost her mind? Why is she agreeing?】

【Please don't marry him! Wasn't last life's lesson enough?】

【It's over, it's over, she's walking right back into it.】

【Well, can't blame her, she can't see what we're saying anyway.】

I lowered my eyes and ignored it.

Grandma patted the back of my hand, beaming.

"Good, that's good."

"Your grandmother can't wait to celebrate at your wedding."

After she left, my sister came out from the back room.

She braced herself against the door frame, her face pale.

"Hailey, I've had this strange feeling."

The live-chat started scrolling again:

【Of course it's strange!】

【Hasn't she noticed yet? Ever since your grandmother stole your sister's good luck on her wedding day, your sister's health has gotten worse by the day!】

【And look at your grandmother, bedridden for years, and now she's miraculously back on her feet.】

I stared at the live-chat, and my heart dropped hard.

On my sister's wedding day, when the lucky hour arrived and the bride should have been walking in, my grandmother pushed ahead of her in a red padded coat and rushed out the door first.

After that, my always-healthy sister was never free of illness, big or small, in and out of the hospital every few days.

And the grandmother the doctors had said wouldn't make it past year's end only got better and better.

The live-chat went quiet for a beat, then another line popped up:

【The two sisters were born late, so they don't know what happened before.】

【She doesn't actually think her grandmother only stole her sister's luck, does she?】

【Truth is, your grandmother stole it way back at your parents' wedding too, or how else would your dad have died?】

My head snapped up, and the live-chat kept going:

【Your dad's health was always fine, too, but the day after the wedding he was suddenly diagnosed with something terminal, and in three months he was gone, leaving just your mom to raise the two of you on her own.】

【Who'd have thought the two sisters still couldn't escape that old witch's claws.】

Just then my mother, who had been silent the whole time, suddenly spoke.

"Hailey, you don't even have a boyfriend. How are you supposed to marry next month?"

The answer came out of me before I thought.

"I do have one."

My mother and sister both turned to look at me.

"It's Theo Butler, my old classmate from middle school. You met him at a parents' meeting once."

My mother's face changed in an instant.

"No. How can you marry him? He's—"

"Mom." I cut her off. "Don't worry. I know what I'm doing."

The live-chat got worked up, too:

【That's not right, her husband in the last life wasn't Theo at all!】

【It's over, I'm losing track of this.】

I curved my lips and said nothing.

Grandma liked stealing wedding luck, didn't she?

Then this time, I'd let her steal all she wanted.