“Good. I thought it would be easy to date right in our own building. And I think they’re looking forward to it too. Gwyneth wants to practice her fortune telling with cards and tea leaves, and Morgaine’s an expert in a lot of interesting things. She’ll be there to supervise.”
“I was wondering how they learned this stuff. Witches, huh?”
“Yeah, I hope it’s all right that I told you.”
“Since you’ve been open-minded about my idiosyncrasies, who am I to judge? I figured I owed you the same courtesy.”Can people predict the future?He didn’t know, but it might be interesting to hear what they had to say.
He had spent the past hour at Merry’s place, intending to “pick her up” like a proper date should, but they got good and distracted. Fortunately, they didn’t specify a particular time for their readings, or they’d be late, late, late.
They stood before the door to apartment 3B, but before she knocked, Merry asked him, “Are you going to be okay with whatever they have to say? I don’t want to put you in a situation where you might freak out and shift.”
He smiled. “I’ll be fine, but thanks for the thought.”
Gwyneth opened the door without their knocking.
“Wow,” Jason joked. “How did you know we were here, Gwyneth? You must really be psychic.”
She shrugged. “I felt y’all’s energy and saw y’all’s auras.”
“Oh.”Yeah, right,you heard our all’s voices.
As soon as they’d stepped inside and closed the door, she smiled at them, knowingly. “You two just had sex, didn’t you?”
Jason’s jaw dropped.
Merry sucked in a gasp. “How did you know that? Are you reallythatpsychic.”
Gwyneth laughed. “Not this time. Y’all are just flushed and glowin’.”
They stared at each other wide-eyed, then Merry laughed.
Jason scratched his head. “You caught us.”
“Have a seat. Morgaine will be right out. Do y’all want some sweet tea? Maybe y’all need somethin’ to cool off?” she asked with a wink.
Merry answered quickly. “May I have one of those beers youoffered me before?”
“Of course. Jason? How about you?”
“Sure. Sounds good.”
As soon as she left the room, Jason placed a hand on Merry’s knee and whispered, “Is this really a good idea?”
She shrugged. “It’s too late now. She’ll think we don’t trust her if we leave.”
“I’m not sure I do. I’m getting some kind of weird vibe here.”
“She’s just teasing us. Probably getting a laugh because we thought they were having sex with each other instead of over the phone.”
No, it’s something more than that.He glanced around at the décor, half-expecting to see pentagrams painted on the floor or dripping candelabras in the corners. The place seemed surprisingly “normal.” A few crystals in a dish sat on the coffee table, a bookshelf displayed some new age titles, and a set of wind chimes with stars and moons hung silent in front of the closed bay windows.
Gwyneth returned with two open bottles of beer. Looking over her shoulder, she called out, “Morgaine, are you comin’?”
“Don’t bother her, if she’s working.”
Merry gave Jason a poke in his ribs. “Ow… What?”
It took a second, but he figured it out. Maybe he wasn’t supposed to know? Heck, as long as Aunt Dottie didn’t bother him, they could make their livelihoods as lively as they wanted to.
