I shrug, inspecting the bold-colored cards. “It’s worth a try.”
He raises his hands and steps back, not fighting me for a change.
“We’re ready,” I say, giving Corinne the go-ahead.
She repeats her question to Spirit and begins to shuffle the cards quickly between her two hands. I’m in a trance, watching as she continues until one, two, three cards fly from the deck, landing on the table. “One more, please, Spirit,” she calls out, and moments later, one additional card falls.
She flips the cards over one by one, placing them in a line. When she has them in position, she turns the rest of the deck face up, next to the four drawn cards.
“The bottom of the deck is... the lovers?”
She scans the other four cards, her face increasingly pinching with every second that goes by.
I lean forward, attempting to get a better look at them. “Umm... why are there so many knives?”
“They’re not knives.” She shoos me away with her hands, continuing to inspect the cards as though she’s trying to solve some impossible riddle.
“Two of Cups, Seven of Swords, Two of Swords in reverse, and Five of Wands.” She taps each card as she explains what I’m looking at. “Interesting.”
“What?” I say, throwing my hands into the air. “What does it mean?”
Tapping her chin, she says, “This reads more like a love reading than anything. I’m a little baffled.”
“Me too,” Billy chimes in. “Not like she hasanypotential love interests.”
“Shut up, Billy,” I snap. “Can you elaborate? I’ve literally no clue what’s happening.”
“This is a four-card spread. The first card represents you and your energy. In this case, the way I’m reading it, you are wanting a connection with someone. Or at the very least, to partner with someone.”
“Yeah. I want to partner with you to rid my house of spooky beings. And in his case,” I say, motioning to the air where Billy is, “jackass removal.”
Billy doesn’t even react, too focused on the cards in front of Corinne.
“I mean... maybe,” she says. “But I have to be honest, my intuition says it’s about a guy.”
“Yes... he is a guy. An annoying dead guy, who I want gone.”
She rolls her eyes. “The Two of Cups typically refers to union. A combining of energy in a partnership. Like I said, it’s most often pertaining to love readings.”
A vision of me curled into Nick West’s chest, him placing chaste kisses on my forehead, pops into my mind uninvited, and I want to crawl in a hole even if I’m the only one privy to it. Why the hell is my mind putting these asinine thoughts in my head? Since when do I have thoughts ofhimlike that?
“Moving on from love,” I snap, ready to get on to something that makes sense.
The picture of two naked people, looking skyward toward an angel with flaming hair, mocks me. Love isn’t in the cards for me, tarot or otherwise. I’ll be a lonely old spinster with nothing but my wine and ghosts to keep me company.
You could always give Nick a chance.
That vexatious voice whispering in my ear needs to die offquickly. It’s not helpful. And if I were to open myself up to love again, the hot detective next door would not be on the list of candidates.
Nope.
He might be sexy, but it’s a no. The last thing I’m setting myself up for is more embarrassment where my neighbor is concerned.
“The second card is the unknown, which speaks of people or events you are not aware of or refuse to accept as true. The Seven of Swords tells of betrayal and trickery. Someone who is attempting to get away with something and your need to look at the evidence from all angles.”
“Could it be the ghosts that are trying to get away with something?”
Maybe they don’t want to move on? They’re using this mystery as a way to stay rooted on earth.
