Page 77 of Old Flames

She left it at that.

“Hold them out so I can take a look,” Beverly said.

Jules presented her hands. Returning on Mallory’s day off might have been a stroke of luck. Beverly knew her stuff and could communicate without the punchy teen girl attitude.

“That’s a crisp simian line,” Beverly said with a hint of respect. “You must be quite intuitive and . . . open. Would you say that’s true?”

“Yes.”

After all she’d gone through, Jules had to accept there was something different about her, a certain two-way frequency that left her “open.”

“Want to see what the cards say?” Beverly reached for a fresh pack of tarot cards on the shelf behind her.

Jules nodded. Why not? If it kept the conversation going.

“This is our popular Frida Kahlo pack with quotes and art. It costs thirty dollars. If you purchase it, the reading is free.”

Jules paid in cash, thirty for the pack of cards and an extra ten as a bonus, incentive, or tip.

“Let’s have a seat.”

Beverly pointed to a café-style table in a corner of the shop. Once settled, she unsealed the pack and shuffled the fresh cards. All the while, her gaze was trained on Jules’s face. In her tank top and faded jeans, she didn’t look like the stereotypical medium or fortune teller. Minus the Elvira wig, she looked like any of the local women who might work at the bar or the bookstore or the front desk of the restaurants and hotels they’d frequented. Yet she moved with confidence and spoke with authority. Jules had no doubt she was in capable hands.

“What can you tell me about The Aurora?” Jules asked.

Beverly stopped shuffling. “What about it?”

“It’s haunted.”

“Didn’t I mention it on the tour? The young bride who died and all that.”

“Yes, well, we stayed there,” Jules said. “My friends had odd experiences.”

“And you?” Beverly asked. “There’s no point discussing what your friends experienced.”

Jules straightened in her chair, which was cuter than it was comfortable. “I’ve seen things.”

Beverly kept shuffling the cards. “Go on.”

“On our first evening I caught a glimpse of a shadow, as ridiculous as that sounds.”

“Out of the corner of your eye?” Beverly asked.

“Yes.” Maybe it wasn’t so ridiculous, after all.

Beverly arranged the cards in a neat stack and rested her elbows on the table, causing it to wobble between them. “Do you remember what I said on the tour? About there being various types of spirits or spiritual encounters? You wouldn’t be the first person to describe a shadowy mass, something undefinable noticed in a flash.”

“I’m pretty sure I was the only one who saw it,” Jules said. “We were at a garden party, and everyone just kept on partying. I had to lie down. The experience wiped me out.”

“I’m not surprised,” Beverly said. “We talked about you being more open or receptive than the average person.”

She might as well be in her therapist’s office, on the verge of a breakthrough which had never occurred with talk therapy. “Because of this?” she asked, holding up her palms.

Beverly nodded. “And also, some natural predisposition or gift. Who knows?”

Jules dropped her hands onto her lap and stared at them with rising trepidation. She hadn’t asked for this. Was it manageable? Would it only get worse with age? Or was it only activated in certain geographic locations?

“What else?” Beverly asked. “I sense you’re holding back.”