Page 104 of Somewhere Only We Know

‘Is it alcohol? Because if so I agree.’ I glanced at my phone to see the time; a drink would go down nicely.

She gave a tinkly laugh. ‘No! My body is a temple. At least until I finish work.’

‘You work in Bali?’

She gave me a smug smile. ‘I do! Aren’t I lucky? I’m a freelance journalist officially, with one or two sidelines. It’s my dream job.’

‘Good for you,’ I said, meaning it. ‘I thought my dream promotion would be waiting for me when I got back to the UK, but it seems like fate has other plans, or at least my boss does.’

‘What’s for you won’t pass you by; I’m a firm believer in that.’ She wagged a finger.

‘So if it’s not alcohol, what is it I need?’

Lisa’s eyes sparkled. ‘I’ll do you a tarot card reading.’

‘Um.’ I gave her a look of surprise. ‘Thank you for the offer. I need practical thought processes, not psychic powers. No offence.’

‘Oh, none taken. It’s not for everyone. And I fully agree. The cards can’t predict the future, but they can help you to pay attention to what you already know.’

‘Sorry.’ I shook my head. ‘But it’s not my thing.’

Lisa pouted. ‘Drat. But could I do you a reading anyway? I’m still learning, and I need the practice.’ She saw me hesitate. ‘Go on. If you don’t believe in what the cards tell you then you can ignore them. I’d be very grateful, and I won’t charge.’

‘In that case, how could I refuse?’ I couldn’t help but laugh.

‘Yes! My first customer.’ She got to her feet and signalled to the waitress that we were ready to leave. ‘Come on, let’s go back to my apartment and see if we can’t get you over this crossroads.’

We paid our bills and I followed her out of the café. I seriously doubted my future would be solved on the turn of a card, but at this point what did I have to lose?

Chapter 37

Bali

‘So.’ Lisa had a pack of cards in her hand. ‘I’m going to pull out some cards for your reading and then we’ll talk about what they mean.’

We were sitting cross-legged on the floor of her apartment with a low footstool in between us. On it was a manual on how to read tarot cards. She’d poured us both a glass of water and placed a box of tissues on the floor beside us.

‘Okay.’ I didn’t for one second imagine that the tarot cards would reveal anything useful, but it would be fun, and for an hour or so it was a good distraction.

Lisa turned over the first three cards and flicked through her manual.

‘Ah, right,’ she said briskly. ‘So the three of swords, the five of cups and the death card represent the recent past. These are telling me a story of grief and death. Someone has gone over, perhaps?’

‘Correct.’ A fair guess; not many people are fortunate enough to get to my age without suffering the loss of a loved one.

‘Okay, my lovely,’ she continued. ‘This person means a great deal to you and grief has become a part of who you are.’

‘My daughter,’ I croaked. ‘I’ve lost my daughter, Brontë.’

She placed a hand over mine. ‘The path out of pain might not be clear now, but take a look at the death card.’

The card showed a battle scene and a knight in armour on a white horse, and at the very back, a golden sun.

‘In the distance, the sun is rising,’ she pointed out. ‘A new day does dawn. You see? The sun will rise again.’

‘Thank you,’ I swallowed, my eyes blurred with tears. ‘I do believe that; but at the moment it seems so far off. Everything keeps going wrong.’

She pulled a tissue out of the box and blew her nose. ‘Sorry, I don’t usually get upset, but, oh Maggie, I’m so sorry. No wonder the words in your notebook were all about love. Let’s see which card represents your present. Ah, the Hanged Man.’