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Ash says nothing, but inside, I’m mentally fist-bumping Ginny. If Ash thinks he’s not a rich asshole, maybe now he’ll change his tune. It could be his new awakening—a sort of enlightenment I’m going to give him when I get the ring off and go back to work. My recorder captured everything. He is totally going down.
But that would mean taking Meryl down with him, and I kind of like her.
I ignore the stab of guilt, the reading I had just completed, and what it could mean. Instead, I focus on steeling myself for what I have to do. All those cards could also have meant I have a big decision coming that I have to follow through with, and it will change the course of my life. As in, sell the story, or publish it. Maybe catch a few breaks and get Dad and me out of this rut. The happier relationship might not have meant love. It could have meant family. My dad, not Ash. So there, curse. Eat it.
The next card Ginny turns over is The Wheel of Fortune. Which is kind of funny, just because I associate it with TV and cash prizes, but anyway…
Ginny lets out a thin-sounding gasp, and I’m instantly drawn to attention. “Something has come into your life which you feel you have almost no control over, but this force has probably been there for a while. You’ve been grappling with it, trying to make the right decision on how to grow and change.”
“What if I want to stop whatever is happening?” Ash grinds out. He doesn’t say it’s the curse, which I’m thankful for.
Ginny looks at him hard. I bet she’s a tough little old lady when she wants to be. “It’s too late. You can’t take it back, and I mean that in the best way. You shouldn’t want to take it back. Just because the unexpected happens doesn’t mean it’s a bad thing. Sometimes, these things come about to show us a better way. I don’t use words like fate, but if I were to drop the F-word, I would do it here.”
“Fate?” Ash stares incredulously. “No. I don’t believe in that.”
Ginny just shrugs and turns over the next card. The Lovers. Of course, it’s The Lovers. Before she can say anything, Ash leaps out of the chair. It skids backward and bumps into me, which keeps it from flying right over. I let out a grunt while Ash huffs. That’s the last sound he makes before he storms out from the back. I hear the bell at the front door dingle merrily a few seconds later.
“Ummm….” I bite down on my bottom lip, fighting down shock and embarrassment. “I’m really sorry. We’re, uh, that is…this is a hard time right now. For both of us.”
Ginny nods. “Don’t worry, honey. It’s not the first time someone’s got up and walked out during a reading.”
“I’m still sorry. It’s just rude.”
“It’s okay. Sometimes, people aren’t ready to hear what the cards have to say.”
I want to ask Ginny to tell me what it means. I want to ask her to turn over the next card, but I kind of already know she’ll refuse. I do have to ask, though. “Is it weird that all those cards are like…not the suits cards I had?”
“It’s unusual, yes,” Ginny responds. “But not unheard of. The Major Arcana, they’re called. And this card, just so you know, is frequently quite misunderstood. It often just means a bringing together of two things. Two different forces. A lot of the time, it can be internal.”
“Conflict resolution?”
“Exactly.”
“Ugh,” I sigh. “I think he’ll be relieved and hopefully feel pretty stupid about just ghosting you on that score.”
“It’s alright.”
I have my purse slung over my shoulder, so I grab it and say, “Here. Let me pay you for both readings.”
Ginny, to my surprise, shakes her head. “No, honey, that’s okay. This one isn’t finished, and I have a feeling you needed some advice more than I need the cash.”
I haven’t cried in a very long time. I learned relatively young that life is full of lemons, swift kicks in the pants, spilled milk, and all that, and crying about it does no good at all. So, it’s saying a lot that right now, I can feel the hot pricks starting behind my eyes.
“Thank you. Really. You have no idea how kind of you that is.”
When I make my way back out of the shop, I find Ash standing there. He didn’t ghost me after all. He waited, which is kind of nice, except he doesn’t look nice. His face looks stormy, and he’s pale. His eyes are also darting all over the place like something sketchy is about to come at us.
“I’m calling an emergency meeting with my brother and cousins,” he announces before stalking off down the street, leaving me to catch up.
