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Danny Ortega was the principal of the local high school. On the surface, that should have made him sound respectable enough. Unfortunately, Mr. Ortega had something of a reputation as a player. His wife had divorced him a couple of years before I moved to Globe, and he’d made the rounds of all the eligible — and not so eligible — women in town ever since. Hazel had told me he’d tried to put the move on her several times, even though she’d made it very clear to him that she wasn’t interested.
And he’d actually drifted into the shop about a month after I arrived, obviously thinking he should try his luck with the newcomer. Even though that had been during the time when Calvin was doing his best to freeze me out, fighting his own feelings because he knew his fellow tribe members wouldn’t approve of him dating someone who wasn’t San Ramon Apache, I’d known right away that Danny Ortega was someone I needed to avoid.
On the surface, he was handsome enough — in his early forties, with black hair without a fleck of gray, even, regular features, and a flashing white smile. But even if I hadn’t been mooning over Calvin at the time, I still wouldn’t have given Danny the time of day. There was just something about him that set my teeth on edge.
The thought of facing him across that small table and having to give him a Tarot reading wasn’t something which exactly warmed the cockles of my heart. But since I couldn’t ask Calvin to pull another name, I forced a smile on my lips.
“Okay,” I said, doing my best to speak up so my voice would carry to other parts of the house. “Let’s go ahead and do this in order. Joyce, are you ready?”
Judging by the way she was halfway across the room and waiting at the Tarot table in the space of a few seconds, I had to guess she was. “Oh, yes,” she said. “This is so exciting! I’ve always wanted to have my cards read.”
An activity her husband had probably frowned upon. Once again, I sent a silent prayer out to the universe that I’d turn up a good set of cards for her.
“Go ahead and have a seat,” I told her, then turned toward the rest of the partygoers and added in a slightly louder voice, “We’ll need some quiet in this room while I’m working, so go ahead and mingle in the rest of the house.”
“Or in the backyard,” Josie added, clearly doing her best to help me out. “There are more refreshments out there, and I’ve got the fire pit going.”
Those attractions seemed inducement enough to get everyone to leave, because in the next moment or so, the family room had cleared out, and Joyce and I were left alone.
She’d already sat down on the wooden folding chair in front of the table, so I went ahead and took my seat facing her, then laid my evening purse on the tabletop and pulled out my Everyday Witch Tarot deck, since I’d stashed it inside the bag earlier that day. I’d chosen that deck not just because it was my favorite, but also because the imagery on the cards was so vivid and friendly, I figured it could only make a good impression on anyone who looked at it.
“Do you have a particular question in mind?” I asked as I began shuffling the deck. When I’d first started working with Tarot, the cards had seemed big and unwieldy to me, but at this point in my witchy career, they felt as natural as a deck of Bicycle playing cards.
Joyce tilted her head to one side, obviously considering my query. She actually looked completely adorable with that scarf wrapped around her head and her curly hair bouncing every way. Not for the first time, I wondered what had drawn her to Henry Lewis, because they truly did seem to be polar opposites when it came to their personalities.
“I suppose I could ask about my business,” she said, and I felt my eyebrows lift. That was the first I’d heard of her having any kind of job; I’d always gotten the impression she’d never worked, had instead focused on raising her children — now grown and living in Phoenix — and then on maintaining her home once they were out of the nest.
“What kind of business is it?” I inquired, still shuffling. Sometimes the cards told me they wanted to get read almost at once, while on other occasions, I had to play with them for a minute or more before they settled down.
A pretty pink touched Joyce’s cheeks, obvious even in the semi-darkened room. The candle on the table flickered, sending out little wafts of pumpkin spice.
“I taught myself to make candles,” she replied. “I’ve been having little parties where I sell them, but I’ve also gotten a few in boutiques here in Globe and over in Miami. They’re not like the spell candles you sell in your shop,” she added hastily, as if she was worried I might see her as some kind of competition. “They’re just to be pretty and smell good. This is one of mine.”
And she pointed at the pumpkin spice candle on the table.
I smiled. “It smells wonderful,” I told her. “I actually might be interested in carrying some of them. It’s true that the candles I sell now are mostly for focusing intentions or casting spells, but it might be nice to have some that are just for décor and nothing else.”
“Oh, I’d like that,” she said. “Your store is so much fun. And I absolutely adore the cross Henry bought me there for my birthday.”
It was true — Chief Lewis actually had bought an amethyst cross pendant for Joyce from me a while back, probably because he’d realized my store was the only place around that might have anything remotely suitable, and he hadn’t wanted to leave town to go shopping. At the time, he’d expressed surprise that a pagan shop would even carry cross pendants, although I’d told him I liked to have a little something for everyone.
“I’m so glad you like it,” I replied.
The Tarot deck seemed to have calmed down, so I went ahead and pulled three cards and laid them out in a simple past, present, future spread.
To my relief, it all looked completely unassuming, hopeful even.
“The first card is your past,” I said, pointing at the King of Swords there. It wasn’t too difficult to interpret its meaning. “The King of Swords represents your husband.”
At once, Joyce’s eyes widened. “Are you saying Henry is in my past? Because we’re really doing fine.”
I sent her a reassuring smile. “No, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re leaving Henry behind. Was he opposed to you starting your candle business?”
Something about the tense set of her shoulders seemed to relax slightly. “Yes,” she said. “He thought I should focus on the house and the garden. But I wanted to do something that was just for me.”
Right then, I couldn’t help reflecting that my worries about Archie reacclimating when and if I was able to turn him back into a man might be unfounded. Sometimes it really did feel as though Globe was stuck in the 1950s.
“It’s good that you are,” I said. “See this middle card, the Knight of Swords? It’s all about moving forward, facing challenges. And then this final card, the Ten of Cups? It signifies abundance, about enjoying rewards after achieving success. I think your candle business is going to do gangbusters.”
