AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Are you going to keep pacing on my front porch or actually come inside?” Maple called out from inside her home.
I stood still, thrown off by being caught pacing, even though Maplehadn’t turned to see me.
“Open the door, son,” she said, urging me to step inside her home.
I did as she said, closing it behind me. She sat at herdining room table, flipping tarot cards with crystals and lit candles surrounding her. It looked like a fire hazard of sorts. As Maple flipped through her deck,I walked over to her.
“How did you know I was out there? Your shades are drawn,” I asked.
“Call it a sixth sense.”
I went to take a step closer, and she turned to face me with her deck in hand. “Pick a card?”
I shook my head. “I don’t believe in that stuff.”
“What do you mean by that stuff?”
“Witchcraft and voodoo mumbo jumbo.”
Maple smiled, unmoved by my dismissal of her craft. “People don’t believe in a lot of things. That doesn’t mean it’s not real.Regardless, I understand. Aries men are a bit harder tobelieve in things not directly in front of them.”
“I’m an Aquarius, not an Aries.”
She raised an eyebrow. “I thought you didn’t believe in this witchcraft, voodoo mumbo jumbo?”
“I don’t. Though, I’ve been told enough to know my zodiac sign.”
“Spoken like a true Aries,” she said again, laying out a spread of cards.
“I told you, I’m not an Aries.”
“Of course, you aren’t. With your sun sign, at least. But, sweetheart, today I’m talking about your moon.”
I had no clue what the hell she was going on about, and she smiled bigger, noticing my confusion. She placed down her final cards, studied them, made a stumped sound, then looked at me, looked at the cards, then back at me. “Hmph,” she muttered again.
Then she blew out her candles, stacked her deck, and turned her chair to face me. “How can I help you, Damian?”
“I have a question for you.”
“I know. So, ask.”
“Is there any chance that Jeff is hurtful toward Stella?”
Maple raised an eyebrow. “Did hedo something to her?”
“Yes, well, no. Not physically that I can tell. I just have a bad feeling.” I shifted in my shoes. “He’s rude to her. And undermining. And a drunk.”
“Oh, yes. He is all of those things.”
“But shepretends to see the best in him.”
“Oh, sweetheart, she’s not pretending. It’s her gift and her curse—seeing the best in people.”She picked a lighter and lit abunch of sticks and leaves. They began to burn and create smoke as she waved it around in the space.“Saging,” she explained. “It rids negative energy.”
“You’ll probably have to use a lot on me.”
She smiled a sincere grin. “Not as much as you’d think.”She placed the sage bunch on the fireplace in a vase and then wiped her hands clean on a rag sitting on the table. “So, you think Jeff is toxic.”
“I do.”
