Page 36 of A Barista's Guide to Love & Larceny
“Their lifestyle just wasn’t right for raising a kid. I was an accident, as they loved to remind me. Funny how two clairvoyants didn’t see me coming.” She’d hoped to make Kass laugh, but he remained silent. “They don’t like to stay in one place for long, so I grew up on the road. We went all over the country and even abroad, sometimes, so they could—” She pulled herself back from sayingrun their cons. Her parents hadn’t just brought her to the tables at the casino; they’d used her ability in more creative ways, too. “Anyway. I almost never went to school, and I sure didn’t have any friends. Gods, I hated it.”
“I bet,” Kass said softly.
“Turns out my personality is totally different from theirs,” Dani went on. “I wanted to be a normal kid with a house and a school and extracurriculars. But no matter how many tantrums I threw, I just couldn’t get through to them.” She paused, studied the ice in her drink.
“You don’t have to talk about it.” Kass joined her in leaning against the desk, keeping a couple of inches between them. Dani inhaled. She wanted to tell him. Wanted him to know her. Even editing out some of the worst bits, it felt good to share it with him.
“Once I got to be a teenager, I was pretty much done with it all. Wewere living in one place for longer than usual, and I loved it. I enrolled in school and told them I wasn’t going to leave when they did.”
“How did that work out?”
Dani gave a sarcastic laugh. “Oh, it worked out great. They left me there, squatting in an apartment by myself.”
Kass let out an angry breath.
“It’s the best thing they could have done for me,” she said quickly. “I mean, it sucked, but it was kind of what I wanted. It gave me the chance to go to court and get emancipated. It was tough, but better than the alternative. Honestly, I was happy.”
“But still,” Kass said. “What the fuck.”
Dani laughed. “Yeah,” she agreed. “It is verywhat the fuck. But I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t done all that. I worked my ass off so I could get into college, and, well.” She took a sip of her drink. “I’m still working my ass off.”
“That’s amazing,” he said. “You’re amazing.”
“I don’t feel particularly amazing, but thanks—I mean it.”
“Have you seen them since then?”
“Nope. They’ve never tried to contact me, and I’m honestly okay with that.”
Kass whistled low. “I can’t really imagine it,” he said. “I mean, my dad’s pretty hands-off in some ways—half the time he stays in his condo downtown, and the other half he’s traveling for work—but you better believe he has a vested interest in my future.”
“Wonder what’s worse,” Dani mused, “parents who want to control your future, or parents who don’t care whether or not they see it.” She finished her drink down to the very dregs. “Don’t answer that.”
“Okay,” Kass said, but it didn’t matter. When she looked at him, she saw the answer in his eyes.
For a moment they were quiet together, listening to the swollen waves of music through the walls. Dani set her empty glass on the desk. They were close enough for their arms to touch, energyleaping like lightning between them, a wild magic that no enchantment could replicate. She felt vulnerable, more exposed than she had in a long time. She turned to him, ready to shatter the moment into a thousand pieces with a jokey comment, but the earnest expression on his face stopped her. She couldn’t remember the last time someone had looked at her so openly, in such a way that let her know they were looking ather, Dani, whoever that really was. She didn’t have to be a student or a barista or an aspiring whatever or even a responsible adult in that instant; she didn’t have to make something up or fake a smile. She felt incredibly seen, and for once, it wasn’t a bad thing.
The force field of his understanding was almost magnetic; she found herself drawn in, a fierce, foolhardy desire lighting her up, and she thought that was hope she saw responding in his eyes.
Then the music segued into a dancehall beat, and Dani pulled back, painfully conscious of herself.
“Wasn’t there something you were going to show me?” she said instead.
“Oh.” Kass blinked, his hope doused by her question. “Right.” He got up and tried to orient himself in the room. “Here.” He crossed to one of the display cases against the wall and beckoned her over. She obeyed, keenly aware that they had been about to have a moment and she’d ruined it. She couldn’t tell who was more disappointed in her right now—Kass or herself.
We’ll have to flip for it.
“Huh?” Kass said.
Shit.She’d said that out loud. “Nothing, sorry—oh!” She had seen inside the case. “Wait. Is that—”
“An original, yeah.”
“By Pamela Colman Smith? How is that possible? I thought they’d all been lost.”
“As much as I’d like to impress you with my stunning reams ofknowledge,” Kass said, “I really don’t know anything more than what you see here.”
Dani bent down for a better look. On a delicate wire rack sat a pen-and-ink drawing, the paper aged and crinkled around the edges. It was the High Priestess card from the classic Waite-Smith deck, an image Dani knew and loved. “I honestly can’t believe this is real. Is your dad into tarot?”
