Page 45 of Embracing Sky
“Perfect,” she purred. “Come with me.”
She led us behind a velvety purple curtain to a small round table covered in crushed velvet, surrounded by four folding chairs. Gesturing for us to sit, she took her spot where a deck of cards and four white candles waited for her.
She lit the candles, and then some incense, and began.
The candles flickered, casting a glow over the deep purple table covering. Sky sat there, his hands wrung together, watching the woman with uncertainty as she began to shuffle a deck of tarot cards lazily. They were colorful, with a moon-and-star design on the back and shiny foil edges that caught the candlelight.
I studied the way her fingers smoothed over the cards. The way one might fly out of the deck as if “summoned,” to which she’d smile to herself and set it face-up on the table. The way she’d gently flip over cards and lay them down in a pattern that made no sense to me, but probably made perfect sense to her.
After a moment, she set the deck aside and looked over the spread. She waved her hands over the cards, her palms hovering just above them, as if she could feel their energies speaking to her. She hummed softly, tilting her head to one side as she seemed to consider something, and then laid her hands down on the table in front of her.
“I see,” she murmured.
Sky leaned in, as if he were missing something important. “I don’t.”
She giggled. “Oh, sweet boy. You aren’t aligned with the cards, so of course you don’t see. Let me lay it out for you. Let’s see what Spirit wants you to know.” She pursed her lips and looked skyward, holding out her hands with her palms up this time, before closing her eyes. “I see happiness and fulfillment. Stability. Grounding. A surprise in your future…but also a dark shadow that you need to be aware of.”
Sky frowned. “A shadow? What does that mean?”
“It could be negative thought patterns, old habits, bad decisions, or it could simply be old gunk coming up from your past. It could be anything—and of course, it could change, depending on the trajectory of your life. This is not set in stone. It’s not a bad reading, I promise. Don’t look so worried, my dear.”
I squeezed Sky’s shoulder. “It’s good,” I assured him. “Think of it as guidance that you’re on the right path.”
“Your boyfriend is wise,” the woman said with a knowing twinkle in her eye, and then and only then did Sky relax. He tipped his head sideways to gaze up at me, a smile playing on his lips. He reached out and laced his fingers with mine.
“Yeah, he’s a pretty cool guy,” he mused aloud.
I couldn’t help but laugh. I squeezed his hand and tugged at it so he’d stand. When he rose to join me, we thanked the woman and headed back outside into the crisp autumn breeze.
“Don’t think too hard about it,” I murmured into his ear, already knowing where his mind would go the minute we got back in the car. He would dwell on that one little possibly-negative aspect of the tarot reading and twist it into a hundred what-ifs.
“She said it was a positive reading, so leave it at that. Whether you believe in a higher power or not, they’re simply cards and she’s simply a human being. That’s all,” I told him. “Don’t get all twisted up about it and ruin our day out.”
He sighed softly, rubbing at the back of his neck. “Yeah. You’re right. How are you so good at this?”
“At what?”
“At reading me like a book?”
I smiled. “You’re part of my family now, Sky. You’re pack, and you share a piece of my heart.” I sidestepped closer to him and kissed him on the cheek, then swung open the passenger-side door for him. “Now pick us out some decent music for the ride back. What sounds good for lunch? I was thinking maybe subs?”
“Sounds good. Should we text Adam and see if he wants something?” Sky slid beneath my arm, into the passenger seat, and I shut the door behind him. I walked around the front of the car to the driver’s side, and got in.
As the engine idled, I tapped out a text to Adam in the group chat.Getting subs for lunch. Want me to pick you up something on the way home?
A 6-inch sounds great ;)followed by a thirsty-face emoji.
I giggled. Beside me, Sky laughed out loud. “Oh my god. Someone’s horny.”
Food, Adam. Think with your stomach right now and maybe, if you’re lucky, you’ll get two 6-inches tonight ;)
Another snorted laugh from Sky, but when I looked up, his face was beet red all the way to the tips of his ears. I threw my head back in laughter.
“What sounds good?” I asked him, putting the car into drive and heading deeper into the small town. Surely there had to be a sub shop here somewhere.
“I’m thinking chicken bacon ranch with tomatoes, but no lettuce,” Sky said. His phone dinged. He read it and then added, “Adam wants a Philly cheesesteak with extra chipotle sauce andjalapeño peppers. What about you, Fletch? What are you gonna order?”
I thought about it for a moment. “Mmm. I want roast beef and cheddar with steak sauce and pile onallthe veggies.”
