Page 78 of Crazy in Love

“There is this one guy that keeps popping up in my message box.” Faith had planned to take a dating hiatus but would do anything to ease Tess’s guilt. “He likes a lot of the same stuff I do and sounds intriguing.”

“You should go for it,” Tess said.

“I thought for sure you’d tell me he was a creeper, just copying everything I like to make sure I say yes.”

“I mean, he could be that too. But you’ll never know till you meet him.”

Faith eyed the deck of tarot cards stacked neatly on the desk. She hadn’t used them in a while. “We’ll let the fates decide. Ready?”

Tess rolled her eyes, and Faith flipped a card. But before she could see it, Tess grabbed it.

“What’s all this gibberish?” she asked. “There’s numbers, pictures, symbols. How are you supposed to know what it means?”

“Give it,” Faith said, snatching it back. “The Two of Cups. Huh.”

“What does it mean?”

“I don’t know.” Faith shrugged. “I just read the fine print at the bottom. This one says, ‘unified love, partnership, mutual attraction, proposal, marriage, connection.’ Dang, if that’s the answer about whether to set up this date, it doesn’t get much clearer than that.”

“So, you gonna do it?”

“You know what?” Faith gathered the pile of cards and threw them in the trash. “I don’t need those to tell me how to live. I can decide all on my own.”

Tess’s eyes got huge, making Faith laugh.

She opened her laptop, clicked into Stargazer’s last message asking to meet, typed for a second, and shut the computer. “Done. Tomorrow at ten at the Rise and Grind.”

“Attagirl,” Tess said. “I’m proud of you.” A look of smug satisfaction flashed across her face. Did she want credit for Faith getting back on the dating horse? That seemed weird, but it was no skin off Faith’s nose. And if it made Tess feel better, it’d be worth it.

“If I go missing and you find my body in a dumpster or some guy wearing my face as a mask, you’ll know what went wrong.”

“Not funny. Come on, let’s eat.”

The following morning, Faith arrived early and copped a table at the coffee shop. Now that she was here, guilt crept up her spine. Her heart wasn’t in this. She wasn’t truly ready to moveon from Nick, so poor Stargazer didn’t stand a chance and would only be fighting for second place.

Usually, she liked to arrive a little late. That way, she could check out the guy before she committed to actually sitting down with him. On more than one occasion, she’d entered the shop, seen her “date,” and done an about-face at the door before uttering a word. It was rude, but her time was valuable, and there were times when you just knew things weren’t going to work out. She always emailed with an excuse later.

Conversely, if she liked what she saw, it gave her a chance to “make an entrance.”

Sipping her coffee, she glanced at her phone’s clock. The bell on the front door jingled, and she looked up. Her jaw dropped. Nick. And damn if he didn’t look good.

The last three weeks had given her time to pull herself together, and she was reasonably sure she could be in the same room without any more embarrassing declarations of love. At least she hoped so, because he was coming over.

“Hi, Faith,” he said. “May I?”

For a second, she forgot she was mad at him. Forgot he’d lied to and used her. Her ire had softened, but he didn’t know that.

She looked over his shoulder and feigned indifference. “Actually, I’m waiting for someone.” The comment wasn’t meant to make him jealous, but if that’s what happened, she wouldn’t be terribly sorry.

“Stargazer?”

Her eyes snapped back to his, and her brows narrowed. “How do you…?”

He shrugged, pulled out the chair across from her, and sat.

“You’reStargazer?” She was so confused. “If you wanted to have coffee, why didn’t you just call? Wait a second. What are you even doing in Green Valley Falls?”

He grabbed her hands. “Declaring my love for someone I never should have left.”

---