Page 35 of The Lovers
Breathing a sigh of relief after a multitude of tarot readings finish without any major glitches is a luxury in this economy. When you make looking into people’s inner world your business, maintaining five stars on Google is the opposite of easy. I never know for sure what the cards will reveal about the querent, or if the revelation is something they’ll want another human being in on. When things go south, it’s on me to spin it or get spun out.
This group, at least, came for the truth.
Coco askedpoint-blankif her lingerie brand would go global. I modified my five-card draw into a “path and obstacle” spread, with three influencing cards. Pulling the Sun, upright, was a good start, even if the obstacle was the Five of Pentacles, also upright, indicating financial struggle on her road to success.
“Forlorn much?” Coco said, batting Natalie away from snapping a clear shot. The woman on the card wore an exaggerated expression of grief, holding an empty bowl. The five pentacles—whichin this deck are depicted with pomegranates—sit just out of reach.
I spun the negative into a ball of light, emphasizing the importance of inner work reflected in both of these cards.
“So, more sound baths and Reiki cleanses?” Coco grunted.
“Up to you,” I said with a smile. “It’s a call to action. To dig deeper.”
“Ick,” she replied, as if I just gave her a homework assignment on the first day of school. “Isn’t there a spell or something I can do?”
“Not my area of expertise,” I said, with a small chuckle. This got a smile of approval.
I didn’t broach the subject of filming a reading with her, but hopefully this whets her appetite for more. Coco would be perfect for something on camera, and something tells me she still has stuff on her mind.
Namely, Jenni, whose entire reading was about moving on from a past hurt—Coco, I suspect. At one point, she even said, out loud, through an open scowl, that “the cards can tell me to trust again all night long, but can they at least acknowledge my issues are earned?”
They did. When I laid out Justice, upright, I explained that this card usually indicates a wrongdoing by someone other than the querent, and can be a sign that vindication is coming, but Coco was flirting with Suni and missed the meaningful glare Jenni shot her way, so maybe not tonight.
Maddie will definitely be meeting a guy in the future, and it looks like a promising courtship, despite pulling the Moon, upright, which often indicates delusion or anxiety.
“That’s it, I am totally firing my manager,” Lisa exclaimed, thanks to the meaningful placement of the Tower, upright, in her reading about her career.
Heather and her boyfriend are going to do it—move to Anaheim to be closer to Disneyland, that is.
There are two people left in the room who haven’t had their cards read, and I genuinely can’t decide if I want them to accept or pass on my services.
Reading Julia’s cards feels like a conflict of interest given our history and my jumbled-up feelings ever since I saw her face at Homebase. I could douse myself full-body in cleansing spray and still not clear my energy enough to not influence her reading somehow. But if the cards could reveal something meaningful—give me some kind of insight into the mystery of her buttoned-up transformation—then fuck my conscience.
Piper? I’m less concerned about my energy, and more that the reading will fail. Bad readings—ones where the querent doesn’t believe in the intuitive power of the cards or isn’t willing to open up and receive the answers waiting—go south fast.
Piper doesn’t seem like the type tolet Spirit lead.
And, sure, she also seems to low-key hate me for some reason I can’t figure out.
I clear my throat, shuffle the cards, and decide to let them choose their own fate. It’s not up to me, and as soon as their readings are over, I’m done, off duty. Back on the party bus to my temporary home, where I have a date with a bottle of rosé and the bathtub beneath the stars.
“Last call for readings, ladies,” I say,shuffle, shuffle, swoosh, swoosh.
Piper stands directly across from me at the refreshment table. She’s sipping gingerly on a cup of cucumber-infused ice water. Her eyes drift to Julia, who is on my left, and has been for the duration of the readings.
Not that I’ve been keeping track of her or anything.
Shuffle. Swoosh.
I let my gaze drop to Julia’s face. She’s pulled her hair up, this time in a high messy bun, probably in response to the warmth in the room. Her bomber jacket rests across the tops of her thighs. Her cheeks flush, a gentle kiss of pink on the apples.
Take me up on it. Come on. I dare you.
Julia lifts her eyes to mine, holding the contact, one, two, three seconds; the moment stretches out between us like a rubber band poised on the points of two fingers, ready to snap. The dare in my heart resonates through me, begging her to take me up on it, and even though I shouldn’t care about her, or wonder why she barely resembles the girl I was madly, intensely into when we were young, it’s all I care about, all I can think about—
“I’ll give it a go.” Piper’s voice breaks in, yanking me out of my spiral. She moves from her place by the refreshment table, stiff and resigned, dropping with impeccable control into the seat across from me. Julia shifts, the tension that was between us sharpening into something hostile directed at Piper.
I force myself to focus on the querent. She’s a guest, this is my job; so what if there is an elephant-sized history between them that keeps making a play for the center of attention? I paint a smile on.Swoosh, swoosh, swoosh.“We could go with a more general reading—”
