Page 60 of The Sun and the Moon
“I love Bar Harbor in spring.” Her face goes immediately wistful. I cannot let her get onto a new topic, even if it is one I am normally interested in.
“Oh, me, too,” I say, looking over her shoulder where I can see through the large double doors into the bar. Sitting at a lounge table are a blonde and brunette who look about my age. Jackpot. They will provide the perfect cover for my escape. “I was just meeting some old friends at the bar, Adria.” I nod in the direction of the couple and she follows my gaze.
“Oh, of course, go, get caught up!” Every sentence is either exclamatory or questioning, with almost no in-between. “I should really freshen up, shouldn’t I?”
I smile, tight again, though thankfully she doesn’t notice. She lets me scoot past in the direction of the couple who are not, in fact, people I know at all. But since I can still feel her watching me, I have to do the unthinkable.
I drop down into the spare seat at their table.
“I am so sorry,” I say in a low voice when they both look overat me. “I told the woman back there in the sun hat that I know you two.”
The blonde, who is sitting across from me with a good view of the lobby through the doors, cuts her eyes over my shoulder. Her mouth twitches.
“She’s still watching,” she says, leaning over so her lips aren’t visible to Adria. “I’m Kit, this is Julia. Let’s get you a drink so she isn’t suspicious.” She has bright green eyes that remind me of fresh spring grass. It’s only when I look down at her that I realize.
She’s holding a deck of tarot cards in her hands.
“You brought tarot cards to a bar?” I ask, and Julia snorts. I cut my eyes over to her. She has a completely different vibe. Serious aqua eyes and a strong, straight posture. Her hair is shoulder-length, with a fade shaved on one side showing off a row of silver in her ear.
“She’s a tarot reader,” Julia says. “She always has a deck.”
Panic snakes its way through me. These two can’t be here by coincidence. Not on the same weekend that Moira is holding her engagement party.
“You look like you just saw a ghost,” Kit says. She holds the deck in one hand, raising her other and smiling. In seconds, a waiter is at the table asking for my order, and I mumble out something about a gin and tonic, to which the blonde says, “Do you want lime with that?” And I think I nod.
“Please tell me you’re here on vacation or something?”
Julia twerks her brow. “You tell us why you’re being weird.”
“My mom is a tarot reader,” I say, becausepsychicis not a word you just throw out midday in a bar. Kit jolts, a smile making her pretty face glow.
“Madame Moira?” she asks, and her hands do what looks like a robotic shuffle of the deck. A habit, maybe, but that’s when I notice the delicate amethyst ring on her all-important left finger. My eyes trip to Julia. She’s wearing a sapphire ring on the same finger. It’s similar, though the band is thicker, weightier.
“You two are a couple,” I say, sidestepping her question with my observation.
Julia’s fingers reach on instinct toward Kit, who leans toward her. It’s like they subtly lay claim on each other while not taking ownership or control. It makes my cheeks ache with the sweetness.
“We just got engaged a month ago,” Kit says with a shy smile.
“Hold on, Kit,” Julia says. “Is Moira your mom?”
I take a heavy breath, just as the waiter returns with my gin and tonic.
“She…” I struggle, a fish on a hook. “…is.”
Kit nearly drops her deck. “I can’t believe this.” She looks to the brunette, who is frowning now. Her face drops. “Why are you making that face, Julia?”
She doesn’t snap out of it right away.
“She was acting shady about your cards. I’m just trying to figure out why the daughter of a psychic would be surprised to see a tarot reader with their deck out in public.”
I roll my eyes. Clearly this woman is not going to make anything easy for me.
“I wasn’t so muchsurprisedas I wasfreaked out. My relationship with tarot is a little rocky,” I say, followed by a deep and generous drink from my glass.
“Your relationship with tarot?” Kit asks, her hand tightening around her deck. “Or Madame Moira?” Her big eyes seem to seethrough me, right to the vulnerable center I like to keep walled away and hidden.
“No offense, but baring my soul to strangers isn’t really my thing.”
