“This reading’s easier,” she said. “The first card is the past, the second the present, the third the future.”
My vision narrowed as I fixated on the third card. It was a picture of a hanged man. A chill jolted up my spine. Hunter seemed to notice it too and looked at me sheepishly.
“Mmm, an all water reading,” Trinity said, scanning the cards. “Very interesting.”
“What does that mean?” I asked. I was curious despite myself.
Her heavy-lidded eyes pierced through me as she considered how to answer. “You’re moving, but things are staying the same.”
I nodded slowly, pretending to understand. Hunter had his lips pursed tight.
Trinity’s finger moved to my past. “The ace is reversed. Maybe you felt stable but later found you weren’t?”
The hair on my neck stood on end as I thought about my family and Marco. An uneasy sensation began to take hold of me. Hunter took a look at me and put his hand on my shoulder.
She seemed to not notice my reaction and moved to the middle card. “It looks like you’ve been nostalgic lately. Maybe somebody passed away a while ago?”
Her glance moved from the cards to my face. “Aw hey, there’s no need to get freaked out. This spread’s totally fine.”
I shook my head and tried to stop taking this stuff so seriously. It was all coincidence. “But that card is the hanged man,” I said, feeling silly even as I uttered the words.
She shrugged. “Yeah, but tarot wise that’s more like breaking free most of the time.”
“So is someone important in her life going to die?” Hunter asked.
“I mean it could be that too,” Trinity said, turning to Hunter. She bit her lip and eyed him suggestively. “But I think we all know which hung man is in her future, am I right?”
Blood rushed to my face.
“We should go,” I said, grabbing Hunter’s arm.
Trinity’s bare foot eased down my inner calf, causing me to scootch back my chair. “You guys sure you don’t wanna stay?” she asked, smiling at me. “ I do massages too. Even couples.”
I stood up, shaking my head. “We’re good.”
She cocked her head and pouted. “You sure? Why don’t you stay anyway? I’ve got a bottle of vodka in back, and I love company.”
I tried to physically pull Hunter out of his chair. This time he got the drift.
“Thanks Trinity,” he said, pulling out some cash quickly to pay for our half-hour.
“You guys sure you don’t even wanna smoke a bowl?”
The fresh air felt like a return to reality. “Let’s never go to a fortune teller again,” I said. “That was really weird.”
“I dunno,” he answered with a laugh. “I thought that was pretty entertaining. Maybe not what I was expecting, but pretty cool.”
I slapped him on the arm. “Hunter, she was hitting on us the whole time!”
“Really? I mean at the end yeah—”
“Good lord you’re thick.”
He pursed his lips, trying to avoid smiling. “That’s kinda what she said. . .”
I looked at him, wanting to stay mad, but laughed. It was good to see Hunter in a good mood after his test, even if he had dragged me to a bizarre tarot card reading.
“Why did you want to come here, anyway?”
He shrugged and started walking to the car. “I dunno. Partly trying to loosen up, I guess. I figured with all the worries about my test results, we gotta show ourselves that we’re not afraid of the future.”
Hunter was right, maybe this was the best way to deal with it. Worrying ourselves to death wasn’t helping anyone.
We arrived at the car and got in. “Okay,” I said, buckling my seatbelt. “I guess that makes sense.”
“Speaking of our futures, I thought our fortunes looked pretty good. I mean, I’m gonna find treasure.”
I scoffed. “You didn’t get the hanged man card!”
“But she said that was breaking free, right? Or something. Honestly the whole thing was kinda confusing. But treasure!”
“I don’t know,” I said, putting on my seat belt. “I think I had some brain cells die in there with all the candles and incense.”
He shrugged and started up the car. “Alright, so you don’t like fortune tellers. Shit’s not real anyway. Sorry you didn’t have a good time.”
I reached over and gave his arm a squeeze. “I’m sorry,” I said. “I appreciate the effort to do something fun.”
He nodded and, with a lurch from his seriously ancient car, we were off. I spent the rest of the day thinking about how I could keep Hunter’s spirits up for the next few days. He was trying hard to stay upbeat, but I was worried that the test was bothering him more than he let on. Still, even if his bravado failed, maybe it was better to face it head on rather than hide from it. Would I be able to face my own issues head on like he had?