CH 4 - #fortuneteller
Riley
“YOU STILL DON’T look right, sister. Seeing Rhys really did a job on you,” Rachel said. She, Macie, and I had just left the grocery store with our bags of snacks.
“Yeah…it did. Crossing paths with him again was bound to happen at some point, but nothing could’ve prepared me for it.”
“Would you like to know what stood out to me?” Macie asked.
“Nope.”
“I’m going to tell you anyway. First, you and Rhys kept holding each other’s hand after shaking them. The second is how you both kept looking at each other.”
“It was just the shock of coming face-to-face again after all this time.”
“It was more than that. The fire is still burning between you and Rhys.”
I stopped walking across the parking lot and buried my face in my hands because I was starting to cry. My girls were beside me within seconds.
“I don’t mean to be so emotional,” I told them, sniffling. “It must be the wine that’s making me like this.”
Macie shook her head in disagreement. “It isn’t the wine, BFF. You had only one glass. Your tearful reaction to running into your tall, well-built, blond-haired, blue-eyed, dimple-blessed, handsome-as-hell high school sweetheart was to be expected.”
“You’re not helping, describing Rhys like that to me.”
“It’s accurate, though, right?”
“Yes,” I mumbled.
“Allow me also to mention how gentlemanly, charming, thoughtful, and sweet he is.”
“Hush your mouth.”
“Let’s go back to the fire that still burns between y’all. I’m right about it. Admit it.”
I stared hard at Macie and finally gave in. “Okay, I admit it. Because of our history, he and I will probably always be attracted to each other.”
“I know you will, but not only because of your history. It is so obvious that you’re still in love with Rhys like he is with you.”
“I’ve already told you I’m no longer in love with him.”
“Oh, come on, Riley! We all know it’s true!”
“No, it’s not! You just want it to be. You and Rachel both,” I said, glancing at my sister.
Macie put her hands on her hips and shook her head in frustration at me.
“Are we going to see Ms. Lenora or not?” I asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.
“Yes, we are. I can hardly wait to hear what she says about you this time.”
“Fuck you!”
“Fuck you, too!”
“Can we please just go now?” Rachel interjected. “I’m tired of listening to your damn squabbling. I swear, some things never change.”
“Ms. Lenora, is it too late for us to get a reading?” Macie asked.
“Not at all, honey. I’m still a night owl and will be awake until the wee hours of the night. Y’all come on in.”
After the kind elderly woman with long silver hair and smiling brown eyes stepped back from her doorway, my girls and I entered her cottage-style home.
“I haven’t seen you in quite some time, Riley,” she said, patting my shoulder.
“It was a little over a year ago.”
“I remember. Has love brought you back home?”
I glanced at Macie. She had a shit-eating grin on her face.
“My love for my family has. I’m in town for the weekend.”
Ms. Lenora nodded. “I saw your engagement announcement and picture in the paper. Congratulations, dear.”
“Thank you.”
“Tell me about the man that you’re planning to marry.”
“His name is Chad Nolan and he’s an investment banker in Fort Worth.”
“I see. How old is he?”
“Thirty-two.”
“A bit of an age gap between you and him, but that can be good since men take longer to mature than women.”
I chuckled. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Does Chad treat you well?”
“Very well,” I said, glancing at Macie again with her grin still in place.
She, Rachel, and I followed Ms. Lenora into her kitchen and sat at the round table where she had always done her readings. It still had the same white lace tablecloth and a lit candle in the center.
Looking around, I noticed other things that were still the same: bundles of herbs hanging from the ceiling, drying, an old-school cassette tape player on the kitchen counter with Celtic music coming from it, and also Ms. Lenora’s cat, Jewel, asleep on a blanket in the corner, next to the hutch.
After Cypress Hills’s very own mystic put on a kettle of water to boil, she set white saucers and tea cups in front of my girls and me.
“This evening, we’re going to see what Earl Grey has to predict,” she said, winking.
As I watched her spoon some English loose-leaf tea into the cups, I thought back to seeing Rhys outside the grocery store. Nothing had changed about him in the last year. He was still so ruggedly handsome, with the dark scruff on his face and wavy blond hair that grazed the back of his neck. His wild and free appearance was the opposite of Chad’s squeaky-clean one.
Ms. Lenora returned to her stovetop, picked up the whistling kettle with a hot pad, and walked to the table to pour the hot water into the cups. Afterward, she told my girls and me to be clear-minded about our questions and focus on the tea leaves. Strangely, I couldn’t think of a question, so I let my mind wander as I stared at my cup.
Rachel, Macie, and I began sipping our tea, and Ms. Lenora instructed us to continue contemplating our questions. When only about a tablespoon of liquid was left in our cups, we sat them down.
Ms. Lenora picked up Macie’s first and swirled the liquid three times from left to right. Next, she carefully inverted the cup over the saucer. She kept it on it for about thirty seconds and then rotated it three times. The last thing she did was turn the cup back upright, positioning the handle due south as always.
“The tea leaves have formed into several dashes along the sides of your cup,” she told Macie. “That means you’re going to have an opportunity come up soon. Something to do with your job, perhaps. Does any of this strike a chord with you?”
“My gosh, yes! You’re amazing as always, Ms. Lenora. Thank you.”
“You’re welcome, sweetheart.”
She went through the same routine with my sister as with Macie. Rachel’s tea leaves had clustered together on one side of her cup into what appeared to be a wine glass.
“There’s going to be cause for celebration soon, Rachel. Something that you’ve been wanting to happen is going to happen. Does that make sense?” Ms. Lenora asked.
My sister smiled and nodded yes. Then, it was my turn to have my fortune told.
“Riley, your tea leaves have also clustered together. To me, the shape looks like a bird with its wings spread. What do you think?” Ms. Lenora showed me the inside of my cup.
“I think it’s exactly what you said.”
“A bird in flight is a symbol of newfound freedom. Because it’s by the rim of your cup, you’ve recently been freed from something or soon will be. Does that make sense to you?”
I shook my head no. “I wish it did.”
Ms. Lenora stared at me for several seconds. Then she reached for my left hand across the table, wrapped hers around it, closed her eyes, and took slow, deep breaths. She didn’t only read tea leaves. She read people, too. Visions would come to her if she touched someone long enough.
When she opened her eyes, she said, “An onyx and a sapphire. That’s what I saw, and you, Riley. You held the onyx in your right hand and the sapphire in your left. They were resting on your outstretched palms.”
“What does it mean?”
“I don’t know. But the last thing I saw was you wrapping your fingers around the sapphire. I wish I could tell you more. That was the most puzzling vision I’ve ever had.”
“It’s okay. Maybe in time, I’ll figure out what it means.”
“I hope you do, and if you do, please let me know. This mystery is going to bug the heck out of me.”
Macie, Rachel, and I paid Ms. Lenora her usual ten-dollar fee, hugged her, and left. After returning to Macie’s car, we looked at each other.
“So, what do you think about your tea leaf reading?” I asked.
Macie and my sister again affirmed that theirs made sense to them. Macie had applied for a different job and was due to hear back from the employer next week. Then Rachel surprised Macie and me by telling us that she and Jackson planned to start trying for a baby. I was so excited at the thought of becoming an aunt.
As for my tea leaf reading? I still didn’t know what it meant, just like Ms. Lenora’s vision of the gemstones in my hands. I wasn’t worried about it, though. My future was set to become Mrs. Chad Nolan on the first day of autumn and I couldn’t have been happier.