Chapter Twenty-Four
“I met someone.”
There was nothing like meeting someone’s dysfunctional parent to make you appreciate the sanity of your own.
Nate made a point of calling his parents shortly after meeting Karen.
His mom picked up the phone.
“That’s good news. Who is she?” his mother cooed.
“Her name is Luna. We met on a case we’re working on.”
“Oh . . . this isn’t like Monique, is it?”
“She isn’t my boss. She’s an independent contractor. I’m an independent contractor. No one is out of a job if it doesn’t work out.”
“Oh, good.” His mother’s relief was felt over the phone. “Tell me about her . . . is it serious?”
He chuckled. “I wouldn’t be telling you about her if she was a one-night stand.”
“Oh, stop. You don’t have those . . . do you? Wait, I don’t want to know.” Even though it wasn’t a FaceTime call, he could see his mother’s squished face in a pained expression.
“Of course not, Mom,” he said sarcastically. “I’ve never done that. Not once. Not in college, or in Vegas at Tony’s bachelor party. Or at—”
“Okay, I get it. You can stop now.”
Nate liked teasing his mom. She fell for it every time. Or maybe she just acted that way. “Time will tell how serious it is. You’d like her. Completely down-to-earth. Smart.”
“What does she do?”
For thirty minutes Nate painted a picture of Luna for his mother.
He told her about the stolen car and accepted the praise for being a gentleman for helping Luna out.
He even brought up Ethel and was surprised to learn that his mom believed in Ethels.
Or ghosts . . . or whatever it was in Luna’s house.
“I don’t understand people who believe in God but not spirits. They go hand in hand.”
Talking to his mother stood in sharp contrast to the interactions between Luna and Karen. And when his mom passed the phone off to his dad, Nate realized what a privilege it was to even have a dad to call.
Not one of the Canning children could say that.
Luna’s conviction to avoid marriage . . . all three of them avoiding parenthood . . . it made sense.
What did that mean for him . . . if Luna did turn out to be more than a placeholder for someone else.
Just thinking that made him wince.
She wasn’t a placeholder.
He thought about her entirely too much for her to be that.
Even in the short time they’d known each other, he knew she was different. And isn’t that what everyone he knew said about their spouse. “This one is different.”
Tony flat out said he was going to marry Clarissa a week after they met.
Nate didn’t know what falling in love with a woman looked like.
Especially one who didn’t want what most people consider “normal” in terms of marriage.
But he did know that he didn’t want to miss out on the possibility of something great.
Something right in front of him and real versus something imagined.
There was an iconic line from a movie Luna had never seen, something about needing a bigger boat. Between the quote and two notes being played on a piano at just the right time, Jaws was reimagined and laughed at.
That line danced in Luna’s head as she and Miley stepped into Crystal and Clover looking for something more powerful than sage.
If someone led Luna into the store blindfolded, she’d be able to tell you what it was by scent alone. A mix of candles and incense . . . herbs and flowers made a unique perfume that instantly calmed her nerves.
A difficult task of late.
Brianna greeted them by name. “Luna, Miley, it’s been a while. How are you two?”
Luna lifted an eyebrow.
Miley glanced at Luna.
“Ohhh.”
“I want to know when the ‘butterfly’ stage is coming,” Luna told her.
“The what?”
“Jorden’s reading,” Miley explained. “Is she here?”
“She’s here,” the woman in question said as she emerged from the back of the store with a box in her hands.
After placing it behind the register, she turned her attention on them, looked at Luna, and lost her smile. “Oh, boy.”
“I’m starting to wonder if the butterfly you spoke of was really a moth born in a bug zapper.”
This time both Luna and Miley stepped into the quiet space where Jorden did her readings.
Jorden calmly picked up a deck, tapped on it, and set it down.
“This is cool,” Miley said, looking around the small room.
“I’m glad you like it.” Jorden lit a candle and then interlaced her fingers and set her arms on the table separating them.
“I’m not even sure where to begin,” Luna said.
Unlike the last time, Jorden pushed the deck in front of Luna.
Without being asked, Luna cut the deck, twice, and pushed them back to Jorden.
“Your energy has shifted,” Jorden told her.
“The old pain you said was coming . . . came.”
Jorden spread the cards in a line between them. “Who are they?”
“My mother.”
“Pick a card and turn it over.”
Jorden leaned forward. “Pick another.”
Two cards stared back at her.
“Judgment reversed . . . queen of cups also reversed. Your mother doesn’t take accountability, she doesn’t think she’s wrong. In addition to that she’s manipulative and uses emotions to control others. You.”
“Fuck,” Miley whispered.
“Pick another one.” Jorden had stopped smiling as extreme concentration marred her face.
Luna looked at the card in her hand. “Two of swords.” A battle? A fight? Lord knew she was fighting with her mom daily.
“You’re avoiding a choice that needs to be made.” Jorden tapped the cards again.
Luna picked another one.
“The tower . . .” Jorden blew out a breath.
“The death card and the devil get the bad rap, but the tower . . . There’s a big something coming.
Or more importantly, crashing and burning.
Something is going to shake up your world.
Even if you think you know what this is .
. . there will be something unexpected.”
Luna glanced at Miley.
“This is crazy,” Miley whispered.
Jorden tapped the deck again.
Luna picked a card.
“Eight of cups.”
Jorden smiled, tapped the deck again.
Luna kept pulling cards.
Jorden sat back, picked up the eight of cups. “Letting go of painful relationships is hard. When it’s a parent, it’s almost impossible. You want to see redemption, and maybe there is some, but you’re not going to find it in the same patterns. Your mother is toxic . . . yes?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“This . . . the six of swords. You’ll find a way to create emotional distance so you can heal. You can’t do this if you’re in the fight . . . in the trauma.” Jorden looked up. “But you already know this.”
Luna nodded. “Dealing with my mother when she lives half the country away is much easier.”
Jorden shook her head. “But you’re not ‘dealing with her’ then. You’re avoiding. You’re not growing. You have to face what is left when the tower falls. The only way over this is through.”
“No amount of sage is going to help,” Luna said softly.
Jorden smiled.
“What about this card?” Miley asked.
Jorden picked up the card . . . studied it.
“The three of swords here could mean heartbreak and betrayal, but coming at the end of the reading I think it means something else. The ripple effect. You have some deep-seated pain that shuts you down. You don’t come off as insecure, but deep inside there is a real fear of letting someone in. ”
“Do you mean romantically?” Miley asked.
Jorden looked at the card. Then Luna.
“Could be . . . maybe. Living a life in fear isn’t living. It’s existing.”
“That sounds like it came from a self-help book,” Luna said.
“No. My therapist said that. She’s not wrong.”
“You see a therapist?” Miley asked.
Jorden nodded. “I do. I find that there are two predominate histories of people who find themselves on this side of a tarot reading. The ones who grew up with it. Parents or a family member that nurtures this practice. Or they grew up with family that strictly prohibited anything but their own beliefs. I found tarot as a rebellion to my upbringing through my aunt. But once the door opened and my intuitive nature spilled out . . . it wasn’t going back in.
I could either embrace it or try and fight it, which I’m still working on. That’s where therapy has helped.”
“What does ‘embracing being an intuitive’ look like if not sitting in a dark room flipping cards?” Luna asked.
Jorden was silent for a moment. “The cards help you see. I’m only a conduit that makes you analyze your life.”
“You said something similar the last time we did this,” Luna said.
Jorden smiled. “Yeah, I have a good ten different ways I can say that. Psychics use these tools. Cards, crystals. That’s how they see. I see without them, and these just clarify.”
Luna leaned forward. “Do you see or sense something that the cards didn’t clarify?”
Jorden’s answer was instant. “I do, and it’s with both of you. Very intertwined. I sensed it the second I saw you today. But then you sat down and all I sensed was the chaos of your mother. There is definitely something else going on.”
“What is it?” Miley sounded as awestruck as Luna felt.
“There’s a woman. She has an old name, I want to say it’s Beatrice, but that isn’t right.
Mable? It’s a nickname. The name doesn’t matter.
She doesn’t have the energy of your mother,” Jorden said to Luna.
“Your mother’s energy is dark. This other energy is misunderstood.
Whoever she is, she’s trying to help. Maybe an aunt? ” Jorden asked.
“We don’t have an extended family. There was Nana, but she’s gone.”
“It’s not her.”
Miley grabbed Luna’s arm. “Ethel?”
“Yes!” Jorden cried out with a huge grin. “That’s the name. Who is she?”
Every hair on Luna’s arm prickled. “We’re pretty sure our house is haunted. We’ve nicknamed her Ethel.”
Jorden slowly lost her smile. “A ghost?” she asked.
“Yeah. My brother and sister swore there was one in the house, but until recently, Miley and I never saw anything to support that.”
“What happened?”
Miley’s nervous laugh filled the room. “No big deal, late in the evening . . . Ethel pulled a couple of pots and pans from a cupboard and left them in the middle of the kitchen floor. Made sure we heard it.”
“And yesterday she was slamming doors. Or one door,” Luna said. “Why do you look so worried?”
“Because I don’t want to see dead people. I’m not a medium. Borderline psychic, but not a medium,” Jorden insisted.
“Are you sure?” Miley asked. “We actually came in today to see if there was anything we could do to move Ethel along.”
“No. Don’t do that,” Jorden’s voice rose in warning. Like a person yelling “stop” before you walk into oncoming traffic.
“Why not? She’s freaking us out.”
Jorden ran both hands over her face, then looked between her fingers. “I don’t want to be a medium.”
“I’m not even sure I believe in mediums . . . but okay, let’s say you’re not one. Why shouldn’t we get rid of Ethel?” Luna asked again.
“She’s helping,” Jorden said.
“By scaring us?”
“Fight or flight . . . When you’re scared, you’re at the ready. She’s loud to get your attention so you’re ready . . . and I really hate that I know that.”
“Ready for what?”
Jorden pointed at the tower card. “Whatever this is.”
“Does Ethel know what this is?” Luna asked.
“I don’t know. I’m not a medium.”
That sounded more like a chant than a statement of fact. Like the little train going up the hill saying, “I think I can, I think I can . . .”
“Do all mediums see dead people?” Miley asked.
“No, but they do communicate with them.”
Luna reached across the table and placed a hand on Jorden’s arm. The distress in her face was palpable. “Can you fight being a medium? Is it a choice?”
Jorden shook her head. “That’s a floodgate I don’t want to open.”
“I suppose asking you to come to our house to clarify or rule out this medium thing is out of the question,” Miley said.
“Thank you for the opportunity, but I’m going to pass right now.”
“I’m sorry,” Luna said. “I didn’t mean to cause you so much stress.”
“You don’t need to apologize for what isn’t your fault.”
That didn’t make Luna feel any better.
“Watch for a pattern with Ethel. What’s happening when she lets you know she’s there. What immediately follows her presence.”
Luna scooted back her chair, Miley and Jorden followed her lead.
“Thank you, my non-medium, semi-psychic friend.”
Jorden hesitated at the door and then looked at them both. “Don’t let fear paralyze you.”