“So you can make fun of me more after yesterday?”
“I would never do that.” He sounded so sincere that the edge of her anger melted.
Adrienne sat down across from him, feeling nervous being alone with him. She feared learning what he thought of her after yesterday.
“How does this work?” he asked, glancing at the cards.
“Well,” she paused, face growing warm. Would he think she was silly or stupid? “You take the cards and they absorb your energy. Just shuffle them around.” She pushed them towards him. “Think about something you want to know while you do it.”
“Like the future?”
“More like a question or a particular problem or circumstance.”
He was quiet, thoughtful, as he shifted and shuffled the cards. “Okay. Do I tell you?”
“You don’t have to.” She watched him for a moment then patted the table. “Set them cards down.”
He did.
Her heart was beating quickly at the thought of him deciding she was too backwards or superstitious.
Adrienne laid out six cards and studied them, concentrating hard. She wanted to make this good for him.
“This is you,” she said, pointing to the familiar Devil. “I um, pulled your card earlier this week and when Tara came here last weekend. I didn’t know it was you at the time.”
“The devil?” his eyes widened. “Wow.”
“It ain’t bad,” she told him. “Well, I mean, it ain’t like you’re a demon. It means you’re trapped. Or maybe you feel trapped.” She shook her head. “I’m sick of this card.”
“Which one?”
She pointed to the Ace of Cups. “It keeps popping, but I don’t know why.”
“What does it mean?”
“A connection to the past. But like, it means there’s something in your past that is stickin’ with you.”
At his silence, she glanced up.
Jayden was staring at her. He shifted and leaned forward in interest.
Her brow furrowed. “That means something to you?”
“Maybe. What else?”
“I’ll explain them then put them together into a story,” she said. “This one indicates you’re afraid of yourself or at least, of letting who you are shine through. This one, that you must not fear change. This one …” She flushed. “… could indicate that you fall too quickly in love or um, don’t think twice before making a decision that backfires on you.” She rushed on. “This is strange. It shows that you um, have a duality of heart. You fall for two women?” She eyed him.
Jayden met her gaze then laughed. “No. Definitely not me. I don’t need any woman right now.”
“Oh.” The words hit her hard.
“I mean, I don’t mean that like that … not about you,” he stumbled. “Anyway, what story does it tell?”
Wounded, she nonetheless studied the cards. The sense of danger lingered around his cards.
“This one means there’s hope,” she said. “You, the man trapped by his past, will make a hasty decision that backfires on you, possibly about the women in your life. But that there’s a chance for you to redeem yourself, if you’re brave enough to make a choice that takes you out of your comfort zone.”
Jayden was quiet.
“Did you ask about um, romance?” she asked him.
“No,” he said then laughed. “I asked what was going to happen next week.” He shrugged. “I didn’t know what to ask. This really means I’m trapped by my past?” He touched the two cards.
“It means you might feel that way, yes. Do you?”
“Actually, yeah. I don’t know about the rest of it, but that part is true.”
“Why?”
“Long story. Not a good one.” He studied her then fingered the dog tags at his neck. “Tara said you want to drop out of school.”
Adrienne ducked her head. “I can’t go back.”
“You have to. Emma needs a friend.”
“I messed that up, too. I make a mess of everything.” She saddened to think of Emma eating lunch alone.
“That’s totally not true.”
“I stood her up Friday to eat with y’all.” Adrienne’s face flushed, this time in anger. “I knew I should’ve sat with her but I didn’t. I thought … I thought Kimmie and you and everyone else were my friends.”
“I am. Or, I want to be,” he said. “Kimmie is a lost cause. You can’t let one stupid person run you out of school.”
“One stupid person. Hmm. How about the half a dozen people who knew what she was fixin’ to do and didn’t tell me?”
“You have every right to be mad. It’s cool. I get it.” Jayden cleared his throat. “Don’t let her … or I guess, us, be the reason you don’t come back. I’ve heard you sing, Adrienne. You deserve that chance to break into the industry. I know you can do it.”
“I can’t keep up with the classes and I have no singing voice. They’ll kick me out soon anyway,” she said miserably.
“Then I’ll help you with class.”
Just thinking of her embarrassment in front of the whole school made her want to run away to New Orleans.
“Think about it?” he prodded. “What do your cards say?”
She said nothing for a long moment. “They say I need to be here, but that there’s danger here, too.”
“Worse than Kimmie?”
“A lot worse.”
“Take these.” Jayden pulled off the dog tags he wore around his neck. “My grandmama put a protective spell on them to keep me safe.”
Her eyes flew up to his. “I thought you didn’t believe in that stuff.”
“I don’t. Not really,” he said with a shrug. “But Tara said you do, and your card trick kinda has me wondering. If these help you stay, then I’ll believe they’re magical.”
Adrienne’s determination to keep her distance began to crumble. She took the dog tags carefully. They were faded and warm from time, but she was able to read the name stamped on them.
“Jayden, I can’t take them.”
“They’re yours. If you decide to go back to Georgia, then maybe you can remember me when you look at them. If you want to remember me,” he rushed on with a sloppy smile.
“You’re serious?” she asked, searching his gaze. “You want me to have them?”
“Yeah.” He took it out of her hands then stood and leaned to drape the ball chain over her neck. “They’re almost a hundred years old. They’ve gotta be good luck to make it that long, right?”
She chewed on her lower lip, not wanting to smile. It tugged free, and she nodded, touched by his thoughtfulness.
“Thank you, Jayden,” she murmured.
“You’re welcome. Adrienne,” he paused, visibly struggling with the words. “I want a second chance with you.”
She gazed at him longingly, wanting to believe him and the idea they had a chance.
“There’s an issue, though. I’m not sure how to deal with it.”
“Issue?” she asked, thoughts on her daddy’s run down apartment and the dog tags.
“Not with you,” he said quickly. “My family. Your cards … they kinda hit home. I need to think about something.”
“They want to cut off my other ear?” she half-joked, blood racing as she tried to interpret what he was saying. Did he want to see her again or not? Were the dog tags a farewell gift or a gift to someone he hoped would become more than friends?
“No, nothing like that.” His gaze was distant. “Can I ask you to be patient with me, until I figure this out?”
“Patient? What do you mean?” Her thoughts went to the cards that said there was someone else in his near future, someone he might love.
“I guess I mean, I want a second chance with you. More than anything else in my life.” He frowned. “I have to figure out something first.”
“Stop being so vague!” she said, sighing. “You either like me or you don’t!”
Jayden laughed. “I do. I know I do.” The intensity of his gaze made her face warm.