Page 44 of Here One Moment

“Single,” says Ethan.

“Star sign?” asks Luca.

“Libra,” says Ethan.

“Ah, Libra.” Luca shakes his head and chuckles.

What’s so funny about Libra?

Luca has his hand across his mouth. He rubs his nose with his thumb, removes another card from the deck, places it down, and says, as if that’s just what he expected, “Yup.”

Without looking up, he says, “There’s someone. Someone you see often. A work colleague? A friend in your circle? There is someone you would like to be more than a friend.”

“Yes,” says Ethan, and he finds he has to force himself to stop talking. This guy relies on people’s natural desire to converse.

“Yes, yes. That’s right. Someone physically close. But it’s complicated. If you tell her how you feel it could jeopardize the friendship.”

“Yes,” says Ethan. “I don’t know if she even…thinks of me thatway.”

He hears himself speaking humbly and respectfully, as if he’s at the doctor. He’s fascinated by his own collusion with the process.

“Exactly. You can’t tell. Does she like you only as a friend or is there a possibility for something more? But listen—” Luca taps a card. “Good news: Knight of Cups. Love is coming into your life in the future. By September, October at the latest.”

“With her?”

“It could be with her, it could be with someone else, it could be a friend of hers.”

Ethan inwardly rolls his eyes. He’s out. It’s the sort of thing Ethan’s grandmother says for free: Be patient, the right girl is out there somewhere, Ethan, I just know it!

“It’s going to happen soon. Very soon. Make sure you open your heart.”

“Right,” says Ethan, as Luca pulls out another card with a macabrely cheerful image of a skeleton riding a white horse. It says baldly: DEATH.

Ethan remembers why he’s here: for a second opinion. “What about that one? Does that mean I’m going to die?”

Luca looks up. “The death card is more likely to mean a period of transition. It could mean an ending. Or a beginning.”

Ethan sighs. The guy is covering all bases. He may as well just tell him straight. “It’s just that a psychic on a plane told me I was going to die soon.”

Luca raises an eyebrow. “Psychic on a plane! Makes me think of that movie. What is it?” He snaps his fingers. “Snakes on a Plane.” He chuckles again. “Hilarious.”

“Ha ha.”

“Do you have any health challenges?” asks Luca.

“No,” says Ethan. “She said I would die in a fight.”

Luca scrutinizes Ethan. Is he checking out his physique? Ethan subtly flexes his muscles the way he did in school photos.

Luca says, “You don’t have the aura of someone who gets in fights very often.”

It never worked in the school photos either. “So you think she’s wrong?”

“I don’t believe anything is preordained,” says Luca.

“You don’t?” What is the actual point of you, then? “You don’t believe in fate?”

“To a degree, but I can’t say: ‘This is definitely your future.’ Why? Because the moment I do, you change your behavior. You’re no longer the same person you were a moment before. See the logic? So—all I can do is interpret the cards to help you see possible paths.”

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