Page 293 of Small Town Firsts
“Whenever you think you don’t, you really do.”
I nibbled on the corner of my thumbnail. “We have podcast stuff.”
“It can wait.” Luna was a bridge shuffler so all I could hear was the snap and riffle of cards as she did her usual routine. I could see her in my head. Sitting cross-legged on her massive pink floor pillow, her short table in front of her.
Thesnap-snap-snapof cards came through my earbuds as she laid them out.
“What spread are you doing?”
“A love spread.”
The way she emphasizedlovein a singsong voice made my thighs clench. “We are not involved that way.”
“Not yet.”
Damn these super good AirPods. I could hear every card she set down. How big was the stupid spread? “Not ever. He’s my boss.”
“Yeah, for a week.”
“And then I’ll never see him again.”
“Best time to get thatboom-chica-wow-wowout of your system.”
“No one says that.”
“Doesn’t matter, you get the reason behind it. Besides, this spread sayswooweeon fire, girl.”
I reached for my wine and took a fortifying sip. “What? Why?”
I heard rustling. “Okay, I’m coming over. This is just too much to do here on the phone.”
“You don’t have to do that.” I tapped my AirPod. “Luna?” I went over to my phone, and yep, she was gone.
My stomach rumbled its displeasure from no food. I’d gotten a few bites of my steak lunch before Pig Shaw came over and ruined my appetite, and the few bites of cheese I’d had upon arriving home hadn’t done much.
Foraging in my fridge was close to fruitless. In the end, I went with more wine and a pair of Pop Tarts with a bag of Boom Chicka Pop for when Luna arrived.
I dumped a bunch of the sea salt caramel popcorn in one of my reusable bags and downed my Pop Tarts like a starving woman using wine as a chaser. There was a knock just as I was wiping down my table.
“Since when don’t you just walk in?” I opened the door to find Luna with two huge bags in her arms and her crossbody boho bag stuffed to the gills. “My day wasn’tthatbad.” I grabbed one of the bags.
“Cards say otherwise. And your freaking glowing aura. Girl, you are in trouble.”
“Isn’t it ‘you’re in danger, girl’?”I parroted the way Whoopi Goldberg said it inGhost.
“I don’t think spirits are coming for your soul.” She gave me a once-over. “I hope.”
“Oh, stop.”
Luna smiled hugely and put down her bags before enveloping me in one of her bear hugs, which pretty much put her face in my boobs. “Goddess, you smell good.”
“Thanks.” I’d doused myself in one of my essential oil blends to try to get myself out of my funk. It wasn’t working. Even mychunky amethyst pendant couldn’t get rid of this bitchy mood. Maybe I should invest in a black tourmaline suit.
She slung her huge bag off her back and unearthed a few pouches of crystals along with her wand. Then she pulled out her decks and a bottle of wine.
“I have wine.”
She shrugged. “I wanted to try this new one. It’s a witchy wine maker from Luna Falls. I mean, the town has my name. I had to try it.” She lifted the bottle.Apothecary Wineswas in a hand-drawn font scrawled over the front with an ink drawing of a pretty cove and waterfall with a full moon above it. She tipped the bottle upside down. “It has amethyst and clear quartz blown into the glass.”
