Page 77 of The Reading

“I never said anything about holiday voodoo,” I corrected. “I said that the holidays have something to do with it.”

The man shook his head. “And if that weren’t enough, your plan to find your soulmate is insane.”

“It is not,” I argued, hugging the clipboard to my chest. “It’s perfectly reasonable.”

His eyes started blinking rapidly. It was like he was trying to erase the craziness from his head. “No,” he finally said. “It’s not.”

“Carter-”

“Your plan is to randomly kiss our regular customers until one of them turns into a prince from a drunken frog, Alessa,” he summarized. “Trust me when I tell you that your soulmate isnotone of our regular customers. I mean, do you honestly believe that your soulmate is a drunk?”

Unfortunately for me, it was a very good possibility.

“Hey, that’s not fair,” I shot back. “You’re judging the very same people that you make a living off of.”

“I’m not judging them,” he denied. “I’m all for whatever a person has to do in order to get through the day, and if it’s alcohol, more power to them. I’m judging your crazy plan.”

The only problem with Madam Brousseau’s prediction was that the only men in my life were the patrons of Drops of Heaven. A bartender for five years, this was where I met new people. While I had more than enough friends in the girls, apart from my father, Jansen Ainsley was the only genuine man in my life, and he was super off-limits. It wasn’t that he was Chanel’sbrother more so that he was a career marine and never in the country.

As for my coworkers, they were either married, not ready for monogamy, or had fallen into that friend/brother zone. We all got along well, and Carter did his best to cultivate a family atmosphere because he didn’t want his employees all screwing each other, causing drama in his bar.

“I know it might sound crazy, but it’s not,” I insisted. “Madam Brousseau predicted that we all knew our soulmates, and that we’d find them if we just opened our eyes a little. Well, all the girls have found their soulmates already, so it’s my turn.”

Carter set the bottle of rum back on the shelf before setting his hands on his hips and eyeing me. “But you don’t know that to be true, Alessa,” he said. “Anyone of those relationships can break up at any time.”

I gasped.

“Are you freakin’ kidding me?” I cried out. “Why would you try to jinx them like that?”

Carter let out a deep breath. “I’m not trying to jinx anyone, Alessa,” he denied. “I’m just trying to point out that all your friends’ relationships are new. It’s too soon to label them as soulmates.”

“Have you ever been in love?” I challenged.

“No,” he admitted.

“Then you don’t know-”

“But I don’t have to have been in love to know that shit happens, Alessa,” he said, continuing to rain on my true love parade. “And your plan is insane.”

“It’s not,” I denied again. “Our regular customers are the only men that I know that are already in my life, and Madam Brousseau said-”

“She’s a Las Vegas psychic palm reader, Al,” he drawled out like he was talking to someone that was slow in the head. Throwing his arms out at his sides, he added, “And you guys were drunk as fuck and didn’t even pay her, according to you.”

“Why are you trying to ruin this for me?” I grumbled. “You act like I’m going to…to shark dive naked.”

Carter ran his hands down his face. “Jesus Christ,” he mumbled.

“There’s nothing wrong with a New Year’s Eve midnight kiss,” I insisted.

“There is if they all turn out to be drunken frogs,” he retorted.

Unfortunately, there was that.

*****

Carter~

Alessa Rule was a thirty-one-year-old nutjob. She was also the bane of my existence. With platinum blonde hair, light grey eyes, a doll-like face, and a thin, petite, pixie-like body, Alessa was easily the most beautiful thing that I’d ever seen.

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