Page 41 of When Cardinals Appear

“Oh my! Steven told me about her.” She lowered her voice. “Isn’t she a witch?”

“She’s not, well—“ Cassandra had never confirmed or denied her witchy reputation. Not that it really mattered. I waved my hand. “Anyway, she told me legend says cardinals are visitors from heaven.”

“Visitors from... Wait, do you think your mom was reincarnated as a bird?” Rose asked incredulously as she signaled to the server to bring another round.

“Not exactly,” I hedged. I wasn’t explaining things very well. “Cassandra says they represent a deceased loved one who’s trying to make contact.”

“All right. Let’s say I buy this. What does your mom want to contact you about?” Rose asked. “This isn’t Casper. She doesn’t have any unfinished business that I’m aware of.”

I threw back my head and laughed. “Wow, what a reference.”

“I was a Devon Sawa fan back in the day,” Rose said with a wink. “What do you think your mom wants, though?”

“The thing is,” I continued, stirring what was left of my drink and struggling to find the right words. “The cardinal tends to show up right before I run into Nate.”

“Oh? Did you see it today?”

“I think I saw it briefly this morning, but things were hectic, and I wasn’t really paying attention.”

Rose swallowed the last of her drink in silence as she digested everything I’d said. I silently pleaded with her to understand and not dismiss me as crazy. It mattered in that moment that someone believed me. I needed someone else to understand what I was going through.

“But... didn’t your mom hate Nate?” Rose finally asked after the server had set down our drinks and removed the empty glasses.

“She did,” I replied, and I couldn’t hide the pain in my voice. “I never fully understood why other than that she and my dad were also high school sweethearts and she seemed to see my dad in him, but that’s the part that doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe she’s warning you away from him?”

“It doesn’t feel that way,” I admitted. “And Cassandra suggested my mom might have had regrets.”

“Ah, so she does have unfinished business, just like Casper,” Rose quipped with a grin.

I snorted. “I suppose that’s one way of looking at it.”

“And how do you feel about Nate?”

I squirmed under Rose’s scrutiny. “I, well—“ But I was cut off by the sudden appearance of the man in question.

“Hello, Lanie.” His voice, low and deep, sent my heart careening into overdrive.

“Fancy meeting you here,” I replied, pulling my lips into an easy smile, which faltered when I met his gaze. His eyes were filled with that same fire from the other night.

“Would you like to join us?” Rose asked innocently as I shot her a death glare.

Nate didn’t move, his eyes locked on me. Unsure what else to do, I scooted over on the booth’s bench and patted the spot beside me. His slow smile caused another wave of heat to sweep over my face.

“Are you planning to do karaoke?” Rose directed her question at Nate while I resisted the urge to kick her under the table.

“I’m not much of a singer,” Nate said with a chuckle. He turned his dark-brown eyes back to me. “But I wouldn’t object to hearing you sing.”

“Oh, I don’t think so.” I shook my head vehemently. “I don’t sing in front of strangers.” Or exes.

“You sang at your mother’s funeral,” Rose pointed out.

“That was different,” I murmured, breathing deeply through the sudden pang of sadness at the memory. Nate gently laid a hand on mine, a move that didn’t go unnoticed by Rose.

“It was a beautiful song,” Nate told her, his voice sincere.

“I think you should sing, Lanie,” Rose insisted.

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