Chapter 19 Sam

A nd lunch is on me next time, I mocked myself in my head. He gave me one fucking compliment about my work, and suddenly, I'm Suzy-Flirts-A-Lot.

But the beep-y gun!

Admittedly, the barcode scanner thing was maybe my favorite gift since my Barbie motorhome in second grade. It'd become a witchy Barbie motorhome, but that just made it even better. I tried to meditate because I'd been slacking on my homework, but I couldn't reach a Zen space. I just kept replaying the epic abandonment of my boundaries.

I plugged in the scanner as soon as he left and started printing out barcodes on the little sticker-printer. This was like a real twenty-first-century business.

Amazing .

I was dying for a customer to buy something I'd already stuck a barcode on just so I could scan it. They didn't, but the shop was busier than usual that afternoon, thanks to tourists arriving for the upcoming Golden Harvest Festival. I'd suggested to Zin that we get a booth space at the fair rather than relying on customers to make their way to the shop. Thankfully, whoever oversaw renting out booths owed Zin a favor and got us a prime spot, even though the event was less than two weeks away. I didn't ask about the favor. I spent the rest of the afternoon pulling likely-to-sell items for the booth—sparkly crystals, wire-wrapped jewelry, spell candles. I only wondered if I could take the beep-y gun with me to the fair.

"DEAR, HAVE YOU EVEN set up an altar since you've been here?" Zin asked abruptly at dinner that night.

"Not yet. I need to figure out where to put it."

"On the altar table I got for you. Obviously."

I looked up at her quizzically, and she disappeared into the living room for a moment. When she came back, she was carrying a long, thin wooden table.

"Handmade using locally sourced oak. It should fit nicely at the foot of the bed."

She set it on the counter so I could look more closely. The warm wood had an energy that grounded me immediately.

"This is gorgeous. Are you sure you don't want it for yourself?"

"My altar table was handmade by my Linden, so I've no need for a new one. This one's for you."

It was smooth beneath my fingertips as I ran them along the top. I was already picturing which crystals and candles I wanted to set out for the equinox.

"Well, thank you so much. You do too much for me."

"Hmmmm. Well then, you can do something for me."

"What's that?" I asked warily.

"Tell me how your meeting went earlier." She innocently sipped her glass of wine, and I narrowed my eyes.

"It was fine." I sipped my wine right back at her.

We sat in silence for a full minute, and my jaw got tighter.

"He brought me lunch. And a present. And it wasn't a horrible meeting. He liked the logos."

"Well, at least we know he has some degree of intelligence. The logos were excellent. What kind of present?"

I launched into a monologue about the scanning gun, and my aunt didn't even try to hide her smugness.

"I blame most of this on you and your little tarot scheme from the other night. It is absolutely your fault I'm all in my head about him. Again. And only a little tiny bit my fault for forgetting to block out his energy during this meeting. And maybe the previous one too."

"Oh, honestly , Samantha."

"What?! It happens!"

"Does it? Would you forget to shield yourself if your mother walked into the shop unexpectedly?" She smiled her smug smile again.

"I don't know why you would even put that scenario out into the universe, frankly."

"Would you ‘forget'?"

" No ."

Only a satisfied "Hmm" came from Zinnia after that. She loved my mother, but their relationship was not the same as ours. My grandmother, Zinnia's sister Dahlia, had died only months after I was born. Zinnia took on the role of grandmother from that point forward, saying she knew her sister would never forgive her if I wasn't absolutely spoiled at every moment. My mother loved Aunt Zin for it, but the two didn't see eye to eye on everything.

"You're incorrigible, by the way. I thought you were going to be helping me move through the detours and get where I'm supposed to be going, not pulling me off on side quests to see the nation's biggest ball of yarn or something! Jesse is a very complicated ball of yarn. Full of knots. I don't have time for that."

"It's possible, dear, that you and I have different ideas about what makes up a detour and what does not."

With that, she cleared her place at the table, said goodnight, and left me sitting in the kitchen, my head filling with very confused thoughts about Jesse and yarn and road trips.

I KNOCKED TWICE WITH the little bumble bee knocker on the front door of Lauren's townhouse. I felt bad I hadn't been there other than to drop her off; I'd been making her come to Zin's for weeks.

"Hello, and welcome to my not-at-all-humble-abode," she answered, swinging the door wide open.

Her hair was in the highest ponytail imaginable, and she was wearing what looked to be a Rainbow Bright nightgown altered into a mini-dress with bright red tights underneath.

"Can you just be my personal stylist? Hair, clothes, living space, whatever? How much does that cost?"

I was certain my mouth was hanging open while looking around her space. It was so full of color that it should have been overwhelming, but it just made me happy instead. A bright blue wall against an orange velvet sofa and a pink tufted chair with more house plants than I could count filled the living room.

"You absolutely could not afford me. Luckily, you get my best friend rate, which is free. So, we'll shop soon." A smile lit up her face as she set down a comically large tray full of snacks down on the coffee table.

"You're my favorite."

"I know. Speaking of being ridiculously talented, Jesse sent me the final logo plus the images of the new bags and signs he's ordering with them, and they look ah-mazing. I wonder who had the idea for such a fantastic partnership?" She blinked her big eyes at me and took a sip of her rosé.

"You're less of my favorite when you gloat." This only made her grin bigger.

"That's okay. I might be your least favorite in a second when I tell you that you're coming with Jesse and me to The Bar on Friday. The two of you should be comfy cozy now, so we can hang out."

"That sounds like a hard pass, but thanks so much for the invite." I sipped my wine and glared at her over the top of my glass, wondering how one tiny woman could cause such chaos.

"You're so silly. It isn't an invitation; it's a demand. Friday about five. We'll shop for something cute tomorrow when I'm off."

"Mmmmmm. I'm working tomorrow."

"You won't be when I text Zin and tell her you need a cute outfit to wear out. So, what movie are we watching tonight? Your expression is suggesting Drive Me Crazy or 10 Things I Hate About You . Both classics, excellent choices, Sam."

She could hardly even contain her giggles at how amusing she found herself. And it was even more annoying because she was right, and Zin would forbid me from coming to work if Lauren texted her.

" Drive Me Crazy feels very appropriate right now." I sighed in defeat while she started the movie even though there were a few sparkles floating around in my chest at the thought of buying something pretty and going out with Jesse.

Going out with Lauren where Jesse will also happen to be present.

It would be really fucking helpful to my stupid Cancer Venus if he would stop calling everything a date. I'd all but completely given up my grudge, and that never ever ever happened. I was a seasoned grudge-holder. A black belt. A sensei. I could hold it for.ev.er. But Jesse Garrett and his stupid funny marketing t-shirts and the beep-y scanner gun and the forearm tattoos and the therapy. Never in any stretch of my imagination would I have said that a man going to therapy was a turn on but damn it .

I was so very screwed.