Two

Sage was almost as thrilled about Genevieve needing to use the washer and dryer as he was about being asked to work. She’d had to spend the evening playing mediator as she ran clothes through the wash. Sorting clothes would have made it all take longer so she just threw them all in together and hoped everything she had had been washed often enough it wouldn’t make a difference.

By the time Sage stalked off to bed and Brandon huffed off to his apartment she was beyond exhausted. The clean clothes went into the basket and got mashed down to make room for the rest. When the last load came out of the dryer the basket was overflowing and she let herself fall into a deep dreamless sleep. 

The sofa was bumped in the morning and she woke up to Sage staring down at her with annoyance. “If you weren’t going to fold them why did you even bother washing them?”

“Dirty and unfolded are different.” Genevieve rubbed her face blearily. “Good morning to you too.”

“You’re sure you’re good to work this morning?”

“Brandon won’t be ready to shop until the afternoon anyway.”

“If you’re sure, I’ll be by after lunch. I had things to get done today. I don’t mean to be a dick about it.” Without Brandon to antagonize him he was much more apologetic, offering her a cup of coffee and a cigarette for breakfast.

“No, I completely understand. You know how he is, his heart’s in the right place but he can’t seem to help but go about things in the worst way possible.” 

Sage smiled and nodded at that and they sat quietly enjoying ‘breakfast’. The coffee was noticeably bitter, even to her taste buds, and the cigarette was vaguely minty. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d had a menthol cigarette. Smoking it slowly to keep from hacking up a lung, she enjoyed the taste and the way it felt to have something she’d been flatly forbidden for such a long time.

Genevieve loaded her clothes in the back of the car and went early so she could look for the necklace. There was no sign of it on the ground and it wasn’t hung on the fence. As tired and stressed as she’d been feeling, not being able to find it sent her into tears.  

She angrily rubbed at her eyes. “Pull your s**t together.”

“Have you eaten?” Remi had crept up from behind her.

“No. Breakfast at Sage’s is coffee and a cigarette, and in the stress of dealing with Brandon and Sage arguing last night I didn’t get dinner.” The tears were not stopping and it was a struggle to keep the hiccuping sobs that were trying to force their way out as she talked suppressed. He tried to help her up and she waved him away. Closing her eyes she took a deep breath. “I have to open.” 

“You need to eat.” Remi sounded agitated. 

Another good deep breath. “Remi, I can’t deal with my own upset right now, yours on top of it is too much.” 

She felt it more than heard it as he walked away. After a moment she got up and went in to open washing her face before unlocking the front door. Remi came in with a huge bag of food from the diner further into town not long after.

“Eat.” He pointed back toward the tarot table. Genevieve blinked at his grim expression. Eating was apparently not optional.

“I’m supposed to be working.”

“You were supposed to be shopping. And not alone.” Remi was trying to hold onto his calm.

“Sage wasn’t happy about being asked to work on his day off. I volunteered since Brandon won’t be up to do anything until the afternoon.” She sat and let him unpack the bag laying the closed styrofoam containers out in front of her and a set of plastic utensils.

“I don’t like it when you’re hurt and unhappy. I wish I hadn’t frightened you.” He sat heavily in the chair opposite her. “Eat.”

“All of it?” Genevieve covered her mouth trying to hide her nervous smile.

“As much as you can. I’ll take the leftovers home for you.”

She huffed a laugh and shook her head. Opening a box she found an omelet and looked at him doubtfully. “What’s in it?”

“It’s a Denver omelet.” He shrugged. 

“You can keep that one. Thanks though.” Genevieve closed the box and handed it to him. The other boxes were more promising. Fried potatoes, pancakes, bacon and sausage. The syrup to pour over them would have been great but she rolled the bacon and sausage in the pancakes and put a dent in them. She almost choked trying to swallow her food when the bells rang at the front letting her know someone had come in. No napkins.

“One moment please.” Remi called to the front, shooing her to wash her hands.

Rushing up to the front with clean hands and a wiped face she found him leaning against the counter with a smile talking to another one of the werewolves. This one looked and felt like he owned the place. She came to the counter and looked at Remi uncertainly.

“I’m told you enjoyed the breakfast.” He smiled warmly.

“I did. Thanks.” 

“That was Remi. He was beside himself that you hadn’t been fed. You don’t have much at your house either, I’m told.” 

“It was very sweet of him.” She smiled and then winced at the way he beamed. “I’m going to guess you’re responsible for the nice neighbors that impressed Brandon last night?”

He gave a nod, his smile fading slightly. “He was supposed to take you shopping today.”

“He will, he’s not an early riser. Before noon is early in his book.” Genevieve shrugged. “Sage promised to come by after lunch to take over the shift.”

“I hope it’s been made clear that you are welcome to stay as long as you behave yourself.” His piercing look made her take a half step back.

“I’m not planning to misbehave.” Her stomach roiled and she shuddered.

“Don’t be so nervous. I’m not going to harm the mate of one of my pack.” He looked at her almost regretfully.

It took a moment for the words to register. “M-uh, um, what?”

“She doesn’t understand yet.” He glanced at Remi.

“No. She’s afraid. Genevieve hasn’t been well treated by men. Will you tell,” he hesitated slightly, “Mr. Germain how you lost your sense of smell?”

“Concussion. I don’t like talking about it.” She crossed her arms and took a step back against the wall.

Remi pressed her with a frown. “Brandon said someone cracked your skull because dinner was late?”

Brandon and his big f*****g mouth. She chewed on her upper lip with her bottom teeth, staring down at the dust bunnies on the floor peeking out from under the hollow bottom edge of the counter.

“Is that someone going to be coming looking for you?” Mr. Germain asked quietly.

She shuddered and shook her head. “He’s in jail. When he gets out he’s not supposed to come looking for me. The last one might. I tried to make sure he wouldn’t, though. He doesn’t know where I went and I left him everything but some pots and pans and utensils I brought into the relationship with me. I even left the clothes he bought me and only took my old ones he made me keep in trash bags in storage.”

Remi came around the counter and tried to touch her. She flinched away, almost cracking her head on a shelf.

“No one will hurt you.” The bigger man made a gesture and Remi returned to the other side of the counter. Genevieve kept her eyes glued to the floor. “You didn’t put any hexes on them or…” 

That made her look up. “No. I don’t do that. I stick to clearing things, working with crystals and energy, trying to help. Bad attracts worse. I don’t know why I keep attracting these people but it’s not something I’m doing and I’m not trying to find worse.”

“Did someone put one on you?” He looked at her intently.

“Not that I can tell.” She reached for her necklace. “I had a necklace that helped keep me grounded and protected but it’s gone now. I can’t find it.”

“It’s being repaired.” Mr. Germain looked at her curiously. “You do tarot?”

Hesitantly nodding, Genevieve chewed on her upper lip for a second before speaking, “I have to clear my deck from yesterday if you want a reading.”

“How long does that take?”

She tilted her head and walked back to get one of the thicker smudge sticks Sage had made. Doing something she was comfortable with was always a good way to calm down. The box she’d put her cards back into had flat pieces of quartz lining the sides. Genevieve shook it all out on the table that Remi had hastily cleared. Putting the smudge stick on a ceramic plate and lighting it she washed her hands in the smoke. Sitting she began sorting her cards, once they were in order she washed them in the smoke as well, and then the quartz and cloth and finally the inside of the box before laying the crystals back into it. 

The big man had waited, patiently watching. With a tentative smile she gestured at the seat.

“Do you have questions you want to ask me or just see what I’m given?”

“Let’s see what you’re given.” He smiled indulgently as she shuffled her cards. 

“Touch the cards?” She spread them out and made a gesture like running her hand over them.

He brushed his fingers over them. Good enough.

Genevieve swept them up and began.

The Tower. She exhaled. “Disruption, tragedy. Things are not as they should be.” The Empress. Pausing, she stared at the card. “The solution is to find her, you need harmony. A light in the dark.” 

The Moon. “Something was not what it seemed. Worry, misunderstanding.” She shook her head. “Confusion.” The Queen of Pentacles. “A woman is going to give you some very practical advice. The Queen of Pentacles is a card about family traditions, pragmatism, and money.” Tapping the card, she suggested, “Financial planning.”

Above, Temperance. “You are working toward balance, a partnership.” Below, the Eight of Cups. “You have stability and security, but no fulfillment… what you have has come at a personal cost and you feel it. The idea of sacrificing stability for happiness…” 

She laid the next four quickly. Six of cups, the Page of Swords, The Hanged Man, The World. Genevieve lay a second next to The Hanged Man, the Knight of Swords. “Well.” She looked them over for a moment. 

“What do they mean?” He was almost glaring at her.

“The advice to you,” she touched the six, “is to refer back to labors of love. Making friends, strengthening relationships with old friends, they’ll bear fruit.” Moving her hand she touched the Page. “From outside something is going to happen. News, or some kind of tumultuous situation that will require you to be quick on your feet and adapt. This will affect the outcome.” 

Touching The Hanged Man and the Knight at once she shook her head. “This is your hopes or fears. There is upheaval, the old must die to create the new. Permanent things, things beyond your control. Zealotry, turbulence.” She pulled her hand back. “I don’t like the combination, the things you're afraid of are… they feel potent, close. But. The outcome is breathtaking. A huge shift. The fulfillment of a wish.”

Genevieve looked at him and saw the sadness and longing. “I hope you find her.”

He smiled wryly. “Where should I be looking?”

Touching the Queen of Pentacles she asked, “How many bankers do you know?” Touching the Six of Cups, “Or people who know people who do a lot with financial planning or financial work in general?”

The bells on the door rang. “Vivi?”

“Back here!” With a smile she asked, “Is it after noon already?”

“Not quite, no.” Both of the men were looking at her cards with interest.

Brandon came back looking worried, relaxing once he saw her at the table with the cards. “So that’s why it smells like you burned an entire sage stick.” 

“I think I did, yes. I had to clear my deck, which, I may need to do again. People with strong energy tend to clog it up.”

“I have strong energy?” Mr. Germain asked with a smile.

Tilting her head and blinking at him, she nodded, “Yes. You fill a room.”

The man began to laugh.