His Temporary Assistant

The snap-snap-snap of cards came through my earbuds as she laid them out.

“What spread are you doing?”

“A love spread.”

The way she emphasized love in 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 that boom-chica-wow-wow out of your system.”

“No one says that.”

“Doesn’t matter, you get the reason behind it. Besides, this spread says woowee on 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’t that bad.” 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 in Ghost.

“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 my chunky 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 Wines was 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.”

“Wow.”

“I know, right? I’m pretty much in love with the little pop up they had in town. The winery was more on the fringes of the town.” She righted the bottle and set it on the table. “We’ll have to take a trip. There’s a really cool crystal shop down the street.”

I grabbed the bottle. “Kinda crazy that you brought it over. I just ordered some of this for lunch.”