His Temporary Assistant

“I know, since I was the one to give you that tomato plant. I gave you a card with instructions, and still, it was brown and withered within weeks.”

“I’m too busy to—”

“Live,” she said quietly. “You’re not living, baby, and I don’t want that for you. Anything but that.”

I turned back to the window. There was a crow—raven?—perched on a high branch of a tree across the street, staring at me. Judging me with its beady little eyes.

Everyone was judging. Worse, they had every right to.

Okay, probably not the bird. He didn’t know my struggle.

“Did you think I need a lecture today?”

“Yes. I’ve thought you needed one for a while. And it’s not a lecture. It’s advice from someone who loves you and doesn’t want you to waste the beauty inside you.”

I couldn’t even laugh. I tried to, but the sound got stuck somewhere between my chest and my throat.

Her cup rattled in the saucer as she set them down on my desk. A moment later, she stepped up beside me and laid her hand on my lower back, rubbing gently. “She was reading your tarot cards when I arrived.”

“Mine?”

“Yes. She said you were full of tower energy.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“You’re on the edge, Preston. A step forward can take you into the abyss. Or you can fly.”

Leave it to me to have a mother who liked to attend psychic fairs. She probably saw Ryan as a kindred spirit.

Hell, maybe she was.

“That sounds like a bunch of crap.”

“Definitely tower energy,” she affirmed. “Change is all around you. You were never meant to live in stasis. If you won’t make the choice, the universe will make it for you.”

“I’m supposed to believe she told you all this within a moment of meeting you?”

“Oh, no,” my mother said cheerfully, returning to the desk to retrieve her tea. “We chatted for a good hour.”

If I’d been drinking something, I would have sputtered it out. “During work hours?”

“Spiritual work is far more important than piddly tasks.” She waved her ringed fingers before lifting her tea for a sip. “This rose hibiscus is very good.”

“I didn’t put that there.”

“No, Ryan did. She said she replenished the tea because it was running low. She’s quite a find, isn’t she?”

I grunted. I could sense where this was going, and I did not like it one bit.

“She’s also single,” my mother continued. “And quite lovely.”

“And?”

“You’re not arguing.”

“I have eyes, don’t I?”

“The lovers card came up while she was doing your reading. Are you avoiding her before or after?”