Lips quirking, Rob said, “I agreed to let this weird fucker read my palm.”
“We’ll start with your head line. It runs through there,” Daniel said, lightly touching the line. “The fact that it runs deep and long means you’re a clear thinker. The fact that it’s straight means you’re a realist. However, this little indentation here, the small circular one, suggests great emotional trauma.”
Rob blinked at him and said, “You can tell all that from my hand?”
“I can tell you more than that. The love line, all broken like this, signals emotional trauma,” Daniel moved on, obviously uncomfortable. “The life line signals that you’re filled with vitality. See these here? They’re extra life lines. They signal additional vitality.”
“I’ll be damned,” Rob said quietly.
“More yet,” Daniel said. “This line here is your fate line. Not everyone has it. What yours tells me is that you knew from an early age exactly what you wanted. Want me to go on?”
Lilly watched as Rob shook his head and spoke. “My wife died last year from cancer. It’s strange that you’d be able to see all that in my hand.”
“I’m very sorry to hear that, Rog. I had no idea. I didn’t mean to—”
Rob said, “No, no. I was kind of being a dick about it. Serves me right. I don’t know about all that centigrade Venus shit you were talking about, but you convinced me on the palm reading.”
“Uranus in retrograde.”
“I told you, none of that gay shit,” Rob said, laughing at his own joke. “I gotta head out and feed my dog. Did you see anywhere in my hand that he shit in the living room, by the way?”
Lilly snorted and passed him his bar bill, then wandered over to greet the large group that came in the bar. When she came back, she pulled the cash off the bar and gave Rob a wave. When she counted it, she raised her eyebrows. Nice tip.
Throughout the rest of the evening, the bar stayed moderately busy. The crowd finally thinned out by eleven thirty. The wine-sipping couple and Daniel were the only ones left. He’d been telling her more about his shop. It sounded interesting, but not entirely her cup of tea.
Finally, her curiosity got the best of her and she accepted a palm reading. Daniel held her hand in his and studied her palm. He’d keyed in on her head line first, telling her that the way it was so deep and straight meant she was a logical thinker.
Oddly enough, he’d seen the trauma in her head line too. He didn’t expound on it, thankfully. She was still feeling a little raw and off-balance from her earlier thoughts. When he pointed to the series of crisscrosses on her palm, he told her that they indicated she’d be required to make a momentous life choice.
As she leaned in to ask him what a particular line meant, the door to the bar opened. Lilly turned her head and saw that Talan had walked in. His eyes swept around the bar and then zeroed in to where her hand lay on Daniel’s.
She drew her hand back and said, “Hello, sir.”
He nodded and said, “When your shift is over, come to my office, please.”
He turned and left before she even had a chance to agree. He hadn’t looked happy with her at all. Truthfully, she wasn’t all that happy with him either. This meeting would certainly be interesting.
Daniel winced and said, “I hope I didn’t get you in trouble with the boss.”
Frowning, Lilly admitted, “His annoyance was of a more personal nature, I think.”
“Oh,” he commented, smiling. “So that’s the way the wind blows, huh?”
Lilly wasn’t sure why she had shared that with Daniel. He seemed nice enough, but he was a virtual stranger. She nodded and said, “It’s sort of new.”
“What I was saying, about Uranus being retrograde. Typically, everything is very extreme in these times. Either black or white. The best or worst of everything. It’s harder to find middle ground and balance. Strive for that, rather than going with your gut reactions.”
She nodded. It was sound advice whether Uranus was doing whatever it was supposed to be doing anyway. Strive for balance. She could totally do that.
Daniel said, “Now that I’ve gotten you in trouble, I’m going to head out. Let me know if you want me to talk to him. I’d be happy to explain.”
“I’ll explain it to him. Don’t worry about it. It’s not like we were making out. Jesus,” Lilly said, her voice laced with annoyance.
Daniel blinked at her for a moment and then laughed. Lilly put her hand to her mouth as she realized what she’d said. She really needed to work on her internal filter.
“Maybe some other time,” Daniel said, smirking. “What’s the damage?”
Flushing, she handed him the bill and then went to check on the wine drinkers. When they wanted to settle their tab, she knew she’d have a nice long stretch of study time ahead of her. She went back to the bar and rang both the couple and Daniel out.