Arcanum (Tales from the Tarot)

40. Chris

Chapter forty

Chris

Five months later

“ W here do these go?” I asked, hoisting up the umpteenth box of books for Greyson’s direction.

“Front left. True crime section.”

I nodded and headed that way, dropping the box at Monica’s feet when I got to the appropriate area.

“Thanks, sweetie!” Her dark eyes widened and she grabbed my forearm, laying her other hand over her cleavage. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.”

“It’s ok. I didn’t take offense,” I replied with a genuine smile. “Thanks for helping out.”

“Yeah. Totally! I’m so glad Greyson was able to bounce back from that fire. How awful! I was afraid the dead guy was going to leave some bad juju around the place, but the vibes here are so calm. Calmer than before, actually. Does he smoke cleanse or use an herbal room spray? Crystal grid?”

I raised my eyebrows. “Does he what now?”

She rolled her eyes and swatted my chest. “Never mind. Greyson! Do you use sage or rosemary to cleanse?” She stepped over the box of books and trotted off toward the back of the store where Greyson and his friend Beatrice were arranging a larger occult section, just to piss off Karen Carlisle and whoever else had a problem with a witch living in Mapleton.

“Monica! The books!” I gestured at her abandoned project. Shaking my head, I hauled a stack out of the box she was supposed to be working on and shelved them with the others.

Three boxes later Luke appeared, a stack of pizza boxes in one hand and a case of Coke in the other. “Sorry I’m late, but I come bearing gifts.”

“Thank God! I need some reinforcements. Oh, and I don’t need to do arm day at the gym tomorrow.”

Luke was about to reply when Monica’s high-pitched laugh reverberated through the store. His eyes widened and he mouthed her name with a giant question mark written all over his face.

I nodded slowly, letting the horror of that realization sink in for a moment. “They’re friends,” I whispered when he took a step closer.

“Who? Greyson and Monica?”

“Yep.”

He stared at me and then busted out laughing so hard he snorted. Dick .

“Are you about done?” I asked when he finally managed to stand up straight without doubling over.

“Bright side, bro. You know she already spilled all of your dirty laundry and he’s still with you. So it can’t be that bad.”

“As much as it pains me to admit, you have a point.”

“See? I’m not as dumb as everyone thinks I am.”

I smirked, elbowing him. “Dumb and dumbass are two different things.”

“Eh. It’s a work in progress.”

The trio of occultists appeared from around the corner, talking animatedly about moon phases when Greyson spied Luke and the pizza.

“I didn’t know you were stopping by,” he said with a bright smile. “And you brought us lunch? That’s so kind. Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Luke replied. If I didn’t know any better, I would have sworn he was blushing at my boyfriend. Then again, Greyson had that effect on people. It was one of the things I fell in love with, his ability to make you feel like you were the center of the whole universe.

The girls dove into the plain cheese. Luke claimed the meat lover’s and Greyson and I took the third box—pepperoni, green pepper, and mushroom.

After our impromptu lunch break, Luke and I powered through the rest of the boxes, distributing them around the store to their various sections while Greyson and his helpers unloaded them and shelved everything.

It was dark by the time Arcanum was swept and dusted and ready for its grand re-opening.

Greyson thanked everyone with hugs and kisses on the cheek—except Luke. He got a hug and that was it. Then we said our goodbyes in the alley and piled into our cars.

“That was so nice of Luke to come help out,” Greyson said on the way home.

“He’s a good guy.”

“Takes one to know one.” He stroked the back of my neck with his fingertips. Butterflies flitted around in my stomach, more from his touch than the praise, although that didn’t hurt. One of the many things I loved about him was the fact he doled out compliments on the daily.

Stopping at the mailbox, I grabbed a stack of envelopes before pulling into the driveway.

A large purple envelope was on the top of the pile. I immediately handed it to Greyson, along with the rest of his mail. It wasn’t a mix-up this time. After the explosion at Arcanum, he’d officially moved in so he could save up to buy the building. The landlord had wanted to tear the whole thing down but Mapleton rallied to save the historic structure.

Rumor had it Karen Carlisle was in the mayor’s office every day, demanding that he stop the demolition plans. No one was under any illusion that she had a change of heart when it came to Greyson or his diabolical bookstore. She only wanted to maintain the small-town charm that had won Mapleton a handful of awards over the years from various tourist industries and a modern structure would be an eyesore.

Ulterior motive or not, her bitching worked. The landlord got so sick of the delays and bureaucratic hoops to jump through that he sold the building to Greyson at a fraction of the cost he could have gotten from a commercial developer.

“What’s up with Nemo?” I asked, flipping through the grocery store’s deals of the week while Greyson read his letter.

“He’s gone,” Greyson replied, his voice hitching.

“What?” I dropped the flyer and looked at him, startled to see the downtrodden expression on his face, like someone kicked a kitten right in front of him.

“He’s closed the shop and left Chicago. He didn’t say where he was going, only that it was time to move on, that he was needed elsewhere. He wishes us the best of luck and he sent us a gift.”

“That’s probably the box on the porch,” I said, nodding to the large package leaning against the front door.

We climbed out of the Blazer and up the steps, eyeing the large, narrow, rectangular box. I pulled the knife out of my pocket and handed it to Greyson, letting him do the honors. It was his mentor, so it was his box to open.

He sliced through the tape carefully and reached inside.

As he lifted the contents out, I pulled the box free from the bottom and set it to the side for recycling.

The gift turned out to be a painting. A beautiful angel hovered in the center, one foot dipping into a river that flowed diagonally across the bottom of the canvas. They held a chalice in each hand, at opposing angles, causing the liquid to splash from one to the other. A sun and a moon dotted the top corners, facing each other. The Roman numerals for fourteen graced the very top of the painting.

“Oh. That’s… something,” I said, scratching the back of my neck.

“You don’t recognize it?” Greyson smiled wryly at me.

“Should I?”

“It’s Temperance, the tarot card.”

“Oh. Ok. Yeah… I see it now…” Honestly, I hadn’t paid too much attention to the pictures on the cards whenever he showed them to me, I just listened to whatever explanation he gave.

He elbowed me lightly. “I’ll take it to work. Unless you want to hang it over the fireplace?”

“No, no! That blank wall in your office would be perfect , babe!”

“I’m going to miss him.” Greyson’s face creased with another frown.

“Maybe he’ll write once he gets to where he’s going?”

“Maybe.” He gave me an agreeable smile, but I didn’t believe it. He wasn’t the only one with intuition and my gut told me his mentor had vanished into the weird, witchy universe from which he came. The only good thing I could take from it was that it must have meant things would be smooth sailing for Greyson from then on.

“I’ll go get dinner started.” I kissed his cheek and let myself into the house, greeting Nitro with a scratch behind the ears and the promise of food.

Greyson came in a while later without the painting, which I assumed was in his car, and slipped his arms around my waist as I sliced zucchini.

“You ok?” I put the knife down and spun in his arms, draping mine over his shoulders.

“I was thinking of something else for dinner.”

“Such as?”

“Chocolate cake?”

“Hell yes! I’ll never turn down your cake. Either of them.” I squeezed his ass for emphasis, in case he somehow didn’t catch my meaning.

“Stars above, what am I going to do with you?” he sighed theatrically, shaking his head. I caught a glimpse of a grin before he leaned in and kissed me.