The Fate Date (Glengarry Curse #1)

5. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Gavin

S hould he talk to her? The asynchronous squeak of the windshield wipers and the obnoxious bass of the radio station Sabrina had selected scrambled his thoughts like a malfunctioning formula in Excel.

In the kitchen, studying Gilbert’s hand— not like it was hard to see— he found himself tallying the odds, planning his strategy, holding his breath until his brother made the worst possible play. Gavin could have cleaned out his brother’s savings in two hands, if Gilbert had any money to his name. And that thought had led to his next one: he needed away from the game, as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, his “out” came in the form of this awkward car ride. Like at work, he’d prefer to pretend he was alone, but Sabrina’s scent, a woody incense mixed with warm spice, made her presence impossible to ignore.

He did need to practice his small talk. With her, he could almost think about it without feeling nauseous. He could compliment her brooch? That felt weird, like she might think he was staring at her breasts. Also, he hated the thing. They could talk about his mom? She was a shared common interest between them.

He angled his head slightly towards Sabrina, hoping a coherent thought might materialize. His pulse ticked faster, the way it did before a wager, laying it all on the line. He cleared his throat, opened his mouth, and—

“I’m not lying, you know,” she said .

“I…uh…what?”

There was a brief silence, where he heard her grumble under her breath. “During the readings. I’m not lying. You pick a card. I interpret what my intuition tells me.”

“Oh. I’m sure you believe that,” he said, hoping it was the right thing to say.

Her head turned slowly, like a possessed doe-eyed doll. “I do believe it.”

So had his gullible brothers, who’d been mystified that her “love” readings so closely matched the family curse. Gavin assumed his mother had probably told Sabrina about it, the readings well researched, nothing more. No, the most compelling feature of Sabrina’s predictions for him wasn’t the content, but how she said it. Maybe he was extra sensitive on this topic, but she had an innate ability to adjust her whole body to suit the person she was talking to. He’d thought it was a fluke at first—seeing her replicate his mother’s smiles and recognize her need for physical contact. But her demeanour changed depending on which brother she was talking to—she matched Gilbert’s effervescence, Gareth’s confidence, Gabe’s shy smile. Sabrina bewitched them all, including, though he hated to admit it, him.

During the reading, his gaze was matched by her large hazel eyes, causing a fresh surge of adrenaline to soar through him. No one looked at him like this. People at work cowed immediately, if they didn’t avoid him or flee in the opposite direction. Every second she’d resisted looking away had made his body heat. It didn’t help that she was quite pretty, despite her atrocious outfit. She reminded him of Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music —the same short blonde hair and her dress looked like it was made of curtains.

Sabrina crossed her arms over her chest, right below her breasts. “Give me someone’s birthday, someone I’ve never met before that you know well. I’ll read their chart, and you can judge for yourself whether I’m just making it up. ”

Managing to avoid rolling his eyes, he considered the request. This could be small talk. She was like the bunny hill of learning to be nice. But the only people he was truly close with, for better or worse, were his family, and she’d met them. Unless…

“May 17, 1964.”

“Do you, by any chance, know the time of their birth?”

“Yeah, it was exactly noon.” One of his father’s favourite tales was his birth story, as Gavin’s grandpappy had been elated not to miss lunch.

Gavin watched her pull out her phone and plug the date into some sort of app. From a quick glance, it looked like a circle chart, lines crisscrossing like a mandala with little symbols and numbers scattered throughout.

“What’s that?” he asked.

“Shhh.”

As he drove along the water’s edge, his gaze defiantly drifted to watch her reflection in the glass as she dug into her disaster of a purse. After an eternity, her hand emerged, holding an old receipt, he guessed by its creased lines, and a pink pen. The mess caused his chest to constrict. He saw her scribble a few things before tossing the pen back into the bottomless purse-pit. She looked much less pissed off now. In fact, the calm confidence that had been so alluring earlier had a similar effect on Gavin now. He refocused his eyes on the road.

“This,” she held her glowing phone up to reflect in the windshield, “is a birthchart. It’s a map of the sky at the exact moment this person was born. It’s opportunity. It’s potential. The energy of the planets, organized in this unique way, shapes this person’s being in the present, the choices they make, the gifts they share, and the destiny they seize.”

He still didn’t see how this demonstrated her point, but he forced his head to nod politely.

“We’ll start with the big three—Taurus sun, Leo rising, Leo moon.” She said these things like they should be meaningful to him. “This person is…a personality. There’s a duality here of fire and earth—they have a side of them that is larger than life, generous, creative, gregarious. But they’re also grounded, probably very connected to their roots, their home, their family, the earth. They strike me as someone who would be the ultimate party guest. They’d bring a tasteful gift, regale everyone with stories, but also help you tidy up afterwards.”

It was weird to hear her refer to his father in the present tense. And it wasn’t a terrible description of him.

“There are a few other placements that jump out at me. Does this person have their own business?” she asked.

Gavin nodded. His father had worked as an independent contractor.

“Hmm.”

“What?” He hazarded a quick glance.

She looked tentative but tipped her pert little nose in the air when she caught him looking at her. “I think there are some fluctuations with money in their life.”

The statement caught him completely off guard. “What do you mean?”

“It’s just a feeling I get when I put all the information together. Unpredictable Uranus and secretive Pluto in the second house of finances and values, Saturn in Pisces, and the moon in the first house throwing in some indecision and confusion too. Oh, and look, Neptune in the fourth house in Scorpio.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”

“It’s an impression I’m getting. That there’s something hidden there, with regards to the household?” She phrased it like a question and her reflection turned to look at him. He did his best to appear unfazed. The steering wheel felt slick under his hands. He forced his breathing to remain normal.

How had she zeroed in on that so quickly? No one had known; not even his mother had been aware of the financial carnage his father had wrought for years before his death. She’d guessed it in two minutes. It had to be a fluke. Or a scare tactic she employed? Everyone has financial baggage at some point in their life. It wasn’t like she knew about the gambling. It was an easy thing to guess at.

“Ya, a good description, if a bit surface-level.”

Her vicious glare popped up again, like the death-metal version of Goldilocks. He didn’t care if he offended her. He wiped the sweat from his hand on his pants.

“Give me more dates, then. Important dates in this person’s life and I’ll try to guess, based on the transit, what happened.”

“Uh…April 1981.”

“Can you be more specific?” she said.

“No.”

“Ugh. Fine.”

She pulled up another chart on her phone.

“Oh man, what I wouldn’t give to have a transit like that.”

“Like what?”

“A love transit. Or at least, the opportunity for a grand, fated love.”

Did that mean she was single? She didn’t wear a wedding ring.

“That’s when he met his wife.”

Sabrina bobbed her head and smiled. “Told you.”

“A lucky guess based on his age.” He wracked his brain for something truly indecipherable. “April 25, 2013.”

“Huh,” was all she said.

Gavin shook his head and smiled. There was no way she could guess what had happened that day. Gavin was the only one who knew. The only one who couldn’t forget…

Gavin’s fingers tingled with anticipation as if he held the cards, despite the fact he was staring a screen. His leg jiggled wildly, waiting for his opponent to draw his final card. He clicked furiously to max out his final bet. Like climbing a roller coaster, he’d reached the top, the pinnacle…

But the wave of satisfaction never came. His stomach plummeted, but in unexpected dread. His opponent’s full house stared back at him.

Gavin’s chest rose and fell rapidly as he stared unblinkingly at the screen.

He glanced down at the corner of his monitor. The fact that the numbers were so tiny on the screen didn’t make the total easier to swallow.

$797

Gavin rubbed the back of his neck. He’d been down worse. He could recover it in just a few more hands.

But as a few hands turned into many, the night bled to daylight, the lucky hand never materialized. A few paltry wins. Even more losses.

$1285

Gavin cringed as he charged yet another loss to his bulging credit card. He’d be lucky if he could pay the minimum this month. He shut his laptop and scrubbed his face. He’d make up the money. It would be fine. It was becoming a constant refrain that became less comforting each time. But he couldn’t dwell on that right now.

He checked the time —his exam was in an hour. He’d meant to study. His chest prickled with guilt as he hopped in the shower and considered his options. He’d blown through his scholarship money at the beginning of the month, when the losses had become more substantial. He only needed to make the minimum payment for the next month until he made some cash over the summer. Perhaps he could ask his parents for help? Just a temporary loan. No sense in ruining a credit score over a string of bad luck…

On his way to the auditorium, he made the call. “Hey, Dad.”

“Gavin. How are things? How’s school?”

“Great. Just on my way to write an exam right now, actually.”

“Oh? Study hard?”

“Always do.” Gavin chewed on the inside of his cheek. “Uh, listen, I just wanted to call to see if you could spot me a bit of cash until the end of the semester. ”

His request was met with silence—which, from his father, was unnerving.

“My buddy said he’d sell me his used textbooks for next year and it’s a great deal, I just didn’t budget for it at the end of the semester.” Gavin’s stomach lurched, uncertain if it was because of the lie or how easy it came to his lips. He couldn’t disappoint his dad like that. It was kinder to tell him a small lie until he could dig himself out of this mess.

“Yeah, son, of course.” His father sounded resigned. “How much do you need?”

“About $1200 dollars.”

“Holy jumpin’ those are some expensive books.”

“Yeah.”

“I’ll get you the money son, not to worry. It’ll be fine.”

“Uh, thanks Dad. I appreciate it. I can pay you back over the summer.”

“Don’t think on it. You just focus on your exam this morning. Your Mom and I are so proud.”

Sabrina gasped loudly, ripping Gavin back to the present. “That date was the Lunar Eclipse in Scorpio.”

Gavin huffed out a deep breath, hoping it would both convey his annoyance and help ease the tension he felt. “Yeah, that means nothing to me.”

Her sunshine yellow fingernails dragged across her flower-patterned tights. It sounded like a record scratch. “Eclipses are a big deal. Colossally unexpected changes. In this case, in the sign of hidden secrets. In the fourth house of his home life.” She paused, but then blurted, “I think that whatever money stuff was going on came to a breaking point. Probably because of something at home.”

Gavin’s mouth felt dry. He gripped the wheel.

“Did something happen about two weeks later? Around May 10? There was a solar eclipse in Taurus in their tenth house, related to legacy or reputation? ”

He had to swerve to stay in the lane.

“What happened?”

“He died.”

“He…died. Oh. Is this…your dad?” She said the words reverently. She studied her screen for a minute before asking, “What happened in April? Is it linked to how he died?” Gavin was still at a loss for words. He couldn’t think. Couldn’t process. There was no way she could know. How could she be so in tune with a stranger? He’d been deceived by big hazel eyes and flushed cheeks, failing to account for the risk of her clairvoyancy.

He’d protected this secret from his family for ten years, and he wasn’t about to have one meddling, albeit frighteningly intuitive, fortune teller fuck this up for him. He needed a distraction, fast. The lies were a comforting cloak, and impulsive habits died hard.

“You could be my girlfriend.”