Three pairs of eyes flew to her like bugs to a light.
“I made out with a lumberjane. Okay?”
For a second, the other women seemed frozen, their gazes shifting from her to each other and back again. Finally, Iris was the one to break the spell.
“Jordan-fucking-Everwood,” she said, clapping her hands on each word before pointing at Astrid. “I knew it! I knew you two were eye-fucking each other over my rainbow shelves last week.”
Then, before Astrid could laugh or protest or react at all, Iris grabbed her around the waist and pulled her onto the bed. She yanked both Claire and Delilah into her embrace as well, until the four women were wrapped up together on the bed, laughing and crying and swearing, everyone’s hair and makeup ruined good and proper.
And no other moment in Astrid’s life had ever felt so perfect.
Chapter Twenty-four
A WEEK LATER,Jordan stared down at the card on her comforter, the colorful image of a person sitting in bed, their face in their hands in clear despair, nine swords placed horizontally above them, several of which looked like they might be piercing their back.
Jordan sighed and leaned against her headboard. For the last week, her daily card had been a source of extreme irritation. First, there was the Fool, which, fine. New journey, new paths. Jordan had come to Bright Falls to start something new, after all.
The next day, though, she’d pulled the Eight of Cups. Okay... leaving behind negative things and energy in one’s life. Meredith’s daily texts for the last week were certainly a negative thing. Jordan had half a mind to block her.
Then there was the Hermit. Ah, yes, good, being alone for some strongly needed introspection, but wasn’t that what Jordan had been doing for the last goddamn year?
Next up was the Ace of Pentacles. Health, wealth, material prosperity, new jobs and opportunities, it was the card everyone starting off on a new financial venture wanted to see in their spread. Butwhen Jordan drew it a few days ago, she couldn’t help the scowl from settling on her face, unease she couldn’t explain clouding in her chest.
Now today, here was the Nine of fucking Swords, which was just great. Impending betrayal. Lovely. Maybe her energy had gotten mixed up with Iris’s, and this was actually referring to that dick Jillian and the stunt she’d been pulling on Iris for the last month.
It was possible. Energy was a strange thing. Who knew what it got up to when people crossed paths?
But what Jordan really wanted to know was, where the hell was her Two of Cups? The soul mates card. The perfect pairing card. The new relationships card. The positive partnership card. The card that she’d been pulling at least three times a week for the last two months. Where wasthatlittle asshole?
She tried not to let it bother her, but she hadn’t seen the Two of Cups since the day before she and Astrid kissed at Claire’s party a week ago. She liked Astrid. So much. Maybe too much. She kept feeling that old need rising in her, the same one that sent Katie, her one lover since Meredith, running in the other direction all those months ago. Except with Astrid, it was worse, magnified to the point that Jordan had to curl her hands into fists to keep from clinging to Astrid when she left her house every night, bite her tongue so she didn’t ask to stay.
Not that any of these feelings were bad in and of themselves. She and Astrid were new. They clearly liked each other. And even though she got the impression that Astrid needed to take things slowly—emotionally and physically—she never failed to find Jordan at the inn when the workday ended, kiss her lightly on the mouth, and ask her what she wanted to do that night. Spending the evening together was a matter of course the past few days, so it wasn’t like Jordan’s feelings were one-sided.
She knew they weren’t.
But they still scared the shit out of her. She couldn’t stop thinkingabout destiny. About how Meredith, her first love, the person who knew her better than anyone, had looked at her after so many years together and said,No thanks.
Jordan wasn’t destiny material. How could she be if even her wife, the woman she’d gladly given up everything to help nurse back to health, didn’t want her? Astrid would figure that out eventually.
Wouldn’t she?
Her phone buzzed on her nightstand, interrupting her spiraling thoughts. She stuffed the Nine of Swords back into her deck and grabbed her phone, swearing out loud when she saw the text from Meredith.
I’m in town. Please answer me, Jo.
She swiped a hand through her hair and leaned her forehead on her palm. Meredith had been calling and texting all week long, including an extremely mercurial text yesterday that simply said,Where are you?Meredith had probably discovered Jordan no longer resided at their Savannah house in Ardsley Park, but she also didn’t give a shit. Voice mail after voice mail stacked up in her inbox, but she didn’t listen to them. She knew she was being childish—a healthily functioning adult would be able to deal with their ex in a civil manner, especially alesbianadult, a lot of whom stayed BFFs with their exes for all eternity—but Jordan never claimed to be the picture of mental health.
Or the perfect lesbian.
Her phone buzzed again.
“Oh, my god, what?” she yelled, swiping at the screen, hackles raised. Hackles that immediately calmed down when she sawSemi-Decent Human Who Wants to Kiss You Againflash across the screen.
Good morning! I’m grabbing coffee from Wake Up on my way to the inn. Do you want some?
Jordan smiled and sent back a zombie emoji.
I’ll take that as a yes?Astrid texted.
