“This was fun,” she says as we stand to leave. “We’ll have to get together again.”
“Yeah, we will. Give me a few more months to get my house in order and maybe I’ll have a housewarming party.”
“If you need help, don’t hesitate to ask. I can live vicariously through you and pretend that mansion is my own.”
I laugh. “Deal.”
* * *
I grabthe next index card off my stack and look at it, thinking for a minute before flipping it over. Rose quartz represents love and can be used to restore trust to a relationship, encourage healing, and dispel negativity.
“Yes,” I say out loud when I see I’m right. I grab the next one and can’t remember what onyx is used for. I flip the card over and read the info three times, trying to commit it to memory. I’ve been going over my cards for the last hour, having flashbacks to my college days, though with this subject matter I feel like I should be wearing a pointed hat and a robe.
Yawning, I put the cards away and lean back, sticking my legs out into the sun. I’m on the back porch, and the sun is shining down on me in full force. It’s weird how long I’ve lived without actuallyliving.
I close my eyes and rest my head against the brick of the house. I’m dozing off when a car pulls down the driveway. I’m expecting Jared, so I gather up my cards and go inside, looking out the kitchen window. He gets out of the car, hand shielding his eyes as he looks up at the roof of the house. The gargoyles aren’t there anymore, buddy. Time to get over it.
“Stop it,” I mutter to myself. I feel bad for Jared, remember? He’s an annoying pain in the ass but he needs direction from a responsible party, and I’m the only person I know to do it.
Too bad Jacques couldn’t take him under his wing—not literally, of course—but he’s the better teacher. It would be a good setup, actually. We could blame any discrepancies between his time and ours on the language barrier, or make up some story about how he lived in a village where there wasn’t—
I’m getting ahead of myself and I need to stop. Jared might not be that bad if I give him a chance. I wish someone had given me more of a chance when I was his age.
“Hey,” I say as soon as I open the door. He’s inching his way up to the porch, looking at the spots where Tom and Gil used to stand.
“What really happened to them?” Jared asks, pushing his keys into his pocket.
“They didn’t like it there. Birds shit on them.”
Jared looks at me, not sure if I’m joking or not. He pushes his shoulders back and surveys the yard. “You better be paying well for me to fix up this shit hole.”
“You better watch your fucking mouth or I won’t pay you jack-shit.”
“Fine. Sorry.” He scuffs his foot along the cobblestone path, rolling loose stones beneath his shoe. “So what’s the plan?”
“The plan is to start with mowing the lawn in the front and around the house and I’ll answer a few questions.”
He comes up the porch steps, taking two at a time. “Questions?”
“You do have questions, right?”
“I have a lot,” he starts, still staring at me like he’s not following. I’m no good at this counseling thing. Or this talking to teenagers thing.
“Do you remember the first time we had the pleasure of meeting?”
“How could I forget? You threatened to arrest me.”
Ignoring his subtle jab, I cross my arms and lean against a stone pillar on the porch. “You came here looking for answers, didn’t you?”
“Yeah, so?”
“You never got those answers. Maybe I’ll tell you some.”
He stares at me, blinking, but doesn’t reply for a good thirty seconds. “Why?”
“Because I recognize something in you I have in myself.”
“If you’re going to say devilish good looks, you can save yourself the embarrassment now.”
