Page 120 of For Better or Hearse

Her cheeks flame with embarrassment. So much for remaining inconspicuous.

“He and Camellia…” Delaney’s voice kicks up an octave. Full of anger. “Their couple’s spark was not sparking like it should be. They were like Barbie and Ken robots. Pretty packaging, but she wasn’t the one.” Her expression shifts to smug satisfaction. “Let’s just say I wasn’t super upset when I saw you in that church.”

It means a lot to Ash. That maybe she did something right, even if it doesn’t feel like it.

“It’s different with you.” Delaney searches Ash’s face. “He’sdifferent with you.”

Ash holds her breath. She doesn’t want to ask, fights it, but eventually, the question pops out. Curiosity has always been her downfall. “How is he different?”

“I’ve never seen him so soft for someone else before.”

She’s soft for him too.

The knee-jerk thought sinks into her stomach like ice.

Oh god. Is it possible? She likes him? In a more than temporary way?

A brilliant smile fills Delaney’s face. “See? I’m right.”

Ash looks down, heart racing. “Right is relative.”

“You’re honest with everyone but yourself, you know that?” Delaney sounds amused.

Ash narrows her eyes. “I don’t like you very much.”

Delaney sticks her tongue out. “Last card,” she says. “The future.”

It’s the Devil.

Ash groans, anxiety coiling in her stomach like a snake. “So do I shit my pants now or later?”

Delaney smiles, one brow arched high. “It’s reversed, so it’s not as doom and gloom as you think.” She leans down low, cocks her head. Listens as if the cards are telling her all their secrets.

Ash holds her breath. Holds her hope. Her heart.

Delaney opens her mouth, pulls in a breath. But before shecan speak, a gust of wind picks up the card. They scramble to catch it, but it’s too late. They watch in horror as it’s danced across the beach and into the water.

“Holy balls,” Delaney says, her jaw dropped.

Ash doesn’t know how she feels about that. Losing a card to the sea.

Eyes wide, she looks at Delaney. “Does that still count?”

“It does.” Delaney’s tightly drawn brows ease. She closes her eyes, whispers, “What you escaped in the past is not what you will find in the future. What held you back will release you.”

Emotion clogs Ash’s throat. Tears sting her eyes. For a reason she can’t understand, the reading’s landed like an arrow. Maybe because she believes. Maybe because she wants to believe.

Because Delaney—the tarot—is right. She does hold herself back. She pushes other people, but never herself. Her legs have roots in her sadness, her heartbreak. She thought she had grown from that, but what if she hasn’t?

Delaney regards her, expression intent. “What do you think?”

“I think…I drank too much wine.”

With that, Ash flops onto her back on the sand. Rum and coconut juice and red wine slosh around in her belly. Above, the stars blink. Delaney settles beside her. Slips her hand into Ash’s.

Ash closes her eyes. Somewhere, there’s the ping of a phone.

Emotions stir in her. Heavy, full of longing. An aching chorus of courage.