The rest of the day passed quickly. As usual, Ris had Morgan booked with back-to-back appointments, and for once, Morgan was thankful to not have time to stop and think. She was afraid of what she might think about.
When the last reading ended and Morgan bid the client farewell, Ris pounced.
“So?” Ris asked.
“Good turn out today,” Morgan commented.
Ris rolled her eyes. “Is this how we’re gonna play it?”
Morgan feigned a look of confusion.
“Morgan.” Ris let out an exasperated sigh. “Seriously. What happened with Kellen? You looked—I don’t know—almost panicky when Chante showed up.”
Morgan pretended to be engrossed in the process of putting her cards away. She knew Ris wouldn’t buy it, but she hoped that something else would pop up to distract her in the meantime. She had no such luck.
“Morgan, you’re ignoring me.”
“Yes, I am,” Morgan agreed. “How astute of you.”
Ris didn’t respond, and when Morgan looked up she saw that Ris was staring at her, arms crossed, foot tapping impatiently.
“Fine,” Morgan said, standing up. “First: I was not panicky. Second—” She stopped, unsure what to say next. For some reason, telling Ris about what Kellen said about her mother seemed like a bad idea.
Ris just looked at her for a moment before nodding. “I know what’s going on here,” she announced.
“You do?” Morgan asked, surprised. Had she overheard some of their conversation?
“I do.” Ris smiled. “You’ve got a crush on this guy. I mean, of course you do. He’s totally hot, and he’s clearly interested in you. I mean, otherwise, why would he keep showing up here? And you, being you, don’t know what to do.” Ris crossed her arms, a look of don’t-try-to-deny-it on her face.
Morgan didn’t know how to respond to these allegations. Sure, she’d admit Kellen was rather attractive; however, she hadn’t been able to think about him in that way since their first conversation. All her thoughts regarding him centered around what he may or may not know about her mother.
Ris seemed to take Morgan’s silence as tacit agreement to her charges. She waited until Morgan stood and joined her on their usual route out of the park before speaking. “Look—I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I know you don’t have much experience in these kind of things.”
“If by ‘these kind of things’ you mean—”
“Dating.”
“And by ‘much experience’ you mean—”
“Absolutely none.”
“Bitch,” Morgan muttered, bumping Ris’s shoulder affectionately.
“I can give you some pointers, if you like.”
Morgan laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind,” she said. “But I don’t think romance is on my horizon. Not with Kellen.”
“Really?” Ris sounded incredulous. “Why’s that?”
Because he seems to know things he shouldn’t know about me and my life, Morgan thought. But she said, “I just… got a weird vibe from him.”
Ris nodded thoughtfully. Then, abruptly, she stopped and grabbed Morgan’s arm. “Do you think he’s, like, a serial killer or something? Or a kidnapper?”
“What? No.” Morgan shook Ris off and continued walking. And it was true. Morgan didn’t get the impression that Kellen was dangerous. Just… knowledgeable, for some reason, about Morgan and her mother. And curious about Morgan. Only, she wasn’t sure exactly why. She was just some high school girl who told fortunes to make a little cash, whose mother disappeared a decade ago. Nothing worthy of the attention of an older stranger.
But, if she was honest with herself, Kellen’s insights and fascination also intrigued her a little. Morgan was no stranger to having people be interested in her, but it was always about what she could tell them about now and about the future. But, with Kellen, he was the one with the information. So far, it seemed like Kellen wasn’t looking for anything from her. She had gotten the distinct impression from Kellen that he was interested in what she could do.
And, for the first time, Morgan wondered the same thing.