Sasha laughs at the sisters back and forth and agrees with Paige “Yes work our way up…” He holds her hand and will start winding with her through sections looking at things. Sasha will get distracted briefly by the humour section and read inane quotes to Paige and laugh and laugh and then stumble into the kid’s section and grin like a muppet as he holds up a story book about an otter. He’ll insist on reading it all to Paige out loud. The otter, named Otto swims around the river looking for a friend. He meets a girl otter named Octavia and they swim off together on their backs holding hands, mating for life. It’s a little kid’s book so they don’t use the word mating but it’s a sweet story. In the same section he’ll find a whole treasure worthy area of books and toys related to a pirate story series for girls “Hey Paige….does your family know about this? This strikes me as something Thea would like...unless she’s only a part time pirate. Pirate Annie and the Hidden Treasure…..Pirate Annie and First Mate Zuri….” He flips through the second book “Oh Zuri’s from Africa...that’s cool…” It’s books and dolls and full on playsets.
Paige listens to the otter story and nearly melts. It’s sweet and hits her right in the heart. When Sasha tries to return it to the shelf, she plucks it from his hand and tucks it under her arm. “I can’t leave it here. I just can’t!” she mock pouts, playfully. Then he finds the pirate story and she gapes. “Never heard of it….. Oh … boy …” she looks at it all. “Alright …. Alright … I can’t buy it all at once.” it seems to be herself giving herself a command. “Just .. one at a time …. See if she likes them.” but she squees and takes the first book in the series and stands, looking at Sasha. “Alright now …… “ and then she turns and plucks an Annie doll up. “Ok .. this is IT … one from me and one from Iris.” she nods, but is still looking. “Save me, Sasha!” she mock cries, knowing she will walk out of here with one of everything for her baby sister if she isn’t stopped.
Sasha gives her a melting look back about the otter book and then helps her, or tries to about the pirate girl series “Well you could save some for a birthday or Christmas or check one out from the library as a test if they have them. Does your family do Christmas? I didn’t ask you that before….” He reaches for the otter book and tries to gently wiggle it away from under her arm after giving her a little sweet lingering kiss “How about I buy this one?” He offers.
Paige nods. “Yes … and rewards for good behavior.” she chuckles. “She really can’t go around shooting cannonballs at every person that comes to the door.” but she remembers Sasha’s first steps through it fondly. “Christmas …” she shrugs, but looks a little sad. “We do it for Thea, because she’s just a little girl, but … not really. We do Santa and look at the decorations downtown. Give presents to Thea. But no .. we don’t celebrate a lot of things anymore. Dad … he can’t, if that makes sense. Mom’s death really …” she just shakes her head and then shakes herself. She relinquishes the book with a smile. “Sure … can I come visit it?” she giggles as if they will have joint custody.
Sasha hangs his head “Ah fuck…. foot in mouth...I didn’t think before I asked you that Paige. I’m sorry. My family is a bit ridiculous about the holiday but we haven’t had a loss like yours.” He takes her hand and kisses it and then smiles about the otter book “Of course you can. I won’t even let Rene take it to his side of the room.” Then he notices a sign for readings and inhales “Have you ever done one of those reading things? Tea or cards or runes it says? I’m thinking about it but I also feel like I hear my mother’s disapproval already.” he laughs.
Paige touches his arm. “It’s okay. Now you know and maybe we can start our own traditions. Maybe not with Dad, but us.” she giggles about Rene. “Should we get him a frog book .. no he’s thirteen isn’t he? That’s practically a grown man.” she giggles and then looks at the sign. “No, I haven't. We can go, if you’d like. I mean .. if you’re going to hell, I’m coming with you. My family isn’t very religious .. well .. Dad isn’t. He had his fill or religion before…” she shrugs again.
Sasha sighs happily at her words and laughs about Rene “I’m not ready for my brother to read grown up books yet. He’s Rene...he’s forever 6 right?” He half jokes. “If i’m going to hell you’re coming with me....” He exhales “Well if that’s not love I don’t know what…” He chuckles and then asks “What religion was your Dad before?” They have a few sections to cross back through before the counter and he holds her hand as they walk. When they approach it though he will ask Diamond about readings unsurely. “Hi, Diamond….I think...I’d like a reading. I’ve never done this before…” He admits.
Diamond smiles at the young couple with a twinkle in her eyes “Sasha and Paige right? You think or you want? Because we can theorize...or we can read. We do tea leaves, runes and tarot, pendulums even. Hell if you bring me a carcass I’ll read you the bones…”
Sasha looks a little taken aback at the last one but laughs “How about the card thing?
Diamond smiles widely and takes a small black velvet drawstring bag from behind the counter “Alright. For both of you, as a couple or individually?”
Sasha stammers at her question “Uh….I uh…” He looks at Paige for guidance. He was curious about that idea but he didn’t want to pressure her.
Paige laughs. “Yes. They’ll always be our baby siblings.” she agrees. She sighs when he asks about religion. “He was raised Methodist.” she says and pauses. “He fell in love with my mother and got married in August. I was born in March .. so…” she shrugs. “Seven months later and I was full term and perfectly healthy. My grandmother had a conniption .. and it only got worse when my mother was pregnant AGAIN almost immediately.” she shrugs. She kisses his hand as they walk and nods when Diamond remembers her. Listening to the options, she moves a little closer to Sasha. “Maybe as a couple? And maybe … oh I always thought runestones were pretty .. and tarot cards.” she stops herself and giggles. “Can we have tarot and runes as a couple?” she asks, dropping her eyes and feeling suddenly shy.
Sasha relaxes and nods “Ok Paige...I love it...and you.” He doesn’t seem to care that he’s saying it in front of a woman they just met. “Tarot and runes please then? For both of us…” He squeezes Paige’s hand now.
Diamond looks amused by them “Very well….come take a seat at one of the coffee shop tables….” She grabs another little velvet bag. “Let’s start with the runes….these are wood slices we gathered ourselves from local trees and Armand carved the runes in himself at a full moon. They are very powerful. Now these ones are Norse symbols. With rune reading it’s very concise. You can focus on yes or no questions. When we get to the cards I want you to consider more open ended questions. You’ll get more information there…..how about you each ask a question to get started.” She looks at Paige “Ladies first my dear.”
Paige smiles. “I love you, too.” She moves to the table and sets her bag down before sitting. “Yes … or no ….” she murmurs, looking at the bag as it would help her. “I know I’m going to sound like a 12 year old girl but …. I’d like to know…” she bites her lip. “Are we meant to be?” she doesn’t look at Sasha and, for some reason she is suddenly afraid. But she couldn’t take the words back. She reminded herself it was just for fun, after all.
Sasha takes her hand again and holds it to his heart “You stole my question.” He admits with a laugh and a blush.
Diamond looks between them “Oh? You’re new...to each other? Funny I was picking up on some old energy between you both….” She smiles broadly at them “Don’t run away on each other if you don’t like the readings….” She shakes the runes bag and takes out three and lays them down. “Are you meant to be?” She repeats.Then she names the runes left to right “Sowulo, Thurisaz and Ethwas……” She goes on to interpret them.”Two of the three runes Thurisaz and Ehwas are 'yes', whilst Sowulo is suggesting a 'maybe'. This suggests that the outcome will be a 'yes'. Take note of the information that the Sowulo rune is giving and use this to help you identify areas that you may need to work on and help in identifying and overcoming any obstacles that may appear in your path.” Diamond takes a breath and breaks down each rune more specifically “The Rune on the left is Sowulo and its orientation is indeterminate which suggests:Maybe, now is a time to let light into parts of your life that have been hidden away, before progress can truly be made. The Rune in the middle is Thurisaz and its orientation is normal which suggests:Yes, let no one deter you from what you want in life. The Rune in the middle is Thurisaz and its orientation is normal which suggests:Yes, let no one deter you from what you want in life.” She summarizes “Overall, yes, you are meant to be. But I coulda told you that without looking in this bag.” She smiles.
Paige grinds. “We feel old.” it isn’t a question. It’s more a personal feeling of her own. She watches th stones and listens to Diamond’s interpretation. She considers parts of her life that may be hidden from Sasha, but the only thing she can think of is things that were hidden away from herself, that Sasha has uncovered. Considering their play on the breakwater, she blushes, slightly. “Are we that obvious?” she wonders aloud and chen chuckles. “I guess we are.”
Sasha looks very happy with the runes reading and with Diamond saying they had old energy between them “I feel it too...like we’ve been together for years.” He shrugs and smiles “No running.” He chuckles at Paige’s obvious question and nods “Yeah maybe. Thank you Diamond….that was really cool.” He reaches for one of the wood slices “Can I pick one up? I won’t mess with the next reading?” She nods at him and he examines one more closely to try to understand how it’s made. The one he’s holding is Sowulo “Let light into parts of my life that have been hidden…” He ponders and then looks at Paige “I have no secrets from you. But I hide from my parents, from my mother specifically, especially about relationships...because she’s so Catholic. Maybe I need to grow up about that…”
Diamond nods along with both of them and just smiles. They were doing the secondary part of this work for her with their own back and forth.
Paige looks at Sasha and the rune. “I’m not Catholic. I mean, if you want me to meet you mother … I wouldn’t mind.” she chuckles. “I know I am far from the Catholic mother’s dream.”
Sasha’s completely honest with her “I don’t want you to be Catholic. I’m not sure I’m Catholic at this stage of my life. I do want you to meet my mother and you’re my dream so that’s all I need Paige.” He looks at her with such love and devotion now.
Diamond shakes her head and sighs at them but smiles “Remember that middle rune...let no one deter you from what you want in life…” She suggests “you don’t have to follow anyone else’s religion or relationship model to find your way together. Now, as you had the same question for the runes, do we want to move onto the cards?”
Paige hears his words and is glad of the seat under her. She leans into him. “You are all I ever dreamed of, Sasha.” she looks at him with equal devotion and then looks at Diamond. “Please?” she asks and looks up at Sasha to see if he agrees.
Sasha looks emotional but so very happy at her words and look and then nods after swallowing hard “Yes cards are good. This is the open ended question one?” He sets the rune back down.
Diamond nods “Mmmhm…” She scoops up the runes and puts them back in their bag. “Do you two need a minute to come up with a question you can agree on?” She looks between them as she takes out her deck and begins to casually shuffle it. It looks ancient and well worn but is a traditional Ride Waite with the original artwork.
Sasha looks at Paige “Well we had the same question before….I suspect I want to know what you want to know….so I pass this one to you as well. I trust you...completely.”
Paige looks at the deck. It’s beautiful. Then she looks at Sasha and nods, slowly. She doesn’t let herself think too much. It’s the first question to pop into her head. She looks at Diamond. "What do we need to do or know to have a long and happy life together?" And then she looks at Sasha. “Good?”
Sasha grins at Paige and then Diamond “Yes good.”
Diamond bobs her head around a bit when she shuffles like she’s thinking of a little song. Then she sets the desk down on the table and looks at Page “Cut that in half for me would you dear?” When Paige does she then looks at Sasha “Now you pick a side for me to read from…” He points to he left and she piles it on top of the right and begins to turn over cards in a Celtic Cross spread with a set of 4 vertical going up one side. She leans in and looks at it “Ooooh interesting stuff here….ok I’m going to explain the positions of these and I’ll go through what landed where. She points to the centre of the cross where one card is crossed over another present, also the heart and what influences it. “She points to the left of it “ The past...let’s just get that open out of the way because we can all see what it means.” She looks at them both “That’s the three of swords….you’ve both had heartbreak in your past…..but it’s in the past….so that’s good...let it stay there.” She points to the present “Here right now we have the two of wands… a new partnership...influenced by The Chariot...change, movement, that’s good it means progression. And the future card here on the right….well the 4 of wands…” She looks up at them and chuckles “That’s a marriage and home card...not to be too formal about it. The four posts of building a home and a life together. Now I know all you kids just shack up so that could apply too.” She focuses on the line down the cross “Head heart gut….alright so don’t freak out because this card up hear is called Death...The death card is not about physical dying, although it can be, it’s about change, transformation, big change, like death of the old life change. So this can be a beginning card as much as anything.” She looks between them “The heart we covered….the new partnership you have together….Gut, gut is your intuition….just that feeling...Strength. You know you need it, and there it is.” She encourages. Then she goes up the vertical cards.How you see it….3 of cups, celebration and harmony….you’re both pretty happy about this...I can tell. It’s like a toast. Now the next one up….how you perceive others see it and sasha I’m looking at you Catholic boy with the Catholic mother...This card is The Hierophant and reversed….like the pope just standing on his head looking at you.You’re feeling oppressed by someone else's structure and conformity and you you need to turn that card around...sort that out. Moving on...almost done…” She smiles “Hope and fears , the Temperance card….you’re worried about imbalance? Moderation perhaps? I’ll leave that for you two to unravel. And the final card on the current path, of course all subject to change if the path changes but this is a good one. Ten of cups, happy family life, emotions satisfaction and endurance in love, also fertility so be careful with that…” She teases and sits back.
Paige watches and listens. Everything she hears, she likes, up until the word ‘death’ comes up. That one always made her heart stop. But she understands it is not literal death, at least not in their reading. As the reading does on, she remains comfortable. Imbalance? She considers that and what they have been through already, but then is distracted by the ten of cups card. “Oh …” she murmurs at the word fertility and then blushes again. She knew she was not pregnant. She's gotten her period that morning, and they had not hd actual sex yet anyway. Looking over at Sasha, she tries to read his face.
Sasha nods about the heartbreak. Paige’s was so much worse and it still made him sad to think about. He begins to smile about the centre, the partnership and then smiles bigger when Diamond says the future has a marriage card. He chuckles and looks at Paige, his eyes twinkling a bit. The death card makes his smile fade for a moment and then he exhales when it’s explained and looks curiously at the strength card and nods. He smiles about the three of cups and comments “I feel pretty celebratory.” He admits and then she talks about the hierophant and he shrinks back into himself and looks a little overwhelmed. Then he just agrees that he needs to deal with it “Yep…” He says in a sigh. The moderation part he tilts his head at. It made sense for an earlier struggle and maybe it would come up again? He shrugged at it and then beamed when Diamond started talking about the 10 of cups giving a little nervous laugh when she said be careful about fertility. He saw Paige’s blush and squeezed her hand and bluntly says “Don’t worry I bought condoms.” With a chuckle.
Diamond now laughs and laughs and gets up to wander off “I leave you two to talk this one over. My work here is done” She heads to the counter where she sees her husband and whispers and gestures about her clients like she finds them adorable.
Paige watches Sasha’s reactions. When he mentions that he bought condoms, she gapes, then shakes her head and buries it in his upper arms. “OK, that’s good to know .. but .. when? Where?” she laughs into his arm.
Sasha puts his arm around her and laughs too “I probably could have waited to say that until we were alone. But since Diamond knows all my Catholic baggage now I got way too comfortable. From Seamus, at The Love Shack...the other day...after we had our little fall in the ocean.”
Paige giggles a little bit. “How does that work, anyway? I mean .. they have different sizes? But how do you… I mean … Seamus knows …” she can’t quite make herself finish.
Now Sasha blushes, fiercely “Well I hope I don’t disappoint you but I’m simply a medium.” He admits and then kisses her.
Paige giggles and he stops it with a kiss. She breaks it. “Nothing about you disappoints me.” she tells him, then takes his hand and stands. “Let’s keep exploring. Our time here is running short.”
Sasha does an exaggerated sigh of relief and stands with her “Hang on...we need to pay for the readings. I’ll be right back.” He goes and deals with that and then rejoins her “How’s your new job going? I applied for three on Friday, one was an immediate no. The Power Plant, they just hired two people. But it would have been working for Seamus’s dad so maybe that would be weird for him.” He laughs “The community centre is running a smaller scale summer soccer program. It’s not hockey but I know soccer well enough. I might be younger than they’re looking for but I actually applied for the coordinator’s job. We’ll see. Oh and that deli sandwich place…” He starts looking round for her sewing books because the readings and all the stuff before it took them from that plan.
Paige moves with him. “Weird for Seamus or weird for his dad?” she chuckles. “Well which job do you want more? Soccer or Deli. Let me try and guess.” and she takes a few steps on the staircase and turns. “Soccer.” she guesses.
Sasha nods at her “Yeah...you got me. Kinda felt like I was out of my league though applying for the big one and not just coaching….am I nuts?” He laughs “I just said to hell with it. And I don’t think weird for either of them...I dunno..the Reinhardts are pretty cool. You didn’t tell me about your job though.” They finally make it to the top and he sees a poster of an old Butterick sewing pattern “I think this is the floor for you Paige….look.” There’s a display of books under the poster.
Paige is happy she could guess the job he wanted most. “I don’t think so. But I might have more faith in you than you have in you sometimes.” she guesses. “My job? It’s a place called Platinum Pleats on Water Street. Leslie Kempler is the owner. She stopped me on the street and told me she’d met my father and he told her I made all of his ties. We got to talking and … I got a job.” she giggles. “She has opened up a section for making masks too, because if this is going to be the new normal she said we may as well be fashionable.” she looks here he indicates. “Oooooo.” she smiles and drifts in that direction. Soon she is looking intently through a book titled. ‘Mens fashion - Ties to Tux’ intently.
Sasha follows her and just kind of hangs out. He’s not browsing too hard in this section but he’s completely content to just be with Paige doing her thing “That’s cool...all of it. I love my mask by the way...in case my 24 thanks yous didn’t already tell you that.” He reads the book title and looks down at his shorts and tshirt “I’ve only ever worn a suit for weddings and funerals…..I guess I might have for grad if there was no Covid and we hadn’t moved. But then I wouldn’t have met you.” He acknowledges.
Paige giggles. “I got the hint. There will probably be more to come. Variety is key in a man's wardrobe.” she winks at him and hefts the book. “This is actually for the job, but I do like these mens shirts. I can make those for my father too. But he usually stops me at ties.” she rolls her eyes. She snaps the book shut. “Lets go check out … because I will force my father into bankruptcy if you don’t stop me.” she smiles at him. “Thanks for .. everything, Sasha. I feel … really really good about us.”
Sasha exhales and pulls her into his arms for one big hug before they go meet Seamus and Iris “Thank you…” He hugs her tight “I feel really good about us too….those runes and cards didn't actually tell me anything I didn’t already know and feel. I love you Paige Page. It’s funny to me now thinking that today would have been our first date….I think the universe just had other plans.”
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