Witchful Thinking (40 page)

“Very well,” he said again and called the waiter over. “Ms. Wilkins …”

“Please, it’s Jolie.”

He smiled languidly. “Jolie, what would you care to drink?”

I faced the waiter and smiled. “Do you have any Riesling?”

The waiter nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”

“A glass of that, then,” I finished.

“And you, sir,” the waiter asked, turning to face Sinjin.

“The same, please,” he responded.

“Are you ready to order?” the waiter asked us both, his pen poised above the pad of paper like he was about to start a race or something.

Sinjin glanced at me and I nodded, having already figured out what I wanted. “I’d like the sea bass, please.”

The waiter scribbled down my order before facing Sinjin. “And you, sir?”

Sinjin shook his head. “Nothing for me, thank you.”

“Sinjin,” I started, shocked that he wasn’t ordering anything. “You aren’t going to make me eat alone?”

He smiled. “I apologize, love, but my stomach is a bit finicky at the moment. Would you mind terribly?”

How was I going to say no to that? I shook my head and the waiter nodded, disappearing into the kitchen moments later.

“We can go if you aren’t feeling well,” I said.

Sinjin waved away my concern with his long fingers. “I have a bit of a stomach condition and it plagues me every now and again. Nothing to concern yourself with, love.” He studied me for a moment or two and smiled again. “Where were we?”

“Um, I think we had agreed to start over.”

He chuckled. “Ah, yes, starting over.” His voice trailed as he apparently searched for a new topic. “Tell me about your tarot reading business.”

I sighed and glanced down at my ice water. The ice had melted into tiny lumps and I submerged each one with my straw as I thought about his question. “Well, as you know, I’m a psychic,” I said. Whether he even believed in that sort of thing was anyone’s guess—it hadn’t been something we established the night before.

“Have you always known this about yourself?” he asked, just as the waiter returned with our wine. Sinjin raised his glass. “Prost!” he said and brought the glass to his lips as I downed a swallow of the bitterly sweet wine. Before he took a swig, he set the glass back on the table and glanced over at me again. “Well?”

I smiled. “Um, yeah, for as long as I can remember. I could always see things and I just seemed to know things about people. Stuff that I shouldn’t know.” I wondered if I’d said too much. Usually men didn’t react well to my day job—thinking I was either a charlatan or a nut job.

But there was no sign of judgment on Sinjin’s handsome face. Instead, he just nodded and I couldn’t tell if he thought I was full of it or not.

“I know the feeling.”

I faced him, my eyes wide, as I wondered what he was admitting. “Are you psychic?”

He shook his head. “No but I have had my dealings with the otherworldly.”

So he didn’t think I was a liar or a Looney Toon. I breathed out a sigh of relief. And, as the relief washed
over me, a feeling of disappointment surfaced. Sinjin might understand me, but it wasn’t like he was going to stick around. I mean, he was traveling here on business or vacation or something.

“What about you?” I asked. “You’re here for work?”

He never took his eyes from mine and there was something in their depths. Something untold, something hidden. It appeared that this man had his own skeletons hanging in his closet. I could tell just by reading his eyes.

“Yes, quite so.”

“What do you do?”

He shrugged and finally averted his eyes, lifting his glass of wine as he trailed the rim of the glass with his finger. “I own my own company.”

“Ah, what type of business?”

“Finance,” he said quickly, somewhat dismissively, and then leaned forward, seemingly uncomfortable about discussing the specifics.

“And you’re here for just a little while, then?” I hoped I didn’t sound anticipative because I was all too well aware that this charade probably wouldn’t last longer than tonight. Not when he had a whole life waiting for him in Britain.

God, what if he’s married?

He glanced at me again and didn’t respond right away, just continued looping his finger around the rim of his glass. “I am considering opening an American branch of my company. That is why I am currently here.” He stopped talking for a few seconds and then smiled at me. “Perhaps I will not return to Britain—for the foreseeable future, at any rate.”

I felt something happy burst within me even though it made no sense. If Sinjin decided to stay, that didn’t mean we’d necessarily see each other again. And even if we did see each other once, twice, or even multiple times,
he’d still have to return to Britain eventually and where would that leave me?

I shook the feelings of elation right out of me. I was getting way ahead of myself. And truly, I was just being silly, setting myself up for disappointment.