Return to The Zodiac Series: Aquarius

Lisa Pinckney thought astrology was a lot of nonsense, but she’d never tell Aunt Jo. Jo Nell Clark had actually taken classes in the stuff and been certified, whatever that meant. For years the family joked that Jo was certifiable. Her four ex-husbands thought so, too, except they weren’t joking. But Lisa found nothing to criticize in her lively aunt. How many women in their sixties could run marathons and ride bicycles, dressed in OSHA orange, no less?

Lisa, with her own platinum spiked hairdo and body piercings, was considered a bit offbeat by relatives, too. Consequently, she stuck close to Aunt Jo at family gatherings. Tonight they were meeting at The Health Nut, Jo’s favorite restaurant. Although Lisa preferred the fried chicken livers and gravy at Cracker Barrel, she had to admit that her aunt’s choice was healthier. So she resigned herself to a meal of tofu meatloaf and astrological advice. It would probably be the last time they’d dine out together for a long time.

Aunt Jo, waiting at a corner booth when Lisa arrived, rose to hug her. “Sweetie, that shade of red becomes you.”

“Thanks,” Lisa murmured, sliding into the booth across from her. She’d worn her red power suit for a meeting with her staff. “That metallic lime suits you, too.”

Jo patted her wild silver hair and chuckled. Her matching lime earrings jingled from the movement. “Thanks.” She slid a sheet of paper across the table. “Here, sugar. You’ll need your reading for February.”

Lisa plucked the paper from the table. Even if she didn’t believe in astrology, she was curious to see what the planets had to tell her. Furthermore, her aunt invested a lot of time in preparing her monthly chart, for which clients paid up to a hundred dollars per reading. Jo earned enough money from her astrology business that, combined with her social security, she could afford expensive bicycle equipment and running gear.

“Thank you.” Lisa folded the sheet and stuck it in the outside pocket of her purse. She’d look at it later.

“Don’t wait too long to read it. It’s very important for you to be open to romance during this period, Lisa, especially to a Gemini.”

At the word romance, Lisa tuned her out. She’d had more than enough romance, thank you very much. Hell, she’d had enough of dating as well. And a Gemini? She made it a point to know every man’s sign so she could report back to her astrologist-aunt, but only one Gemini had been among them. There was no way in hell she’d open herself to romance with the arrogant Ethan Parker, even if she’d be around to date him. Which she wouldn’t. They’d had one dinner date, a total disaster. Talk about two people with nothing in common!

“Don’t rule out anybody, sugar, until you really get to know him.”

A shiver tickled Lisa’s spine. “Who says I have anyone in mind?”

“I may be an Aries, but Aquarius is my first house and my rising sign. We’re connected that way.”

“Because ... my sun sign is Aquarius?”

Lisa should know this stuff. She didn’t want Aunt Jo to think she hadn’t paid attention to her horoscope readings all these years. She remembered some of the personality traits of an Aquarian: unconventional, creative, and into all levels of communication. Relationships took priority. Jo once told her that strangers were friends she had yet to meet. True, these traits squared with Lisa’s personality but didn’t persuade her to embrace astrology.

Aunt Jo nodded, jangling her earrings again. “You and I share personality traits. We’re more alike than you might think.”

As in unconventional? “Okay, but you once told me that an Aquarian and a Gemini weren’t compatible.”

“I did not!” She recoiled as if Lisa had insulted her. “I wouldn’t say such a thing.”

Busted. “Sorry. I forgot what you said about generalizations.”

“You’ve just been humoring your favorite aunt about astrology, haven’t you?”

Busted again, but she wouldn’t admit it and hurt her aunt’s feelings. “No! I just can’t remember everything you’ve told me.”

Mollified, Jo smiled. “So tell me about the Gemini you dated.”

“Are you psychic?”

She smiled and winked. “Sometimes. But don’t change the subject.”

“I have to. I have news. If you’re psychic, it may not come as a surprise, though,” Lisa said.

“News? Spill! I’m not a mind reader.”

“It’s a good-news, bad-news thing.”

Lisa hesitated as the young waitress arrived to take their beverage orders. In her hippie costume of bell bottom jeans and a peasant blouse, she needed only a peace symbol necklace to complete her sixties look, although the kid was born at least two decades later.

Aunt Jo ordered papaya juice.

“Make mine a bottled water.”

The waitress shuffled to the kitchen in her Jesus sandals and Jo resumed their conversation. “Okay. Give me the good news first.”

“I’m being promoted to plant manager.” Just saying it brought excited butterflies to her stomach. Plant manager was a big step for Lisa’s career. “I’ve earned it, but it’s still scary.”

“That’s wonderful! I know how hard you’ve been working for this.”

“After Wendy left, it wasn’t as much fun to goof off.” Aunt Jo knew she was referring to her best friend, Wendy Powers, who had finally met Mr. Right and moved to Atlanta. “I discovered ambition.”

“You matured,” Jo said. “Do you and Wendy keep in touch?”

“Not as much. We’ve both been too busy.” Lisa missed Wendy. Soon she’d live just a couple of hours from her and they could reconnect.

“Well, you don’t have to tell me the bad news, sugar. The job’s not here in Columbia.”

“Maybe you really are psychic. I’ll be in charge of a small plant near Macon, Georgia.”

“That’s not too far. You’ll come back for visits, right?”

“Of course. And you’ll visit me, too. I’ll have a guest room, wherever I decide to live.” She’d been house-hunting once, but needed to settle on a place soon. She’d already given up the lease on her apartment.

Jo shook her head. “I won’t be intruding on you and your husband...”

“Husband?!” Jeez, what was with Aunt Jo tonight? Husbands. Romance. A Gemini man. “Are you nuts? I don’t even have a boyfriend at the moment.”

“We still need to discuss this Gemini you dated.”

“No, we don’t.” Lisa sighed. “Look, even if a Gemini and an Aquarian can be compatible, Ethan and I are not. Subject closed.”

“Ethan, eh?” Jo said, ignoring the subject closed directive. “You know, Gemini and Aquarius are both air signs. Both are into communication...”

“Look, maybe there is a Gemini in my future, someone I have yet to meet. All I know is it can’t be Ethan Parker.” She would never hurt her aunt’s feelings, but talk of a romance with Ethan Parker, Gemini or not, was preposterous.

“Just tell me what’s so terrible about him.” She wouldn’t give up.

Lisa had tried to put the humiliation out of her mind. “Let’s just say he was immune to my charms. And, no, he isn’t gay.”

“In other words, you came on to him on the first date and he told you to back off?”

“Good grief, I don’t want to have a conversation about my sex life with my aunt! Let’s just drop it.”

As if. “Exactly what went wrong on your date with the guy, sugar?”

“What went right?” Lisa slid further in the booth as if hiding from the memory. “I thought he was hot, you know? I mean, he could play double for Johnny Depp, but he wears gray suits and blue shirts, and those plain burgundy ties. I knew up front he was, you know, Mr. Conservative. But he’s also young, barely thirty, and I thought he’d be like any other hot-blooded American guy.”

“Let me guess. You went to dinner with Joe Establishment dressed in a short-short halter dress with thong panties and stilettos.”

“Worse.” Lisa sighed. “No underwear at all. I just assumed...”

“You assumed he expected sex on the first date? Oh, Lisa.”

“Be honest, Aunt Jo. Every guy wants sex on the first date, or any date.”

“Don’t be cynical. Not every guy wants only a physical relationship, you know.”

“I’d say every guy does except Ethan Parker. He acted offended, treated me like an unsolicited hooker.” Lisa took a deep breath. She didn’t want to whine, especially to Aunt Jo. They’d never quite seen eye-to-eye on casual sex. Modern Lisa regarded casual sex acceptable as long as one used good sense, reliable birth control, and prophylactics. Jo, on the other hand, didn’t date. She married.

“He said, ‘obviously we’re not suited for one another,’ in his condescending way.”

“Is that all...”

“No, that’s not all!” God, her skin burned as if the date was only last week instead of months ago. “He offered me fifty bucks for the time I’d wasted with him having dinner. ‘Considering how you’re dressed, I can only assume that you charge by the hour.’”

“Oh, sugar, no wonder you were hurt. That was callous.”

“Damn straight. I told him to shove the fifty bucks up his tight ass!”

Mercifully, the waitress delivered their beverages, putting a temporary end to the subject. She poised her pencil over her pad. “Have you decided?”

Lisa snatched the menu from the table and flipped it open. Talk of the date from hell had nearly cost her her appetite. She tried to focus on the menu and heard Aunt Jo order the oriental salad. That didn’t sound overly health-foodish. “I’ll have the same.”

After the waitress left, Jo wisely abandoned the Gemini and husband talk. “So, when do you have to move?”

“They want me as soon as possible. They’ve been without a manager in that plant for a couple of months.”

Jo frowned. “How definite is this move?”

“Very. It’s been announced, my transfer package has been signed, and I already have the relocation department scheduling the moving company. I have to be out of my apartment by the end of January.”

“Hmm. Hand that back to me a minute.”

Lisa knew she was referring to her reading. She pulled the sheet from the side pocket of her purse, unfolded it, and laid it on the table.

Scanning the chart, her aunt gnawed her lower lip. “Lisa, while Mercury is in retrograde motion and Saturn is opposing your sun, an agreement you made will not turn out as expected. It can be better or worse but not as promised.”

Not turn out as expected. Unease prickled the hairs on the back of her neck. You don’t believe in this astrology crap, remember? The promotion was final. What could change now?

Jo covered her hand with her own. “Listen, sugar. This is actually a time for making plans to put into play when Mercury goes direct again.”

“When’s that?” Lisa heard herself ask, hating the uncertainty that shook her voice.

“Mercury goes direct February twelfth.”

“My birthday. Terrific.”

“You know, Mars was making an aspect to your natal Uranus when you made the agreement.”

Huh? She resisted making a joke about her anus and asked, “What’s that mean?”

“It means, prepare to be surprised by some unanticipated action. Expect something unusual to happen.” Jo pursed her lips and nodded. “You know, things might work out better if you’re somehow independent in your career.”

“You mean working for myself?” Lisa didn’t want the insecurity of no certain paycheck or insurance coverage. No way. “Are you sure you’re reading it right?” Not that I believe in astrology.

“Your natal Sun is in the tenth house and Venus is in your second...”

Lisa struggled to keep up with her aunt’s astro-speak. “Sun is ego, right?”

“Right. The ego is satisfied in business and this is where you shine. With Venus in your second house, you have ability to earn, to have money and other valuables.”

“But wouldn’t managing a textile plant fall into that category? I’ll be in charge of that business. And my salary increase is substantial.” That’s how astrology worked for Lisa. She made it fit her life’s choices, not vice versa.

“I suppose, sugar.” But Jo sounded unconvinced.

Determined to regain her earlier cheer, Lisa chose to disregard her aunt’s interpretation of her horoscope. She usually did, anyway. Why let it spook her tonight? “Well, we’ll soon find out what it means, so let’s not worry about it now.”

But Lisa did worry. Later, as she let herself into her apartment, she couldn’t shake the sensation of a black cloud hovering over her. Full of salad and spring water, she decided she needed a drink. In the back of her fridge she found an unopened bottle of champagne she’d bought to celebrate the promotion. Was it bad luck to open it now?

Get a grip, girl! Since when was she a superstitious nincompoop? She uncorked the bottle over the sink, spilling the chilled liquid into a stemmed glass and over her hand, then lifted the glass for a toast. “To a new life in Georgia ... without a Gemini man.”

As she gulped a greedy mouthful, she closed her eyes against a foreboding shiver. She had no idea why, but the sudden knowledge that nothing about her toast would come true haunted her.

Ethan Parker’s serene exterior was the acting performance of his life. An internal storm tore him apart as he slipped inside the supply closet. Here he could safely release his rage, albeit quietly.

“Son of a bitch!” he whispered. “Damn it all to hell.”

His Methodist-minister father would be appalled by his cursing, but Dad wasn’t here to witness the disintegration of his eldest. Maybe if Ethan had followed his father into the ministry he wouldn’t be faced with the corporate bullshit he’d just endured. A promotion he’d worked his ass off to get had just been ripped away from him, all because the company had been sold.

He’d heard rumors a month ago on CNN that a Japanese corporation was showing interest in a hostile takeover of Cotton States Textiles. Nothing more had been said. In fact, Cotton States denied the rumor and carried on business as usual. Last Friday, his appointment as District Sales Manager had been announced to the employees, along with several other promotions and personnel changes. Everything was to take effect February first.

“Frankly, Parker, you’re lucky to still have a job,” Paul Lee, the Vice President over Personnel, told him this morning. Looking glum himself, he’d had the unenviable task of meeting with each member of management to tell him--or her, in the case of Lisa Pinckney--that all promotions and transfers had been frozen. The Japanese would determine who would stay and who would be replaced with managers from the holding company.

In other words, he still had a job maybe. It wasn’t the career of a lifetime, of course, but his job at Cotton States Textiles allowed him to stay in Columbia near family. Near her. He thought about his house payment and cringed. He’d sell his car before he’d give up his house. Ariel’s house. The home she’d picked out and decorated with such passion. The home she’d planned to start their family in. The home now too large and lonely without her.

No, he’d stock the shelves at Home Depot again, just as he’d done during college, before he’d give up that house. But it’d take more than determination and a stocking clerk’s salary to meet the mortgage. If the new owners declared his job a redundancy, where would he go? He needed to update his resume instead of venting his temper in a supply closet.

“Son of a bitch!” he whispered again before leaving the closet. “Damn it all to hell.”

Easing open the door, he checked the hall. Nobody. He scurried from the closet just as Lisa Pinckney, looking entirely too cheerful, rounded the corner. Obviously, she hadn’t been called into Paul Lee’s office yet. Perky and pretty, she didn’t understand the concept of “dress for success.” Her expensive business suit lost its impact with her sequined nail polish and pierced eyebrow. Ow! Why did women do that to themselves? As for her hair, it was just plain messy, making her look as if she’d just been laid. Not that he’d know.

“So you’re finally coming out of the closet, eh?” she teased.

“Very funny.” He tried to smile to soften the snappishness in his tone, but it just wasn’t worth the effort. Lisa had accused him of being gay after their one attempt at dating. It hadn’t taken long to realize she just wasn’t his type of woman. She’d come on to him right off the bat, as if sex was a given. Maybe it was his strict upbringing, or maybe it was Ariel. But hot, foxy Lisa did nothing to turn him on that night. Or now.

“Holy cow. Who rained on your parade, Ethan?”

She didn’t know. Should he prepare her? After all, she had her heart set on her promotion, too. Besides, he owed her for not questioning him about why he’d been in the supply closet. Thank God. “I’m afraid the same one who’s about to rain on yours.”

She grabbed his arm. “Who are we talking about?” Seriousness replaced the mirth in her big blue eyes.

He’d always known Lisa was a looker. Why did she find it necessary to paint black lines around those gorgeous baby blues? “Paul Lee,” he answered then gave her a brief recap of his own meeting with Personnel.

Lisa frowned but without the shock or defeat he expected to see in her face. Shaking her head, she quietly murmured, “Oh, my God. Aunt Jo was right.”

Who the hell was Aunt Jo? Lisa walked away as if in a trance. Chatty, flirty, and sexy, Lisa could be annoying. Even tempting. But Lisa quiet and pensive ... now that was scary. He debated catching up to her, making sure she was all right, but why? He didn’t even like the woman, although beneath her multiple shades of eye shadow and black mascara lurked an amazing pair of eyes.

Despite her bizarre taste in clothes and hairstyles, she epitomized the modern career woman: aggressive, freethinking, and self-indulgent--traits he despised. But watching her head down the hall in a robotic state, his worry for her grew. Probably Miss Independent would spurn concern from an old-fashioned guy like him.

He jogged after her, as if his legs operated from a different brain. “Lisa! Wait up.”

Southwest Airlines

1265-Phoenix to Denver-ETD: Delayed

Lance Cullen couldn’t believe his eyes. He removed his glasses and gave them a quick swipe on his suit coat then put them back on. Yep. Delayed. He glanced at his watch and wondered if it was too late to call the Kick Ass Games office in Denver. Phoenix didn’t change time along with the rest of the country. Even though Lance had lived in Phoenix for six years, he still couldn’t figure out how the time change thing worked, or didn’t as was the case for Arizona.

He did know that his office was still open so he flipped open his cell phone and dialed his secretary.

“Pendragon Studios, Jennifer speaking. How may I help you?”

“Hey Jen,” Lance said into the phone as he searched the gate area for an empty seat.

“Mr. Cullen?” The surprise in Jennifer’s voice was evident. “Aren’t you supposed to be on your way to Denver?”

“Yeah, the flight’s delayed.” He spotted an empty chair by the wall and headed that way. An older woman sat next to it, but she looked like she was sleeping so he placed his briefcase on the seat and stood to the side. “What’s the time difference between here and there, Jen? Do you know?”

“They’re an hour ahead sir, so I think their offices are closed. Would you like me to check?”

Lance smiled. This was why he’d kept Jen on when he’d bought out his old partner, now rival. Her efficiency was flawless.

“Sure. I’ll let you go so you can make the call.” Removing his briefcase, he sat down next to the old woman and softened his voice a notch so he wouldn’t disturb her. “Call me back when you find out. In the meantime, I’ll see how long the delay is going to be.”

Lance closed his phone and leaned back in his chair. Resting his head against the wall, he closed his eyes. Exhaustion rolled over him. He’d been working on reconfiguring the platform for his newest video game, Hell’s Gate, for the last two months. This trip was important. Stanley Culbert, the CEO of Kick Ass games, had requested a personal viewing before they bought the game and put it into production. Not that he didn’t love building video games for a living. That was every boy’s dream growing up, right? At least every geek boy’s dream.

He’d been one of those geeks. He still was, for that matter. His lack of female companionship proved that. No amount of working out in the gym would ever take the geek out of Lancelot Cullen.

He sighed audibly and reached up to remove his glasses, rubbing his face with his hands, willing the stress of the day away. It was just as well--he didn’t have time for a relationship.

He straightened and looked at the information board behind the gate counter. The sign still said delayed and there wasn’t a line. He needed to find out how long the flight would be delayed before Jen called back.

Shrugging out of his suit coat, he stood up and grabbed his briefcase but left the coat on the chair. The airport was busy and he wasn’t about to lose his seat.

“I’ll keep an eye on your seat for ya, Sugar.”

He turned to look at the older woman who a moment before had been sleeping, or so he thought.

“Thanks. I’m just going to check and see how long my flight is being delayed and I’ll be right back.”

“You on the Colorada flight?” The woman’s soft drawl soothed his frayed nerves.

“Yes. Are you?” Lance couldn’t help but stare at her. When he’d first seen her from across the room he thought she’d been frail and in her seventies. Now that he was close, he could see that what he’d taken for frail was actually leanness. Her body was thin but muscular. The calves showing from underneath a gauzy purple skirt were smooth and had a biker’s look to them. She was also definitely not in her seventies. If he had to take a guess, late fifties or early sixties.

“Sure am,” she replied. “I’m on my way to an Astrology convention and to do a little mountain biking.” She stood and stepped toward him, hand outstretched. “I’m Jo Nell Clark.” Jo Nell gave him a firm hand shake and had a bright smile and a twinkle in her eye. “We’ll be leaving in about forty-five minutes so if you want to sit back down and chat for a bit, it’ll pass the time.”

“Lance Cullen. Um.” He glanced at the desk again. “Did you already ask them about the delay?”

“Well no, Sugar. I just know.”

“Okay.” Great, just what I need. Some quack job old lady wanting to chat.

“I’ll go check anyway, maybe it’s changed.” He dropped her hand and turned toward the gate.

“You do that, Sugar,” Jo Nell called after him. “I’ll be here waitin’.”

Lance weaved his way to the gate hoping to hell he wouldn’t get stuck sitting next to Jo Nell on the plane. Despite the fact he liked her southern drawl, he could only imagine what sort of nonsense would come from her mouth.

“Excuse me, miss?” Lance knocked once on the counter. The girl behind the counter gave him a look of distain. Her over-dyed jet-black hair was pulled back in a severe ponytail, her blue eyes rimmed with matching black lining. She smacked gum behind rose-red lips. “I’m sorry to bother you,” he continued, “but do you know how long we’ll be waiting?”

She gave a deep sigh and rolled her eyes. He’d obviously not been the first to ask the question.

“Forty-five minutes.”

“Forty-five minutes?”

“For-tee-fi-ve minn-utess,” She pronounced the words as if he were hard of hearing.

He was too tired to deal with snotty young gate attendants so he nodded his thanks and went back to his seat. He didn’t quite know what to say to Jo Nell. She’d been right, and while the old lady didn’t scare him, her confidence at being sure she knew how long the delay would be did give him pause.

He was a logical person. One plus one equaled two. Jo Nell seemed like she could be one of those people that believed the answer to one plus one was irrelevant based on the placement of the moon three weeks from now. He laughed a little at his own joke, and wondered what Jo Nell would say if he’d told her that.

“What’s so amusing, Sugar?” Jo Nell moved his suit coat aside and patted the empty seat. “Sit down and visit with me.”

Lance sat down and despite his previous thoughts, couldn’t help but keep the grin on his face. “You were right. Forty-five minutes.”

“Well, of course I was, darlin’.” She handed the coat back to him and patted his knee. “Now why don’t you tell me why you look like hell warmed over. A handsome, strong young man like you shouldn’t look like that.”

Lance’s grin faltered for a second. He knew he felt tired, but he didn’t think it was that obvious. There was something about the way Jo Nell looked at him. The sincerity of her question was in her eyes, and before he knew it they were boarding the plane and he’d just told a perfect stranger his life story.

He helped her put her carry-on in the overhead bin, and made sure she had a pillow. The flight attendant must have noticed the easy camaraderie between him and Jo Nell because she’d asked if his grandmother would need any special consideration upon landing. Jo Nell had given a full-bellied laugh at that and was still wiping away the tears from her eyes when he finally sat down next to her.

“Phew wee, that was the best laugh I’ve had in a long time.” Jo Nell reached over and squeezed Lance’s hand. “Thanks for telling me about yourself, Lance.”

He laughed at that. “I should be thanking you for listening to me drone on about my boring life.”

Her smiled faded a little. “I don’t know who ever told you that you were boring, Sugar, but they were wrong.”

She reached under the chair in front of her and grabbed a large purple purse. She rummaged around and let out a triumphant, “Ah, ha,” and pulled out a small black leather journal.

“What’s your birthday, Lance?” She pulled out a pen from her purse and opened the journal to a blank page.

“January twenty-sixth”

“I thought so, Aquarius. Well, go on.” She nudged him with her elbow. “I need the year too, Sugar. I won’t tell that pretty young flight attendant how old you are.” Her smile was back to being bright, with just a hint of mischievousness to it too.

“Nineteen Seventy-two.”

“Thirty-three, huh? Not a bad age.” She wrote down the date on the top of a blank journal page. She pulled out another journal from her purse, this one red leather. “Give me a minute, Sugar, and I’ll have something for ya.”

“Sure thing, Jo Nell.”

Lance didn’t have any clue as to what she was doing, but let her scribble away in peace. They were in the air already so he took out his laptop and booted it up. He wanted to check one last time that all of the bugs in Hell’s Gate had been fixed.

He’d spent the last two years saving so he could buy out James Ronal, his ex-partner. They’d started their gaming company together six years ago. Lance was the genius behind the games; James was the genius behind the money. It had taken only three years for them to see a profit, unheard of in the gaming industry. But James had wanted a bigger piece of the pie.

Three times Lance had caught James making a deal behind his back to sell the company. Every time he’d confronted him, James denied everything. Saying it must have been someone in the company trying to discredit him, or that it was a rumor the larger gaming companies had started to bring dissension between them. That was when he’d started saving.

The day Lance brought in a lawyer to help him persuade James to sell his shares to him, he’d found James in the conference room getting ready to sign over the company to Michael Dalton, the CFO of their biggest rival company, Monkey Business Games. Lance had gone ballistic. His natural nonchalance moved over and made way for the rage and bitterness he felt at being betrayed over and over again by a man he once considered his best friend.

They’d settled out of court, and James hadn’t spent any time in jail. Lance had full ownership of their company. He’d renamed it Pendragon Studios for two reasons. To rid the company of any residual negativity from James’ deceit, and to honor his father, who’d passed away last year.

His dad had been a King Arthur historian and had instilled in each of his children a love for the legend. Lance and his three siblings were named after the legend, Arthur, his older brother, younger sister Morgana, and youngest brother Gawain. His mother had vied for Guinevere for his sister’s name, but his parents couldn’t agree on which of its many spellings to use so they’d settled for Morgana.

Jo Nell had laughed when he told her about his quirky family names. She’d said that to be named after such great legends was an honor itself.

He glanced up from his laptop to see how her journaling was coming along. She looked to be on her third page. He wondered why his birthday could be so interesting that she’d filled three pages with writing.

Oh, yeah. She was on her way to an Astrology convention. Probably going to commune with the trees or something. He liked Jo Nell, but didn’t put much stock in the hocus pocus of the zodiac. She slammed the book shut and startled him so much he almost dropped his laptop.

“Oops, sorry,” she said. “I’m finished and just in time. We’ve got about thirty minutes to go over your reading before we land.”

“My reading?”

“Yep, do you have an appointment book or something?”

“I’ve got a scheduler on my computer.” That twinkle was back in her eye, and he wondered what she was up to.

“Perfect. First things first. Pull up today and at the top of the day type Aries.”

Lance did as she asked, typing in capital letters at the heading of the day ARIES.

Jo Nell opened her black journal again and began to mark off her notes as she read them to him.

“You will meet an Aries today. She’s your future.”

Lance snorted. Oh, yeah, communing with the trees all right.

“Don’t snort, Sugar, just type it in your computer there.” She gestured to his screen. “You can tell me later if I’m wrong.”

“Okay Jo Nell, I’ll play along.” Lance replied as he typed ARIES=FUTURE.

“Now you’re gonna be busy the next two weeks here so try and keep up.” He typed as she rattled off dates and headings. Twenty minutes later, the pilot’s voice came over the loud speaker announcing their descent.

“Now Sugar,” Jo Nell once again dug into her purse--Lance was beginning to think of it as her bag of tricks--and offered him a business card. Jo Nell Clark. Astrologer. “I want you to either give me a call or email me in three weeks. That should give you enough time for the planets to do their magic and fulfill your destiny.”

With Jo Nell he’d either been Mr. Talk-your-ear-off or Mr. Can’t-say-anything; it seemed Can’t-say-anything had surfaced again. He smiled and copied her indifference over the whole weirdness of their conversation by staying silent, putting his laptop away and settled back for the landing.

My destiny, he thought. Yeah, right. I’ll just go through and erase it all later, but for now, I think I’ve made her happy.

He glanced over at Jo Nell and took her hand. “Thanks,” he said, giving her hand a little squeeze. She smiled up at him and squeezed back.

“You are very welcome, Sugar.”

Once off the plane and in the Denver terminal, Lance had given Jo Nell a hug and watched for a moment as she strolled off to meet her group of fellow astrologer cyclists. She certainly had made his flight entertaining. He headed toward baggage claim and after he picked up his luggage, went to find a cab. Stanley Culbert had said he was sending someone to pick him up, but because the flight had been delayed, Lance figured that person would be gone.

Just as he was about to step out into the cool Denver night, he heard his name.

“Lance Cullen?”

He turned to see a short woman with blonde hair holding up a sign with his name on it, written in a rainbow of colors. The woman--the only reason he thought woman verses girl was because of her full figure--was calling out his name over and over again, but he couldn’t seem to respond yet. Twice today he’d been overwhelmed by the opposite sex. Maybe that was the problem. He needed sex. He stepped towards her so he could get a closer look at her.

She might have been short, but she was all curves. Low-waisted jeans hung on lush hips with the help of a chain wrapped through the belt loops. She wore a cropped black t-shirt with a print on the front that looked like an impressionist painting, but not one he’d ever seen before. Her honey-colored hair was cut in a short curly bob that made her look angelic.

She stopped calling his name out and glanced down to check her watch. He didn’t want her to think she’d missed him so he walked up to her.

“I’m Lance Cullen,” he said, taking in her green cat eyes and the fact that she barely reached his shoulders.

“Oh,” she gasped. “Thank God, I thought I’d missed you.” She reached out and hugged him.

It was a quick hug, but his chest burned as if he’d been branded.

“Welcome to Denver, Lance.” She stepped back and flashed him a wide smile, engaging his eyes.

“I’m Aries. Aries Culbert. Nice to meet you.”