Jess couldn’t help herself. “Still riding your speeding deathtrap around unsuspecting girls on their way to class?”
Shannon blushed. “Sorry about your scar.”
“I consider it one of the better mementos from my time in college.”
Shannon looked as if she didn’t know what to make of that.Don’t make anything at all. Please. I’m already dying of embarrassment. Why did I say that?
The waiter offered Jess a menu. Shannon made a suggestion, but everything she recommended was much too spicy for Jess’s bland tastes.I’m such an Oregonian. I can’t stand anything spicier than a bell pepper. Even then…She asked for low sodium fried rice, whereas Shannon ordered more than mild stir-fry.
“So…” Jess’s struggle to think of anything to talk about warbled against her lips. “How’s life in Portland treating you?”
Shannon tapped her fingers together. “It’s not so bad. Really reconsidering where I live, though. When I moved here, I had someone else helping to pay the rent. Now that it’s only me on my photography income… ah…”
“I mean, you live in Nob Hill. Could you ask for higher rents?” Jess wanted to leave it at that, but something else Shannon said made her ask, “You’re no longer living with that person?”
“No.” Shannon pursed her lips. Both were pink from a light gloss.Did she really get dressed up for me? Or is she meeting someone else later?“We broke up a while ago.”
“Boyfriend?”
Shannon tensed. “Yes. His name was Andrew. We… ah… I moved here because he got a job up here, and I tagged along.”
“Oh.”
“I like Portland, though. It’s not quite home yet, but I’ve lived in worse places.” Shannon interlocked her fingers. “Anyway, how long have you been living here?”
“About three years.”
“Where were you before that?”
“Home.”
“Where’s that?”
Jess sighed. “The coast. Real shithole, let me tell you.”
Shannon’s nervous grin only grew wider. “Uh huh.”
“Are you… okay?”
Shannon inhaled a deep breath, hands laying flat against the table. “Sorry. I had way too much coffee earlier. I need to remember that I should drink less as I get older.”
“Guess we’re both thirty now, huh?” Jess cocked her head. “Since your birthday recently passed.”
“You remembered my birthday?”
“You told me the other day at the teashop.”
Shannon stared at her, eyes so wide that Jess feared they would freeze that way.
“Sorry. I tend to remember birthdays more than anything else. Comes with the territory.” In truth, Jess had never forgotten Shannon’s birthday. How could she? It was such an important thing, that the moment she learned it, the date was committed to memory for the rest of her life. “Plus, you told me your birthday the other night. You don’t want to know how many birth dates I have knocking around my head right now.”
“Do you make a living from your readings?”
Jess guffawed. “I wish!”
“So… what do you do, then?”
Half the restaurant was staring at them after Jess’s outburst. With more decorum under her belt, she answered, “A bunch of things. I write online articles, mostly. Different topics, but my expertise is in religious matters and horoscopes.”
