Ask And You Shall Receive (Closed to Emma)

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Liz felt awkward about asking Emma to read for her. It wasn't the act of reading so much as asking it of someone she spoke to casually while at work since Emma was often in the kitchen while Liz was serving. Truth me told, Liz liked Emma a lot, but she thought Emma was miles away more mature than her.

Still, she was thankful when the girl offered to give her a reading. As Liz sat at the table in the cafe and waited patiently. Beside Liz was a small bag. A thank you gift because it felt awkward to ask something of Emma without giving something in return.

She knew Maria would be beyond jealous - Maria always liked this sort of thing. Liz had thought about what she wanted to find out long and hard, but it had been made even clearer after Tuesday and the talk she had with Peter.

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"Yeah, yeah that's Tess." She pressed her lips together. Even after she asked the question, Liz knew the answer, but hearing it from Emma solidified things.

"... that's. Um. " She paused as she searched for an adequate response. She couldn't find one.

"Thank you for, um, for telling me." Her chest felt heavy suddenly. It ached.

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Too late, it struck Emma she hadn't given Liz one of her usual warnings. Maybe it was cruel to tell her now, when she'd already had the lesson in experience. She should probably keep it to herself now. But she had to say something, seeing how hurt Liz was.

"First love is called first love for a reason," she said gently, remembering Paolo and how she'd closed herself off after. "It's bright and new and exciting, but then you move on. You have moved on," she reminded Liz. There wasn't anyone at the inn who didn't know Liz and Peter were head over heels with puppy love for each other.

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She had moved on, she knew it, but Peter was so adamant that they would go back home to their own worlds and have to live their own lives away from each other that Liz was having a hard time dealing with the idea that she'd go home and there wouldn't be a Max. Even if logically she knew it was dangerous to be together because of what Future Max said.

She nodded, maybe a little numbly. "...I guess... I was sort of hoping you were going to say you saw me with Peter, in his world." She hadn't asked that, though,. She had asked about Max and she knew it and somehow that felt worse now.

"I, um... I should probably go."

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"Just because I'm a psi, doesn't mean I'm a telepath to read your thoughts."

Emma might not have warned Liz not to ask anything she wasn't ready to get an answer to, but she had been clear on focusing on what she wanted to ask about. "I can only tell you what I see, and what I see is based on what you think about while you're shuffling." She shrugged. It sucked getting bad news. It also sucked having to tell people what you knew was going to be bad news, or seeing people you don't know hooking up, but now that was added to the memories of every tarot reading Emma had ever done (not for the first time, but still, she always felt weird about it).

"I am sorry it wasn't what you wanted to hear, but I understand you not wanting to hang around."

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Liz felt a pang of guilt which muddled the aching in her chest. "Sorry... it's not - I'm glad you told me. I am." She should know, after all. It was clearly not meant to be. She would just have to come to terms with that.

"I just need to... process this, you know?" Liz also didn't want to cry in front of Emma. That felt too terrible a thing to do, especially since Emma was helping her out.

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Emma nodded. Time alone to process was something she knew very well. "I should probably get back to work anyway. There's always something that could use my attention in the kitchen." True enough, but mostly an excuse so Liz didn't feel awkward about needing to leave.

Emma gathered up her cards and put them away, along with the new pouch Liz had given her. Best to just go, so she did.