I’m terrible with endings in general. Sometimes I turn a song off halfway through because I can’t bear the demise. When the battery on my phone or laptop gets below 50 per cent I can feel the anxiety start to build in my stomach. By 30 per cent it’s in my throat.

DEALS WITH STRANGERS

‘Hand them back when you feel ready,’ my mother says to Nicolette.

Nicolette instantly stops shuffling and is about to hand over the cards when she stops and looks uncertain. ‘No wait,’ she says. ‘Maybe I’m not ready. How will I know when I’m ready?’

‘You’re ready when you’re ready,’ says my mother. ‘Don’t overthink it.’

Nicolette’s face splits into a grin and she nods. ‘Thank you,’ she says. ‘So is this just about the future, yes? Not about the past. I would like to just know what’s going to happen. I don’t want to … dwell on anything that’s been and gone.’

‘Of course, in simple terms,’ says my mother. ‘Although really they are one and the same.’

‘I love how you talk.’

‘I see a man with glasses and a kind face in your near future. Can you accept that?’

‘Accept it?’ says Nicolette, ‘I’m counting on it! When is this happening? Can you give me a ballpark figure. Weeks? Months? Can I request he has a job and no fungal foot issues?’

‘Now,’ says my mother, ‘I’m going to lay the cards out in what we call a classic horseshoe.’

I pretend not to look. I am giving my lemonade all of my attention. Would you look at this lemonade, would you just, oh wow I mean this is a thoroughly engrossing lemonade.

‘Can you do it so it’s mostly about love,’ says Nicolette. ‘That’s all I’m really here for. I’m just being honest. You can cut the health and money stuff.’

‘That’ll change.’ My mother deals the first card. ‘Death.’

Nicolette gasps.

‘It doesn’t mean “Death”, it means “Regeneration”,’ my mother says.

‘Christ, Nicolette, have you never watched a horror film?’

‘It’s got a freakin’ skeleton on it, Carmen.’

My mother turns the next card. ‘The Three of Cups.’

A new arrival. Also, the ‘party card’.

‘That looks better,’ says Nicolette.

She deals the next.

The Sun.

‘There’s some travel on the horizon,’ my mother says.

‘I’m so ready for that,’ says Nicolette. ‘Just don’t let me get delayed at the airport for god’s sake or it’s not worth it, not for a short break. Unless you think it’ll be something longer? Do I need to start looking into visas?’

My mother and I look at one another. Next.

The Empress.