by Cindy Stark
He glanced up, stared at her long enough to make her squirm, and then he turned back to his paper. “Good morning.”
She watched him for a moment and then turned, filling a cup with milk and setting it in the microwave. She glanced back at him while it was heating. “Where’s Annabelle?”
“Already gone. She had a breakfast date with Charles,” he said without looking at her.
Erin lifted a brow. “A date? As in a real date?” She’d been under the impression that Henderson had been the love of Annabelle’s life, and she’d never find another.
“Mmm-hmm.” He turned the page just as the microwave beeped.
She removed her cup and scooped in two spoons of hot chocolate mix, stirring it.
“There’s an omelet on the stove if you want it.”
Erin lifted the lid off a frying pan, finding cheesy goodness melted over eggs, onions and green peppers waiting for her. Her stomach growled. The fresh mountain air left her ravenous. She’d have to start hiking more, or she’d gain back the ten pounds she’d worked so hard to lose last summer.
She slid the omelet onto a plate, grabbed a fork, and carried it to the table. She returned for her hot chocolate, snagging the can of whipped cream from the fridge on her way.
He looked at her, and she smiled. He briefly returned the gesture before going back to his paper. The fact that she could barely hold his attention made her wonder if she’d imagined the current that had run between them the previous night.
“That was nice of Annabelle to cook for us before she left.” She cut a bite of omelet and slipped it between her lips, enjoying the way the sharp cheese blended with the soft eggs.
“She didn’t. I cooked this morning.”
“Wow, really?” Erin wanted to groan in appreciation like he had the previous evening, but she didn’t dare encourage him. “That was very thoughtful of you. Thanks.”
He shrugged without looking at her. “You cooked last night.” He said it so matter-of-factly that she almost wanted to punch him to get a reaction out of him. They’d never been alone in a room for this long without having some kind of argument or without him managing to push her buttons. It was kind of nice, but she missed the intense interaction.
“It’s really good,” she said, lowering her voice. Like amazingly good.
He eyed her for a brief second and then looked away.
She took another bite before she removed the lid from the whipped cream and filled the top of her cup with the sweet, fluffy cream. Annabelle had insisted that she remembered when she’d met Erin the first time, she’d always loved drinking hot chocolate in the morning, made exactly this way, and Annabelle had shared her affection for the warm, chocolate drink.
Erin couldn’t retrieve those memories of her aunt, but it warmed her to know she’d had some sort of connection with Annabelle all those years ago.
She stuck her finger in the whipped cream and brought it to her mouth, licking her finger like Annabelle had said she’d done as a child.
Just as she released her finger, she glanced at Rick, certain she’d felt his gaze on her. She wasn’t wrong. He stared at her, his eyes dark and intense. Then suddenly he folded his paper and stood, his chair legs scraping against the wood. He snatched his empty plate and coffee cup, placing them in the sink.
“I’ll see you later,” he said, and then he was gone. The tone of his voice had seemed almost angry. A few seconds passed before the front door opened and closed.
She stared at the empty kitchen doorway, wondering what she’d done to piss him off this time. She replayed their short bursts of conversation in her mind. Had she not thanked him enough for cooking for her?
She glanced at the paper as she took another bite. Maybe he’d read something that had bothered him. She scanned the front page, but couldn’t see anything inflammatory. Or maybe he’d just realized he was late for work.
Obviously, she was not good at figuring him out. Instead of worrying about his reaction any longer, she took a sip of her cocoa. “Mmm…” she whispered into the quiet kitchen. So good.
The feel of something caressing her shoulder made her jerk her head to the side. Of course, no one stood there. The house was empty besides her.
She held perfectly still for a moment, her eyes the only things moving as she searched the room. She had no idea what she was looking for. Really, anything that would explain that feeling of being touched. Her brain churned up what Annabelle had said about Rosa touching Henderson.
Suddenly, the subtle scent of lavender filled the air, sending a shiver racing through her.
This was nuts. Seriously.
A barely discernible female voice laughed from somewhere in the distance, and Erin stood, not sure if the voice had come from within the house or from outside. She knew one thing—she wasn’t about to sit around alone in a creaky, old house and freak herself out with crazy thoughts.
It didn’t take long for Erin to shove her boots on her feet and head out the door. She didn’t feel particularly threatened, but the thought that there really might be a ghost unnerved her.
She didn’t bother getting in her car. She wasn’t going far, and most of the snow had melted from the roads leaving a muddy mess as she crossed the street. She wiped her boots on a pile of snow that had been pushed to the side on the opposite side of the street and kept to the sidewalk after that.
She rounded the corner, turning onto Main Street and headed toward Livia’s store. Inside, she found her new friend replenishing the stock of mood rings next her cash register.
Livia looked up, an easy smile landing on her lips. “Hey, Erin.” Her new friend wore her hair pulled back from her face showing off a pair of long, dangling earrings embellished with turquoise. The natural blue stones complemented her carefree style.
“Hi, Livia.” She paused for a moment, studying the newly displayed rings, trying to come up with a plausible way to get information without sounding like an idiot. “I know we don’t know each other that well, but I’m hoping you can help me with something.”
Her friend stopped adding rings and focused solely on her. “It’s sounds serious.”
No, not serious. Just awkward. And if she didn’t ask, she’d still be wondering. “This might sound really weird, but have you ever had a different kind of experience?”
Livia raised her brows with interest. “Umm…what kind of new experience are you referring to?”
The more she thought about it, the more ridiculous it seemed. “You know, never mind. I just…it’s…nothing.” She forced a laugh, trying to hide her embarrassment.
“You’ve come this far. You might as well spill it.”
She racked her brain for something else she could talk about that wouldn’t seem so strange.
She had nothing. “Promise you won’t judge?”
“Oh, honey. I’ve seen weird, and you don’t even come close.”
Erin hoped that was true. She’d felt a kinship with Livia the moment they’d met and hoped to always be able to call her friend. “I meant something a little paranormal.” She couldn’t believe she’d said that like she was one of the crazy people on TV that she’d laughed at.
Reassurance flashed in Livia’s eyes. “You mean like the ghost that haunts Annabelle’s house not to mention several ghosts around town?” She said it so matter-of-factly, not at all concerned Erin might think she was a freak.
“You know about the ghost in Annabelle’s house?” she whispered though no one else was around to hear.
“Sure,” Livia replied. “Grandma Sakima has mentioned them on more than one occasion after being over there playing cards. Years ago, I smelled the lavender everyone always says is Rosa.”
“I’ve smelled that, too. A bunch of times,” she added as an afterthought as she mentally tried to calculate how many times she’d had that experience. “Have you ever been…touched?”
Livia’s brows shot up. “Have you?”
“Today, I think. On my shoulder.” She was pretty
sure…mostly sure…maybe. Now that time had passed, she wasn’t willing to swear on it. “At the time, it had felt very real.”
Livia seemed more interested than disturbed by her declaration. “Honestly, I would be surprised if there weren’t any traces of afterlife here on earth. Wouldn’t you agree? I believe we all contain a spirit within us that is housed in our bodies while we’re alive, but I don’t think that spirit dies when the physical body does, do you?”
“I don’t really know. I’ve never seriously thought about it.” She’d come to Annabelle’s hoping to have her aunt show her how to live outside the box, but this took things a little further than she’d expected.
“Come with me.” Livia moved from behind the counter and held out a hand. Erin took it, and Livia led them to the back of her shop.
If Erin thought the front of Livia’s store held an eclectic collection of interesting items, the back of her store had even more. The walls were adorned with Celtic crosses, the Star of David, along with other religious and pagan symbols. Erin glanced about the room in awe of what she saw. A spicy vanilla incense stick smoked on the corner of her desk, giving the room a warm and welcoming feel, soaking her in calmness, peace and happiness all at one time.
“This is really nice,” Erin said.
Livia’s following laugh was musical and engaging. “I call it my room of Zen.”
“I can see why.” The short, green rods of bamboo growing from a little pot on her desk along with almost anything and everything that could bring good luck or peacefulness had found a spot in her room. Erin liked it immediately and vowed to create a similar place of her own when she returned home.
In fact it when she finally saved up enough money to open her own spa, she’d be sure she included all of these elements. The place where she currently worked was more of a massage market, hurrying people in and out as fast as they could without really focusing on the whole person. Yes, their muscles were stiff and overworked, but Erin was pretty sure those people also suffered from the lack of care in their emotional lives as well. And she’d really like to help people with that.
“Do you like tea?” Livia asked, and Erin noticed a small pot brewing on a little tabletop stove resting on a counter along the wall.
“It depends. I’ve never been a huge fan of black tea, but I did recently try a green tea infused with orange that was pretty good.”
Livia opened a cabinet door and pulled out two mismatched cups. “Wait until you try this one.” She lifted the Asian-looking teapot and filled their cups, the warm liquid releasing a soothing scent.
Erin picked up her cup, gazing into the pinkish-clear depths of the tea, the scent of warm strawberries rising up to greet her. She took a small sip, the flavor soothing and pleasant. “Ohhh…that’s nice.”
Her friend lifted her brows and gave her a knowing nod. “Right? I call it Love Potion Number Five because that’s my lucky number.”
Erin nearly choked. “Love Potion?”
“You should have all the hot men clamoring at your door before nightfall. Annabelle tried it only a few days ago, and I heard Charles invited her to breakfast this morning.”
She set down the cup and pushed it away. She didn’t really believe tea could affect her that way, but she’d never believed in ghosts before, either. The last thing she needed was to put out a scent that would bring Allen to her door or encourage Rick. “You’d better save this for someone else, then.”
“What?” Her friend wrinkled her animated brows. “Every woman I know is looking for love if she hasn’t already found it.”
“Not me. Not now any way.”
“Annabelle told me about your divorce.” Livia picked up Erin’s cup and handed it to her. “It won’t really make you fall in love, but telling my customers that helps me sell more tea.”
Erin smiled and accepted her offering.
Livia sipped hers. “So, he broke your heart bad, huh?”
“It was both of our faults things didn’t work out.” The two years she’d been alone had helped her to realize their breakup wasn’t totally one-sided, though she was sure she’d never treated him as badly as he’d treated her. “We were different people who wanted different things. And I guess being with me brought out the worst in him.”
“No,” her friend said, shaking her head. “There’s too much light around you for me to believe that.” Livia took her hand, turning it over. She traced the lines in her palm as she studied it.
“You read palms?” The idea intrigued her.
Livia dropped her hand. “I read many things. Palms, tea leaves…what I’d really like to do is read your cards.” Her eyes lit up with hopefulness.
“Like tarot cards?”
She nodded, her earrings swinging back and forth. “I keep a personal deck in the store if you’ll allow me.”
“I don’t know.” She’d never dabbled much in the paranormal arts, but she did find them fascinating, kind of like reading her horoscope.
“If you’re not certain about a full reading, how about we just ask them a question?”
“You can do that?”
“Sure. The cards are just a tool. You may use them how you like.”
“Okay.” That seemed a little less daunting to her.
Her friend stood, taking her tea with her. “I have another area in the shop where I do readings. Follow me.”
Livia had cornered off a little area with a wall of beads. As Erin pushed through the strands, she found a square bistro table with a gray slate surface along with two woven chairs. The setup was obviously mismatched, but still held a certain amount of charm.
“I wanted to keep things in here as natural as possible,” Livia said as though reading her mind. “The more natural elements I surround myself with, the more open I am to receiving information from the earth and her atmosphere.”
“Makes sense.” Erin set her cup on the table while Livia pulled out her cards. The small box she kept them in also contained a piece of pink quartz and what looked like dried lavender. “What are those for?”
“The quartz and lavender cleanse the cards between readings. You wouldn’t want someone else’s qi affecting your reading, would you?” She said it so seriously, that Erin almost believed her.
“Uh…no.”
Livia held out the deck of cards. “Shuffle these and then pull out three cards while you think about your question.”
She’d begun toying with a certain question not long after she’d arrived. Could Argent Springs be her home? The place she’d always dreamed about? Somewhere that provided her with a sense of belonging and being loved for who she was?
When Erin finished shuffling, she fanned the cards, running her fingers over the cards, pretending her senses could guide her to the cards that would help her most in life. Each time she’d feel a zing, whether imagined or not, she pulled the card until she had three.
She laid all of them on the desk in front of her.
Livia gave her a solemn nod as though she took Erin’s reading very seriously. “You know, I read for your aunt all the time.”
Erin didn’t know if she’d told her that to help her feel more at ease, but it worked. “I hope she gets good cards.”
“Cards aren’t necessarily good or bad. They’re more like guidance from the ether, or even from your subconscious mind, if that’s how you prefer to think of it.” Her friend shrugged, but a smug smile lit on her lips. “I did predict Charles would come into her life, though.”
Erin mentally kicked herself. Maybe she should have concentrated her question on her love life instead of her home life. Too late now.
“Let’s see what the future has in store for you.” Livia flipped the first card.
Chapter Twelve
The skeleton’s face on the card immediately caught Erin’s attention, shocking her. Her breath froze in her throat. “Annabelle?”
“No, no, no. Death doesn’t necessarily mean a person dies. In fact, it usually doesn’t. More often, it means the d
eath of something, and that something can be the end of a job—retirement, a person gets fired or leaves. Could be the end of a marriage. Anything like that. It’s the end of something, but also the opportunity for a new beginning and greater things.”
Erin exhaled a laugh. “That’s a relief.” Maybe it meant she should quit her job and move to Argent Springs.
Livia flipped the next one. “Eight of Pentacles.”
“Which means?”
“Pentacles typically represent money or resources.”
“More money would be awesome.” Erin’s thoughts immediately turned to her current lack of monetary resources.
“The Eight of Pentacles in particular means that you are looking toward and preparing for a better future, but it also cautions that you should take time to enjoy where you are currently.” She met Erin’s gaze. “Don’t forget that riches could also come in another form.”
“Like love?”
“Absolutely.” Her friend’s grin blossomed on her full lips. “Anyone particular in mind?”
An image of Rick popped into her head, and she quickly dismissed that as utterly ridiculous. “No. Just…it might be nice to fall in love again…someday. Not now.”
“Why not now?”
“It’s too soon.”
Her friend gave her a commiserating look. “I see. Sometimes it takes a couple of months before a heart can move forward.”
Erin didn’t respond. She didn’t want to admit and defend the fact that it had been much longer for her.
“How long were you married?” Livia’s hand hovered over the last unturned card.
“Nine months.” Nine long, miserable months.
“That’s good, then. It’s not like you’ve spent a lifetime together, and it should be much easier to get over.”
She sighed and closed her eyes. Not only was she a failure at marriage, but she failed at divorce, too.
“What?” Livia asked with concern in her voice.
Erin slowly lifted her lids. “My divorce was final two years ago.”
Her friend blinked a few times, but thankfully held the judgment from her gaze. “I see.”