Psychic Series Boxset: Books 1-3

by Lisa Freed

  Megan, as my older sister by six years, had taken her role very seriously. Which was a good thing for me since our parents were pretty useless and considered themselves hippies of a sort and did a version of free-range parenting. Basically, they had us, stocked the house with some food, and left us on our own for days at a time while they were off doing who-knows-what. If not for Megan and our wonderful neighbors, the Tinmens, I probably wouldn’t have made it to adulthood. How Megan managed, I’ll never know. I should probably broach that topic with her at some point.

  What any of this has to do with me being a coward is simple. She thought I went off to Greece on some romantic getaway with Lance to rekindle our relationship. And for the sake of not wanting to spend time and energy explaining the whole mess to her, since Megan was just like a mother, I had just let her believe that. The last time we had spoken she had even mentioned the five of us, her, her husband Dan, daughter Amber, and Lance and I having dinner together. Somehow, I didn’t think that was going to work out.

  And now it looked like it was time to face the music. Although I could put off calling her. I set the phone down without even listening to the message and whipped the towel off my head, tossing it in the general direction of the white plastic hamper against the far wall near the door. Briskly shaking my hands through my hair, drops of water shot out and splattered onto the sink and mirror. When I was done, I looked like I had two tons of hair.

  Giving myself a wink, I grabbed the comb and began taming it all down. It was getting fairly long, almost midway down my back, perhaps I would have Lotte bring it up to my shoulders. It would definitely be more manageable that way.

  While I had been busy at the sink, mooning over my hair, Maverick had come in and was rolling around in the wet shower. Thank goodness I noticed and didn’t just shut the door on him, that would have been bad. Bad for me when I finally let him out and he tore me up, that is.

  “Silly kitty, why do you like water so much?” I asked, watching him squirm in pleasure and then lick at his wet fur.

  Okay, enough playing around, time to listen to what Megan had to say.

  Dropping my other towel and grabbing my phone, I walked naked into my bedroom. Before listening to the phone message, I pulled on a well-worn pair of black and teal yoga pants, a sports bra, and a teal t-shirt with a rainbow cat paw on it. Cats were my thing. I didn’t care a wit about fashion. To me, all that mattered was being comfortable and if I liked it. Okay, I also wanted to feel pretty from time to time, so then I put on a dress.

  Once outfitted, I hopped up on my king-sized bed, sat crossed legged, and hit listen.

  “T, it’s Megan, give me a call when you get a chance. Love you.”

  Well, that wasn’t very enlightening. I frowned down at my phone as if it would magically give a different message. It didn’t. And now the ball was back in my court. I checked the time on my phone, saw I still had four hours until my hair appointment, and felt antsy. I had no real excuse to put off calling Megan back.

  I hit call back and my sister answered after two rings, no hellos, just right to business. “T, I’m sorry I haven’t called in a while, things have been crazy here. Ha-ha, I’m sure they’re busy on your end too.” Megan gave one of her polite little laughs before continuing, “Anyway is there a chance you can watch Amber on Saturday afternoon?”

  I had been thinking about going to Longwood Gardens and it was just over the state line in Pennsylvania. Megan and her family lived in Newark, Delaware so right along the way. An outing with my niece would be wonderful.

  “Can I take her to Longwood Gardens?” I asked with a pleading lilt to my voice like I used on her when we were kids.

  “Isn’t it rather chilly for that now? And I thought it was just a Christmas thing.” Megan didn’t quite shoot me down, but she also didn’t give in.

  Thank goodness I wasn’t FaceTiming her or anything because my eyes were rolling. Too chilly but open at Christmas, yeah…whatever, Megan…

  “The weather has been great lately. A jacket, hat, and gloves, maybe, and we’ll be fine. And it’s open and gorgeous year-round,” I argued back, suddenly really wanting this.

  “Just you and Amber, or would Lance be going too?”

  “Ahh...about that, see...” before I could stutter out some half-way coherent excuse for letting her believe Lance and I were still an item in Greece, she cut me off.

  “Oh, he’s probably all wrapped up in that big Snap Mobile case, it’s been all over the news lately and I saw his firm is handling it.”

  Say what now? Stupidly, I looked down at my phone again as if it would hold all the answers. And while Google was indeed my friend, I couldn’t very well ask it while Megan was on the phone with me. Then again, it appeared my sister kept up with the goings-on of my ex-boyfriend more than I did. I should just take her word for it. And this was another huge sign that she was going to be heartbroken over our breakup. Maybe I should give her Lance’s number so they could hang out over coffee sometime? Ugh!

  Deep cleansing breath….and stick to the truth without admitting anything. “Nope, just Amber and me this weekend.”

  “They have indoors parts too?” Megan asked.

  “I can’t believe you live like thirty minutes away and still haven’t been. Get a membership,” I urged.

  “We’ve just been so busy lately….” Megan’s voice drifted off.

  I’ll be the first to admit that for a psychic I’m not always the sharpest and yes, sometimes things had to literally whack me in the face. Megan’s unspoken worry penetrated my selfish little fog of unawareness and I strained my mind to figure out what was going on.

  Normally, I get feelings when I touch people or objects. And yeah, I see ghosts, whether I want to or not, yay, lucky me. Not! But I’m not a mind reader like fellow psychic Mateo nor can I know what’s going to happen next Tuesday at ten. But sometimes I get lucky and my mental feelers can grab ahold of things. Pictures, like a flickering movie in my head, of things that have happened or brief flashes of things to come. This can occur randomly or I can strain and try to force it.

  My eyes closed as I imagined searching tentacles reaching through space toward my sister and plucking the source of her sorrow from her head. I felt a pull in the center of my forehead then a snap, almost like I had been hit by a rubber band.

  “Ouch!” I couldn’t prevent the annoyed exclamation that shot out of my mouth.

  “Are you okay?” Megan immediately asked.

  “Sorry, stubbed my toe,” I lied, rubbing at my forehead. “Ummm…what about you? Are you okay? Really?” I pressed. My foray into trying to search Megan’s mind hadn’t worked and just earned me a headache so now I had to use mere mortal methods, actual communication.

  “Just a lot going on at the farm and well, the visit with our parents, it all took a toll on me.”

  “You never did tell me much about that.”

  “And you haven’t shared a lot about your trip to Greece,” Megan came right back at me.

  “Saturday,” I promised.

  “Saturday,” Megan agreed. “Around ten?”

  “I’ll be there.”

  “We’ll talk first, remember that.”

  I bit my lip, feeling a bit of the earlier tension returning. “Absolutely. Love you, sis.”

  “Love you too, T.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  Driving to the salon, my mind replayed my conversation with my sister. My normally unflappable sister stressed? Sure, it could be that, but this was the chick that did double majors, zoomed through her MBA, and acted like a Ph.D. was no biggie. I wasn’t buying it. Unless my parents had done or said something completely inappropriate to Amber, now that would faze her. Still, that had been a good two weeks ago, I would have heard about it by now.

  I was no closer to figuring Megan out when I pulled into the salon’s parking lot. Guess I would find out on Saturday. Shrugging I grabbed my bag, got out of my SUV, and went inside Hair Masters.

  Charlotte “Lo
tte” Carson was seated at the front desk on her phone. As my eyes adjusted from the bright October sunshine to the dimmer fluorescent lights, I did a double take. Lotte’s normally long mane of hair was gone. I felt my mouth pop open.

  Lotte laughed and stood up, coming around the desk to give me a hug. “It’s a wig, I felt like a change but wasn’t ready to give up a year’s worth of growth.”

  “A year? More like several.” Now that I knew it was a wig, I eyed it critically. I never would have been able to tell it was fake, the black hair was glossy, smooth, and nothing about it screamed artificial.

  “It’s real hair,” Lotte tossed over her shoulder as she led me back to her hair.

  “Reading minds now?” I teased. But seriously, I think this woman did have a touch of the gift, she always had a knack for honing in on things.

  Tossing a bright pink plastic color cape over my shoulders, Lotte threw her head back and laughed. The wig even moved like real hair, I observed, thoroughly impressed.

  “Everyone wants to know if it’s real or synthetic stuff. You want to touch it?” she offered.

  I did, but I restrained myself.

  “So, you’re in to cover up these heinous roots?” Lotte asked, running her slim fingers through my hair. As she was not only my stylist of the last two years but also my friend, I let the heinous part slip.

  “Nope, here to make the rest of it match the roots.” At Lotte’s frown, I rushed to stop any hurt feelings. “I loved it, Lotte, really, but I’m too lazy for upkeep. Better to stick with natural or just a few random highlights. Too much maintenance isn’t for me.”

  Lotte’s expression softened and her bright green eyes sought mine out in the mirror. “True, it’s usually ages between visits,” she admitted. “Okay, so back to brunette. Anything else?”

  “Well, I was thinking of going shorter.”

  Lotte’s fingers went to the tips of the chin length wig she was wearing.

  Now it was my turn to laugh. “No! I would cry. Maybe shoulder length?”

  “Let’s do color first, then we’ll decide.” At that decree, Lotte turned on her heels and went clicking and clacking nosily into the backroom to mix up her own brand of magic and return my hair to brown from the red and blonde highlights it was currently streaked with.

  While I sat there waiting, my eyes roamed the salon. Madison, another stylist, was busy with her client. The rhythmic slap and crumble of her putting color on foils was oddly soothing. Then my gaze happened on the large front window. Or rather what was outside of it.

  My peaceful mood curled up and disappeared like a whiff of smoke on a windy day. Two young men in black surfer wetsuits were walking down the sidewalk. Yes, Rehoboth is a beach town, but it was October and those men were ghosts.

  I tried blinking a few times, looking away slowly and then back and nope, still there. Even worse, I could now see the one had a large chunk taken out of his side.

  People claim Halloween brings an increase in paranormal activities but honestly, I’ve never noticed that. Ghosts were always out and about doing their own thing, trying to get in touch with loved ones, and just enjoying the afterlife, such as it was. So, the sight of these two shouldn’t have shocked me. I tried to brush it off as just being on edge still.

  Lotte returned carrying a bowl of cream-colored sludge. After smearing all around my hairline and ears with a clear protector she began plastering my hair with the color solution. She turned my chair around so that I now faced the large window up front. The two ghosts were still there, leaning against a parked car and making a lot of hand motions.

  This was not the relaxing time I had envisioned. I tried to avoid looking out the window and instead stared at the key lime green door. I had asked Lotte once what that color was and after I had laughed, she assured me that was indeed the paint color’s name. I had seen firetrucks a few times that odd color green and that sparked another thought in my mind.

  Over the summer I had set my friend John up with Lotte, things hadn’t clicked as I had hoped but I was still determined to see if any spark might remain. Other than the burning disagreement over adaptations of Stephen King books, that was. “Say, Lotte? You haven’t talked to John, lately, have you?” Okay, subtlety wasn’t my thing.

  Lotte’s purple-gloved fingers stilled in the act of pulling the color through my locks. “Girl, that ship has sailed.” Another wet chuck went splat on the cape as she continued slathering my hair. Then with a sigh, Lotte continued, “Actually, I’m kinda seeing someone. I was hesitant about mentioning him because it hasn’t been long plus the whole John thing. But seriously, with John, it was one date that didn’t end well.”

  “No, it’s cool. I want you to tell me. I wanted it to work out with John but it didn’t and I’m sorry if I’ve been pushy about it.”

  “You’re friends with both of us, and a terrible matchmaker,” Lotte replied her voice light and teasing.

  That reassured me that she wasn’t mad. “So, tell me about this guy!” I demanded as my head grew heavier under all the color.

  “He’s older, has three kids, but all out of college already, so he’s a free bird.” Lotte laughed. “We’re like the Brady Bunch but my crew is still underfoot. Now I realize why I never dated much before, babysitters are expensive!”

  Was that my opening to volunteer? Sure, I wasn’t terribly busy and I loved my niece Amber but I wasn’t a kid person and really didn’t want to become Lotte’s go-to sitter for her girls, cool kids though they were. My lips remained sealed.

  Lotte continued on, oblivious of my internal struggle, “I will say since the ex-wife is way out of the picture, it’s been very stress-free on that end. The first guy I dated after the divorce had a psycho ex who actually followed us on a date! Last I heard the crazy guy went back to her. That was a narrow escape on my part.”

  “How did you two meet? And am I allowed to know this guy’s name or what?”

  My chair was spun back around and I saw my medusa-looking locks of hair and almost screamed. Lotte pulled the whole mess up in two jumbo-sized clips, stripped off her color-streaked gloves, and set a nearby white egg timer for thirty minutes.

  “His name is John. Weird, I know. We’ll have to call your John Firefighter John and my John Dreamboat.”

  I was about to argue in defense of my friend when Lotte cut me off. “So, what’s going on with your guy from Greece?”

  The cape crinkled as my shoulders slumped and my mood deflated further. “Haven’t heard from him in a week.”

  “Girl, you’re a modern woman, why are you waiting on him to call you? Call him!”

  “No, I couldn’t. Look, it would be different if he lived in another state but this is a different country. A different time zone even.”

  Lotte’s mouth turned down in a hot pink pout. “True, international flights aren’t cheap.”

  I opened my mouth then closed it. Not many people knew my financial status as a millionaire, and besides, this gave me an easy out. Blaming my fears on finances.

  “No, they’re not,” I answered honestly. Plus, Mateo might not be in a position to afford them either so it wasn’t like I was really lying.

  “And Lance?” Lotte let the question hang in the air.

  I stirred under the stuffy cape, crossing my arms in annoyance. “Is off living his life.” I hadn’t heard from him or seen him since that night at my house.

  Lotte gave a soft sigh, “Girl…”

  “Nope, I’m swearing off men,” I broke in.

  Somehow this set Lotte off and she started laughing. Madison raised her head from where she was bent over at the sink removing foils from her client’s head. “Lotte, what’s so funny?”

  “Teresa is swearing off men,” Lotte yelled back.

  Madison and her client began chuckling. “Good luck girl!” she called out.

  “I was going to suggest some new clothes as a pick me up to go with your new do,” Lotte said, her hands on her slim hips.

  “Oh.”
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br />   “But no men isn’t a bad thing either. I don’t see it happening but hey, what do I know?”

  Lotte went to take another haircut while I stewed in my juices. My head itched from the color and the smell made my nose twitch. The magazine she had given me lay in my lap as I closed my eyes and tried to zone out while waiting for my hair to be done.

  I practically ran to the shampoo bowl when the timer dinged only to have Lotte tell me to hold my horses because she had to pull the color through to my ends. I had wondered why she left the tips undone and after she explained that they were dry and would soak up the color quick I guess that sounded logical. It made sense but it didn’t make me happy having to sit for another five minutes. I vowed to not mess with my hair color for a while. That would probably go as well as not getting involved with men.

  “What’s that face for?” Lotte asked as she lowered the chair’s back so that my neck was on the cold lip of the sink with my heavy head tipped down into the bowl.

  “Just giving myself a hard time.”

  She let that go and began running warm water over my head after she released my hair from the clips.

  Later, sitting back in her chair, she talked me out of letting a few inches go. And after she finished blowing drying and curling my hair, I admitted she was right.

  Standing, shaking my head back and forth I couldn’t stop smiling. “Lotte! This is amazing! I look amazing!”

  “You look sexy is what you mean. That hair is so va-va-voom!” Lotte gave a shimmy.

  “Thank you so much!”

  “Absolutely, and if you change your mind about the length, though you shouldn’t! Call me.” Lotte grinned as I paid and her eyes got large at the tip I left.

  “You deserve every penny,” I said, shaking my finger at her. “Go buy your dreamboat dinner.”

  “I just might do that,” she said, stuffing her bills into her black smock’s pocket. “Be good, T. And give that man a call!”

  “Later, Lotte!” I tossed over my shoulder.

  When exiting the salon, I was thrilled to see, or rather not see, the ghostly surfers anymore. What stopped me dead in my tracks was who I did see. In the cemetery across the street stood Adrian, the man Victor had taken over. He was leaning against a tall gray monument just like Victor had done the last time he had hung out there. He gave me a slow smile then, in a flash, he was gone.