“It is a long way,” Vic admitted. “Who knows, maybe she is on her way to see someone else. Just a few days in Tennessee… we could handle that. You do have a guest room.”
“Once she gets in…”
“You make her sound like a disease. Is she really that bad?”
“No. She was a good friend… we helped each other out… I just don’t know what to think.”
“Wait and see what she has to say. Then you can decide.”
Chapter Six
M
addie Burns, one of the hostesses at the Chinese restaurant, greeted Erin and gave her a look of puzzlement as she looked for Terry or Vic, and found Erin to be alone.
“I’m supposed to be meeting an out-of-town friend here,” Erin explained. “Anyone unfamiliar here?”
“Oh, the gypsy.” Maddie turned and pointed Reg out. “Right over there. Do you want a menu?”
“No, I don’t need one. Thanks.”
Erin went to Reg’s table. ‘Gypsy’ was a good description of Reg. She didn’t have the bone structure of a Roma gypsy, but she looked like a gypsy straight out of a children’s fairy tale with her colorful headscarf, dramatic makeup, and loose skirt. Erin sat down across from her. She looked her old friend over one more time.
“Okay… tell me what this is about.”
“What? I came to see you. To connect with you again. Why are you acting like there’s something wrong with that?”
“You’re all dressed up for some scam. So tell me. What’s it all about?”
Reg tilted her head to the side, considering her answer. She ran her fingers through her narrow braids and rubbed the back of her head. “Just looking to make a little green.”
“This is just a little town. You can’t make anything here.”
“I can’t make anything here?” Reg snorted. “The looks I’m getting… people are falling all over themselves to get a good look at the stranger in town. Once they hear that I’m a medium, they won’t stop knocking at my door.”
“A medium?” Erin rubbed her face, tired after the long day and not wanting to hear about Reg’s newest scheme.
“You know I’ve always had a talent for figuring people out,” Reg said evenly. “I’ve always had a special intuition about things…”
“And that makes you a medium? Like a psychic?”
“So much more than just a psychic,” Reg protested. “That doesn’t even begin to describe my range of talents. Psychic readings are just one of the many spiritual gifts that I have. Healing, communing with the dead, palm and card reading, tea leaves…”
“You think people will fall for that?”
“What do you mean ‘fall for’ it? It’s the truth. It doesn’t matter whether people believe it or not. That’s up to them.”
“You want people to pay you for looking at their hands and making up some nonsense about what is going to happen to them in the future.”
“Nonsense? No. I want to help people to realize their full potential. I am more like a life coach. Not some… charlatan who is just trying to bilk people out of their hard-earned money.”
“You’re not a psychic.”
“I didn’t say I was. I said that I am sensitive to impressions about people. I can help them to become who they are really destined to be. To find their true path to happiness.”
“And how are you going to do this?”
“Talking with them. Picking up clues in their speech and manner. Reading them. You can tell a lot about a person just by looking at them. Add in some visiting to find out who they are and where they are going in life, and I can give you an accurate reading of just about anyone in the world. You don’t think I can?”
“That, I can believe,” Erin agreed. “But why do you have to surround that with this…” Erin flipped her hand to indicate Reg’s costume, “this mysticism?”
“Because people like it. They’re impressed by it. It signals to them that I’m serious about what I do, and they can trust me. If you meet people’s expectations, they will take you for a professional. This is just me… meeting people’s expectations.”
“And you’re going to tell them that what you’re doing is just a cold reading?”
“I’ll tell them what they want to hear. If they want me to couch it in spiritual terms instead of straightforward like you do, then that’s how I’ll explain it. Why would you have a problem with that?”
Maddie Burns brought over the dishes that Reg had ordered while she’d been waiting for Erin to arrive. Both women helped themselves to a sampling from the platters.
“My problem is that it’s nonsense,” Erin said. “There’s nothing spiritual about it. There’s nothing mystical. You’re just someone trying to make a buck off of being observant.”
Reg tsked, shaking her head. “Okay. You don’t believe in God, right?”
Erin nodded. “That’s right. I am an atheist. I don’t believe in any of these secret powers you claim to have. Or that anyone else claims to have. I don’t believe in prophecy or revelation or any of the things that happened in the ancient texts. Stories are stories. They change over time. Their purpose changes over time. But they are still just that—stories.”
“And you go around telling that to everyone you meet.”
Erin pressed her lips together. “No. I don’t tell that to anyone.”
“You just keep it to yourself and let them believe and practice what they like.”
Erin nodded. “Yes. Exactly.”
“Then why would you expect me to do anything different? I just frame the experience in the terms they are familiar with. I’m not lying to them. I’m just meeting them at their own level.”
Erin shook her head. She ate a few bites of her dinner. “Whatever it is you’re doing, don’t expect me to help you with it.”
Reg didn’t say anything.
For a few minutes, they just ate, making routine comments about the food and what they liked. Just as if they were two friends who had met for dinner because they enjoyed each other’s company.
“I need somewhere to stay until I can get myself established,” Reg said finally, as they were both getting full and slowing down. “Not for long. I’m sure I can find a little rental somewhere that I can afford.”
Erin had already told her no. She clenched her teeth in irritation but did her best to keep her expression calm and pleasant. “You can’t just drop in on people and expect them to put you up.”
“Not just anyone,” Reg agreed. “But when it’s your sister? Your best friend?”
“We haven’t been sisters for a long time.”
“Come on, Erin. The number of times I pulled your butt out of the fire? Erin and Reg Rawlins against the world. You don’t remember?”
The trouble was, Erin did remember. Every time Reg had rescued her, it was Reg who had gotten her in trouble in the first place. It had been the two of them against the world, when maybe they should have been trying to get along in the world instead of fighting it every step of the way. Reg had encouraged Erin to fight her foster parents, social workers, school teachers, and anyone else in authority over her. She had encouraged Erin’s natural propensity to rebel if someone told her she had to do something. She’d thought it funny when Erin ran.
Mrs. Bloom, her social worker, had seen the dynamic between them and had tried more than once to convince Erin that Reg was bad for her, which only served to push Erin closer to her. When she had eventually found other homes for the two of them, splitting them up, the decision had caused an irreparable rift between Erin and her social worker. Erin would never again trust Mrs. Bloom or anyone else at social services with any information about her life.
“What are you thinking about?” Reg prodded, her voice soft.
“Mrs. Bloom.”
“The dragon! Man, she was terrible, wasn’t she? She had it out for me right from the start.”
“Yeah, she did,” Erin agreed. “She saw right through you.”
That gave Reg pause. She c
onsidered Erin’s words. “Are you saying she was right about me?”
Erin raised her brows. “She was.”
Reg laughed it off. “I suppose you’re right. But you needed someone on your side, Erin. You had to learn how to stand up for yourself.”
“I stood up for myself.”
“I mean using words, not just being stubborn or running away. Actually telling people what you thought.”
Erin chewed on the last piece of noodle on her plate, considering. “Well, now I’m telling you. I’m not putting you up.”
“But you are,” Reg insisted, mischievous eyes sparkling.
“No, I’m not. Why would I?”
“Because I’m your sister, and that’s stronger than your personal preference. Maybe you don’t want to put me up, but because I’m your sister, you will anyway.”
“It’s a long time since we were sisters.”
“Sisters forever. That’s what you promised. That’s what we promised each other. Not just sisters until we went to different families. Sisters forever.”
Promises of devotion. Fierce hugs. Lots of tears. Erin could see the two of them together in her mind’s eye. Sisters forever. No matter what.
The world could end, and they would still be sisters. No matter what any parent or social worker did, they would always be sisters.
Maddie Burns brought their bill, together with two factory-produced fortune cookies on a little plate. Erin unwrapped one of the fortune cookies and broke it open.
Be prepared for the unexpected.
Erin rolled her eyes and dropped the slip of paper onto the table. How could anyone prepare for what wasn’t expected?
“I thought you didn’t believe in fortune telling,” Reg said.
“I don’t.”
“Then why did you open your cookie?”
Erin’s face warmed. “I just wanted to see what it said. That doesn’t mean I believe it. Just that it’s interesting to see what they come up with.”
“Sure. And because deep down inside, part of you wants to believe that it’s true. Part of you wants to believe that you can catch just a glimpse of your future by reading a fortune cookie. The little girl part of you still wants to believe that the fortune inside is true, and that it will bring you something good.”
When Erin had been little, she had not been a non-believer. She had hoped that there really was something to religion, mysticism, and magic. She wished on stars and birthday candles. She crossed her fingers, jumped over sidewalk cracks, and knelt by her bed to pray in the homes where she was told to. But there hadn’t been any breaks. None of her prayers or wishes came true. By the time she turned eighteen, she was a firm non-believer against anything supernatural or unworldly. By then, she knew that it was all nonsense, no matter how many people believed. They were just holding on to something for comfort. Like a child dragging her teddy bear from one home to the next, thinking it would keep her safe in the night. But it never did.
“A few days,” Erin finally said. “No more than a week. You start looking for a place of your own now, this minute. You can’t stay with me forever.”
“Never intended to,” Reg agreed. “I just need to crash on your couch for a day or two while I get on my feet.”
“Not the couch. I have a guest room. And you’re there as a guest, so act like one. Not like you own the place or have some right to be there. You’re there because I’m a nice person, not because I owe you anything.”
Reg nodded. “Sure. Of course. And I’m sorry to be crashing on you like this. I didn’t plan it that way.”
Erin wasn’t sure she wanted to know exactly what Reg had been planning.
Chapter Seven
R
eg got her meager belongings settled and decided on a hot bath, so she was out of the way for a while. Erin breathed a sigh of relief. When Vic came into the house, her head turned toward the sound of the water running in the bathroom immediately. “I thought you weren’t going to…?”
“She talked me into it,” Erin sighed. “Just pretend she’s not here. That’s what I’m doing.”
“How long?”
“Just a few days.”
Vic shook her head. “Always taking in strays, aren’t you?”
“I didn’t want to. She’s not a house cat, she’s a tiger kitten. Sooner or later, it’s going to turn out badly.”
“I hope not.”
Erin shrugged. “That’s just the way it is with Reg. It always ends with disaster.”
Vic stooped to pick up Orange Blossom, another member of the family who was not happy about a newcomer in the house. He bumped his head against Vic’s chin, demanding attention. Vic’s eyes were troubled.
“It will be okay,” Erin reassured her. “It won’t work out how Reg has planned, but… mostly that will be bad for her, not us. She’ll get over it.”
“Oh, it’s not that. I get it. Some people just bring drama with them everywhere they go. I gather your sister is one of those people.”
“Lots of drama,” Erin agreed.
“Yeah. I wasn’t thinking about her. I was thinking about Willie.”
Erin was startled by the change in subject. She sat down on the couch and drew up her feet under her. “Willie? What about him? Everything is… okay, isn’t it?”
Vic hadn’t had much to say about her overnight stay with Willie. Erin hoped that the two of them had gotten along all right and hadn’t run into any irreconcilable differences.
“Everything is great. We’re working through things. Taking our time. Sharing what we feel comfortable with. Really good.”
Erin nodded. She sensed a ‘but’ in there somewhere.
“He’s looking for a new job.”
“Oh,” Erin nodded. “That’s great.”
In all the time she had known Willie, and from what she understood about his past, for a long time all Willie had done were odd jobs. He had his mines, and Erin didn’t know what sort of metals he got out of them or how he refined them. That didn’t take all of his time or provide the living he needed to take care of his own needs or Vic’s. So he always had other things going on. Courier deliveries, flyer distribution, helping the seniors with their yard work. He was one of the busiest people Erin knew.
“I don’t think it’s great,” Vic objected. “Why does he need to change his path now, just because we’re together? He should still be able to do what he wants.”
“Well, no one is stopping him from finding things he likes.”
“I feel like I am.” Vic sat down on one of the recliners, still holding Orange Blossom.
“What do you mean? You haven’t told him where he can or can’t work, have you?”
“No. But he’s gotten into his head that he has to have a steady, stable job. Nine to five, five days a week. Like a ‘normal’ person.”
Erin was horrified. It didn’t sound like a bad idea on the surface but, knowing Willie as she did, she knew he would be miserable in a job like that. He liked the ability to be flexible, to decide how much work he wanted and when he would complete it. While these odd jobs often took him out of town for a day or two, he found ways to be with Vic the rest of the week, and the varied jobs kept him happy and productive. She had no idea how he would manage the stresses of a routine office job. He’d be bored. He’d be overwhelmed. He wouldn’t know what to do with himself. Maybe it would still allow him enough time to do his mining; his weekends would be free, at least.
“Why is he doing that?”
“I don’t know.” Vic’s voice was anguished. “I’ve told him he doesn’t need to do it. That I don’t think he’ll be happy with a job like that, but he’s sure it’s the only way to go. He says if he’s going to be a family man, he needs to have something stable.”
Erin raised her brows. “A family man?”
“We were talking, when we went into the city. About what we wanted, where we wanted to go with our lives. I said that I wanted a family, and he thought he did too. We were both happy with that.
I was glad to hear that he was interested in the same things as I was. But then when we got back here, and he decided he was going to get a full-time office job…” Vic shook her head, eyes shiny with tears.
“An office job? He’s not even going to find something that is outside…?”
“That’s the plan. White collar worker. That’s what he thinks I want or expect from him, what a family man should do.”
“There are plenty of family men who don’t have white collar office jobs. That’s just silly. Didn’t you tell him…?”
“Don’t you think I tried to tell him that I wasn’t expecting him to change what he was and didn’t want him to give up his… his way of life? Of course I did. I’ve told him every which way to Sunday. But he thinks it’s just words, that I’m just being nice. He’s sure that I really want him to be… normal.”
“Do you want me to try to explain it to him?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know if that will make it better or worse. I can’t tell him that he can do whatever he wants, and then say that he can’t switch to banker’s hours if he wants to. If it’s what he really wants… I can’t tell him not to.”
Erin frowned. “I suppose. But you and I both know he’s going to hate it!”
“Of course he is.”
Vic stroked Orange Blossom briskly, in a way that made him yip and yowl, squirming to get comfortable.
“You both want a family?” Erin asked, changing the direction of the conversation slightly. “So… you would adopt?”
Vic nodded. “Seeing as I don’t have the equipment. Or use a surrogate. Maybe we’ll foster.”
Erin’s feelings warred. The product of the foster care system herself, she wasn’t inclined to recommend it to anyone. But until someone came up with a system that worked better, there would always be foster kids in need of good parents. Vic and Willie would be good parents, given some time and experience, but the children they parented wouldn’t be their own, and Erin didn’t want them having to suffer the heartbreak of separation when children inevitably had to move on to new situations.
“Just… make sure it’s what you really want. A lot of people think they do, but… it’s not an easy job.”
Coup de Glace Page 4
