Third Time's a Charm

by Michelle M. Pillow

  The truth was, Vivien didn’t know how she knew. She saw the two of them, knew he’d try to give the woman a ride, and knew it would be unfortunate if the woman went with him. She had no clue why it would be bad or what exactly would happen.

  “Are you heading home?” Troy asked.

  “Um, yeah.” Vivien nodded as she reached into her purse to find her keys.

  “I don’t suppose you’d want to share a cab with me? I promise I won’t give off any feelings.” Troy was clearly trying to make a joke.

  With the woman gone, the feeling of dread began to evaporate, and she was able to give Troy more of her attention. She smiled. “Thanks, but I have a car.”

  Vivien started to turn, only to remember her manners.

  “Would you like a ride home?” she asked. It occurred to her that it would look rude if she pulled into her driveway at the same time his cab arrived. “I need to pick up dinner first. I have a friend staying with me. Lorna hasn’t been feeling very well. Another friend is joining us.”

  Why was she supplying all this extra information?

  “Oh? Nothing serious I hope.” Troy fell into step next to her, clearly taking her up on her offer for a ride.

  “Lorna…” Vivien tried to think of an eloquent way of explaining that she’d gotten drunk with two of her friends and they’d accidentally séanced a demon using an old book of magic they’d found hidden beneath the stage of the historic movie theater. Her best friend, Heather Harrison, owned the theater, which she’d inherited from her grandmother, Julia Warrick.

  Julia had been a renowned medium. People had traveled miles to go to her shows and paid her to talk to their loved ones. They were learning how to do seances from Julia’s magic book. Ghost Julia had also gifted Vivien, Lorna, and Heather with the magical rings they now wore.

  “Lorna?” Troy prompted when she didn’t finish her sentence.

  “Oh, sorry,” Vivien mumbled, realizing in her attempt to come up with an answer, she’d forgotten to actually give one. “Lorna was attacked. She’ll be fine.”

  “Seriously?” Troy frowned. “Did it happen here in town? Is she all right? I don’t remember reading about an attack. Did they catch who did it?”

  That was a lot of questions.

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” Vivien said. “It’s Lorna’s business, and I don’t feel comfortable talking behind her back.”

  “Oh, yeah, of course,” he said, nodding as if he understood her lame excuse.

  Troy felt like someone she wanted to know, and it would be easy—oh so easy—to fall into his arms. The man was attractive, and she was a woman who knew how to make the most out of her attraction. But she also didn’t want it to get that far. She wasn’t sure why she felt so strongly about that point, but she did. Unless he bluntly asked her out, there would be no reason to turn him down.

  She didn’t want to date him and break his heart.

  She didn’t want him to ask her out and for things to become awkward between them.

  Friends. Friendship would be good. If she could keep him off the dating track long enough, he’d easily fall into the friend zone. She should say something friendly to him.

  “So, which floor were you here for?” She tried to steer the conversation away from her supernatural hobbies.

  “Twelfth, rental insurance,” Troy answered. “My landlord is insisting I take out a policy.”

  “Yeah, he gets a referral discount on his own policies if he gets his tenants to do that,” Vivien answered.

  “You were on eleven, that’s the…” He glanced at the building. “Law offices, right?”

  “I had to stop in and pay my ex-husband tax,” she said.

  “Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you were going through a divorce.” Troy watched his feet as he stepped around a cracked section of the concrete parking lot.

  “Seven years ago. My ex is a lawyer and has an office here. They wanted me to look at some papers.” None of these were things Vivien felt like talking about. She picked up her pace, walking along the parked cars as she looked for the back end of her white sedan. “How’s your work coming along?”

  “My moving here is really just an excuse to hang at the beach and people watch.” Troy laughed.

  Vivien found her car and made a beeline for it, hitting the button on her key chain multiple times to unlock the doors before they reached them. The car responded with a loud ka-thunk, ka-thunk, ka-thunk.

  Normally, her ex didn’t get to her. She barely thought about Rex anymore. He was like a bill that needed to be auto drafted to and from her bank account. She knew the monthly annoyance was there, but she didn’t think about it unless she was looking directly at it.

  “You should join me sometime.” Troy had opened the passenger door and leaned against the frame as he looked over the roof of the car. He gave her an easy smile. The man was handsome and definitely attractive, but that didn’t change the vibe she got off of him. He was the kind of person who looked for a serious relationship. Vivien wasn’t sure she had any room left for one of those.

  “Yeah, maybe.” It was the politest no she could manage at the moment.

  As she slid into the driver’s seat, she wished he wouldn’t have hinted at a date. It only made the car ride potentially awkward. She forced herself to pay closer attention to the conversation so she could steer it in the right direction—away from hints of dating.

  Friend zone. Find the friend zone.

  “That’s an interesting ring.” Troy nodded toward her hand.

  Vivien automatically looked down, even though she knew what the antique jewelry looked like. “Thanks. It’s one of three friendship rings.”

  But it was more than that. The same night Vivien had found the jewelry hidden away in a storage box, Lorna and Heather had also discovered their rings. Heather had been home alone going through tax receipts, and Lorna had been in her apartment having a self-pity party (her words, not Vivien’s) and looking for her old wedding ring.

  The second they’d put them on, magical things had started to happen. Vivien’s empathic abilities had amped up. Lorna developed the ability to heal herself and others—well, not heal so much as the ability to transfer illnesses and injuries from one person to another. Heather had always been able to see and hear ghosts, including Grandma Julia, and that hadn’t changed.

  “Oh, like those novelty rings that fit together like a puzzle? I would have guessed it was antique,” he said.

  She watched the rearview mirror as cars passed behind her, waiting for her turn to pull out.

  “It is. From the early 1900s, I think. Julia Warrick, who commissioned the historic theater downtown, was the grandmother of my friend Heather. The rings belonged to her.” Vivien glanced at the jewelry, even now feeling a tingle of energy pulsing from it. “Do you have an interest in jewelry?”

  “Not particularly.” He gave a small smile and laughed as he fastened his seat belt.

  “Then what’s with all the ring questions?” Vivien took the first break she found in the parking lot traffic to muscle her way between a minivan and a sports car. One look at the latter and she knew the man who owned it was overcompensating for a lack of personality. It wasn’t a judgment about the car, which was sweet as (like the tour guide from her recent New Zealand trip would have said), but more an observation that proved her psychic abilities were in useless-information overdrive.

  “I have an interest in you.” Troy again turned his attention to her.

  So much for her psychic abilities. While they’d been focused on the douchebag in a sports car, she’d missed Troy’s oncoming flirting.

  She glanced in his direction, pretending to concentrate on traffic as she eased the car forward. Damn it. Troy had the kind of smiling eyes that set her to tingling. They made her want to gaze back at him. She’d have to be careful around those eyes, and not forget herself.

  Dating the serious neighbor would be bad.

  Dating studly bar hook-ups… well, also bad,
but in an entirely naughty-fun, noncommittal way.

  She needed to change the subject. Fast. For some reason she was off her game today. She blamed the surprise attack. She was over Rex, but hearing the sounds of his amateur porn had left a sick feeling in her stomach. It dredged up all the shit she didn’t want in her life.

  “I hope you like tacos.” Vivien furrowed her brows. Yep. That’s the conversation change she came up with. Tacos. If she weren’t careful, he’d think she was asking him on a date. “Since you’re new here, I doubt you’ve found our secret gem, Toco.” She glanced at the clock. “We call it that because the A on the sign is faded. This time of day Maria will be parked near the beach.”

  “Parked? As in a food truck?”

  “Not just a food truck. The best food truck in the country,” Vivien corrected. “Trust me. It’s an orgasmic experience.”

  Well, crap. Mentioning orgasms probably wasn’t the best way to get his mind off dating her.

  Way to go, Viv.

  Dumbass.

  Vivien pulled out of the parking lot and stepped on the gas, driving a little too fast as she made her way toward the beach.

  Chapter Three

  Vivien tried not to sigh in relief as she pulled her car into the driveway. “Well, we’re here.”

  The obvious statement was just one more thing in a string of stupid things she’d said to Troy on the ride home. Her original plan hadn’t been to put him off by being a complete dingbat, but to let him down easily in a tactful, intelligent way.

  Unfortunately, the dingbat method was how everything seemed to be working out.

  What was it about this man that threw her off her game? She wasn’t shy when it came to talking to people. Heck, half the time, Heather told her she started a conversation in the middle with strangers and just expected them to go along for the ride. With Troy, nothing came out as planned.

  Gah, it was like she was a freshman in high school all over again, saying all the wrong things. Sam had told her it was endearing. Few people had thought so.

  Troy had mentioned an author, and she’d said she didn’t read. It was a blatant lie when there was no reason to lie about it. Authors were a safe conversation to have.

  He mentioned baseball, and she said she didn’t care for sports. Not exactly a lie. She didn’t like a lot of sports, but there was something to be said for a good, sexy Scottish caber toss. Thankfully she didn’t start rambling about guys in kilts.

  Then, when they finally made it to the taco truck, she’d ordered enough food to feed fifteen friends. Apparently, her subconscious wanted him to think she was having a party and he wasn’t invited. That, or she was going to spend the night binge-eating thirty tacos plus extras.

  “Thanks for the ride.” Troy reached for the handle. He carried a small takeout bag as he climbed out of the car. He didn’t meet her gaze.

  Vivien frowned at his back. As his door shut, she quickly got out of the car and said, “I lied before. I read. Books. Sometimes. I like thrillers.”

  He turned, appearing confused. “Okay?”

  “Earlier, when we were driving, you were talking about a class you had to teach and asked if I had read Proust, and I told you I didn’t read. I meant I didn’t read Proust, or I don’t read him—I mean, I have. I found him dull. I like thrillers.”

  “No Proust. Got it.” He gave her a tight smile, the kind you give someone to humor them. He lifted his to-go bag in a small wave. “Thanks again for the ride and showing me where to track down the best tacos in the universe.”

  Yep, he was humoring her. He hadn’t even tried one of the tacos yet.

  Vivien opened her mouth, trying to think of something to redeem herself. Nothing came out.

  “Is there anything else?” he asked.

  “I…” She glanced at the house. “My friends are expecting me.”

  Vivien opened the back car door and pulled out the giant bag of food. She didn’t look back as she rushed toward her front steps.

  Well, she had wanted to put him off the idea of asking her out on a date. Mission accomplished. At this rate, she’d be lucky if he’d want to hold a conversation with her again. Dust bunnies were more articulate than she had been.

  “I thought you were going to see your ex.” Lorna Addams stood at Vivien’s living room window overlooking the driveway. Hints of bruises still discolored the woman’s arms. Her long brown hair had streaks of reddish-blonde highlights and was pulled up into a messy bun on the top of her head. A few locks fell around her shoulders.

  Lorna favored wearing jeans and t-shirts to dressing up. It was that easygoingness that had first caught Vivien’s attention. Lorna wasn’t the type of woman who fussed with herself. Her attention was focused on what she was doing, on taking care of others, on the job at hand. It was no wonder Lorna’s new psychic powers came in the form of finding and healing.

  “I was.” Vivien adjusted the heavy bag of food from her hip to balance the weight on her arms in front of her. She might have over-ordered, but when it came to entertaining, she would rather have too much food than not enough. “Or I thought I was. Rex had me ambushed by his lawyer.”

  “Really?” Lorna dropped the curtain to look at her. “Why? I thought the divorce was long over.”

  “It is. Rex is trying to get out of his alimony payments because he’s about to make partner, which comes with a raise.” Vivien pushed the front door closed with her foot and carried the bag toward the coffee table. She set it down before going to grab plates and napkins from the kitchen.

  They’d only been roommates for about two weeks. Before then, Vivien had lived alone. Lorna had been staying in the studio apartment above the Warrick Theater, where she worked as the manager. The apartment came with the job, which would have been great except that the theater had been haunted by the demon they’d summoned while trying to talk to dead loved ones.

  Oops.

  Vivien was reasonably sure they’d sent the demon back to hell, but regardless, Lorna had moved out of the apartment.

  Vivien found she enjoyed having company. The house was more space than she needed and had felt empty since she’d won the home in the divorce. She hated how they’d said it like that. Won the house, like it was some kind of carnival prize.

  The house had not been changed in the seven years since her divorce. She’d left the décor exactly the same—art prints and boring vases, a couch that didn’t invite people to sit on it. Everything was perfectly matched, measured, and placed. And it was boring as hell. Rex hadn’t wanted a home. He wanted a house that could be photographed at a moment’s notice. He wanted an event venue near the beach to entertain business associates.

  Vivien told herself she’d left it that way as a reminder not to make the same mistake again. In truth, she worried she’d done it as a form of self-punishment for having married a man she didn’t love.

  “So, if you were with Rex, where did you pick up the hottie?” Lorna asked, pulling back the curtain to check the driveway when Vivien returned from the kitchen. “Do you want me to hide in the guest room so you can be alone with him? I can pretend I’m not here.”

  “Oh, crap, he’s not coming over here, is he?” She dropped the plates and napkins by the food bag.

  “Maybe… Wait, no. He just picked up a plastic bottle out of the lawn. It looks like he’s going next door,” Lorna answered.

  “Good,” Vivien said. “That’s our neighbor, Troy.”

  “Our neighbor is cute,” Lorna said. “You never told me our neighbor was cute.”

  “Because I thought you were all about dating William,” Vivien countered. “You know, William, Heather’s brother, the dreamboat who keeps sneaking over every night like I won’t notice when he triggers the motion sensors.”

  Vivien gave a small laugh. She’d known William and Heather since middle school. Lorna was a new friend, but it felt like she’d known her just as long. She was glad William and Lorna were working out as a couple. Lorna had been hurt badly in the past, a
nd William had never known the joy of having his entire world turned upside-down by a woman.

  Vivien thought her triple-cheating ex won the asshole prize, but Lorna’s dead husband had taken it to the next level. Lorna had found out at the funeral that her husband of twenty years had been hiding another wife. With Lorna, he’d had three kids, a paycheck-to-paycheck lifestyle, and a modest home. With Cheryl, he’d been rich. The bigamy was terrible enough, but it turned out Lorna was the second wife, not the first, and she’d not been entitled to anything but public humiliation.

  No, that’s not true. Lorna had come out ahead. She was infinitely the better person, and she had her three kids. Fortunately by the time Glenn’s secret came out, they were all adults living on their own.

  “Does it bother you?” Lorna released the curtain and turned to study her. Vivien was glad that Lorna couldn’t read her thoughts.

  “That William sets off the motion sensors?” Vivien shrugged. “Not really. I only have them because we occasionally get drunk tourists trying to come through the back gate. I wake up just long enough to check it and ignore it.”

  “I meant that William is over here all the time?” Lorna asked.

  Vivien couldn’t stop the laugh that escaped her. She knew Lorna had concerns about Vivien and William’s closeness. Yes, the two of them were close—like annoying-brother and awesome-perfect-sister close. But there had been nothing romantic between them.

  “I promise you, it doesn’t bother me,” Vivien said, mostly because she felt like Lorna needed to hear it. “I’m happy for both of you. I like the look I see on your face when he’s around. That kind of feeling is worth holding on to with both hands.”

  “Just my face?” Lorna asked. Her husband had done a number on her. Vivien couldn’t blame the woman for her trust issues.

  “His affection for you is so obvious that it’s actually a little embarrassing,” Vivien assured her.

  Lorna visibly relaxed, and the corner of her lips curled up in a tiny smile.

  “What are you doing out of bed? Shouldn’t you be resting?” Vivien asked.