“That’s annoying,” Barbara said. “I’m going to miss you so much.”
“I should be better in a week.” She sure hoped so, because some of her clients were in serious pain and they needed her.
“If I have to miss my next appointment then I want to make an extra appointment to make up for it. Do you have any openings Wednesday after work?”
“I have you down for your regular time slot on Monday, but other than that, I’m booked.”
“How about Wednesday morning?”
“I’m sorry, I’ve been rescheduling everyone and I’m already overbooked for the week.”
“Don’t you want the extra business?”
Megan tightened her grip on her phone and hoped she wouldn’t say something she’d regret. She knew Barbara’s massage was important to her, but to be honest, there were other clients she wanted to make time for who were in more serious pain. Besides, Barbara shouldn’t be making her feel guilty when there was no guarantee she’d be seeing anyone next week. It was times like these when it would be nice to have an assistant to make her calls for her, someone who could talk to her clients without feeling torn between wanting to help and knowing there was a limit to how many massages she was physically able to give.
“I’m flexible,” Barbara said. “You can squeeze me in anywhere.”
“I wish I could. How about scheduling your extra session for next month?”
“Next month?” A note of hysteria entered Barbara’s voice. “All right, but I want to make sure you have me down for every Monday through the end of July.”
“Okay.”
“How many weeks is that? Six? Seven? Can I get one free?”
“I’m sorry, but no.”
“Don’t I deserve one free session for the inconvenience of canceling my appointment?”
“I’m really sorry.” She did wish she could do something to make it up to her clients, but discounts meant more work for less money, and more work—even though she was going to be super-careful about her body mechanics when she got back to work—meant more chance of injury. And injuries she definitely couldn’t afford.
“Not even for your best customer?”
Barbara Fenhurst just didn’t know when to quit.
***
That night Megan had no evening appointments—since she’d canceled them all—so she headed over to Kira’s hotel around seven. She had planned to return to the ley lines in the pitch-dark to avoid any potential run-ins with attractive, annoyed landowners, but decided to take a chance on going early. The construction crew would be long gone, as would Kira, and because it would still be daylight, she’d be able to see where she was going in those woods near the hotel, which would be nice, because the last thing she needed was a sprained ankle.
She found the path easily. The fallen tree wasn’t as easy to clamber over because her injury made it too painful for her arms to support her body weight, but in her ratty jeans and sneakers and T-shirt she could make her legs do most of the work without worrying about snagging nicer clothes.
She went straight to the monolith, but this time was careful not to touch it. She’d investigate it later, after she mapped out where the ley lines were. No sense in knocking herself out with an energy surge first thing.
She closed her eyes and, with an ease that came from years of practice, shifted instantly from her everyday awareness of normal physical reality to a state of consciousness where her body was not a solid, physical presence, but a net of crisscrossing lines of electricity. Where her physical body ended, the electrical currents continued, hooking into the larger web of energy that was the earth itself. Energy flowed out of her and into her, sparking along different channels.
Slowly, she walked around the standing stone, feeling her way, tracking the energy. She felt her aura click into place each time she stepped onto one of the leys. Just as she’d thought, there were two intersecting ley lines that met underground inside the stone, creating two entry points and two exit points. She opened her eyes and noted their position. She chose one of the streams of energy and followed it across the wooded lot, walking in slow motion, her back very straight, her eyes unfocused as she tuned in to the energy. It wasn’t a straight line, but a shallow wave, undulating left and right. When trees got in the way, she walked around them and picked up the trace on the other side. At the far end of the lot she turned around to face the stone. She could almost see the path of energy shimmering.
What if Kira moved the building over? Kept the monolith where it was and built at the other end of the lot? But no, the lot was too small, and the way the leys crisscrossed it, there wasn’t any one spot that was big enough to accommodate a building without interfering with the lines.
The noise of twigs snapping and footsteps approaching made her turn.
***
Kira recognized Megan in the distance and tripped over a tree root.
What was Megan doing here?
She laughed silently at herself. She knew what Megan was doing here. Causing problems.
Kira had just gotten back from dinner when she’d caught a glimpse through the trees of someone sneaking around on her property. Sure, Megan said the locals avoided the place, but how many people did that really cover? Most people here were tourists. She had followed, expecting to find a group of teenagers who were going to have to loiter somewhere else. She didn’t know if discovering Megan here instead was better or worse.
Megan stood motionless and ethereal in the summer evening sunlight, her gaze unfocused and distant. Kira approached and stopped a few feet away, unsure what to say, thrown off by Megan’s complete lack of any sign of having noticed her.
Megan was the one who broke the silence. “Didn’t mean to trespass,” she said.
“You’re not trespassing,” Kira said, recovering her ability to speak. “You work for me, remember?”
Megan blinked and opened her mouth. “I—”
“At least I hope you do,” Kira added, because maybe she didn’t want to help her with the spa now that she knew those energy lines were there.
Megan shook her head. “You won’t need me if you don’t build your spa.”
Kira came closer, drawn by the certainty that they should work together, no matter what Megan thought. “I’m building it,” she said gently. As much as she didn’t want to force reality on Megan and wipe that dreamy look from her eyes, she wasn’t going to lie to her.
Megan gestured to the woods surrounding them. “You don’t realize what a treasure you have here.”
“I do realize what a treasure I have here. I have a place to build.” And a beautiful, earnest woodland creature spouting nonsense at her. “I’m trying to do something good, create a beautiful place for women to vacation. I’m not the villain here.”
“You don’t understand.” Megan’s eyes were more focused now, harder.
Kira blew out her breath in frustration. “Why can’t I build on these lines? Assuming they exist. They’re energy, right? Won’t the energy still be here if I stick a building on top of it?”
“When you build on top of a ley line, the energy’s still there, of course, but it becomes harder for us as human beings to access it. Man-made structures dilute our perception of the energy. Steel, any kind of metal, water running through the plumbing, electrical wiring—it all disrupts the energy and scatters it.”
“How do you know that?”
“I can tell that the channel—at least our perception of it—was weakened when it was paved over and electrical power lines were put in. Now that I know the leys are here, I can sense them out on the street, but they’re very hard to detect. I can’t feel them at all anywhere else in the neighborhood.”
Not that she understood how seemingly normal, rational people could believe in this stuff, but Kira had met enough strange women over the years to have heard some of this mumbo-jumbo before, and what Megan was saying didn’t make sense. “Weren’t ancient temples purposely built on power spots like this one?”
/> “Many of them were. But they were designed using sacred geometry to enhance the power instead of interfere with it, and they were places of worship.”
“A spa’s kind of spiritual.”
“Nice try.”
“Why not? It’s healing.”
“It’s not the same thing. It’ll be a business, not a church.”
“A spiritual business.” That was stretching it. She didn’t actually have any plans to give her spa a spiritual aspect, but anyone who sensed so-called “energy” could surely find the spiritual side to any business.
Megan pursed her lips, obviously seeing right through her bullshit. “The ancients knew how to use stone to harness this energy. We don’t. Please don’t build anything here. It’s a powerful site and it would be a shame not to preserve it.”
“Look, I’m sorry you’re not happy with what I’m doing, but we’re not talking about an endangered bird—we’re talking about something that most people would agree does not even exist.”
Megan’s face went blank, her emotional armor sliding into place.
Kira’s heart clenched. What was it about this woman that she couldn’t stand to hurt her feelings? She hated how Megan was looking at her, but it was impossible to do what she was asking of her—to cancel construction of the spa and throw away her investment in the land. If Kira were her father she wouldn’t even waste time arguing about it.
“I need to go home.” Megan turned and headed for the fallen tree that marked the way out.
“I’m heading out, too.” Kira joined her, matching her stride for stride. She turned her head to look at her, but Megan stared straight ahead, shutting her out. As they stepped around a tree, Megan pushed a low-hanging branch away from her face and winced as it ricocheted behind her.
“That branch didn’t hurt you, did it?” Kira touched Megan’s arm and pushed her wild hair out of her face, searching for scratches.
Megan stared at her with luminous eyes. Her hairline was incredibly soft and warm and… Whoa. Okay. Stop. Take a step back.
“No scratches,” Kira mumbled, explaining what her hand had been doing lingering on Megan’s sweet, delicate face.
“The branch didn’t hurt me.” Megan turned away and continued along the rough path.
“You looked like you were in pain.”
“I’m fine.” They reached the fallen tree and Megan paused. “You first.”
Kira clambered over and waited for her. Megan followed more slowly, using her legs to haul herself up. It was clumsy, and yet last time she’d seen that Megan was quite capable of climbing over that tree—and of looking damn good doing it. So why was she having so much trouble now?
“Would you like a hand?”
“I’m fine.” Megan jumped down. She stumbled when she landed, almost pitching into her. Kira held out her hands to steady her, but Megan angled her body away from her, and Kira, rebuffed, pulled away.
“Are you hurt?”
“I didn’t fall,” Megan protested.
Kira persisted. “Not from your jump. Are you hurt from something else? You’re moving like something’s wrong.”
“I’m fine.”
“Would you stop saying you’re fine? You don’t look fine. You look like you’re in pain. Let me take you back to the hotel. I have painkillers and a first-aid kit if that’ll help.”
“I’m fine,” Megan insisted.
Kira threw her hands in the air and let out a growl of exasperation from the back of her throat. “Fine.” Some people just couldn’t accept help.
They walked the last few yards back to the parking lot in silence.
“Back in the office I have a box full of sample products that people send me,” Kira said. “They want me to sell their stuff at the spa. Mostly skin care, but there’s other cool stuff in there, too. I know I saw some pain-relieving gel. Maybe you could take some of it home with you and test it out, see what you like.”
Megan laughed, then pressed her hand to her chest and grimaced as if laughing had dislodged a rib. “You never give up, do you?”
“I know—you’re fine.”
“I am.” Megan rubbed her breastbone.
So it was her chest that hurt. From the way Megan had gotten herself over that fallen tree she’d suspected it was something in her upper body, maybe her shoulder. “Can you please tell me what happened to you?”
“I think I sprained something.”
Kira gave her a puzzled look. How did a person sprain their breastbone?
“I thought at first I might have broken my clavicle—my collarbone,” Megan explained. “But the X-rays didn’t show any fractures. So that’s positive, I guess.”
“Did you put ice on it?”
Megan traced the edge of her breastbone with her fingertips and dug in again and again, making herself flinch each time. “Yes, and it was a horrible place to put an ice pack.”
“It looks like it hurts.”
“It kills,” Megan admitted.
“Maybe if you stopped pressing on it so hard…” Kira fought the urge to take Megan’s hand in her own and kiss her fingertips until they relaxed so she’d stop hurting herself.
Megan continued the aggressive self-massage. “I had to cancel a week of clients, and I’m worried a week might not be enough.”
No wonder she was upset. How badly hurt was she?
“I said before that I’d be happy to pay you for the advice you’re giving me. Hire you as a paid consultant. If you’re not able to do any physical work for a while, you might want the money. So please, let me pay you.”
“I appreciate it. I really do. But I don’t want you to pay me. I have some money saved. I’ll be okay.”
“I want to pay you.”
“Look, if you really want to, you can pay me back by referring your friends to me when I recover. I might have lost some clients.”
Kira had to smile at Megan’s twisted offer. Maybe there was a spark of competitiveness inside that generous heart.
“What I’m more concerned about is the people who are in pain who depend on me,” Megan said.
“There are other massage therapists.”
Megan stared at her, probably wondering if she’d just been insulted, then nodded. “Good point.”
“Come on inside with me and I’ll get you that gel.”
They headed back to the hotel and into Kira’s office. She pulled out her big cardboard box of sample products, squatted next to it on the floor, and dug around for the sample tube of pain-relieving gel she’d tossed in there when it arrived in the mail a couple weeks ago.
Megan waited in the doorway. “What’s in there? Scented soaps?”
“You can smell that?”
“You can’t?”
“Sure, but my head is practically inside the box. They’re candles, by the way, not soap.” She looked up and saw Megan take a step back. “They’re wrapped in plastic…”
“Doesn’t matter.”
“You don’t like the smell.”
Megan wrinkled her nose.
Kira pulled the candles out to identify the source of the problem and read the labels aloud. “Pine, lavender, sandalwood, vanilla…”
“It’s a little much,” Megan said.
“So much for my idea of you taking this whole box home with you, then.”
“Don’t you want to try out your freebies yourself?”
“It’s not really my thing.” She rummaged some more in the box. “Oh, look, here’s the gel.” She pulled it out and also snagged another item that caught her eye. “You might like this beanbag pillow thing. I think you heat it up in the microwave like a heating pad. For later on this week, when you’re done inflicting that ice pack on yourself.”
“Thanks.” Megan stepped into the office and leaned over to take the two items from Kira’s outstretched hand, unsuccessfully stifling a small squeak of pain.
The sound made Kira’s gut hurt. She wanted to wrap Megan up in a blanket and take care of her until the pain went awa
y. “The pillow doesn’t smell too much like perfume from being in with all the scented stuff, does it?”
“No, it’s okay.” Megan started backing toward the door.
“Watch your step.” If they were going to continue to meet in her office, she was going to have to organize some of the junk she had piled on the floor and find somewhere else to put it.
“I should get going,” Megan said.
“If you need to take the week off to rest, we can postpone our next powwow. We don’t need to meet until you feel up to it.”
“I’ll be fine.”
She was fine, huh? Now there was a surprise.
Megan leaned against the doorframe. “I’ll actually have plenty of extra time to meet with you this week, since I won’t be seeing clients. We can talk about alternatives to your building a spa on that land.”
Kira rocked forward onto her toes and pressed through her thighs to stand up. She sighed. “You’re going to tell people about the energy, aren’t you?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m going to be overrun by woo-woo types.”
“Maybe they’ll want to stay at your hotel,” Megan suggested. “You could turn this into a tourist attraction.”
“I bought that abandoned lot so I could build a spa on it.”
“It could be a real draw. There’s no other lesbian hotel in the country that has what you have right here, if you don’t cover it up. There are tons of crazy women like me who would love to come here and experience this energy.”
“I never said you were crazy.”
“You said you were worried I would tell all my woo-woo friends about this place.”
“Woo-woo’s not crazy.”
“Right.” Megan rolled her eyes.
Kira couldn’t help but smile. “It’s not crazy. It’s…different.”
“You don’t have to be polite.”
“I’m not being polite. I’m going to bulldoze your rock and that’s not going to be polite at all. I just think we have a different way of dealing with the world. Your way is charming.”
“Not charming enough, obviously,” Megan muttered.
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