Chapter Twenty-Nine
Fighting the Whispers
Rum was not my friend.
One mojito turned into a blur of several mojitos last night as we laughed, danced and demolished the pizza and wings. Aster was splayed out next to me in bed. How was it possible that a person so small could snore that loud?
I wandered to the bathroom and brushed my teeth for a good five minutes, hoping it would remove the feeling of ten little sweaters piled on top of my tongue.
The clank of pots and pans pulled me toward the kitchen. Lia stood at the stove, pushing around a massive batch of eggs in a frying pan. The waffle pattern from the blanket on my couch was imprinted on her right cheek.
Yeah, she’d also had a few too many. The last thing I remembered was her digging through my cabinets looking for a bottle opener, insisting she needed another glass of wine.
‘Morning,’ I said with a voice that sounded like I’d swallowed sandpaper.
‘Hey,’ she growled back.
‘Where’s Elena?’
‘She took off at four. Said she needed to get ready to open the coffee shop.’
I wobbled my way to the breakfast bar, the room still spinning. ‘Was she okay to drive?’
‘Yes. She stopped drinking after we drained the pitcher of mojitos.’
I climbed onto a stool, the smell of the eggs twisting my stomach.
‘You want to talk about what’s bothering you?’ She pointed the spatula at me. ‘And don’t say the article, because it’s more than that.’
‘What? You’re sensing my emotions now too?’ I was way too tired and hungover for this. I laid my hands on the cool marble, leaned in to press my cheek against it.
‘No, it’s just that you suck at hiding your emotions,’ she said, going back to stirring the eggs.
I was glad she was focusing on the pan. It was probably better that I didn’t look her in the eyes when I delivered the news.
‘The morning after I was with Bryce, I discovered something in his office.’ She stayed quiet, letting me finish what I needed to say. ‘There were photos of us in a folder next to his desk. Like he’d been surveilling us for a while.’
She continued to scrape at the pan. ‘He was basically stalking us? Is that what you’re saying?’
‘Yeah, I confronted him about it. He claimed a friend of his was originally assigned to the story and started looking into the town, into us, first. That the guy got a better assignment and gave the job to Bryce. Sent the photos along to help him. Bryce claims they got lost in the mail and only showed up last week.’
She tipped her chin to the folded envelope I’d placed on the counter last night. ‘Maybe you should look at that.’
I peeled my body off the stool, grabbed the worn yellow paper and unfolded it.
Bryce’s name was scrawled across the front in thick black pen.
The return address was a red stamp from Metropolitan Lifestyle Network.
Written above the ink was the name Hank Jorgenson.
The metered postage said July 18, followed by a succession of stamps after.
July 29. August 12. August 29. Like it’d been ping-ponged through several post offices.
I forced my eyes back to the address again. The zip code was off by two digits.
With shaky hands, I set the envelope on the edge of the counter. Lia scanned it, the corner of her mouth twitching. She grabbed a plate from the cabinet and slid a batch of eggs onto it. ‘Eat. You’re greener than the leaves on Clo’s precious watermelons.’
My stomach protested, but I said, ‘Hand me a fork.’
She yanked open a drawer next to the sink and handed me one. ‘As much as I hate to say it, I don’t think there’s much we can do now but let him write the article.’
‘What?’ I mumbled through a mouthful of eggs. ‘You’ve been the one fighting this the entire time!’
‘After my talk with the chief last night, I’ve been thinking.
Aren’t you tired of fighting the whispers about us?
’ The catch in her voice chilled me. ‘I’m exhausted, Dan, and I’m…
’ She shook her head. ‘I’ve decided to put in my notice on Monday.
I’m going to talk to Seth Cambridge about joining his team in Bozeman. ’
Now I was sure the eggs were not going to stay in my stomach. ‘Lee, no.’
‘Maybe if we aren’t all in the same place the talk will die down.’
‘We’re stronger when we are together. You know that.’
She focused on the pan again. ‘When we were looking for Mara, Bryce watched our every move. How the three of us can be in sync. Read each other. There’s no doubt that he’s going to write about that moment.’
The words in his journal flashed across my mind, and I hated that she might be right.
She placed a trivet onto the counter and set the pan on top of it. After grabbing her own fork, she proceeded to eat straight from the pan.
‘There’s more to it than just the search,’ I confessed. ‘Weird things have been happening when Bryce and I are together.’
‘What kinds of weird things?’ she said with her mouth half-full.
‘Flaring lights when…’ I closed my eyes. ‘Let’s just say when things got intimate between us, the light fixtures in his bathroom exploded.’
Her brown eyes widened. ‘Holy shit! Really?’
The sound of footsteps kept me from saying more. The conversation about her leaving was not over, though.
Aster came around the corner. Brown mascara made shadows beneath her eyes, and her hair sat in a tangled mess around her shoulders. She slowly mounted a stool and whispered, ‘Coffee.’
Lia popped a pod into the machine. The deep nutty scent of espresso wafted toward us.
Once it was done, Lia pushed a mug across the counter.
Aster took a slow sip and smiled. ‘Coffee truly is the best morning gift.’ After another gulp, she said, ‘I heard you guys talking about some kinda explosion?’
Lia went back to gobbling eggs out of the pan. Aster let out a disgusted huff.
‘You want some?’ Lia said with a full mouth.
‘Gross, no. And stop being a heathen. Eat off a plate like a normal person.’
I focused back on my own food until Aster said, ‘We’re not doing this. I hate it when I come into the room and you both quit talking. Stop protecting me. I am not ten anymore!’
Her chin became granite. The edges of her fingertips turned pink as she gripped the countertop.
‘When Bryce and I were together the other night… there may have been a power surge that blew out the bathroom lights.’
She pressed a hand to her mouth. ‘Um, okay. Is the electricity faulty in his cabin?’
I stayed quiet while Lia snickered.
Aster’s gaze swung between us. ‘Oh shit. You don’t think…’ She broke off like she was too afraid to say the words.
‘I don’t know,’ I finally confessed. ‘Some stuff’s been off between us.’
Aster filled her coffee all the way to the lip with creamer. ‘What do you mean by “off”?’
‘When I first met Bryce on the trail, I can’t explain it, there was an instant pull toward him. Like I was hooked on a line and being slowly reeled in toward him.’
Aster nodded. ‘That’s your connection I was talking about last night.’
‘There’s something else going on. On the ridge that day with Mara, it was more than the animals acting odd.
I sensed Banjo. That he was hurt, all without touching him.
’ I took an unsteady breath. ‘It’s like the moment Bryce arrived, everything got amplified.
Has anything like that been happening to either of you? ’
They shook their heads.
I kept my mouth shut about the suddenly bubbling gravy. The wilting lavender. What I’d just revealed freaked them out enough.
Lia finished the rest of the eggs while Aster sipped her coffee. Every part of me wanted to be quiet about Belladonna. She hadn’t left Clo’s in a week, but she would soon, and I needed them to know she was here before they got confronted with it in town.
‘There’s one other thing.’
They both went still.
‘Belladonna is back. She’s staying at Clo’s.’
The color seeped out of Aster’s cheeks. Those familiar hard lines formed around Lia’s mouth. ‘Why is she here?’
‘I didn’t stay around long enough to ask.’
‘What did Grandmother Clo say?’ I hated hearing the heartbreak in Aster’s voice.
‘She acted like she was caught off guard. But you know she’d never turn Belladonna away.’
‘Clo is giving her shelter even after the shit she pulled with Ast last time?’ Lia fumed.
‘She is her daughter, Lee,’ I said.
‘Maybe she’s here to apologize. Make things right,’ Aster said with too much hope.
Lia opened her mouth and I gave her a firm look, warning that her next words had better be kind.
She pressed her lips together and rounded the counter until she was in front of Aster.
‘Hey,’ she said in a soft tone she reserved for our little sister.
‘You could be right, but let’s stay on our guard this time.
At least until we know why she’s here. What she’s up to. ’
‘Okay,’ Aster whispered.
Lia held out her arms and Aster sank into them.
I hated that the reappearance of our mother did this to them.
Belladonna could be charming. Wave away her past indiscretions like nothing and expect our forgiveness.
But I wasn’t opening the door to let her hurt us this time.
I’d do everything in my power to make sure my sisters were protected, even if it meant going against everything Clo wanted, because this time Belladonna was going to stay out of our lives for good.