A Mother’s Love (Psychic Visions #28)

Chapter 1

“Good riddance,” Debbie called out, as Eden stormed from the hotel.

It was the final straw as far as Eden was concerned. She threw her bag into the front of her car, determined to leave the retreat.

She snorted. Retreat. A three-day meditation retreat, supposedly to get you back to normal, to break up the stress in your life, to just take a breather, to find time for yourself.

She and Debbie had both come with the intention of taking time for that little bit of self-care that they needed, but then something went wrong right off the bat.

Somehow Debbie’s gaze had landed on the leader of the retreat—somebody who had organized it, somebody who had a decent name in the meditation industry.

And his gaze had fallen on Debbie.

Eden wasn’t the jealous type, wasn’t the kind to begrudge her friends getting good things in life.

However, her bestie was already a little too loose and fancy-free with her affections, at least as far as Eden was concerned.

Anyone looking from the outside in might call it jealousy, but it was not.

Eden just preferred to actually know the name of the person she was sleeping with, whereas Debbie had a life is for the living attitude.

Thus, while you were living, you should enjoy everything about it.

Eden turned and took one final look at the hotel and prepped for the two-hour drive back.

Her friend stood just inside the front door of the lobby, staring at her.

Debbie’s expression, almost a mocking look, left Eden unsure of who the hell Debbie had become or how quickly her friend had switched into this other person who Eden didn’t recognize.

Eden was about to lift a hand and wave, then thought, Screw it. Absolutely no reason to. Besides, Debbie would probably give her the finger in return, so Eden steeled herself and tried to avoid one last glance back.

Without success.

She looked up, and there was her supposed friend, literally giving her the finger.

Shaking her head, and mad at herself for looking back against her better judgment, Eden got in her car, started the engine, and pulled away.

It had been one of the craziest situations, and she still didn’t quite understand how it had happened.

Friday night had been awkward, since Eden was unexpectedly alone, but they were both on their best behavior at that point.

Then somehow the next day, it had all become about Debbie and him.

He still conducted the planned meditations and everything else as scheduled, but Debbie had been right by his side, for every damn moment.

He flaunted Debbie right in front of everybody, and it had been unbelievable, but Eden couldn’t do anything about it.

At first, it had been fine, whatever—do whatever you want to do.

She believed in free will and all. Her friend was apparently just having one of those lovely little moments with the meditation guru, but then Debbie quickly changed.

A point came when she no longer appeared to be the Debbie who Eden knew.

Instead of joining Eden for a meal or just laughing and giggling about the relationship in the ladies’ room, Debbie had been all in.

“I’m his favorite girl, and I’m going to stay here and be with him forever.”

Eden was surprised, but she really started to worry when Debbie added, “I already quit my job via text, and I gave notice on my lease as well. I’ll be out of my apartment by the end of the month.”

Eden had stared at Debbie in shock. The end of the month was in four days. “You did what? Debbie, this is way too fast. No, no, no, you can’t just up and do that. Think about this before you go jumping into a relationship on a whim.”

“I can do anything I want,” Debbie declared, with a smirk in Eden’s direction. “You’re just jealous.”

Eden hadn’t been jealous. She had been stunned, never having seen her friend make such a snap decision, not liking the way she had gone about it. Eden had been without a clue as to how to make Debbie see the folly of her actions, see things with clear eyes and common sense.

Debbie had been adamant about Eden taking a hike, while Debbie declared she would spend the whole weekend with him anyway. Debbie added how their boss had insisted that she come back in for the standard two weeks’ notice, or there would be issues.

Eden wasn’t sure what those issues were, but they both worked at the same place. Eden worried this would affect her own work relationships.

Debbie was being so ridiculous about the whole thing.

In addition to resolving things at work to their boss’s satisfaction, Debbie also had to get rid of her stuff in her apartment, pack it all and move it.

Debbie needed to take care of these things.

Surely she couldn’t get it all done in the next four days.

Eden didn’t know what to think, she really didn’t. But, as she drove away, fuming mad, she wasn’t sure she cared anymore.

Fifteen years of a friendship down the tube, all because of some man. A man Debbie had barely just met. Like, what the hell?

Debbie had done this before, but that was minor compared to whatever this was.

Usually she would get a boyfriend, and you wouldn’t see her for the first month, and everything was him, him, him, and him.

She had never been a moderate personality type.

It was all or nothing, and she dove in headfirst, usually to come right back out again, bawling her eyes out because her most recent Prince Charming had turned out to be a frog, not that Mr. Right she was looking for.

When Eden had tried to talk to her friend this time, Debbie had been beyond insulting about the whole damn thing, something that, for Eden, would never fly.

She shook her head, tears in her eyes, as she drove home, wondering what the hell had just happened.

She was mad the whole time she drove, but, by the time she got home, she was just sad and more or less disgusted to realize how quickly her friend had morphed into this new personality and had ditched their long-term friendship they had shared up to this time.

It was heartbreaking and absolutely devastating.

Eden pulled into her garage, parked, grabbed her gear, then headed into her home.

She had bought her small bungalow a couple years ago, when the owners, an older couple, had decided it was time for them to move into a senior facility.

The house had to be updated, inside and out, but she was happy to do all that, since she’d gotten it dirt cheap, and, for that, she would be forever grateful to them.

There was just something about having your own space, knowing you didn’t ever have to leave or to deal with something unexpected, like a problem with a landlord, roommates, whatever.

She walked into the main part of her house, dropped her bag at the foot of the stairs to take whenever she went up, then opened some windows to get some fresh air in—maybe to soothe her own soul too.

She felt very much like she’d taken a beating, which was shocking, since she hadn’t even realized she was on the docket to get one.

Shaking her head, she went to her kitchen, put on the teakettle, and prepared to wait for the water to boil, stepping out into the backyard, taking several deep, calming breaths.

Here was the one place she had put a lot of time into. Most of the inside was done, so she was finishing up the backyard. The old pergola had a couple rotten beams, which she had replaced, then finally refinished the whole thing, as it had weathered badly.

She had gone whole hog on digging up the grass and learning to level off a mixture of sand and gravel to put down patio blocks, something that she had done slowly, over time.

Now she had this beautiful pergola patio area, with great big garden terraces all around that were still pretty new, but they were growing beautifully.

In the not-too-distant future, these garden beds would give her an even better oasis out here.

It was the one place of hers that Debbie absolutely loved, and she and Eden used to sit out here all the time, just relaxing.

It was exactly what Eden needed for herself on a daily basis.

Most people didn’t understand the need for a peaceful space, or maybe everyone just didn’t need it the way she did.

Every day when she came home from work, it was all about finding that Zen space, a chance to just sit back and relax.

Their work had been even more frustrating and stressful than usual, with a new manager who was making everybody’s life miserable.

Plus, Eden had to get a grip on her never-ending thoughts running wild in her brain.

The plan for a weekend away had seemed perfect to her.

She intended to go alone and to focus on herself, but Debbie decided she would go too.

She was a force to be reckoned with at times.

The retreat had been for Friday, all day Saturday, and the better part of Sunday, ending around 2:00 p.m. However, the problems with Debbie had literally started on Friday night, when they had attended the initial meet-and-greet event.

Eden found it unbelievable to watch Debbie and him.

While Eden was all for love at first sight, she was not one for becoming a different person who nobody could even recognize within hours of a relationship beginning.

Even now, Eden was completely struck by how disastrous that whole event had been.

To add to the insult, Eden had actually paid good money for the weekend that resulted in an early boot in the ass.