Chapter 5
The gentle meditation music flowed through the room, and Amanda let her mind ride the swirling sounds of the Himalayan singing bowls. She moved her hands slowly just above her client, Rhonda, gently pushing and pulling her energy until it was brought back into alignment.
Amanda felt her brow scrunch as she studied the flow near Rhonda’s throat chakra.
It wasn’t quite right, and no matter how she moved her hands, Amanda wasn’t getting quite the results she wanted.
A small voice at the back of her mind nagged Amanda that she was running over time, and she tried to push it away.
She didn’t want to just set a timer and ask for payment. She wanted to help.
After a few more minutes, though, she knew there was nothing else she could do. Amanda stepped back from the table and gently swung her bamboo chime, signaling that the appointment was over. “Take all the time you need to get up,” she said softly.
Rhonda opened her eyes and smiled. “I don’t need any time. I feel much better, and as a matter of fact, I need to get home and talk to my sister right away.”
“Big holiday plans to work on?” Amanda guessed.
“There might not be any plans at all by the time I’m done.
” Rhonda took her purse and jacket from the hooks on the wall.
“I’ve been trying to figure out for a long time how to talk to her.
She’s always so condescending, telling me what to do even when I don’t ask for her advice.
I don’t like confrontation, so I don’t usually say anything, but I’m done with that. I’m going to tell her how I feel.”
“Good luck. I’ll see you next week!” Apparently, Amanda had been more successful in clearing Rhonda’s blocked throat chakra than she’d realized.
As soon as Rhonda was out the door, Amanda checked her appointment book. Zoe was out for the afternoon, so she didn’t have a receptionist at the moment. Fortunately, Rhonda was the last person on the books for the day.
Exhausted, Amanda sat down behind the front desk.
She leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes, thinking back over the appointments she’d had through the day.
Many of them were her regulars, clients who came to see her once a week or once a month.
She knew their energies and their problems well, and that made it easier to put them back into balance.
In fact, given how many repeat customers she’d helped that day, it should’ve been a breeze.
Something was off, though. She could feel it within herself, but it wasn’t as easy to identify as it was in someone else.
The tiny bell over the door tinkled, a delicate sound compared to the loud clang usually found in retail stores.
Amanda straightened and opened her eyes. “We’re closed for the day, but I—oh.”
“But you can put me on your waitlist?” Lars asked with a smile.
She couldn’t help but smile back, even though a moment ago, she was thinking she’d go home and go straight to bed. Her bear had some opinions, too, and she felt a new wave of energy flowing through her.
Maybe there wasn’t really anything wrong with her at all, and she was just a little tired. “I could do that.”
“Is there a waitlist to take you out to dinner?” Lars asked, stepping up to the desk. He was wearing jeans, a button-down shirt, and a jacket. It was a casual outfit, but something about his broad shoulders made everything look a little more dressed up.
Another wave of energy moved through her, or maybe it was excitement. “It’s a very short waitlist, so I could put you…let’s see…right at the top?”
“I’m available tonight if you are.”
She opened her mouth to reply and then hesitated.
Amanda had been determined not to get into another long-distance relationship again.
It was just too hard, and she knew she was already falling for Lars in a way that would make it even more difficult to say goodbye.
But then there was Kristy in the back of her mind, asking if she wouldn’t at least explore that chemistry and spend some time with him.
Her stomach rumbled, having the final say. “I am. There’s a little tavern around the corner. If you want the best American food that’s also the absolute worst for you, then we could go there.”
It wasn’t worth driving the short distance and trying to find a new place to park their cars, so they walked. He put himself on the outside of the sidewalk, between her and the traffic. It was a very old-fashioned thing to do, but Amanda liked it.
“It was nice of you to come and ask me to dinner,” she told him, buttoning her coat against the chilly wind. “If you hadn’t, I might’ve just gone home, had a bowl of ice cream, and gone to bed.”
He laughed. “That doesn’t sound like something a health professional would do.”
“You’d be surprised. I know a doctor who has a Diet Coke for lunch.
That’s it. No food or anything. I’m sure he’d never tell his patients to do that, but just like anyone else, I’m sure he gets busy and tired.
Still, I prefer real food.” Her mouth was already watering as she thought about the delicious meal awaiting them ahead.
“Do you like to cook?”
“Does anyone actually like it, or do they just like eating the results?” she shot back.
Lars laughed again. “I like it, actually, as well as the results. I’m not a gourmet chef or anything, but there’s something nice about taking a few moments to prepare a good meal for yourself.”
“So you’re not one of those single guys who only eats frozen meals and takeout?”
“I’m not going to say I never eat that way, but no. Most of the time, I find it’s a lot easier to just chop up a few things and throw them in a pan.”
It was a simple conversation, but Amanda found that she absolutely loved his accent. It had a musicality to it that made it easy to listen to him, especially when he’d been talking about Christmas in Norway at the clanhouse the other night. “Can I ask you something?”
“Of course. That’s why we’re here together.”
Goddess, he was charming! “How is it that you speak English so well? Did you decide to learn it for a specific reason?”
“Many people speak English where I’m from,” he told her. “Our education system is very good, and you’ll find a lot of people who are bilingual.”
“Really?”
“Certainly. If you came to Longyearbyen, you’d have no trouble talking to anyone.” They reached the restaurant, and he opened the door and waved her in.
When they reached their table, he took her jacket and pulled out her chair.
His gentlemanly manners were making her feel warm and cozy inside.
They were the kinds of things guys did when they were trying to make an impression, and most men would stop doing them once things weren’t new anymore, but she had a feeling Lars was different.
He fixed those bright blue eyes on her once they’d ordered and they were alone again. “Tell me about your work.”
“Oh, there’s not a whole lot to say, really.”
“People can’t even get an appointment with you, and there’s not a whole lot to say?” he asked with a little smirk. “I think you’re being too humble. And I’m interested.”
When Amanda looked at him, she genuinely believed him.
Most people only asked about work to be polite, but that was a mistake she kept making.
Lars wasn’t most people. Her bear had already told her that, and she needed to start listening.
“Let’s see. I’ve been practicing full-time for about fifteen years now.
At first, it was just something I did on the side.
I didn’t think enough people would be interested enough that I could make it my career, but that’s one of the nice things about living in Salem.
The people here are a little more open-minded. ”
“What ailments can you treat?” He took a sip from his glass of tea and then set it to the side. His fingers were long and thick, strong, capable.
“A lot of things, really. I deal with a lot of mental and emotional issues, like anxiety and stress. Migraines, back pain, nerve issues. I had a patient who’d had a leg amputated and was dealing with phantom pains.
There’s a little bit of everything.” Amanda found it difficult to sum it all up without going on for too long.
The waitress brought their food, which paused the conversation for the moment, but Lars was ready to jump back in right away. “You must help a lot of people.”
“I do my best. I tell all my clients that it’s a complementary therapy to traditional medicine.
I’ve seen the results myself, and I know it balances their minds and bodies and brings them back to a state of well-being.
I like to think of it as creating the inner environment where their bodies and minds are at an optimal state for healing. ”
“That’s great.” A bit of his hair came loose over his forehead, and he pushed it back into place. “It sounds as though you like what you do.”
Everything he said, even if it wasn’t a question, was an invitation for her to say more.
Lars was easy to be around. There was attraction, but it was even more than that.
It was connection. “I like that feeling when it all works, when it clicks into place and you can feel even without asking them that the client is going to feel infinitely better. It’s like completing a puzzle, one that’s different for each person, and that can be really satisfying. ” Amanda paused.
“But?” Lars asked.
“But it’s been a little different lately,” she admitted. “My last client of the day, for instance. She seemed really happy with her results, and I have no doubt that she benefited from the session, but I wish it could’ve been better. It’s just something I’ve been having trouble with lately.”
His eyes fixed hard on her, a piercing, icy blue. “Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know. I can put my hands near someone else and tell a lot about them.
I can click those puzzle pieces into place.
I just can’t really do the same thing for myself.
” It wasn’t until she spoke the words out loud that she realized just how significant they were.
She’d been having trouble when she and Zoe were trying to work on Kristy.
It’d been easy to blame that on distraction and laughter.
It was also easy to say she’d had a long, hard day at work and just needed a little rest. But now she wondered if it was all adding up to a bit more.
A few lines of concern showed on his handsome face. “For yourself? Are you all right?”
She struggled to find the right words. “Overall, yes. I don’t think there’s really anything wrong with me.
It’s like I just can’t quite tap into my natural talents with the ease that I normally can.
I’m not sure why.” Amanda also wasn’t sure why she was telling him all of this, other than the fact that being around him made her want to open up and say everything.
Lars moved his plate aside so he could lean across the table a little. He watched her for a moment, his eyes darting around, absorbing. “I think you’re pushing yourself too hard.”
She laughed a little. “How can you say that when we’ve only just met?”
He sat back, but he kept his gaze on her.
“My work isn’t so different from yours. My family has been protecting the polar node for a very long time.
It’s remote, so it’s usually stable, but things change sometimes.
Our work goes further than that, really.
We keep an eye on as much of the ley system as we can, watching when the lines migrate and keeping track of how strong they are. ”
The Alexanders had mentioned having to move because of ley line migration, but the power in Salem had always been strong and steady. Some of the witches could even use it to help their magic. “That sounds like a big job.”
“It can be. As the Alpha of our clan, I’m officially in charge, but we all help each other. It’s like your coven, really. Some of us have outside jobs, and others do work that helps support the family.”
He made it all sound so simple and easy, although she supposed her coven life was rather like that. “You must be very close.”
“We are. That and our responsibility to the polar node are why most of us never really leave.” His amicable features stiffened somewhat just then.
He cleared his throat and continued. “Like anything, continuous maintenance means there are fewer emergencies to worry about. We pay a lot of attention and make adjustments, and I imagine that’s somewhat similar to what you do with people.
” His eyes were moving all over her again.
Knowing that he was observing her that closely was making her skin tingle. “Are you saying you can tell that I’m out of balance?”
“Possibly. You’re the expert, and I don’t claim to know anything about energy healing.
But the closer we are to the winter solstice, the more finely tuned my abilities are.
From here, with just being around you, I’d say yes.
Perhaps you’re giving too much or doing too much. You just seem…very tired.”
“What a way to compliment your dinner date,” she returned with a smile. “Next, you’ll be telling me the circles under my eyes are a lovely shade of blue.”
He laughed. “You can be fatigued and still be beautiful. As a matter of fact, I find it hard to believe that I could travel this far and find such a gorgeous woman who’s also single.”
“You really don’t have very many women on that island of yours, do you?” she teased.
“All I really know is that none of them are like you.” Lars reached out and put his hand over hers, where it rested on the table.
Those strong fingers were also warm, and they had just a bit of roughness to them.
When she looked up into his eyes, Amanda felt the same way she had at the holiday dinner.
Every part of her body wanted to be closer to him.
Her mind longed to know everything about him.
Her bear was the strongest voice of all.
She hadn’t wanted to say it out loud when she’d talked to Kristy, but Amanda had only been avoiding the inevitable.
She knew. Lars was her mate. He was sweet, good-looking, and smart, and he was hers.
But how could they work that out? Why did destiny have to assign her a man who didn’t even live on the same continent?
The other part of her conversation with Kristy was still in her mind, too, battling with that problem. There was no reason they couldn’t enjoy each other’s company, right?