Chapter Four

To Jody’s horror, her swift reflexes to Fiona’s appearance caused a chain reaction. Time seemed to pass at a snail’s pace as everyone scrambled in unison. Alarm crossed Cassi and Kim’s faces as both women leaped back. Their startled shrieks lumbered through the air as if they were being played on an old stereo using the wrong speed. Kim landed on her butt in the middle of the floor. Cassi used Kim’s body as a launching pad to bounce off of before landing solidly on top of a chair.

Alarmed, Brad quickly reacted by grabbing Jody’s arm to maneuver her protectively behind him. His abrupt action served to remedy the time warp she’d just imagined. To Jody’s dismay, he scanned the place where Fiona stood and found nothing that should cause such a reaction.

Trying to keep her face a blank slate, she returned her gaze to the little girl. Flabbergasted, Jody stood stock still. She had no idea how she’d be able to come up with a plausible explanation for her actions.

Her gift had remained a highly guarded secret from anyone associated with Fur Baby. To keep her personal life from interfering with her professional life, she believed her psychic abilities must remain undisclosed. The two just weren’t compatible. There wasn’t anything she detested more than deceit, but Fiona had left her no choice but to do some quick damage control. She’d have to lie her ass off. Not being creative enough to be a good liar, she didn’t need a crystal ball to recognize she was in a world of hurt.

Trying to regain her mental balance, Jody forced herself to take a deep breath and closed her eyes. In her mind’s eye, a vision of the Tasmanian Devil whirling like a tornado and damaging everything in its path popped up in rare cartoon style. She briefly wondered if the little devil referenced her current unbalanced state or just Fiona herself. Either way the premonition didn’t bode well for Jody.

Feeling even worse about the situation now, she opened her eyes just in time to see little Fiona’s chin drop to her chest. Her tiny body swayed back and forth as she wrung her hands together. Her first instinct was to rush to the kid and give her a hug, but she forced herself to stay in place. Even without children in her life, Jody recognized the little girl’s body language as a telltale sign that she knew she’d done something terribly wrong. More importantly, she knew she wouldn’t be getting away with the offense.

Her only hope was that the fear she felt for herself could and would override the compassion she felt for Fiona. If that couldn’t happen, the consequences would be disastrous. The tenderness Jody felt for Fiona and her situation had to be put aside—for now. The little girl’s presence caused an enormous red flag to wave where only peace and serenity should be found. The child’s blatant disregard for rules and boundaries would ultimately cause Jody’s whole world to implode.

Now, unfortunately, she would have to find a way to fast-talk herself out of this awkward predicament. Above all else, she didn’t want Brad thinking she had her very own Darryl. That would never do. He wouldn’t be able to trust her again. Fear of the unknown would certainly have him believing she’d gone off the deep end and embarrass him in front of his clientele. Hell, he’d probably never refer another client to her again. From what she could tell, her actions had already sparked a good case of the hibbie gibbies in him. Careful not to give anything away, she watched him as he watched her. Though nonchalantly, he seemed to be carefully examining her as if she were one of his furry patients.

The best defense is a good offense, her mind shouted at her. Be nonchalant, it instructed. Maybe, if she was lucky, she’d get out of this mess by bluffing her way through. She could only hope whatever popped into her mind would be more believable than a make believe Darryl.

“Are you all right? What scared you?” As if the situation wasn’t bad enough, Brad’s face reflected genuine concern, making her feel like a real sleaze ball for the lies she was about to tell.

Her eyebrow shot up questioningly. Offering a puzzled expression, she snorted a little louder than anticipated. “Of course, I’m all right.”

A flashback of a pet rat that made a run for freedom from the veterinarian’s office next door and ended up in her waiting room crossed her mind. Everyone, including customers, had found high ground on the closest available waiting room chair. They’d all remained atop their perches until the little furry escapee had been caught. Nope. That won’t work. She dismissed that excuse as fast as it crossed her mind. Cassi and Kim would insist she shut down the business until they found the pesky little critter. Clients were due to arrive any minute now, and she didn’t want to lose their business.

With her mind a complete blank, no response befitting her outburst revealed itself. Dammit! Trying to remain outwardly calm, every ounce of energy she had left focused on keeping her eyebrow from nervously twitching. That embarrassing little tick was a dead giveaway when she dealt with too much anxiety.

When the uncomfortable silence had Brad’s facial features scrunching up, she had to force herself to remain calm and not make a run for the door. Her lack of verbal response had started to grate on his nerves. She didn’t need to have a spirit nearby to tell her how perplexed he was by her actions. His body language spoke volumes. “Something scared you,” he remarked, expecting some sort of reasonable answer.

She bit her upper lip, trying to think of something, anything, to tell them that would ease their concerns. Doing everything she could to ignore Fiona standing there as bold as you please had her focusing all of her attention on Brad’s shirt. Her inability to think of a reasonable response was quickly leading her right smack dab in the middle of a full-blown panic attack. In an effort to get her body under control, she glanced down at her hands which wouldn’t stop shaking. That was the moment she realized her finger, still at attention, continued to point at the child no one else could see. Hoping no one noticed the offending digit, she lowered her hand as unobtrusively as possible as the heat of embarrassment covered her face.

As the quiet seemed to stretch on indefinitely, the tick-tock of the wall clock shouted at her to come up with a decent lie. Her co-workers brushed themselves off and waited for an answer. She only wished she could think of one. She had nothing!

Brad leaned in close to Jody and examined her pupil reactions. She could almost hear his doubt for her sanity running through his mind. He thinks I’ve lost my marbles. Who could blame him?

Since a lie—any lie—refused to surface, she had no choice but to prolong the awkward silence. As he continued his examination, she kept her secret locked behind her tightly shut lips. There was no outward indication that her mind currently reeled at a thousand miles a minute. Trying to come up with a believable explanation for her behavior had her brain feeling as though it would overload at any moment.

Brad finally took the initiative and spoke up. “I didn’t notice before, but you have bags and dark circles under your eyes. Didn’t you sleep well last night?”

A whoosh of breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding liberated from her burning lungs. Jody had to restrain herself from jumping up and down like a lunatic. She could’ve grabbed his shirt and kissed him for giving her the excuse that had so completely eluded her. I’m such an idiot! No sleep. That’s perfect.

Trying not to show her relief, she took a brief moment and glanced away before finally turning her attention back to Brad. He scanned the area in question one more time before his gaze came to rest on her once again. “You’re starting to scare me. What’s going on? Please answer me.”

The tone of Brad’s voice told her in no uncertain terms that her non-responsiveness had quickly shifted his concern to impatience. She opened her mouth to let the fibbing begin but clamped it shut again before she could answer him. Her heart suddenly sank as a thought tickled the back of her mind. If what had just popped into her head proved to be correct, the fear of her secret being exposed would be a moot point. There’d be no option left but to reveal the truth. Panic held her in the uncomfortable silence a little longer.

Scrutinizing the three living people in front of her, she had to figure out how to broach the subject of Fiona. If her theory proved wrong, she’d need deniability. Please let me be wrong about this.

Since Fiona had shown up at her workplace, the child might have some connection to one of the people standing in front of her. That association would certainly explain the little girl’s appearance, here, of all places. As much as she hated the thought of unveiling her abilities to these people in this way, for the kid’s sake, she had to take the risk and ask.

“Do any of you, by chance, know a little girl by the name of Fiona?” Mentally crossing her fingers, Jody hoped she was grasping at straws. Fiona hadn’t paid any particular attention to the people in the room, but the chance she had some kind of association with one of them was a definite possibility.

The confusion crossing their faces told her everything she needed to know. Fiona wasn’t connected to any of them. Not even distantly. Now all that was left to do was backtrack and get herself out of this mess. At least, with Brad’s help, she had a plausible explanation.

Feeling like all the drama could finally be put to rest, she tried to ease everyone’s fear for her with a lopsided smile. “I just had a…” Unfortunately, when Fiona heard her name, the little girl perked up and considered it her invitation to speak. Rushing over to Jody, the kid’s tiny fist started pelting on her already sore knee time and time again. “I want to talk to my mommy and daddy. I want my mommy!”