CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

The following morning, Amanda woke up early. Truth be told, she hadn’t slept much. How could she relax after yesterday’s tumultuous events?

Things could have been worse. She said the words aloud to convince herself. Jake could have abandoned her in Abandon—an irony she definitely didn’t need. Instead, he’d stuck around. He hadn’t tried to haul her off to the psych ward in Mobile during the night.

Maybe Aunt Anzhela had been right. Amanda and Jake could have a life together.

Of course, his need for proof of her gift—talking to his mother—sounded like the midterm exam from hell. Once they returned to Georgia, she could certainly try to contact his mother near the place where she’d passed on. But if the woman had crossed into her next realm, she couldn’t be found, not even for family. Family relationships were complex when it came to the dead. Same as the living.

Maybe Declan could help get Jake the proof he needed? She didn’t know, but kept the idea at the back of her mind.

She slipped out of bed, showered quickly, and dressed. Jake kept a pillow over his face as the floor creaked under her footsteps.

Just as she turned the knob to go downstairs, his voice called from behind her.

“Amanda? Where are you going?”

Crap. She’d hoped he would remain asleep.

“Hi. I’m craving coffee, so I’m going downstairs,” she whispered.

“Give me a minute. I’ll go too.”

“You sleep for now. I’m just going to drink a cup, and I’ll bring one up for you. How’s that?”

Revealing a cute case of bed head, he nodded. “Cream and sugar. Thanks.”

She shut the door and scurried downstairs for coffee. At this early hour, no other guests had come into the dining area yet. Just a sleepy-eyed Pearl with her enormous mug.

“Morning,” Amanda said. She gathered the fixings for her caffeine fix.

“Look who’s up early. Did you and your aunt have fun last night?”

Amanda nodded and sat at a bistro table across from Pearl. She told the older woman all about stargazing in the empty field.

“Heavens, yes,” Pearl said, setting her mug down. “Why do you think I own Jeffrey the Jeep? Off-roading is what I used to live for.”

The way Pearl had said “used to” made Amanda wonder. She had to ask.

“And now? What do you live for now?”

Pearl offered a half smile and held up her mug. “Coffee and a few minutes peace where I’m not chasing Clive. He sleeps till nine or so. I make sure to get up with the sun so I get time to myself.”

Amanda sipped her coffee. Ahh, she felt more awake already. “Guess it must be hard. When did Clive become…” What was the right word to use?

“A crazy old coot?” Pearl asked, providing the term Amanda sought.

“Yes.”

The smile from Pearl’s face vanished. “He was always a little nutty, but his condition worsened after Becca and Sarah died.”

A hard knot pressed against the back of Amanda’s throat. “I…I didn’t realize…I know the death of a child had to have been heartbreaking, but I didn’t know it could cause—”

“Insane behavior? I didn’t know either.” Pearl reached out, touched Amanda’s hand. “But we learn new things every day. I did tell him I’d talked to Becca recently.”

“You did?”

“I figured Clive is already strange. He wouldn’t think me odd for talking to our little girl who’s no longer here.”

“I wish more people were like Clive,” Amanda said. “Well, without all the hooting and hollering about reenactments.”

Pearl laughed, and her eyelids crinkled all the way to her smile. “I’m afraid he was a die-hard fan of those things even before we met. Just got worse once our girls were gone.”

“What did he say when you told him you’d spoken to Becca?”

“He talked about when he showed her how to ride a bike, just like it was yesterday.” Pearl took a sip of coffee. “His eyes gleamed when he said her name, and for several hours afterward, he didn’t seem as bad off as usual.”

Amanda nodded and took a sip of coffee to fill the void of words. She had no idea that using her gift could help someone so much. Like giving Pearl a peace of mind, or giving Clive a tiny sliver of his mind back—if only for a few hours.

Pearl sat forward, seeming to know what Amanda had been thinking. “That’s why I urged you to not deny the talent you have. It truly is a gift, something that can help people. Not just me and Clive. What I wouldn’t give for a gift like that…”

Wiping away the threat of tears, Amanda said, “Most days, I wish I didn’t have it.”

“Honey, why would you not want something that could mean so much to people?”

“Makes for a difficult childhood.”

“We’ve all had those,” Pearl said. “Did people mistreat you? Ridicule you?” She patted Amanda’s hand, and Amanda took comfort from the caring touch.

Amanda nodded. “I learned to live with the teasing. Like the old saying goes, words can’t hurt me, right?”

Pearl’s eyes brimmed over with concern. “But they did hurt you, didn’t they?”

A rebellious tear forced its way out of her eyes and down Amanda’s cheek. “Kids would leave voodoo dolls in my locker with a knife struck to the heart, saying I was a witch. Day camps kicked me out after I told someone I saw her grandmother standing next to her. Church groups tried to perform exorcisms on me, and my parents, well…”

“That must have been hard on you,” Pearl whispered.

“My parents couldn’t deal with any of it. They sent me to shrinks, teen hospitals. Put me on meds that wigged me out—you name it.”

“I’m sorry. No one should have to be forced to be normal,” Pearl said. “We embrace the abnormal in the South, you know.”

Amanda smiled. “You were a great mom to Becca and Sarah, weren’t you?”

Now it was Pearl’s turn to cry, and cry she did. Big blubbery tears before she stood up, walked around the table, and embraced Amanda in a big mama-bear hug.

“Thank you for bringing my girls back to me,” Pearl whispered.

“Glad I could help,” she said, sniffling. “Guess it’s my turn to cry now.”

“Nothing wrong with tears…or special gifts,” Pearl said, squeezing tighter.

Amanda reveled in Pearl’s big Southern bear hug and enjoyed having a mother figure care about her again—it had been far too long. Something deep inside told her she needed to appreciate this feeling while she still could.

CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE

Jake tossed off the sheets. Hopped in the shower, dressed. Looked at the clock. Amanda had gone downstairs over forty minutes ago. Did it take that long to make coffee and bring back a cup?

Wherever she might be, he needed caffeine of his own. Locking the door behind him, he sprinted downstairs and into the dining area.

Amanda and Pearl stood in the center of the room, hugging. He opened his mouth to say something, yet suddenly felt like an intruder. The same feeling whenever Amanda asked him to grab something from inside her purse. Women’s purses were the black hole of mysterious sources of power. Some things, men didn’t need to know about.

He shifted the weight of his feet and stared at the floor for what seemed an eternal minute. Then he glanced up. They hadn’t moved. Damn, women hugged for a long time. He gave them several seconds more before finally speaking up.

“Morning.”

Both pairs of feet jumped about an inch as the women released their hold on each other and turned to him.

“Jake, hi,” Amanda said. “Sorry, I was coming up soon with your coffee.”

“No worries. I’ll grab a cup now.” He went to the nearby table and fixed up his cup. “Morning, Pearl.”

“Jake,” Pearl said, nodding. “Your girl and I were just having one of those emotional chats. Sorry we kept you from your coffee.”

“Not a problem.”

He kept his mouth shut on how long women hug. That wouldn’t go over well except to a male audience.

After pouring the right amount of cream and sugar, he sat down at the table where Amanda’s purse lay. Pearl daintily touched her hands to her beehive hairdo and made her excuses to leave, saying she had to go check on some things.

Amanda sat across from Jake. “I guess you couldn’t sleep any longer.”

“Nope. The need for caffeine surpassed everything else.”

He briefly imagined how nice it would’ve been for Amanda to wake him up slowly, fill another need by being in each other’s arms.

Nope. Focus. She thinks she can talk to the dead, and you both need to get out of Abandon as soon as she’s done with her carousel research.

He took a few big sips of coffee. Hell, he’d have injected the stuff if he could. Today would be a long day, and he needed every alert brain cell to cooperate.

“So, do you think getting in most of today at Zephyr Land, we can be ready to leave tonight?”

Those large hazel eyes shifted, moved from her coffee mug to glare at him. “I told you, I need at least a full day noting the restoration needed on the fixtures and the estimated cost. Then I need to type everything up. The report is due at noon tomorrow.”

Her voice had an edge, one he’d rarely heard. “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m only thinking of our safety, of a way to stop overnight on our way back to Georgia.”

“We don’t know who slashed our tires, and I don’t think we need to abandon ship—no pun intended—and leave just yet. Let’s spend today at Zephyr Land. Give me until tomorrow morning to write up my paper, and we can leave by lunch.”

“I checked the parking lot,” he said. “The car rental company brought us a vehicle, and they left the keys at the front desk. Our car will be delivered by the shop by end of day today, so we’re good in terms of transport—”

“Great. So we can’t dash out of here without abandoning your car. Which would also risk me not finishing my work.”

He took another swig of coffee. “I’m only thinking of our safety.”

She shrugged. “I told you. Randall Kern is the one who poisoned Sarah, is the man who had the most to gain by killing those two execs who ruined his reputation. If we avoid him, we should be fine.”

Jake gripped his coffee mug tighter. She had delusions of seeing dead people, but she was lecturing him on logic and motivation by suggesting they stay away from his hero in engineering?

“I disagree,” he said.

“I know you do, because you worship the guy.”

“Not worship, but respect, yes. The man accomplished things ahead of his time. You’re blaming him for something when there’s no proof.”

She finished her coffee and stood up. “Fine. Let me finish my work at the park. The minute I send in my report tomorrow, we’ll return to Georgia.”

He stood up to meet her impatient gaze. A million responses flashed through his mind, but what good would any of them do right now? Amanda was dead set on not leaving Abandon today.

The only solution was to let her finish her carousel analysis. Hope that she could complete the work early, maybe by tonight? Then the two of them could get the hell out of Abandon before anything worse happened.