Page 24 of No Surrender
4
SIMON
Simon felt too jittery to go back to the store after he left the police department. A phone call assured him that Pete was fine and that the reporters were keeping their distance. That helped Simon decide to take a detour and hope his instincts proved right.
He stopped at The Golden Strand, one of the locations where a victim of the eighties killer had worked. He didn’t know if Michelle worked bar this afternoon, but he felt a strong nudge to stop in.
“Hiya, Simon,” Michelle greeted him from the nearly-empty bar. She shot him a broad grin and waved him over.
“It’s been a busy few months,” Simon said, an extreme understatement. “You look like life’s been good to you.”
Michelle’s skin glowed, her long dark hair had a healthy shine, and she no longer looked dangerously thin. Simon had known her since she’d come to Myrtle Beach while she was transitioning a few years ago, looking for a place to start over where no one would deadname her and she could reinvent herself. That plan seemed to be working well.
“It has,” Michelle agreed. “It took a while like you kept telling me it would, but…now it’s real good. And thanks to you, I no longer have to listen to everyone’s rambling thoughts.”
Michelle was a natural telepath, but like so many of Simon’s “Skeleton Crew,” no one had recognized, appreciated, or nurtured her gift. Native psychic abilities too often were misunderstood as mental illness, especially when they involved hearing voices or seeing things that weren’t there. The mainstream had a long way to go when it came to accepting different ways of knowing or perceiving.
“Glad to help. So the shielding is working?” Simon had taught Michelle how to block the intrusive thoughts of people around her, making it possible for her to tune in only when she wanted so she—and they—could have privacy and boundaries.
“Most of the time. Some people think really loudly, you know?”
Simon chuckled. “Oh, I understand. I pick up on it differently, but I get what you mean. My fiancé can be one of those folks when he’s upset.”
“Yeah?” She brought Simon a club soda with lime and waved him off when he tried to pay. “On me. You’re a cheap date—and I figured you’d want soda since it’s during the day.” She paused. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
Michelle bit her lip. “I’ve been seeing someone. Finally got up the nerve. Kelli and I have been going out for a few months, and it’s getting serious. But it’s hard to be with someone and stay out of their head. I try—I don’t want to pry, and reading thoughts is worse than going through someone’s phone. But sometimes what she’s thinking just blurts out, especially if we’re, um—”
“High emotions make it difficult to block,” Simon commiserated, saving Michelle the need to finish her sentence; he didn’t need to be psychic to know from her blush what she meant.
“Right. Kelli’s trying to understand, but it’s not the usual dating issue. So how do you handle it?”
“Wow. No one ever asked me that before.” Simon took a sip of his drink and thought for a moment. “Remember—my gift works differently than yours. I get images instead of thoughts, usually in bits and pieces and not the whole story. So it’s not the same as accidentally listening in to a mental conversation.”
“They don’t really write books about this stuff.” Michelle went down the bar to take another order and returned after a few minutes.
That gave Simon time to ponder. “Maybe there’s a different way to think about it,” he said when she came back. “When you’re with someone in close quarters for a while, you start to finish each other’s sentences and guess what they’re going to say before they say it. In a way, it’s a private language.”
Michelle gave him a wistful smile. “I don’t have a lot of experience with that kind of relationship, but I follow what you’re saying—theoretically, at least.”
“Maybe when it comes to being with a long-term partner, it’s something you both learn to embrace. Yes, it gives you something of an unfair advantage—but you can choose not to pay attention even if you can’t help hearing something going on.”
She frowned. “I’m working on that. But—yes.”
“I’m betting over time Kelli will figure out tricks—like humming while she thinks or blanking her mind. Kind of like going ‘la-la-la.’ And you’ll learn how to tune out.”
“So you’re saying to go with the flow instead of fighting it?”
Simon shrugged. “Basically.”
Michelle was silent for a moment and then nodded. “Okay. Which probably means that if she’s the right one for me, she’ll be able to deal with it, and if she isn’t, she won’t.”
Simon smiled. “Yeah. Believe me—Vic and I were poles apart at the beginning. He didn’t want to believe my abilities were real. Then we went through some stuff, and it got better. Now—we work around it.”
Michelle covered his hand for a moment. “Thank you. That means a lot.” She went to serve a guy a beer and returned. “Now—you didn’t come here to solve my personal problems.” Her eyes went wide. “Did you?”
“I didn’t get a vision about your love connection issues.” Simon chuckled. “I wanted to ask if anyone at The Strand has been around since the eighties.”
