Page 78 of The Aura Answer
“Down,” he thought he heard Evie say.
“Toppling won’t help,” Jax cautioned. And then he heard the puppies Iddy was attempting to give away. Nothing had more energy than a puppy except two puppies, or three.
Recognizing that he’d totally lost his logical mind to Evie’s irrational and wholly unscientific realm, he trotted down the stairs to the Adopt-a-Pet booth. Grasping his intent—Evie was the town dog walker after all—Iddy threw a stool in the middle of the pen. Jax stepped over the enclosure and took a seat.
Beagles, mutts, and wiener dogs jumped all over them.
Evie wriggled with them.
By the time Mavis arrived, huffing and puffing, Evie was giggling and pushing off cold noses.
Mavis glared at Jax as if this were all his fault. “Inappropriate and undignified, but if it works... She’s all yours.” She stalked off to talk to one of her witchy friends.
Watching Evie laughing like a toddler at the puppies, Jax thought about it, and decided, yeah, he was good with that. Evie kept him alive.
Pris arrived in less of a hurry. She shrugged at the sight. “She should have been raised in a pound. Get some food in her. She didn’t eat lunch.” She, too, drifted away, unconcerned.
“My loving family.” Evie struggled to sit up.
“I should leave you here and go find food.” He threatened to dump her into the whirling tornado of yips and wagging tails.
“The schnauzer thinks you smell like home and wants to go with you,” Iddy called from the other side of the fence. “He’s used to cats. Psy won’t bother him.”
Kissing Jax’s cheek, Evie rolled off his lap into the filthy pup pen. A tattered gray-haired dog with a lopsided ear leaped on her. Jax sighed as she cuddled the mangy pup and grinned up at him. “Can I take him home, pretty please?”
As if he could deny her anything.
The familiar holidayparade of horses and cars and marching bands calmed Gracie’s jangled nerves. What had she just done?
Flung a huge frame and easel with her mind!She’d knocked down ajudge—
And no one had even noticed.
She didn’t know whether to be relieved or insulted. All the years of hiding her terrifying talent—and no one cared that she was dangerous—or at best, a destructive nuisance.
But Evie’s ghosts had played worse havoc and no one yelled ather. Friends and family hovered solicitously around her sister as if she were precious crystal. Which everyone knew sturdy Evie was not.
Gracie figured she’d puzzle out deliberate ignorance some other time. For now, she simply needed to be a normal mom and teacher. She hugged Aster, kept an eye on the littles so they didn’t run in front of the horses, and helped them to catch the candy Larraine in her bullet-proof mayor-mobile flung by the bucketful.
“Is that a real fur the mayor is wearing?” Nick stood beside Gracie, studying the American fantasy of jolly elves and sleighs where they never had snow. Peach baskets, cotton balls, and boll weevils made more sense.
“I asked. Larraine said she wasn’t wearing any nasty rodent around her neck. She knows a manufacturer who creates expensive reproductions for designers. That outfit will probably show up in her catalog next fall.” Having Nick beside her made Gracie think things she shouldn’t, especially since he was leaving for the city in a week....
He’d held her longer than necessary when she’d cried over him, as if she might matter. Of course, he was all male. Men were like that. She thought. It had been a long time since she’d looked at one.
Apparently, she was still female. She wasn’t immune to hormones, and hers were buzzing out of control. She didn’t need this distraction if she was about to lose her home. “How are the art sales going?”
“Sales are doing so well, Verity is considering setting up a gallery here, maybe on the walls of a restaurant to start.”
“We only have two restaurants,” she pointed out. “I doubt Gertie’s diner is a good gallery. La Raison is too dark and stuffy and only open for dinner.”
“I might have mentioned that,” Nick admitted. “And then I remembered your cousin’s desire for a café...”
“Oh my, one more stick on the fire of Pris and Dante’s relationship. He’s so good for her. But a café would be too.” Gracie sighed. Life was never easy.
“Mommy, is that really Thanta Clauth?” Aster tugged her hand and pointed at a Santa-costumed Judge Satterwhite driving his antique convertible Cadillac as if he hadn’t just thrown a very un-Santa-like snit. Larraine’s splashy candy display had temporarily diverted from the main attraction. Apparently the judge had decided he was safe with Rhodes and Teddy behind bars.
Watching a silly parade was far better than fretting over whether they’d actually caught a killer and if Layman was still alive and could still steal her home and ruin the town. As far as she could tell, they’d left everything hanging, which gave her icy shivers.
