Crystal Vision by Patricia Rice

Author:Patricia Rice [Rice, Patricia]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Book View Cafe

Eighteen

July 10:Tuesday, late evening

Even though he’d bought the ATV with the intention of giving it to the town—he certainly couldn’t transport it back to Scotland—Keegan kept the keys as he escorted Mariah out of the meeting house. He could tell she was prepared to stalk straight up the back alley and lane to her cottage without speaking to anyone. He respected that. But he held her shoulder as he greeted the Nulls gathering in the parking lot. She didn’t have to talk to them, but he did.

And he wanted to go wherever she did, so they needed to work it out.

“How is Miss Ingersson?” he asked of Kurt and Walker, who leaned against the chief’s car waiting for their Lucy partners.

“Brenda says Val is fine. We took her back to Cass’s place.” Walker watched as Sam left the hall, chatting with animation. “I take it the Lucys are joining us in the morning?”

“It appears so, but only in the position of observers,” Keegan said.

Beneath his hand, Mariah wriggled restlessly. She was like the hawk she claimed to use, not comfortable around others.

Keegan didn’t linger to discuss the problem of meddling Lucys. He’d simply wanted to ensure that he was included in Null consultations. He didn’t want to be written off as a Lucy. He didn’t know why people insisted on using derogatory terms for people unlike themselves, even intelligent people like these. But as an outsider, he needed to engage both sides.

After saying his farewells, Keegan followed Mariah through the dark and up the hill toward the cemetery, grateful she didn’t tell him to stuff it.

“I’d offer wine,” he said as they traipsed up the path. “But the hospital gift shop didn’t sell any. Would you rather go to the lodge?”

“I’d rather not think,” she growled. “We aren’t dating. We didn’t meet in a bar. I’ve never gone to bed with a friend. So I need to think of you as a means to an end, and quit trying to put the friend hat on you. It’s taking some mental rearranging.”

He chuckled, relieved that she accepted where this evening would end, and that he hadn’t been fooling himself that she shared his interest. “Your definition of dating is having someone to call when you need sex? You don’t date men you talk to? Which makes your definition of friend just exactly what?”

“Until now, exclusively female or gay,” she said, sounding surly. “I don’t talk to Harvey and Aaron unless I have to. They’re like fellow workers. But you. . . You’re like a Heisenbug that’s crept into my code and can’t be dug out.”

He feared she was calling him a virus, but with someone as thick-skinned as Mariah, maybe that’s what he needed to be. “I’ll admit, I’m new to dating as well. I travel. I don’t have time to make friends. I find willing women who want what I want. Then Bri decided we should be partners, so I’ve been with her for a while. It severely curtailed my activities while traveling since I had some notion that engagement meant fidelity.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.