Dead and Gone: A Paranormal Women's Fiction Novel (Gwen's Ghosts Book 2) by J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory

Author:J.R. Rain & H.P. Mallory [Rain, J.R. & Mallory, H.P.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rain Press
Published: 2023-04-13T16:00:00+00:00

***

The Swan took on a different aspect during the day, lighter and airier, more geared to family lunches, but the warm welcome and pleasant atmosphere remained. The three of us, led by Shona, took a seat by the window, and I tried to look comfortable sitting opposite the man I’d kissed only yesterday and his wife.

“Where shall we start?” asked Shona.

“How about with your marriage and why it’s on the rocks,” Petra said.

Thank God neither of them could see or hear her. It was bad enough that I could.

“Well, I’m sort of collecting general background information,” I hedged, trying to keep things broad, as I had at the start of all my interviews. “Small town life, interesting characters, noteworthy events.”

“So, this isn’t a continuation of your ‘investigation’.” The air quotes were as noticeable as the tone of amusement in her voice when she said the word. And the tone of amusement was definitely condescending. Now that she’d met me and realized I was the woman Leo had helped, she didn’t like it. Not one bit.

Leo’s face was a mix of guilt at having told his wife something I might have wanted to keep secret and suppressed anger at her condescending tone.

“Shona.” Quietly spoken but firm.

“What?” demanded Shona as she turned to face him and gave a little shrug. “I’m just asking how Gwen’s ‘investigation’ is going.” The first set of air quotes could have been written off, but the repetition was just pure passive aggressive and, again, I saw the spasm of irritation cross Leo’s face. Which made me wonder if I was the even Shona’s target in the first place. Was she mocking me or deliberately winding up her husband? Which, in turn, asked another question; why was she doing either? How much had Leo told her about me? Had she guessed there was more? Was she suspicious that something might be going on between her husband and me? Or had their relationship deteriorated to the point where this sort of childish point-scoring was an everyday occurrence?

God, my hands were getting clammy and that only happened when I was nervous.

“Oooh, I don’t believe I like her much,” Petra said. I almost answered, ‘neither do I’, but managed to keep my feelings to myself.

Suddenly, I felt less bad about kissing Leo. In fact, I would have liked to kiss him again now—at this very moment. And if Shona kept up those damned air quotes, I was going to straddle her husband right here in the bar and ask, ‘What are you going to do about it?’

Well, obviously, I really wasn’t going to do those things—because I was sort of a lady, I supposed, but the real reason was more along the lines that I lacked the balls to do such a thing. Swallowing back my instinctive reaction, and reminding myself that, whether she knew it or not, this woman actually had a pretty good reason to be rude to me, I ignored Shona’s tone and treated her question like a genuine inquiry.

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