Judging by the pinched look on the older woman’s face, she should have kept that tidbit to herself.
Between burrito accidents and psychic preseason, Riley might have to see if Nick’s cousin Brian had a spare wheelchair she could borrow for a few days.
Her sister, Wander, appeared before her, looking like she’d just stepped off the set of a yoga photo shoot. Her long braids were pulled up on top of her head in a high tail. She wore a cropped tank and yoga shorts, both in a dusky purple. The natural glow of her brown skin glistened like she’d been dusted by a bronzer fairy. It was how Wander sweated. Riley, on the other hand, looked as if someone had tossed her in the river and dragged her back out by the hair. Wander was lucky she was a nice person. Otherwise, her sweaty big sister would have been able to work up the energy to hate her.
“How was your five-mile run?” Elanora asked solicitously.
“Lovely. The river walk really opens my heart chakra in the mornings.” Wander took a dainty sip from her matching water bottle. Riley eyed the bottle and fantasized about stealing it and running away to hide in her shower.
“Can you guys keep it down?” Blossom complained from the shade of a pine tree just off the mansion’s parking lot. “I’m trying to Tai chi my ass off over here.”
She was getting dangerously close to Burt’s favorite pooping spot, but Riley was too breathless to vocalize a warning.
“Push-ups. Now,” Elanora insisted, waving her walking stick at them.
Riley was going to find the person who gave her that stick and then beat them with it.
Gabe had finished vomiting and joined Wander and Riley on the ground.
“One,” they groaned as a group.
“Two.”
The back door of the mansion swung open, and Burt jumped up to greet Nick. Her unsatiated lady parts paid close attention as he strolled toward her looking like a lust-fueled mirage in gym clothes and sunglasses.
“Heading to the gym. Thought you could use some water,” he said, handing her a man-sized thermos.
“My hero,” she gasped and popped the top. She tilted her head back and let the water rush out into her mouth and down over her face and neck.
Nick chuckled and ruffled her hair. “Later, Thorn.”
She responded with a gulping noise.
“You’re looking domineering today, Elanora,” he said with a wink and a flash of dueling dimples.
“I am aware.” Her grandmother was dressed for the weather in lightweight ebony pants, a sleeveless midnight tunic, and a black and more black scarf wound around her head. She was wearing a chunky amethyst necklace and five rings.
Nick left and Burt flopped back on the ground and immediately fell asleep.
“Now that your bodies have been purged,” Elanora began, shooting a judgmental look in Gabe’s direction. “It is time to cultivate the mind. You are each here because you have a special gift that you have selfishly ignored.”
Burt rolled over in his sleep and gave an adorable little grumble.
Riley felt a surge of maternal “aww.”
Elanora spared the dog a glare, then continued. “We will now begin our meditation to prime our minds for the benevolence of our spirit guides.”
Riley raised her hand. “Question.”
Her grandmother’s nostrils flared. Apparently questions weren’t a welcome addition to psychic boot camp.
“Does everyone have the same spirit guides? Or do we all have different ones? And why don’t they speak the same language as we do? Why can’t they just say, ‘Hey, your neighbor’s husband is planning to murder her with a shovel’?”
“Excellent question, sweetie,” Blossom said, reaching over to squeeze her hand. Her mother’s hair had exploded to three times its normal circumference in the humidity.
“No. It is not. It is a stupid question.”
“Mom.” Blossom sighed.
