“Your friend told me,” he answered smoothly.
“I guess I didn’t realize you remembered it,” I answered, trying to be just as smooth. "I don't know yours." Lies.
He shrugged. “Your name felt important, somehow.” He smiled again, this time almost shyly. “How about we have not-coffee together?”
I shook my head, debating running like the wind. “I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
His expression fell. “You’re married?”
An angry snort left me, and I regretted it, but it was too late. “The furthest thing from married.”
“Divorced?” he lifted a brow. “Who’d be dumb enough to divorce someone like you?”
Something in me snapped. “I don’t know, maybe a man who wanted his wife barefoot at the kitchen stove all day. A man that thought after having twins my figure should have stayed the same.” I actually grabbed at my belly fat as I said that. “A man who thought the sister I raised from the time she was born until she became an adult would be a better partner than me. Maybe someone like that. One thing I know for sure, I love running my business. I love prioritizing my friends. I love my freedom and my free time, and I love that I don’t have some man around to take my heart and shatter it into a million pieces. Maybe have some not-coffee with someone like that.” I shouted the last few words, then raced for our business and slammed the door behind me once I got inside.
Holy freaking crap. My legs shook. I hated myself. I hated that I'd unloaded all of my therapy fodder on a stranger. A handsome stranger. I prayed he didn’t become Emma’s neighbor, because if he did, I’d have to wear a hood every time I came to her house. What in the world had I done? Why, oh why, had I reacted to a handsome man like that? I was broken. Seriously, a mess.
The phone rang, nearly scaring me out of my skin, and I ignored my shaking legs long enough to run for it. Emma came out of the bathroom at the same time, looking like she was shaken to her core. I’d calm her down, I would, right after this call.
“Hello, this is Beth at Private Psych,” I greeted, trying, and failing, to sound chipper.
“Hello, Beth, we need Karma,” it was Nespos Bunnyhop, the leader of the gnomes.
“What’s going on?” I asked, grabbing a pen and paper from my desk.
“Our gnomes have started going missing again, but this time someone took all the children.”
I froze, then released a slow breath. “We’ll be there right away.”
When I set down my phone, I looked at Emma. “All the gnome children are gone.”
12
EMMA
Beth pulledup outside of the gnomes' house and killed the engine. We barely slowed enough to slam the doors closed before we tore into the backyard, no longer caring what the neighbors thought. With some insane ex-Karma running around, and children missing, there was no time to mess around.
We reached the backyard, and Nespos Bunnyhop was there waiting, a crowd of gnomes surrounding him on a tree stump. When he saw us, his eyes twinkled with hope. "They've only been missing for a few hours, we think. There's evidence they were dragged to the woods."
"Don't worry," Beth said, sounding every bit the superhero. "We got this. We'll find them."
I didn't have her confidence, but I raced around the gnomes and headed for the woods behind the house. Beth was right behind me when I slowed to look at boot prints in the mud. Her breath practically warmed my neck when I sped up. I had no reason to believe the young gnomes were anywhere in particular, but my instincts told me otherwise.
"Sh-hould we have Daniel sniff them out?" Beth panted behind me.
I shook my head. Maybe if we didn't find them soon, but not yet. Time ticked away, and my gut churned, warning me something was wrong.
The woods blended together around us.
Sunlight filtered through the rustling leaves, casting a dappled pattern on our path. My feet kept moving as if they knew the way. The sound of Beth's breathing and the crunching of twigs under our feet created a rhythm that spurred me forward.
Finally, we reached the place we'd found the missing gnomes before. At least a dozen small gnomes lay still as they would if there were humans around. A terrible cracking sound erupted across the clearing, and we watched in horror as a tree crashed down, heading straight for the small gnomes.
I lifted a hand, ready to call Karma's powers to help when an older woman appeared, wearing a brown cloak. My mouth hung open, and she caught the tree in her hands like some kind of superhero with super strength.
Her whole face turned red as she tossed the tree to the side, saving the gnomes. As she stood breathing hard, I couldn't help but stare, fear bubbling in my stomach. This was the ex-Karma. This was the older woman who'd caused such chaos in our town. She was the one who wanted my powers.
She also wasn't the Karma who'd given me my powers, which was both a relief, and more upsetting. Who was this woman and why was she here?
