“Right.” Marina took in River’s body language. The confident, sexy woman she’d met at the gallery seemed lost in the vulnerability of what seemed almost like a confession. “And that little interlude was what? Some psychic thing?”
“Something like that.” River’s smile was tight, her former lightness gone. “I’m guessing you’re not a believer.”
“In what? Ghosts? Telling people’s futures from a deck of cards?” She leaned closer. “Reading your destiny in tea leaves?”
River shrugged. “Point made. As a lawyer, you’re probably used to picking holes in things, right? In finding reasonsnotto believe something?”
Marina thought about that. “In a way. But I also try to find ways to get the jury to believe what I want them to. Maybeour jobs aren’t so different.” She meant it to be funny, a kind of bridge. But River winced and sat back, putting more than physical distance between them.
Silence ensued, and Marina couldn’t for the life of her think of anything to say that wouldn’t sound snide or invite River to tell her more about woo-woo things. “What did you say to that couple then?”
River looked at them and a small smile touched her lips. “I needed to let them know the person they miss forgives them. It was eating them up, and now they can let go.”
Marina downed a sip of wine and then choked on it, coughing and spluttering. River came around the table and hit her back, like she was trying to dislodge Marina’s lungs. Marina waved her off and she moved away, only to knock the wine glass off the table and onto Marina’s lap.
“Shit, shit, shit.” River righted the glass and set it on the table, then grabbed a napkin and started pressing it to Marina’s lap. “I’m so sorry.”
Marina yanked the napkin from River’s hand. Having her kneeling there next to her and pressing the cloth way too close to her crotch was sending her body all kinds of mixed signals. “Stop,” she wheezed as she finally got air back into her lungs.
River sat back down, her shoulders slumped. “This definitely wasn’t the way I pictured tonight going. Should I have them call you a cab?”
Marina dabbed at her eyes, trying not to smudge her makeup. “Please.”
River left the table and came back to stand beside her. “It’ll be here in a few minutes. I’m sorry, Marina. You’re really beautiful, and there’s something about you…” She drifted off, like she knew she shouldn’t say anything more on that subject.
Marina led the way out of the restaurant to the sidewalk. “Well, it’s been interesting.”
“Yeah.” River didn’t break eye contact. “It’s okay to want love, you know,” she said softly, her thumb lightly running over Marina’s knuckles. “And you’re already good enough.”
Marina jerked her hand back and then tugged the wet material of her dress away from her skin as River opened the taxi door for her. She got in and gave her a sharp smile. “I’m well aware of my own worth. Bye.”
River’s small smile suggested she knew better, and she closed the door. Marina let her head rest against the seat.For fuck’s sake.She fired off a text to Rob telling him that under no circumstances was he to let her go on a date with someone she hadn’t first googled to death. Shame though. River had been all kinds of hot, but she was also clearly all kinds of loony, and that was a train Marina most definitelydidn’tneed to ride.
Strange that she’d known something about that couple. Surely it was a sham, some kind of creepy game. She must have seen them somewhere else and found out about whatever sad-sack tragedy had befallen them and then used it to make herself seem…whatever it was she wanted Marina to think she was. And what was all that about it being okay to want love? She snorted and looked away from the driver’s eyes when he glanced in the rearview. As though she needed love. She had an amazing career, a promotion in the making, and good friends. But the thing about being good enough… She scoffed, drawing the driver’s attention once again. She gave him a withering look, and he focused on the road. It was human nature not to feel like you were good enough. She’d learned that in years of legal work, well after the family stuff that had introduced her to the concept. That wasn’t psychic flimflam, that was just a notion of human emotion. It didn’t mean anything.
So why did she feel like a child suddenly lost in the woods, with the only person who might understand her being left behind?
CHAPTER 4
“You spilledwine in her lap too?” Audrey put her hand over her mouth. “Oh, honey. I would have paid to watch that dumpster fire.”
River continued to clean the shop window, the sun’s glare making it hard to see streaks. “You should have seen her face when I told her where I work. I may as well have suggested she drink directly from a box of wine.”
“Hey, I like my boxed wine.” Audrey gently put her hand on River’s arm. “We need that glass, you know. You’re about to rub a hole straight through it.”
River dropped the cloth into the bucket and followed Audrey inside. “You saw how beautiful she was. And she’s a lawyer at a top firm in the city, who worked her way through college.” At Audrey’s raised eyebrows, River flushed. “I may have done some cyberstalking.”
“Before or after your dubious date?”
“After. I was hoping to learn about her during the date, but that got shut down pretty quickly. It wasn’t even worth ordering food. Maybe I shouldn’t have gone over to that couple, but their daughter was so desperate, and she wasn’t crossing over just because she needed them to know her death wasn’t theirfault. As soon as I told them, she crossed.” River hefted the box of decorations onto the counter, and they started pulling out the autumn leaves and fake pumpkins for the window display. “Anyway. If I thought there was any chance of recovery, I’d have tried to stick it out. But her energy closed off like she’s got a vault door ready to spring shut at the merest hint of someone seeing inside it.”
“Attorneys can’t exactly wear their hearts on their sleeves, can they?” Audrey frowned at a particularly threadbare pumpkin and set it aside. “We need to invest in some new stuff.”
River nodded as she pulled out some leaves that looked like they’d been scraped off a forest floor. “I’ll head over to the craft store today and get some things. I don’t have any appointments until later this afternoon.”
They worked in companionable silence for a while before Audrey stretched and held up her travel mug, emblazoned with World’s Witchiest Witch on the side. “Will you go to Joe’s and get the good stuff? And a muffin?”
River took the mug and picked up her own. She’d been lost in thoughts of Marina. How amazing would that long, silky dark hair feel sliding over her skin? What would her eyes look like, half-lidded with desire as River worshiped her body? What would she sound like as she arched her back and came, crying out with ecstasy?
