else was going on. “What? What’s wrong? Are you having a vision?”
“You don’t believe in visions.” She put a hand on the doorframe and took a deep breath, obviously in distress.
“Seriously, you don’t look good. Come inside and sit down. I’m worried about you. Should I call the ambulance?” I reached out and touched her arm, and a swirl of emotions hit me like a ton of bricks. My fingers jerked back. “What the heck was that?”
“Sorry, I’m in touch with the other side. I didn’t do my cleansing ritual because I have another client in a few minutes.” She straightened, and color came back into her face. “I just want you to know that I’m doing this for his own good. Just know that.”
“Leaving the station? I’m supposed to talk you out of it.” I watched her. She wanted to leave and sprint across the street. Emma whined behind me.
“I’m not sure you can do that.” She turned and headed off the porch. “My client is almost here. I’ll come by tomorrow to explain. I owe him that much, but I can’t tell him why.”
I was about to say no one was at her house when I saw a pair of headlights turn off Highway 1 and onto the street that ran into South Cove. Esmeralda beat the car there by seconds and stood in the doorway to greet the newcomers like she’d been home all along.
I closed the door and turned to Emma. “Our neighbor is going batty.”
Emma stared at the door and whined again.
“I know, you felt it too.” I walked back to the kitchen. Something bad was going on with Esmeralda and I was going to find out what. She might not be the perfect neighbor, but she was part of my South Cove family. No one was going to run her off her job.
I ate my dinner as I tried to get back into the story. But I couldn’t stop thinking about Esmeralda and our conversation. Finally, I closed the book, cleaned up my dinner dishes, and went upstairs to get in the shower. Hopefully I’d be able to wash this funk off me so I’d be fun, creative Jill tonight.
Or at least fun Jill. Toby was right. I didn’t have a creative bone in my body.
Chapter 3
Evie was sitting outside the coffee shop, reading, when I arrived. She’d dressed in a floral, flowing shirt and skinny jeans with wedge heels. I was in my favorite evening going-out clothes: jeans and a T-shirt with “Give Me Coffee and No One Gets Hurt” on the front. I like to warn people how to deal with me in advance. I checked the cover to see what had her so engrossed. It was one of the recent female empowerment books on finding your true self. “Hey, I loved that book.”
Evie started, then closed the book and tucked it into her tote. She stood and glanced over at the Drunken Art Studio down the street. “I’m not good with change, so this whole life makeover has me a little on edge. I know it’s the best for me and for Homer, but I liked most of my life in New York.”
“Most of?” I hadn’t talked to her about what brought her to the total opposite coast yet. I figured she’d tell me when she was ready.
“My husband was a jerk. But he was gone a lot. I didn’t realize how much of a jerk he was until he changed jobs and stopped traveling.” She shook her head. “Lots of people have it worse than me, so I should just be grateful.”
“Just because there is suffering in the world doesn’t mean your experiences are null.” I nodded toward the shop and we started walking. “My experiences have shown me that I need to talk through things before I can put them behind me. And good news? There are a lot of people in South Cove who will tell you what to do; some even have their counselor’s license.”
“Girl, you’re funny.” She bumped her shoulder with mine. “No wonder Sasha talked so highly of you and this place. I thought she’d stay around once she got done with school, but I guess that ship sailed.”
“I got that feeling too.” We crossed the street after checking for any traffic. It was already dark and most of the traffic now would be from people either coming from or going to the winery or Diamond Lille’s for dinner. “Are you going to Olivia’s