to be in the same car as him.
Holding on to that thought should have made things much simpler.
No such luck.
2
“GREAT WEATHER we’re having, isn’t it?” Jacob said tightly an hour and a half into the drive. It was the first thing he’d said for over forty-five minutes.
Amanda smiled and nodded. “June is my favorite month.”
She stared out of the window but there was nothing to see in the darkness except the side of the highway racing past. A quick check of her watch told her it was nearly ten-thirty. She’d attempted to make notes in her notebook, but it was too dark, and having Jacob so close to her made it hard for her to concentrate.
He wore black jeans and a gray T-shirt that bared his strong forearms and muscled biceps, the thin material molding to his body so she could practically count his six-pack abs underneath.
Not that she was looking, of course.
She bit her bottom lip and studied the boring view out the window and thought about her boyfriend David. A wonderfully normal, respectable man with whom she’d never had one single argument.
It was his suggestion that she leave her job at PARA to work for him in the New York City office. He’d given her a choice, one that she’d never had before. She could continue living the life of Amanda the Strange—her words, not his—or she could have a chance to be Amanda the Normal.
Starting over in a fresh city with David never knowing about her psychic abilities meant she’d be consciously turning her back on her old life.
Which also, unfortunately but necessarily, included her friends, like Vicky, who didn’t understand why Amanda was so adamant about making this major change in her life.
When she moved to the city she would turn off the part of her brain that allowed her to communicate with ghosts and sense other supernatural presences. She wouldn’t use her abilities at all. She hoped that, over time, they’d fade away to nothing.
Her mother would be thrilled. Amanda had yet to share this news with Madeleine Harper—the last name taken from her new husband—who lived three hours south and rarely saw her daughter. She still blamed Amanda, even after all these years, for her first husband’s decision to abandon their family.
Which was understandable. Even after nearly twenty years, Amanda still blamed herself.
Moving is the right thing to do, she reminded herself for the millionth time. Even so, there was the smallest piece of herself, buried down very, very deep that wasn’t so sure this was the ultimate key to happiness. That piece was small enough to repress, so that’s what she did. In five little days she’d be leaving Mystic Ridge for good, and she wouldn’t look back.
“You can always change your mind,” Jacob said.
She blinked and turned to face him. “Pardon me?”
“If you change your mind about quitting, I’m sure Patrick would be okay with that.”
His comment had thrown her a bit. He couldn’t know what she was thinking, could he? No, of course not. Obviously he was just trying to make conversation and the subject of her resigning from PARA was the obvious choice.
“I won’t change my mind,” she said firmly.
“So when you make a decision you stick to it, no matter what?”
“That’s right.”
“Yeah, well, I’m sure there are dozens of people who’d love to have your job, so Patrick won’t have a problem finding a suitable replacement for you.”
The thought that she might be so easily substituted hurt a little. “I’m sure he won’t.”
Jacob focused on the road ahead, but his brow lowered into a frown. “I’m just saying that if you’re doing this so your new boyfriend will accept you, then that’s a pretty lousy reason to turn your life upside down.”
He’d been talking to somebody who had extremely loose lips. But who?
Of course, she thought with annoyance. Vicky.
Vicky had wanted to get Jacob alone and naked since he’d started at PARA and she’d managed to land an official date with him last month. She’d had a smile on her face for days and it was all Amanda could do to avoid hearing the sordid details of Jacob’s sexual prowess.
The stab she’d felt in her gut when her best friend had informed her about the date had not meant she was jealous. The thought of Vicky running her hands all over Jacob’s admittedly perfect body didn’t bother her at all. Because that would be ridiculous. They were both consenting, condom-carrying adults, after all, and it was a free country.
She did know Jacob hadn’t called Vicky back for a second date. And that news hadn’t been met with any relief or happiness on Amanda’s part. How petty would that be?
Frankly, she didn’t want to know the details of anyone’s sex life—especially Jacob Caine’s. The point was, Vicky had obviously gossiped to Jacob—before, after or during their tryst—about Amanda’s situation.
“I’m not turning my life upside down,” she said as firmly as she could. “This has nothing to do with David. It’s my decision.”
He gave her a sideways glance. “Sure it is.”
“You don’t think I can make my own decisions in life?”
“All I know is that a woman who is obviously gifted in ways that can help other people is giving up her God-given talents to go hock advertising at her boyfriend’s agency and leaving behind her friends and everything she’s ever known.”
Hock advertising? He made it sound so unpleasant.
Jacob was trying to unnerve her and she’d be damned if she let him know he could succeed so easily.
“I’m happy with my decision,” she said with resolve. “Thrilled, in fact. It’s what I want.”
“I don’t think it is.”
“You,” she forced herself to smile at him, “are entitled to your opinion.”
He eyed her. “Do you do that with everyone?”
The smile remained. “Do what?”
“Put on that false exterior? Do you even realize you’re doing it? Maybe you don’t. Maybe this is just how you always are. I wouldn’t know since you’ve avoided me from the moment we met, so we’ve never really gotten a chance to get to know each other.”
“I don’t avoid you,” she said.
He laughed. “Are you serious?”
“Our paths rarely cross at the office, sure, but it doesn’t mean that I’m avoiding you. That doesn’t make any sense. I barely even know you.”
“If
