That’s cool.” Mickey bent down to rest his elbows on my windowsill and peered around the inside of my station wagon with interest. “Nice car, Sydney. All leather interior?”
My eyebrows drew down together as I stared at him. “Thanks. Yeah, it’s leather. Did you need something?” I hoped that didn’t come off as rude, but his sudden interest in me was strange.
“Well, actually,” he said, giving me a coy smile that looked wrong on his sallow face, “I was wondering if you’d have a cup of coffee with me sometime. I mean, I know you’re working right now, but maybe after you get off, or some time this weekend?”
I bit my bottom lip and studied him, working out how best to phrase my response. “Mickey, you seem like a nice kid. But I’m not sure your parents would approve of us spending time together on a personal level.” Was he asking me out on a date?
“Aw, come on Sydney. It’s just coffee. I won’t tell them if you won’t,” he cajoled. He grinned at me in what I was sure he thought was a charming manner.
I snorted. “I’m almost twice your age. Why would you want to hang out with me? Is there something you want to talk about, or…?” I trailed off, unsure what else to say.
“I just think you’re really nice.” He smiled and took a step back from my car. “I thought we could talk about my parents and stuff. I bet they drive you crazy too.”
My eyes widened. Of course they drove me crazy, but I was their employee, and I wasn’t about to discuss it with their son!
“Sorry, I just don’t think it’s a good idea,” I replied in a choked voice. I hit the button to close my window. “See you later, okay Mickey?” I called as I reversed out of the lot.
“Could my life get any weirder?” I muttered.
I turned in the direction of the supermarket and tried to shake off the encounter by focusing on my grocery list. I wanted to make sure I had extra supplies since my friend Sunny was due to fly in from Boston on Friday afternoon. We had been planning the visit for several weeks, since before the whole Jeremy thing and all the craziness that followed.
I hadn’t seen Sunny for about a year and I was really excited. The trip wasn’t only about me—her cousin Rachel was due to have a baby and if she didn’t go into labor by Friday they were going to induce. But Sunny had promised I could have her to myself for the rest of the time.
I would definitely need to pick up some coffee. Despite the ‘greet the day cheerfully’ picture her name implied, Sunny required an infusion of strong, black coffee to dezombify herself in the mornings. There was no way that my usual tea was going to do it for her.
I ran over my list in my head as I pulled into a parking space and prepared to do battle with the afternoon brigade of wealthy Palm Beach shoppers. This was the only grocery store I’d ever seen that offered valet parking, and the attitude of entitlement carried over from the parking lot into the store.
Sure enough, a stiff-lipped woman in huge sunglasses and chunky gold jewelry swept past me to grab the last cart. I sighed to myself and wondered if driving to the less affluent supermarket across the bridge wasn’t worth the extra time.
I decided against it and walked around to the exit doors to grab another cart. I was already here, and besides, it wasn’t the woman’s fault that the surgeon had pulled her face too tight for her to smile.
When I passed her again during my first sweep down the dairy aisle, I saw that her expression had turned even more sour. She was attempting to ignore the fact that the wheels of her cart were intermittently making an awful screeching noise.
I smirked as I reached to grab a tube of cinnamon roll dough, and froze when Lorien suddenly appeared hovering there next to the image of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
She grinned and whispered, “See, Sydney—you didn’t want that cart anyway.”
“So nice to see Karma in action,” I mumbled sarcastically.
“Sometimes it just needs a little nudge.” She winked and then she was gone.
I’d seen neither hide nor hair of her since Friday night and was beginning to wonder if I had imagined her.
I snorted quietly and finished up my shopping in a considerably lighter mood.
Chapter 5 – Revelations
“So, do you want to talk about it?” asked my friend Sunny as she stepped off the elevator into the outer foyer of the penthouse, each hand laden with a mismatched overnight bag.
“Not really,” I answered dryly, knowing the ‘it’ was my husband’s infidelity, since I hadn’t told her about the death djinn situation yet.
She was going to be the first person I told about my recent foray into the supernatural. I was nervous about how she’d react. I only hoped she wouldn’t decide that my mind had cracked along with my marriage.
She followed me through the door, tossed her bags onto a nearby chair, and then assaulted me with a bear hug. She knocked me backward, despite her smaller frame, as I laughingly returned the embrace.
“Ooh, I missed you so much, Syd. And this place is amazing!” she exclaimed with an excited twirl that sent her colorful patchwork skirt billowing.
“How did you end up staying in a penthouse at the most exclusive hotel in Palm Beach? You promised to tell me when I got here. You were so mysterious on the phone!” She brushed a dark curl from her mouth and placed her hands on her hips, narrowing her smoky green eyes at me.
I chuckled. “Why don’t we sit down and have a drink while I tell you? That way, if you decide to call the nice people in white coats to come take me away, I can just blame it on the alcohol.”
“I would never!” She gave me an indignant look and looped an arm through mine, hauling me over to the freestanding bar in the corner. “So, what’s good for inducing insanity? Oh, hello Jasper!” Sunny bent down to briefly scratch behind Jasper’s ears as he twined himself between her legs in greeting.
I had few close friends that I’d kept in touch with throughout the years, and Sunny was one of them. We’d known each other since middle school, but had become best friends in high-school. There was a measles scare and all of the students whose vaccination records weren’t up to date had been quarantined in the school gym for two days while they arranged for mass inoculations.
Sunny and I spent the entire two days huddled side-by-side on the bleachers, comparing boys, books and music we liked, and talking about everything else under the sun. I’d never made another friend like her since.
Sunny began rattling glass bottles around as she explored the fully stocked bar. She whistled in appreciation. “This is the stuff they keep in the locked cabinet above the top shelf. You’ve finally won the lottery, haven’t you! That’s it, isn’t it? I can’t believe you didn’t tell me!”
“How I got into this place is way more unbelievable than hitting the lottery. Champagne?” I suggested, pointing to the mini-fridge built into the bar cabinet.
I had been ecstatic to discover an entire case of the stuff in the small utility room near the kitchen. Sunny pulled a bottle from the fridge as I grabbed
