New Revelations: Second Sight Book Two (24 page)

From her mother’s piercing look, she hadn’t
missed the artificiality in Kate’s
voice.
She addressed Declan. “Nice to see you again, Declan. Were you staying for dinner?”

“No. I have plans with Trish
, but thanks for the offer Ms. E
,” he said with a charming smile.

“Ms. E?” Her mother mouthed to her as Declan turned to gather up his notebook and bottled water.

Kate rolled her eyes and shrugged in her
mother’s
direction. He had tried out the nickname
Kit Kat
on Kate, but when she promised to do harm to his genitalia if she heard that name pass his lips once more, he backed off.

Her mother’s watch
ful stare never left them as Kate
walked Declan out.
Kate closed the door and turned to face him.
Declan
gave her a cr
ooked grin. “Now, don’t go
crazy on me. I’ll work on Melanie for awhile and let you take a breather.”

“Thanks. Maybe this working toge
ther thing is going to work out,” she said thoughtfully.
“
We’re even on our way to
being fast
friends.”

“We could be if you stopped pining for me,” he joked.

“Will you get out of here? Trish is eagerly awaiting someone to leave her emotionally damaged and physically dissatisfied,” she retorted and playfully pushed him off the porch.

“See you
in your dreams, Kat
e.”

Kate couldn’t help but giggle at Declan’s conceit. At the very least, he offered comic relief. It had been excruciatingly difficult the past few days for her to focus on anything besides the case. Each vision of Melanie entangled her more and more in the
girl’s life. She was beginning to know the ins a
nd outs of Melanie Pirola’s existence
. Kate could name the girl’s past boyfriends and best friends. Being inside of Melanie’s head during the visions also made it obvious to Kate that she was a kind and loving person. This further affirmed Kate’s belief tha
t Melanie wouldn’t simply vanish
without letting someone know.

Normally Kate
would vent to Jared, but it seemed as though he
was swallowed up by the
Franklin
police department and would never be returned to her.
For some reason, he couldn’t give her specifics about the case he was working on, but did say it looked like it would be resolved soon.
With only a few snatches of conversation here or there, she hadn’t wanted to hijack the conversation with her growing
despondency
about Melanie. Instead, she
craved a distraction from her psychic life. She missed her boyfriend desperately and anticipated the day when both of their cases
would be
solved
.

Her mother had her arms folded across her chest a
s Kate reentered the home. The expression
on her face was the sam
e look she wore when Kate was fourteen and she took the family car for a joy ride
.
Kate only made it as far as the end of the block before she chickened out, but her mom had grounded her for a month.

Kate
figured
a lecture was on the tip of her mom’s tongue and decided to distract her. She
would rather
avoid
defend
ing
herself against spending
time with Declan.
He was a shameless flirt,
but half the stuff he spewed Kate
didn’t take very seriously.
He made her laugh while also
empathizing
with the difficulties that came with being psychic.
Not to mention, he did rank high on the hotness scale. However, obscure and ancient torture methods would need to be used against her before she ever admitted to him that she was flattered by his attention.

Kate’s eyes widened as she looked over her mom’s outfit.
“You look really pretty today Mom. Is that skirt new?”

Her
mother looked down at her casual attire
before locking eyes with her daughter. “No, I’ve had this for years. Your avoidance techniques need work.”

“Mom, I’m twenty-two years old. I thought I was allowed to have boys in t
he house without you here
. You did let Jared in my bedroom last week,” Kate reminded her. She figured the best defense was a good offense.

“I
like
Jared and trust him. If I let Declan unsupervised in our house, I would
imagine he would initiate a panty raid,” her mo
ther countered
.

Kate bowled over in laughter. “The scary thing is I could totally picture him doing that.”

“
I understand I have a tendency to be
overprotective
—
but
you’ll always be my little girl.” Her mother gave her a beseeching stare.
“
I don’t want to see you hurt by anyone
. It’s great
you found someone who is also psychic, but make sure you don’t let him convince you to do things you’re not comfortable with,” her mother advised.

“I won’t, Mom,” Kate promised.
“
He’s made it clear that he has his own agenda for
finding Melanie. A
s long as she gets home, it doesn’t matter to me the reasons he’s helping.”

“Good. I’ll try not to lose sleep over the thought of Declan tempting my daughter down a dark path,” she said. Her mother bit her lip and cast an uncertain gl
ance her way. “While you’re home
, I actually wanted to talk to you about something.”

Flopping
back onto the couch, Kate gave her mom an expectant look
. “I’m all ears.”

“I met someone.”

Kate’s jaw dropped.
This announcement was unexpected
.
Although
her dad had moved on before the ink was dry on the divorce papers, her mom made it clear
on several occasions
s
he wasn’t ready to date. Kate had attempted to reassure her that it wouldn’t bother her in the least if she found someone else
. Her mother had explained
she had
been with Robert Edwards
for twenty years and couldn’t
envision
being with another man.

“Kate, say something. You’re making me nervous.” Her mother stilled and awaited her reaction.

“Mom, I think it’s great,” sh
e
stated enthusiastically
.

Her mother’s eyes filled with tears
.
Kate swallowed hard as her own emotions stirred. Her mom deserved the very best in life and she hoped this man turned out to be worthy of her affection. Kate persisted,
“Well, don’t keep me in suspense. Give me the dirt on this guy.”

Her mom let out
a strangled laugh. “I was
so nervous to tell you. It seems like we’ve been our own little team for two years and I
wasn’t sure if you would think of
Dan
as an interloper.”

“
So, Dan
, huh?
” Kate questi
oned and wiggling her eyebrows up and down
.
“
Where did you meet him? What does he look like?” Kate leaned forward with her hands on her chin.

“He emailed m
e about buying a few
products for his sister. I guess she’s a fan of the brand I sell.
I went to drop off the delivery and
we hit it off. We met for coffee today,” her mother gushed.

“Aww, my mom is in
love
,” she squealed.

Her mother threw a couch pillow at her. “Not yet, but
maybe I’
m meant to find love again. Maybe I was inspired by you and Jared,” she said with a wink.

“Please stop, Mom! The l-word makes me break out in hives
,” Kate
moaned and scratched at her arm for emphasis.

“I won’t push it. For the record though, I would love to have Jared as a son-in-law one day,” she said and continued dryly, “If you end up wit
h Declan, I’m getting the locks
changed.”

Melanie
collapsed on the far end of their L-shaped cou
ch and glanced over at Delaney
’s seated form. Her sister’s eyes were blurry and her expression slack. She had consumed way too much wine at the bar tonight.

It had been their ritual to go out after
one
of them broke up with a guy. With Delaney’s latest track record, they would soon turn into raging alcoholics.

Delaney gave Melanie a loopy grin. “Men totally suck.”

Melanie’s boyfriends were far from princes, so she had to agree. “Yes, they do.”

“I should’ve known from the beginning that
Cam
wasn’t the one. All of the warning signs were there…”

Melanie didn’t let her finish. “
Cam
’s a creep. You’ll find the right guy.”

Delaney’s blurry stare turned serious. “Mel, do you really believe in that soulmate stuff?”

“Yes,” she replied without hesitation.

“But do you think the soulmate has to be someone you’re romantically in love with?” Delaney loo
ked thoughtful. “Because my definition of a
soulmate would be the other half that makes you whole. And to me…that’s you.”

Melanie’s vision clouded. “Delaney, you’re such a sentimental drunk,” she kidded.

However, Melanie was touched by her
sister’s
proclamation. She fe
lt the same way about Delaney
. She was there for her through eve
ry happy moment as well as each
heartbreak. Their connection extended beyond sisterhood. It was as if one couldn’t exist without the other
.

“What I’m trying to say is…”

“I love you too Delaney.”

***

Lounging
back into her
beach chair, Kate
cherished
the feeling of the sunshine dancing over her skin.
She was sitting in the comfor
t of he
r backyard and indulging in a couple of hours of
downtime.
Her
brain was taking a
reprieve from
a full evening of
Melanie’s visions the night before and
a packed schedule of
classes
this morning
.
After seeing the memory of Melanie with her sister, sh
e was touched by the sister
s
’
bond. It made her question what was going on with Melanie to make her revisit a memory that was close to her heart.

Before
her philosophy
course, Kate had tried to get inside of Melanie’s
head without any luck.
She was thinking it probably had to do with Declan fr
eaking her out about going nuts
from her visions.
A couple of hours of relaxation could be just the thing to clear her mind and try again.

The pale comment her father had made
the other night still gnawed at
her. A few hours of
vitamin D were
exactly what Kate
needed. Since the unseasonably warm weather was bound to end soon, this would probably be one of the last times she wore her bikini this year.
Kate adjusted the green straps to ward off unwanted tan lines on her shoulders
.

Kate
picked up the novel she had purchased on her way home from campus.
On the cover, a
woman in a revealing
gown with
her breasts
to her chin was pressed against a handsome
sai
lor—
pirate?
Boat
captain? Kate wasn’t sure if it really mattered
—
without his shirt on. Since Kate
was too embarrassed
to ask for sex advice from any
one, she figured she better do some res
earch on her own. She picked the book up again and
skimmed to the good parts.

Bartholomew gazed at her with a tumultuous mixture of lust and pity in his eyes.
“Lucinda, the things you ask…we mustn’t discuss this.”

“Sir, these feelings you inspire in me will not be ignored. I can not pretend you have not consumed every fiber of my being since the day our eyes met on the pier.” Lucinda pouted her lips at
him;
an act she knew would sway him to agree with her.