Unseen. Nancy Bush

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СКАЧАТЬ leaves in the middle of her last class. She’s done it four times already. Just walks out. School’s only about two miles from the diner, so she takes off and shows up here. Meanwhile, I get calls from the administration.” She flapped a hand. “They threaten her with detention and black marks and the whole enchilada, but it doesn’t faze her. She told me the teacher’s a bore.”

      Gemma’s smile grew. Charlotte was everything she’d ever wanted to be, at her age. She felt bonded to the child as if they were sisters.

      That thought brought her stomach a funny wave of discomfort.

      If anything should ever happen to Charlotte…

      “Macie!” an impatient male voice called from across the room. A guy in a plaid workshirt, jeans, and workboots was holding up an empty coffee mug.

      “Hold on to your knickers, Captain. I’ll be right there.” To Gemma, she murmured in an aside, “Still thinks he’s the only one in the place.” She sauntered toward him, snagging the coffeepot from a plugged-in burner on her way.

      Gemma sat at the last booth in the row, which was wedged into an alcove, and ordered a sandwich. Her favorite spot. She’d spent a lot of hours at the diner, either working or seated at this very table, catching a meal in between shifts. This was the epitome of normality. This was the arena of her fondest memories.

      “Did you ever find that guy?” Macie asked when she had a spare moment. She set the coffeepot back on the burner and sent Gemma a questioning look.

      “Which guy?”

      “The one you were chasing? The one you had to stop?”

      Gemma stared at Macie as one of the other waitresses, whose name tag read Denise, brought Gemma her turkey on rye. She felt slightly strangled, like she couldn’t get her breath. “The accident knocked things out of my head.”

      “The accident?” Macie gave her a oh, come on look. “Since when do you need an excuse for your on/off brain. You know it works better than most.” She shot the man she’d called Captain a searing glance. “A case in point…”

      “What guy did I have to stop?”

      “You tell me, girl. All I saw was you getting all worked up and tearing outta the diner lot like you’d seen a ghost. I thought it was that guy sitting in the booth by the door ’cause you waited till his vehicle was outta sight before you ran to your momma’s car.”

      “My momma’s car…” Gemma repeated, her heart jerking. So, it was true…

      “Well, it wasn’t your car, now was it?” Macie declared.

      “I guess not.”

      “Hon, you told me yours was on its last legs, so you sold it. Don’t you remember?”

      “Kind of,” Gemma lied.

      “Well, no matter.” She shrugged it off. “You said you were just driving your momma’s temporarily. It’s kind of a wreck, to be perfectly honest. Jean sure didn’t know how to take care of things. Sorry, hon, bless her soul, but your momma was kind of in her own world. Best thing she ever did was adopt you. Really about the only truly selfless thing she did, but then we know how that turned out, don’t we? What are you gonna do about her business, now? Sally Van Kamp was asking if you were ever gonna call her back.”

      “Not sure I have her number,” Gemma murmured. She felt bombarded with information, yet Macie was only telling her the kind of information she’d craved to learn. Psychic readings. That’s the business Macie meant. Sally Van Kamp wanted a psychic reading from Gemma. All of Jean’s clients had tenaciously hung in there whether Gemma wanted to tell them their futures or not.

      “She said she left it on the machine.”

      “Oh.” There were messages on the house voice mail but Gemma hadn’t known how to retrieve them.

      And then as soon as that thought crossed her mind, the series of numbers to access them came to her as if they had always been there. Her on-again/off-again brain, according to Macie. This was beginning to feel like normal for Gemma.

      I’m a freak. Accept it and move on.

      “You gonna come help me out again? I had two high school kids but since school’s started they don’t have any time to give me. Always want summer jobs, but they whine and whine if they have any social activity at all.”

      “I’d love to.” Gemma seized on the idea. Working at the diner sounded…good.

      “Yeah? Well, you put yourself together for a couple more days. Get rid of the remnants of that eye.” She held Gemma’s chin and moved her face from side to side. “Honey, you just bashed yourself good, didn’t ya?”

      Her caring tone caused a ripple of emotion to run through Gemma’s heart, leaving her throat hot. She swallowed hard and said, “I’ll come in for an afternoon just to get started again. Will I see Charlotte?”

      “Oh, you know she’ll be around.”

      Gemma left her booth and lifted a hand in good-bye, then hesitated at the door. “When was that? When I chased that guy out?”

      Macie lifted a shoulder. “’Bout a week ago, or so.”

      “You didn’t recognize him?”

      “Wasn’t a regular.”

      “What did he look like?” Gemma asked.

      “Like every other middle-aged man in the world. I kinda thought he was from around here, but I can’t remember why. He had a baseball cap on, I think. Or maybe that was the other guy, the one that left right after you did. I don’t know. It was the morning crowd and they were all hungry. I wasn’t paying all that much attention except that you were kinda wild-eyed.”

      “I almost remember,” Gemma said.

      “Almost only counts with horseshoes and hand grenades,” Macie responded automatically. One of her favorite expressions.

      Gemma smiled faintly. “The guy that left after me. What did he look like?”

      “More apish,” Macie said after a moment of thought. “Rounded shoulders like he worked out too much.”

      Gemma was heading out when Macie caught her by the arm. “Have you thought about seeing Doc Rainfield?” she asked.

      “What?” Gemma asked.

      “If you don’t want to, that’s perfectly okay, y’know. But that shrink doctor of yours has helped before. He’s a nice guy.”

      Gemma suddenly pictured the older man with the creased, sad face. He was a nice guy. And he had helped her.

      “Your momma had her fits with him, but I always thought you and he connected. Do what you want.” She lifted her hands in surrender. “Just, if things are bad…he might be able to help.”

      With that she scurried off to deal with another order and Gemma left the diner.

      Looking СКАЧАТЬ