Ink and Shadows(Secret, Book, & Scone Society #4)(10)

Eventually, Bren was able to sit up. She wouldn’t look at Nora or June but stared at the sidewalk instead.

“Should we call your mom?” Nora asked.

“No.”

Nora and June exchanged worried glances. They couldn’t leave Bren alone. She might be sick again, and she didn’t know anyone in town.

“Can we help you up?” June extended her hand. “Walk you to wherever you’re going?”

Bren finally looked at them. Her eyes shone with anger. “Don’t touch me! Just leave me alone!”

Nora grabbed June’s hand and the two friends backpedaled.

“We’ll watch from inside the store,” Nora told Bren. “We just want to make sure you’re okay.”

“Get away from me,” Bren snarled.

Inside Miracle Books, Nora and June stood shoulder to shoulder and watched the young woman in black stumble off into the encroaching darkness.

“What the hell just happened?” asked June.

“I don’t know,” said Nora. “But I don’t like it.”





Chapter 3


But all the magic I have known I’ve had to make myself.

—Shel Silverstein





Sheldon dropped his pizza crust onto his plate and turned to June. “Okay, someone has to say it. Either Bren was embarrassed because you two saw her puke her guts out, or she doesn’t like black people. Which one is it?”

June frowned. “I don’t know. What do you think, Nora?”

“Bren’s hostility was directed at both of us,” said Nora. “Maybe she was embarrassed, but it was still a pretty strong reaction.”

“Another possibility is that she hates older women,” suggested Estella, her eyes dancing with humor. “You’re both old enough to be her mother. And by old, I mean over forty.”

June glared at her. “You’re turning forty this year, Jessica Rabbit, so you’d best mind what you say.”

Estella ran a finger across the flawless skin of her cheek. “But I’ve mastered the fine art of contouring. Everyone thinks I’m Hester’s age, and I plan to maintain the deception as long as I can.”

Hester rolled her eyes. “You’re gorgeous, okay? Can we get back to last night?”

Estella mimed zipping her lips and reached for her wineglass.

“When someone freaks out at me, it’s usually because my skin isn’t the same shade as theirs,” Sheldon said, his gaze on June. “We’ve talked about this. So tell me, mi querida amiga, was the goth girl mad at both of you? Or just you?”

After a lengthy silence, June said, “I don’t know, it really got to me. I barely slept a wink at night.”

June’s friends were familiar with her regular bouts of insomnia, but she told them that last night was especially bad. After giving up on sleep, she’d gone out for a long walk, accompanied by the troop of cats that were always present during her nocturnal strolls. She’d walked until she felt tired, but when she finally crawled into bed, she’d been too haunted by the pain she’d seen in Bren’s eyes to rest.

Nora understood. As tired as she’d been when she went to bed, she couldn’t quiet her mind. She kept thinking about Bren. Finally, she’d drifted off, but her sleep had been fragmented and she woke up with a fuzzy head and a dry mouth.

“Why would she be rude to people trying to help her?” Hester asked. “If she’d been drunk, her behavior would make more sense.”

Nora said that she hadn’t smelled alcohol on Bren’s breath.

“But she might have been using,” June said. Her only son was an addict, which meant she recognized the signs. “It was too dark for me to see her pupils, but the vomiting and irrational anger make it a possibility.”

Estella held up a finger. “Wait. If Bren’s the muffin maker, could she have sampled certain ingredients too many times?”

“She could chug a gallon of CBD oil and still pilot a rocket,” Sheldon said testily. “CBD and THC both come from the cannabis plant, but only THC can get you high. I hope Celeste has lots of signage or she’ll go blue in the face explaining this to people.”

June picked up the wine bottle and topped off everyone’s glasses. She skipped Nora’s, because she was drinking Perrier instead. Settling back in her chair, she said, “I’ve heard positive things about CBD. Plenty of lodge guests have inflammation, autoimmune disorders, or both. The mineral waters ease their discomfort for a little while, but they can’t take the water home with them. They have to rely on CBD pills and salves for pain relief.”

Sheldon’s face darkened. “It’s either that or an opioid addiction. I came close, and let me tell you, it’s hard to pull back.” He took a fortifying sip of wine. “The problem with chronic pain is the chronic part. The damn thing won’t go away. You can eat the right food, meditate, and all the other bullshit the professionals tell you to do, but none of it works. You hurt. You can’t work. You can’t go out to dinner. You can’t sit in a movie theater. You can’t drive a car. And you can’t find a treatment that gives you your life back.”

“It’s a barrel of laughs sharing a house with this man,” June said.

“You love having me there. It keeps all your church friends guessing.” Sheldon gave June a one-armed hug. “You and me. Two boomers shacking up. Watching TV together. Sitting on the porch and talking. You know those ladies don’t believe you when you tell them that I’m an asexual. You know they think I’m ravishing you every night.”