Suddenly Psychic (Glimmer Lake #1)(30)

Robin didn’t blame him. It wasn’t exactly in character for her and her friends to randomly drive into Bridger City for no reason. If they wanted to go out for a drink, there were bars in Glimmer Lake. The only thing Bridger City had was more people, bigger grocery stores, and a hospital.

“Okay.” She thought quickly. How to lie without lying? She didn’t want to lie to Mark, but then she really didn’t want to have to explain being suddenly psychic with her two best friends. “It’s Val,” she blurted.

He frowned. “Val?”

“Val needed to go to the hospital in Bridger City. I can’t tell you why. It’s not my place to tell you.” None of those things were a lie. “Monica and I went with her.”

Mark’s face transformed from pissed off to worried. “Is she okay?”

“I think she’ll be fine. She was doing okay when Monica dropped me off.”

“Does she need help? Are the boys okay? Does she need help with anything around the house?”

Gil and Mark had stepped up for Val when Josh walked out. If there was anything she needed that her parents couldn’t help with, Gil and Mark were always happy to lend her a hand. More than one fall, they’d spent a day or a couple of days at Val’s, helping her and the boys get the house ready before snow came.

And with Gil gone, it was just Mark now.

“No.” She tried to soften her tone when she heard the worry. “It’s nothing with the boys. It’s personal. And… she’ll be fine.”

“Are you sure?”

Robin was suddenly reminded that—even though he might ignore her sometimes—Mark was a good guy. A solid guy who stepped up for his friends. He liked being the hero, and that wasn’t a bad thing. “She’ll be okay, but thanks.”

“Okay.” He wiped a hand over his face, looking exhausted. “I’m sorry if it seemed like I was spying. I wasn’t. I was just—”

“Worried.” Her tone softened more. “I get it.”

“We’re all on that app, by the way. You can always see where I am too.”

Oh technology, you double-edged sword. Robin would have to think up reasonable excuses for anywhere she went now. She hadn’t even thought about that.

“I’m not…” Mark looked up. Sighed. “We’ve been kind of distant lately. I feel like we’re both really busy, and I can’t even remember the last time we went for a night out.”

They hadn’t gone out for a date in… Robin couldn’t remember. Not since Gil had died, that was for sure. Before, the four of them would go out, but Robin and Mark rarely went out just on their own.

Robin shrugged. “It’s fine.”

“I don’t think it is. I think it’s… not fine.” His eyes stayed on her, and Robin felt like Mark was seeing more than she was comfortable with. Of all the times for her husband to start paying attention to her, right when she was trying to figure out weird psychic powers was not ideal.

She gave him a tired smile. “You ready for bed? I am.”

He looked surprised, but she could see he was tired too. “Yeah, I guess… Yeah, we should probably go to bed.”

Robin patted his shoulder as she walked by and wondered what Mark would say if she told him the truth. He’d probably think she was a lunatic. He’d probably roll his eyes. He’d probably tell her to call her mom and get her head straightened out.

He would definitely not support the idea of Robin baking cookies the next morning and running up to Russell House to interrogate her ninety-five-year-old grandmother. Maybe interrogate was the wrong word. Question? Coerce?

Whatever word she used, Grandma Helen was no pushover. Double-fudge brownies were definitely in order.





Chapter 11





Double-fudge in hand, Robin made her way up to Russell House after she’d dropped Emma off at school and whipped up a batch of brownies. As usual, Mark was in his office before she woke, so she hadn’t seen him that morning. She’d also swung by the shop and put a note on the door. It was the middle of the week. Glimmer Lake could wait to buy antiques until after lunch.

Gordon Russell had built his house on a wide sweep of lakefront property that overlooked what had been Grimmer Canyon. He’d built it three years after the dam had been completed and the lake was mostly full. He’d already moved his lumber mill up the hills and near the new road that led into the mountains and serviced the quickly growing town of Glimmer Lake.

Over the years, the Russells had built a library, a social hall at the Lutheran Church, purchased several stores, and built rental properties. By the time Gordon had passed away when Robin was a girl, the family was past comfortable and well into rich.

And yet, for her entire life, Helen Russell, Robin’s grandmother, had worn a serene sadness on her face. She’d taken joy from her children and tolerated her bombastic and domineering husband. She’d encouraged her daughter Grace toward independence and played referee between her son Raymond and his father, who had never come to terms.

More than anything, she had enjoyed painting and her grandchildren. Helen came to life behind an easel and doted on both Robin and her older brother Jack, who lived near Lake Tahoe. She enjoyed being a great-grandmother even more.

Robin drove through the granite-decorated gates of Russell House and into a carefully managed forest that was Helen’s other passion. Thick pines dense with an undergrowth of delicate ferns gave way to sweeping meadows of wildflowers.