When he finally reached the corner office and saw his father behind his desk, Hayes asked, “Big case?”
Dad’s head jerked up, his eyes bulging before his expression went into cop mode, completely blank and unreadable. “I see you got home safely, minus a truck.”
Hayes nodded, entered the office, and sat in the guest chair. “I’ll miss that truck.”
“I bet,” Dad agreed. Then he gestured at the papers on his desk. “We’re down a couple of officers, I’m trudging through applicants for a handful of positions.” Which explained why his father had pressured Hayes about getting back on the force. His dad tilted his head to the side, laced his fingers together on top of his desk. “Now, let’s get to the reason why you’re here.” Because I never thought you’d step foot in here again, his focused gaze suggested.
A telephone rang out in the cubicles, fingers tapped constantly against keyboards. Hayes shut it all out with a steady breath. “I want to investigate who stole my truck and Maisie’s trailer.”
His father replied, “Boulder’s working that case. And need I remind you that you’re not a cop anymore? Your choice, not mine.”
Hayes dealt with the first part of his rebuttal. “The case could be worked in conjunction with River Rock, if the request came in from the chief of police.”
Dad leaned back in his chair. His slow smile began to build. “Ah, which brings us back to the second part of my statement.”
Hayes nodded. “What are you asking from me?”
“Six months. Work this case, then work here for me. If you want to walk away after that, then walk. But I want six months of your service.”
Hayes knew why. His father thought he’d miss the job, realize that the law was in his blood. It had been a part of him. Maybe the best parts of him. At the moment, Hayes didn’t care if that love came back. For Maisie, he needed to right this wrong. Hayes rose. “How long will it take you to reinstate me?”
“Officially, about a week,” his father said, his body posture perking up. “Unofficially, you can start tomorrow morning.” Dad hesitated now. The look in his eye was not that of the police chief, but of Hayes’s father. Attentive. Concerned. “Before we move ahead with this, do you have your mind straight? I do not need you becoming a liability.”
The light draining from Maisie’s eyes when she saw the burnt-out trailer filled Hayes’s mind. He’d seen the light go out of her eyes before. Never fucking again. He tapped his knuckles against the top of the chair. “Yes. Make it happen.” And with every step out of the station, he wasn’t thinking about his regrets or concerns, he only thought of Maisie.
10
The night seemed to drag on and on and on, and Maisie had tossed and turned the majority of it, mulling over the entire situation. All she wanted was to fulfill Pops’s final wishes, but all she did was fail. And late into the night, as Maisie stared at the bright moon outside her window, she couldn’t shake the feeling that Clara was right. She’d caught a curse somewhere in her life. Maisie had no idea by who or what, but the more she thought on it, the more she wondered why, no matter how hard she tried, everything went wrong. What had she done to irritate fate?
When exhaustion finally swallowed her up, Maisie dreamed of fairies with magical powers and pretty meadows with vivid, bright colors. When she awoke to a beautifully sunny day, she knew exactly what she needed to do. Extreme times called for extreme measures, and she was done sitting around waiting to fail again. She snatched her phone off her bedside table and dialed Penelope.
A sleepy Penelope answered the phone. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go see Luna Whittle,” Maisie said, staring up at the flower shaped medallion above her ceiling fan.
Penelope croaked, “The psychic?”
“Yes!”
Shuffling sounds filled the phone line, and then Penelope groaned. “Maisie, it’s seven o’clock in the morning.”
“I know. I’m sorry for calling so early, but please tell me you’ll come with me.”
“Of course, I’ll come with you,” Penelope responded immediately. Some of the sleepiness left Penelope’s voice. “What time do you need me ready by?”
Maisie blew out a relieved breath. “I’ll text you once I know. Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this.”
“You don’t need to thank me,” Penelope said, warmth enveloping her voice. “You’d do the same thing for me. See you soon. Bye.”
“Bye.” Maisie ended the call, sat up, and leaned against the wall of pillows behind her. Penelope was probably the only one who wouldn’t judge Maisie for taking a wild next step.
Determined to get her life back on track, Maisie opened her web browser on her phone, pulling up Luna’s website. Using the online booking system, she selected the only available appointment for nine thirty and settled back into bed with her phone on her chest.
Something good would come out of this. She wasn’t sure how she knew that with such certainty, but she felt it bone deep. She’d gone to high school with Luna, and rumors said she’d come from generations of psychics and mediums. Maisie didn’t know what to believe, but doing things the normal way was getting her nowhere, and if there was a hex on her, she wanted it off. Pronto.
Going back to sleep was impossible. Maisie decided to deal with the laundry from the road trip. She showered and shaved, spending a little more time than normal, just in case she saw Hayes later. She dressed in a floral print baby doll dress and paired it with strappy sandals, leaving her hair down and letting the natural wave take over, and added light makeup.
Before she knew it, nine o’clock arrived, and she was on the way to pick up Penelope. She opened the roof of her MINI convertible, letting the warm sun give her the big dose of vitamin D she needed. When she arrived at the two-story house Penelope shared with Darryl, Penelope was already waiting outside on the porch. She wore jean shorts and a pretty, flowy tank top, her long dark hair was in a messy bun, and fresh makeup on her face. While Maisie was close with her sisters, she’d been on the same wavelength as Penelope since birth, and Penelope’s sweet smile when Maisie pulled into the driveway loosened the tension in Maisie’s chest.
While Maisie had become closer to Clara and Amelia since Laurel’s death, they would never understand Maisie the way Penelope did. They’d question her sanity or try to talk her out of letting a psychic solve her problems, but the only thing Penelope said after the getting into the car was, “All right, you big nut ball, what are we asking Luna today?”
Maisie hit the road again. “I take it you’ve heard what happened to Hayes’s truck and my trailer, right?”
The strands of Penelope’s hair blew in the wind. She laughed and grabbed her hair at the base of her neck. “Maisie, we live in a small town. Everyone has heard what happened.”
“Right,” Maisie muttered, swallowing back the bile in her throat. Of course, everyone knew she’d failed. Again. “Well, here’s the thing. I’ve always just gone with the flow and accepted that life is just a big cesspool of disappointments, but I need answers now. Luna will give me those.”