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North of Happenstance: Chapter Twenty-Two
With a weary sigh, Kate opened the door to the tutoring room. It had been a week since her midnight tell-all to Penny, and her grades had taken a serious nosedive in the aftermath. She couldn’t seem to focus, her thoughts stuck on repeat; this was why she’d run away from home, so she wouldn’t have to remember, wouldn’t have to evaluate what had gone wrong in her life, so she wouldn’t have to face her decision, guess at whether she’d made a mistake in her defection; so she could forget Phil, her mother, everything. She’d come to Whestleigh to escape but ever since that night…. She’d gotten a C…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Twenty-Five
Shoulders racking with the force of her sobs, Kate reached blindly for her phone. She was hardly thinking straight. How could she possibly think straight after reading something like that? Dialing Penny’s number, she prayed the psychic wasn’t in the middle of a consult. “Uh…hello?” Penny answered after the third ring. If Kate hadn’t been so upset, she’d have been immediately alerted to the distracted tone of voice. As it was, Kate was too upset to notice. “Penny—” Kate warbled. “Kate? Kate, are you alright?” Taking herself quickly into the kitchen, Penny’s voice came out low, hushed. Unbeknownst to Kate, she wasn’t at her office. Something had held her up……
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Thirty
Kate was late. Scurrying into her house, she threw her college book-bag aimlessly onto one of the pink upholstered chairs arranged in parlor room, her feet taking her quickly to the kitchen and up the stairs to her bedroom. Kate hated being late. Despite this, she was nonetheless steadfast in her decision to change out of her school clothes first. Quickly shucking out of her jeans and t-shirt, Kate scoured through her closet. When her eyes landed on a bulky turtleneck, the material pilling at the neck, she reached for it gratefully. Throwing it over her head, the coarse fabric fell against her body loosely, ungainly, unseemly…it was perfect. Snapping…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Thirty-One
Reaching for the carafe, Penny poured out two cups of strong, black coffee. Turning carefully around, she handed one of the dainty porcelain saucers in her hand across the cramped oval table to where her sister currently sat. “Thank you,” M.T murmured, accepting the steaming beverage. With a grace of movement, Penny quickly deposited herself in one of the remaining chairs. Thin light streamed into the small room, casting a warm glow, accentuating the fine specks of dust dancing in the air around Penny’s office. A faint chirping of birds just penetrated the walls. For a moment, the sister’s focused on the warm drink in their hands, neither one talking.…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Thirty-Three
“So Penny, tell me, what do you do for a living?” Kate almost choked on her piece of bacon. Looking nervously from Penny—in her flowing, multi-colored caftan, to her mother, she squirmed a little in her seat. It wasn’t like she hadn’t expected the question, she’d worried about it all night, as she’d lain in bed. (The bed she’d grown up in; the bed she’d thought to never sleep upon again.) She’d known her mother would ask questions, indeed she’d been mildly surprised that she hadn’t pounced on them the moment Kate had agreed to come home. But Calida had been relatively silent yesterday as the girls had unpacked for…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Thirty-Six
“M.T. called you too, huh?” Penny asked. Nodding, Kate pulled out the chair opposite Penny, setting her steaming latte down on the table as she did so. Slinging her purse on the back of the chair, she sat down, her eyes skipping across the coffee shop. Bean Tamptations was doing typical Saturday morning business—tired, harassed mothers buzzed through the line, towing impatient, bored kids behind them; college students sat huddled over computers, textbooks spread out before them… A rich aroma of freshly ground coffee invaded the cozy space. “She sent me a text to meet her here,” Kate volunteered. “Yeah. Me too.” “It sounded urgent.” Penny rolled her eyes, taking…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Thirty-Seven
Kate looked down uncertainly at the slight edge of piping she could see poking out from underneath the kitchen sink. M.T. stood by the back counter, her hands busy as she rifled through a large toolbox. “Do you even know what you’re looking for in there?” Penny asked, strolling into the room, a banana in one hand, and a bright pink bandana covering her head. M.T. shrugged. “No, not really.” She smiled. She couldn’t seem to stop smiling. She was still stuck in homebuyer’s euphoria. Penny chewed thoughtfully, her eyes going hesitantly toward Kate. “How about you? Do you see what the problem is over there?” She waved in the…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Thirty-Eight
Jake’s lips were cool where they pressed against Kate’s, his hands roaming up and down her back, drawing her steadily closer, until her legs were pushed up tight to his, until she could feel his chest moving with the force of his breathing. And, curling against him, Kate kissed him back. That is, until a crash of noise invaded her senses. Pulling back at the sound, Kate’s eyes popped open, her head shifting to the side, to watch an empty plastic bin tumble loudly down the stairs. “Oops, clumsy me,” Penny called out. She was standing on the third step down from the top of the stairwell, a tight, almost…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Forty-Seven
“My necklace—I can’t find my necklace!” This sentence, M.T.’s terrible shrill voice echoing off in the air… that was the first thing Kate became aware of after crossing the finish line. Her shirt was sticking uncomfortably to the skin on her back, right between her shoulders blades, as she advanced toward where the rest of her team was huddled. The smile of victory on her face vanished at the somber expression on Jake’s face, the fearful one of Penny, and the absolute terror flashing across the pastor’s pale countenance. This was far from the welcome she’d expected to receive at the end of their race. “What’s going on?” Kate asked,…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Fifty-Four
What was it about her shop lately, Penny wondered fleetingly—everyone and their mother, it seemed, felt compelled to just drop by unexpectedly, seeking all sorts of random advice (like she was some columnist in the newspaper). All of this would be fine, of course, if even one person were interested in the spiritual world. But there was pretty much zero chance of that, especially considering the latest in the long line of unannounced visitors who’d just passed over her threshold— Hank Burke. Didn’t need to by psychic to know he wasn’t here to get insight from the Angel messages. Penny tried not to grimace when she looked up to see…
