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North of Happenstance: Chapter Twenty-Eight
Hobbling carefully, her arms sturdy against the uncomfortable padding of her crutches, Kate made her way slowly into her kitchen. The soft click of the front door closing behind M.T.’s reluctant form ringing from the hall, Kate frowned. She was hungry. She hadn’t realized just how hungry when she’d more-or-less pushed the hovering pastor out the door; in retrospect, she should had her stay just a little while longer…but then again, if Maggie suspected Kate couldn’t even so much as make dinner she never would’ve agreed to leave Kate to her own devices. Propping her body up against the counter, Kate fumbled a frying pan out from the cupboard. Eggs…
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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-Four
A slight breeze wafted against the window curtains of Penny’s room, as the three women stared outside. Maggie looked back at Kate. “Are you sure this is what you want to do?” Kate nodded. “I’m sure.” M.T. sighed again. “All right. Penny—lead on.” Without more encouragement, Penny tossed one end of the sheets over and out the window. Glancing nervously over her shoulder, Kate felt her heartbeat kick up another notch. “Hurry up—we don’t have much time.” Any second now her mother was going to throw the door open, catch them in the act. Shifting back to the window, she watched Penny slide over the ledge. Her feet…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Forty-Five
Kate looked at herself carefully in the mirror. Her blonde hair was brushed carefully off her face, the meticulously curled tendrils falling softly down her shoulders. Her lips were painted a becoming pink to match the dusting of blush covering her high cheekbones. Other than her eye-shadow—a golden hue smudged at the edges with the lighted dabs of grey—which she was seriously starting to doubt, she looked fine. Good. Maybe she should leave off the smokey accents? With a resigned sigh, Kate wiped off the offending make-up. Her hands shook. Jackson was picking her up in less than half an hour. For their first date. Jackson. Kate smiled tremendously. At…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Forty-Eight
It wasn’t until Maggie lost her necklace that Kate really realized it; in a way, she supposed she’d always known. She’d seen it, she’d just never thought about it. She’d never considered how bad it was until that day…. The way she’d forced Kate to stay back with M.T. when everyone else was scavenging for the lost piece of jewelry, to sit there next to Maggie holding her hand while everyone else dove in the cool waters…watching, waiting; they hadn’t both needed to be there, one would have sufficed… But Penny had felt guilty. She’d felt impotent with helplessness. To have Kate go out there, to have Kate do what…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Fifty-One
With something akin to panic, Jake stared down at the concert tickets sitting on his kitchen counter. They were for her favorite band—when he’d found out they were playing in town, he’d rushed out to buy them. It was going to be a surprise. Grimacing, he pushed them out of his sight. Kate had the absolute worst timing. Pushing himself up, Jake paced from his kitchen counter to his living room windows and back again. That would all end now; they would go back to the way things had been before. Because—because, he and Penny’s relationship was a farce, built on the fabric of something false, something that turned out…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Fifty-Two
With a painful flick of her wrist, Penny thrust on the light switch as she entered her shop. Grimacing at the assaulting yellow glow of the overhead bulbs, her hand instinctively coming to rest against her temple, her mouth letting out a whoosh of breath, Penny slowly steered her way toward the coffee…. God, she’d forgotten how terrible a hangover really was… Last night had been—well, it had been one of the best nights in her life. There she’d been, sitting up in bed, fully clothed in a pair of leggings and a dark blue tunic with a splash of dark green fabric around the hem, staring out her window,…
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North of Happenstance: Chapter Fifty-Three
With a weary sigh, Kate shut and locked her outside door. Hefting the overnight bag over her shoulder, she made her way out to the curb, where a nervous looking M.T. stood, beside an equally unsure Penny. Or maybe they just appeared tense to Kate, who was feeling a little, well, panicky herself. “Tell me one more time,” Kate said, shoving her bag in the backseat of the car. “That I’m doing the right thing here.” M.T.’s face gave nothing away. “Kate…” “She’d go and see him anyway,” Penny intruded, leaning up against the trunk of Kate’s car. “You know Janessa. It’s much better that she’ll have you there.” M.T.…
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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…
