Page 28 of Stronger Than Blood
“Oh no, I want to travel. I’m looking for a small apartment or a condo. Something without a yard or a lot of responsibilities.”
“Well, if my intuition is correct—”
She looked at me, then leaned closer. “Your gifts are finally opening up.” She turned my hand over, placed hers on top of it, and smiled. “So, it’s love. Well, it's not like I shouldn’t have seen that for myself. Love is often the key.”
“Wait, love? No, I’m not in love. Maybe someday, but not yet.”
Madam just laughed. “Okay, lust, desire for now. I get it. So when do I get to meet this handsome unlove of yours?”
“Ugh,” I moaned. “First, let’s go over to the building I’ve been helping clean out. I have a feeling you’re going to be very interested in it.”
Mrs. Kennedy waved us on when I offered to pay and thanked Madam again for her advice before I led her across to where Mick’s uncle’s building stood. I unlocked the door and led her inside. She didn’t cringe like I assumed she would, but we were only inside the building a few moments before she turned and walked through to the back. That area still had piles of junk, but Madam walked right around it to a door and tugged it open. Without looking back, she walked up the stairs with me close to her heels.
I hadn’t been up there. I hadn’t even paid attention to the door. When we reached the top of the stairs, Madam stopped, causing me to walk around her. “Wow, it’s perfect,” she said, and I saw her looking at someone who wasn’t there.
I was pretty used to that by now, but I was a bit put off that someone was haunting the place, and I hadn’t even realized it. “So, who owns this now?” she asked, and I wasn’t sure if she was asking me or the spirit.
She turned toward me, and I said, “I believe it belongs to Mick’s grandmother.”
“Is this what you saw when you touched my hand in the restaurant?” she asked, and I looked around the pigsty that was an apartment.
“Um, maybe after it’s not filled to the rafters with junk.”
Madam chuckled. “All good things are a work in progress. I need to speak to…” She stopped talking and sighed. “Well, I guess I need to talk to your guy,” she said and looked back at where I supposed the spirit stood.
“You got some bad news about Mick, didn’t you?” I asked.
“Oh, not bad, but definitely sad. Come on, you should change and get back to cleaning out this space. I’m going to go back to my hotel room and meditate for a while. There’s so much happening around me spiritually at the moment. I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed.”
I nodded. “Okay, yeah, if you don’t mind, that’d be great. It feels important to get all this cleaned out, and the sooner, the better,” I said. “Although I’m not sure why.”
Madam just winked at me. “Sometimes it’s more fun not to know.”
Chapter eighteen
Mick
By the time I finished working Sunday morning, I was wiped out. I’m not even sure why. I worked five nights a week over at the grocery store, but I didn’t have my cousin Brenda to impress. I found myself fretting about not cooking enough, then afraid I’d cooked too much, and then, when we ran out of food, I felt guilty.
Luckily, Brenda told me she only needed me on the weekends until she could figure out what to do about the hotel bakery. Mrs. Danforth had agreed to serve up the pie for people and put them on the tab since most of the customers had been guests. Now, the public flocking in all weekend was causing some problems with the flow of people in and out of the hotel.
I considered it a good problem to have. At least it should’ve been, since we were selling out of food before we could even get it unloaded. And no, getting stuff delivered at five a.m. hadn’t made it better. They just showed up earlier and were grumpy that they “had to get up so early to keep from losing their pie.”
I sat down with Brenda before I left and encouraged her to start taking orders that could be picked up at the café. Thatway, we’d reduce some of the traffic. Also, I recommended she stock the front display with desserts. Those that had originally held food had been unplugged and now held welcome stuff, like flowers and pretty plaques, but if she could pull traffic over to the café, it would be in her best interest to do so.
She sighed, saying she didn’t think the refrigerant in those displays worked any longer but that she’d have someone come out to see. I didn’t know if she was happy or not with all the changes.
I needed to visit Granny, and then I wanted to sleep, but I also wanted to see the progress on Uncle Eddie’s store. I was surprised when I walked in and found Rory already at work.
“Wow, you’re getting an early start,” I said, causing him to smile.
“You look tired. Do you really want to work after—”
I shook my head. “No, I’m not going to work now. I’m going to go see Granny Ida and then get some sleep.”
Just then, a beautiful woman with flowing skirts walked in. “Um, hi,” I said, confused.
Rory immediately stepped up and, smiling, said, “This is my mentor, Madam Bellamy. Madam, this is the gentleman I’ve been helping, Mick Hensley.”
