Page 19 of Fated Midlife Christmas
“What about you? What are you doing today?” Most days, she needed to rush to work right away to get set up for the first appointments. Amanda was glad things had timed out this way, so that at least she hadn’t had to fly out of bed and dash to the office.
“I’m not sure. Beck and the others haven’t been feeling very well.” He frowned a little as he picked up his muffin.
“What’s the matter with them?” This was the first Amanda had heard of this, and the dragons didn’t usually get sick. They were incredibly resilient creatures.
“It might have something to do with the ley energy here.” He told her about going to the pub with them and discovering that the nearest conduits were severely lacking in power.
“That’s odd. I thought they moved here because the ley lines were so strong.” She finished her muffin and considered grabbing another.
“Absolutely, and I was the one who helped them decide that.” Lars looked truly concerned as he contemplated the streusel topping on his muffin. “They told me not to worry about it, since there are always some fluctuations in these energies. They’re good friends, though, and it’s difficult to just set that aside.”
So he was good-looking, smart, great in bed,andgenerous and caring. Amanda didn’t need any more traits stacked in his favor, not if she was going to keep this as casual as she intended. “I’ll check in on them later and see if they need anything.”
When they’d finished eating, Amanda refused to let him even rinse his plate. She put everything in the dishwasher and quicklygot dressed while Lars waited for her. Pulling her hair up into a clip, she grabbed a pair of corduroy khakis and a dark teal sweater. The V-neck made her chest look bare, so she added a simple gold chain. Checking the clock, she dabbed on a bit of eyeshadow, mascara, and lip gloss. There were plenty of days when she didn’t even bother with makeup, but today she felt different.
“You look lovely,” Lars said when she came down the hall.
“Thank you. I just need to get my purse and coat, and I’ll be ready to go.” She turned toward the hall closet.
“You know, I could align your energies for you.”
Her hands froze. Only a second ago, she’d been thinking about how oddly easy it was to spend time with Lars. They were practically strangers. She didn’t even know his middle name, yet having him in her house felt natural.
But somehow, he’d managed to take all the intimacy they’d already found and take it a step further. She turned back around to look at him. “What?”
“We were talking last night about your energies being off-balance,” he reminded her.
He didn’t need to. She knew exactly what he was talking about. Amanda just needed to buy herself some time while she figured out what to say.
“I got to thinking about it again after we’d talked about the problems the Alexanders are having,” he went on. “I don’t know as much about the energies in a person as the ones in the ground, but I can still sense them.”
Amanda remained still and stiff as he moved closer. She talked about energy, alignment, and chakras all day long at work, but those were always regarding someone else. It was never about her.
Lars stopped about a foot or so away and lifted his hand. He reached out and hovered his fingers just below the center of herribcage. “Here, and up here.” His hand moved slightly upward to the middle of her chest.
“You—you can feel that?” In her experience, those who were new to energy healing couldn’t pinpoint the chakras that quickly.
“Yes. I never realized it until I met you, but it’s like a miniaturized ley system. It’s kind of fascinating, really. I can’t guarantee that I could help, but I’d like to try.” He lowered his hand and looked into her eyes. “If you’d let me.”
Amanda knew that he truly wanted to help. From what she knew of him, that was just the kind of guy he was. It was kind and sweet and wonderful. It was also absolutely terrifying.
Lars had identified her solar plexus and heart chakras, her centers for love, healing, wisdom, and power. This wasn’t the first time she’d had issues with them, either.
Unwillingly, her mind raced back to Dale. In a flash, she relived those sleepless nights, long phone calls, and wistful hours of longing. Those weren’t even the worst parts, though. It was the heartache when all of her efforts had been proven to be a complete waste of time. It was the doubt that she’d ever deserved a good love in the first place, the uncertainty that anyone would find her worth it.
“I’ve got it handled,” she said, turning back to the coat closet to break herself out of this spell. Amanda had been fighting hard to put that time in her life behind her. For the longest time, she thought she had. Now all those problems and memories were flooding back to her. She was enjoying what time she had with Lars, and she didn’t want to taint it with her past.
“Are you sure?” Even though he was taller than her, he managed to tip his head forward and look up, accentuating just how concerned he was.
“Yeah. I’m fine. We’d better get going.” She shrugged into her coat, grabbed her purse, and opened the door.
“It’s too bad your clothes dried overnight,” she said as they stepped off her porch a short time later and headed down the sidewalk. Amanda wanted to go back to where they’d been before, before she’d started thinking about her past all over again and how hard it made her future. She wanted to return to that happy little place she had with Lars, where she could pretend everything was fine. “You didn’t get a chance to wear that pink sweatshirt.”
“Maybe I’ll borrow it from you sometime.” His fingers touched the inside of her wrist, slid down her palm, and then interlaced with hers.
They walked hand-in-hand for a while, and Amanda was enjoying just being with him, but after a moment, she noticed that Lars looked deep in thought. The corners of his mouth tipped down slightly. He usually walked rather straight, with better posture than she saw on most Americans, but he was hunched forward a bit.
“What’s wrong?” she asked, hoping he wasn’t too upset that she’d turned him down. She prepared herself to explain that it wasn’t that he was unqualified or that she didn’t trust him. Of course, then she’d have to explain the real reason. Why couldn’t her past relationships just stay in the past?
