Read Online Crushed (City of Eldrich Book 2) by Laura Kirwan - Free Book Online

Vivian—who looked remarkably like her daughter—Jamie at various ages, Jamie’s kids and his wife, and a few photos of a younger Russ.
    But no photos of Matthew. He was as absent from Natalie’s life as he had been from Meaghan’s.
    Is that the price? Does this gift, burden, whatever the hell it is, force you to live apart, to push everyone away? Meaghan had done that all her life. Not many happy family photos of her floating around either. Or was it something about her and Matthew? A shared coldness that had nothing to do with the ability to repel magic?
    “Natalie?” Meaghan moved into the kitchen. An iPod in a docking station sat on the windowsill, blaring into the backyard. Turning down the volume a bit, she called again. “Natalie?”
    “Out here,” a muffled voice said.
    Meaghan pushed open the screen door and stepped onto the small enclosed patio. Natalie’s cottage sat on an oddly shaped corner lot. Most of the yard was out front, with the cottage crowding the lot line. The patio consisted of a concrete pad with a solid board fence, and a gate to the driveway and the overgrown alley behind the house. But Natalie had filled even this tiny barren space with colorful pots of herbs and flowers, and a string of twinkly Christmas tree lights.
    Natalie lay on a webbed, aluminum chaise lounge, her arm over her face. An empty wine glass and a half full bottle of chardonnay sweated on the small plastic table next to her.
    “I’m a bitch,” Meaghan said, sitting in a rusted metal chair.
    Natalie said nothing.
    “I’m a lousy excuse for a sister,” Meaghan continued. “And . . . well . . . I suck. There’s no other word for it.” She waited a moment. “Please forgive me.” Another silent moment passed. “At least yell at me or something.”
    Natalie sighed. With her arm still covering her eyes, she said, “We’ve had a super great day, you and I, haven’t we? That’s why I wanted Russ to tell you when you got here. Then if you wanted to fire me you could have done it right away before we got used to each other.”
    “ Fire you? Where in the hell . . . You know damn well I couldn’t fire you, not if you had any interest in keeping your job. I’d never make it past the first post-termination hearing. My whole world would fall apart without you. That’s why I was so freaked out about you and Russ dating. I thought you’d break up with him and dump me, too.”
    “Really?” Natalie asked in a small voice.
    Meaghan sighed in exasperation. “Yes, really. I liked you the first moment I met you. I felt comfortable with you. Now I know why.”
    Meaghan sat and Natalie lounged, both silent, listening to Patsy Cline sing about her aching heart.
    Meaghan finally broke the silence. “Please say you forgive me or tell me to go to hell. Something. So I know where I stand.”
    Natalie sat up. “I never once called him Dad.”
    “I know. Russ told me.”
    “I was more pissed at Mom than him at first. And then she died and Jamie and I moved back and I had to deal. He was right there and he needed me. But we never . . . he never felt like a father. A mentor, someone I liked and respected, yeah. But never a father.”
    “And that didn’t bother you?” Meaghan asked.
    “Well, yeah, of course it did. But not in the same way it bothered you to have him leave. I was pissed about the deceit, although I get why they did it, but I never knew him as Daddy. You know?”
    Meaghan nodded. “I know. Got another wine glass? I could use some of that.”
    Natalie stood up. “You okay with some ice cubes? This cheap crap really needs to be cold to be drinkable and the bottle’s been out of the fridge for a while.”
    “Ice is fine. I always used to put ice in white wine back in Phoenix, but stopped when I got here. Russ—”
    “He makes that face, right? He does the same thing to me.”
    Natalie fetched a glass and some ice and poured them each some wine.
    “So,” Meaghan said. “I’ll ask again—am I