Read Online Earth Angel by Siri Caldwell - Free Book Online

harp and gazed at her expectantly like she was settling in to hear the whole story.
    She had the most wonderful smile hiding behind all those freckles. Or maybe it was just nice for a change to see someone who wasn’t in pain. Someone who didn’t expect her to work miracles.
    “She doesn’t want me,” Gwynne said. “She wants my healing skills. That’s all she sees.”
    A hint of concern crept into Abby’s eyes.
    She didn’t want her pity, for God’s sake. She didn’t want Dara to want her. Dara deserved someone who would appreciate her adoration.
    “I’m not attracted to her. If we both pretend it’s about my healing abilities, we can both save face.”
    “Hmm.” Abby flipped through her sheet music. She seemed to sense this wasn’t a conversation Gwynne wanted to have, and she was right.
    “And she’s dating someone!” Friends were always teasing them that one day she and Dara were going to give in to the inevitable, and the fact that Dara actually did have feelings for her—and that the attraction was completely one-sided—made those comments uncomfortable for both of them. Because if Dara felt anything for her at all, it had to hurt to be reminded.
    Abby didn’t ask for more details, but Gwynne volunteered them anyway. “I’ve never hidden my healing abilities, so anyone who goes out with me ends up either idolizing me or deciding I’m too weird for them. Except for Megan, but she and I were never going to work out because Megan—even though I love her dearly—takes everything way, way too seriously.”
    Abby stopped flipping through her music. “Kira’s Megan?”
    “I guess it’s been so long, nobody cares anymore so they don’t gossip about it. Or they’ve forgotten.”
    “And now you’re friends,” Abby said. “That’s impressive.”
    “It’s not that hard to do when neither one of you secretly has the hots for the other.”
    “Or hates each other,” Abby pointed out.
    “Megan’s too nice to hate anyone.”
    “What about you?”
    “Do we have to talk about me?”
    “Maybe you’re too nice to hate anyone, either.”
    “I wouldn’t go that far.” Gwynne leaned back in her chair.
    “So you’re saying you’re a jerk, if I heard you correctly when you were arguing with Dara, but it seems to me you’re not a jerk, because you don’t hate Megan, except that’s only because she’s too nice?”
    “I feel like I need to say something mean now to make you stop.” How had Abby heard all that, anyway? Wasn’t she focusing on her music? She must be good enough that the playing didn’t take all her concentration.
    “Let me know when you think of something.” Abby turned to her harp and ran her index finger up the strings, creating a waterfall of sound that led into an enchanting, complicated melody that put an end to their conversation.
    The tension in Gwynne’s neck eased. The days that Abby worked at the spa had quickly become her favorite. Even full of clients, the lounge felt empty without her—without her cheerful presence and her bizarrely attractive fairy-tale dresses and her music. Her mood lifted whenever Abby showed up for work, and she was starting to wonder if that was because the harp generated a healing vibrational frequency—she could feel the air molecules pulsate—or whether it was due to Abby herself.
    Gwynne closed her eyes and imagined the music seeping into her body, into every cell, making her feel alive, waking up the dead, numb places she hadn’t felt in a long, long time. Was she kidding herself to think that someone else playing the same notes with the same perfection wouldn’t make her feel quite the same? This wasn’t the glow of music appreciation, this buzz that made everything more beautiful when Abby was around. This was something deeper.
    Abby played on and on and on, until eventually, as the last note hung in the air, her hands floated to the wooden body of her harp and she hugged it to her chest.
    “You’re an amazing