Read Online Fresh Tracks by Georgia Beers - Free Book Online Page B

"Amy. Tell the story." At Amy's quizzical expression, she clarified, "About the woods."
    "Oh, no," Darby grumbled good-naturedly. "Not the Magic Acre story."
    "Shut up, Darby," Amy scolded with a grin. Looking around the table, she asked her dearest friends, "I've never told you this story? Molly? Surely you must have heard it."
    "Magic Acre? I don't think so." Molly raised her eyebrows in uncertainty. "Maybe. Refresh my memory."
    Sophie loved to listen to Amy's voice. She had a decidedly feminine lilt with a little bit of hoarseness underneath that put her on Sophie's list of Women Who Can Read the Phone
    Book to Me. She sat back in her chair and listened to her friend speak.
    Amy had tied her hair back into a ponytail when she began cooking dinner. It now hung over
    the front of her left shoulder, the end curling in a corkscrew. She wound it around her
    finger and pursed her lips, finding the right place to start. "When I was a kid—a little kid, like four or five—my grandmother used to tell me the woods around here were enchanted.
    She said that a hundred or so years ago, there was a structure back farther on the
    property." She jerked a thumb over her shoulder to indicate the back yard. "Apparently, a witch lived there."
    Sophie chuckled, as did Laura. Darby hid her smile in her cup.
    Molly gave them each a mock-scolding look and elbowed Darby. "Go on, Amy."
    Amy inclined her head in thanks and continued. "She was a good witch, gentle, and looked out for those around her who also lived in this area. Nothing huge or what you'd consider
    traditional witchcraft. She didn't cast scary spells. There was no fire and brimstone.
    Grandma said she made 'magic nudges' to help teach people lessons or understand things
    they already knew but had trouble accepting."
    "So, she was, like, a witch psychiatrist?" Sophie asked with a giggle.
    Amy allowed herself to be teased. "Yeah, I guess you could say that."
    "So," Darby continued, "Amy's grandma liked to call this spot in the woods the Magic Acre.
    Even though there are seventy-five of them."
    "Are all the acres magic or is there one specific one?" Laura asked, biting her bottom lip to keep from cracking up.
    "Hey, you guys can make fun all you want, I believe it to be true," Amy said firmly, the remnants of a grin tugging at the corners of her mouth.
    Sophie helped herself to a cookie off a plate in the center of the table. "And Jo? What do you think?"
    Jo's brown eyes glittered. "I think whatever Amy says is the absolute truth."
    "A good, wifely answer," Molly commented. "Smart if you don't want to get cut off in the bedroom."
    "Hey," Jo grinned. "My mother drowned all the dumb kids."
    The laughter continued and the tension previously filling the room seemed to dissipate.
    Sophie still felt the prick of disappointment in Laura, but managed to keep it in check.
    Laura's revelation would most likely keep them from becoming friends, and Sophie almost
    felt it was something over which she had no control. She could use all the new friends she
    could get at this point in her life, but Laura? Her still-aching soul and forever-shattered
    heart wouldn't allow it. How could she possibly like somebody who'd done the same,
    horrible thing to her spouse that Kelly had done to her? She shook her head very slightly
    from side to side, a movement she hoped was indiscernible to the rest of the crew at the
    table. Impossible, she thought.
    Much later, she exited the bathroom upstairs with her teeth brushed, her face washed,
    and her pajamas on. Laura was sitting on the edge of her own bed in their room. Sophie felt
    the blue eyes zip over her body and an expression she couldn't quite figure out crossed
    Laura's face. She looked like she wanted to say something as she got to her feet, and the
    two of them stood in the room for what felt like several long minutes, looking at each other
    but saying nothing.
    Finally, Laura pressed her lips together in a small semblance of a smile and left to take her