Read Online Goes down easy: Roped into romance by Alison Kent - Free Book Online Page A

new, he’s temporary, and I was trying to get him to open his mind about Sugar.”
    “A worthless endeavor, of which you should be well aware,” Della said with a sigh. “Perry, sweetie, you can’t force anyone to see what they don’t want to see.”
    “I know.” And she did. It was just hard to believe Jack—or anyone—couldn’t see the same things that were so clear and so real to her. She poured her aunt’s coffee. “He may not have opened his mind completely, but he knew she was there.”
    “He told you that?” Della asked, taking the cup from Perry’s hand.
    “No. But I could tell. She wasn’t just singing this time. We saw her.” Perry picked up her own cup at the same time Jack walked back through the door.
    “I’m not surprised that you did,” Della said.
    Perry’s only response was to offer coffee to Jack. He took the mug, asked, “Did what?” then blew across the surface and sipped.
    “Saw Sugar,” Perry replied, watching his expression as she brought her own mug to her mouth.
    He didn’t respond except to move to the table and pull out a chair opposite Della’s. Once he sat, he still didn’t say a word about having seen Sugar’s ghost.
    In fact, he seemed to dismiss both the subject and the incident without another thought, turning to Della to ask, “What makes you think Eckhardt is dead?”
    Della cradled her mug and frowned as she stared down. “The intensity of the visions. Perry can tell youthat when they’re at their worst, I can be out of commission for hours.”
    When Jack looked over, Perry nodded, causing him to narrow his mouth and prompt Della further. “So what’s different now?”
    “I hate to say it, but it’s been the case that the less painful the visions, the larger the threat or the more—” she fluttered one hand, then used it to push strands of hair from her face “—the more violent the outcome.”
    Jack brought his mug to his mouth, held it there but didn’t drink. “I’d think the opposite would be true.”
    “That would seem to be the way of things if this gift had any basis in logic. But it’s nothing I can control or anticipate.”
    “The sign on the front of the shop. You do readings, right?”
    “Yes, but that’s a more focused application of my gift. What comes to me in visions is nothing over which I have any discipline.”
    “Does the name Dawn Taylor mean anything to you?” he asked, with a quick change of subject.
    She frowned as she thought, then shook her head. “I don’t think so. Should it?”
    “She’s the reporter who wrote the story connecting you to Eckhardt,” Perry said, joining them at the table. “Jack plans to ask her a few questions today.”
    “I wish I could give you something concrete to work with, Jack. Or that I had better news,” Della said, wincing as she shifted her foot.
    But Jack was intent on his coffee and seemed athousand miles away. “Perry said I could use the bathroom down here to clean up.”
    “Oh, of course,” Della said, returning her cup to the table. “Please, make yourself at home. Especially after all the help you’ve been.”
    Jack snorted. “I haven’t been that much. The door still needs to be painted and the deadbolt installed.”
    “Which will take too much time out of your day when you have an investigation to conduct. You do that, go about your business. I’ll call my regular repair service.”
    “No,” he argued. “I’ll pick up the paint while I’m out and finish with the door this afternoon.”
    Perry silently wondered about his insistence. If he was that interested in seeing to the repairs, or if there was something else he wanted from Della. If there was more to his visit than he’d yet to reveal…unless he was actually considering their kiss in his decision to hang around.
    She couldn’t gauge anything by his expression, but kept her gaze on his face when she said, “I offered him the bed in the utility room.”
    “Where are you staying while you’re in