Read Online Griffith Tavern (Taryn's Camera Book 2) by Rebecca Patrick-Howard - Free Book Online Page B

the light, double exposure, or any other normal photo justification. From her distance Taryn could still make out her dark hair, upturned nose, deep russet dress, and pale fingers pressing on the remainder of the glass. She knew the face as well; it was the same one reflected back at her in the mirror of her dream.
    The woman, Permelia she reckoned, gazed out with sunken eyes and a frown. Her hair was groomed, her dress form-fitting and fashionable. Still, there was a look of desperation about her that made her appear on edge, frazzled–as though she might break at any moment. Her stance and the way she seemed to be pushing on the glass gave the appearance of someone who was trapped, someone who was shut off from the outside world and wanted desperately to be a part of it again.
    And she was looking right at Taryn, although she hadn’t felt a thing when she was taking the picture. Her dark eyes bore into the camera, through the lens, and straight into Taryn. The idea of being watched, observed, without her knowledge made her shake. How often were these presences aware of us, she wondered, while we had no idea they were even there?
    Crossing her arms over her chest, Taryn tried to get it together. She couldn’t concentrate with Permelia’s image staring at her look that. She felt exposed. Was there nowhere she could go to get away from this? She actually kind of liked the idea of having a link to the past she loved, but this time it was going a little far: she’d dreamed about Permelia, felt a presence in her room, and now she was watching her.
    Why her? Why Taryn? Had she done something, said something, thought something that encouraged this? Was she doing something wrong or very right?
    Could she really go through this again?
     

Chapter 6
     

     
    S he must want something, right?” Taryn paced back and forth, the room growing smaller by the minute. “I’m seeing this for a reason. Aren’t I?”
    “I would think so,” Matt answered carefully.
    “Shit.”
    “And nothing’s happened since Kentucky? Nothing at all?”
    “Not a damn thing,” she replied.
    They were both quiet, contemplative. Taryn stopped pacing and looked at her bed. It had been made but was now rumpled from where she’d stretched out on it. Suddenly, she felt lonely. She didn’t know why, but she had the craziest urge to hug Matt. Not just a quick one, either, but a long one. A snuggle, really. At this moment she just wanted to find a cozy couch where the two of them could sit down together so she could bury her head in his chest and close for eyes for awhile.
    “Matt?”
    “Yep?”
    “Never mind,” she sighed. What was the point? If she asked him to fly up now, he would. But just because she was lonely and feeling out of sorts didn’t mean he should disrupt his life and enter her chaos.
    “You should go back, try to take more pictures. But be careful,” he cautioned. “I can research the area, see if there’s any shops where you might pick up some supplies.”
    “I feel safe enough,” she replied honestly. And she did. “I don’t know that sage and a wand are going to help me because I don’t think she wants to hurt me. Or that anyone does.”
    Not this time , neither one of them had to say.
    “If you need me, I’ll come up there,” Matt asserted with surprising sternness. “I have vacation time.”
    “Oh, I’m sure. The last time you took a vacation was two years ago.”
    “I can get someone to cover me here.”
    Taryn grinned at the thought. Matt hated to leave his office. Being away made him nervous, as he was sure the whole place would fall apart without him. “I’m okay. You don’t have to come up here. But maybe when this job is over I’ll come down there for a little bit.”
    “That’s a good idea! I’ve been meaning to try out some new restaurants and, well, I don’t mind eating out by myself and I do it a lot but for the first time there I always like to have someone with me. And then there’s the