Read Online Shifting (Swans Landing) by Shana Norris - Free Book Online

down,” Mara told her, rushing across the room to help Miss Gale settle into bed again. “We’ll get you a drink. Dylan?”
    I nodded and left the room to get a glass of water from the kitchen. When I returned, Mara was tucking Miss Gale into bed.
    “I should go to the store,” Miss Gale said. “Jim needs me.”
    “Mr. Moody is fine,” I assured her. “I’m helping out this summer.”
    “Oh, Lord have mercy,” Miss Gale moaned, closing her eyes. “Please tell me you’re not messing up my food counter. It took me ages to get everything where I wanted it.”
    I smiled. “No, ma’am, I haven’t touched it. Mr. Moody has been doing the cooking.”
    Miss Gale moaned again. “That’s what I was afraid of most!”
    “Then you’ll have to get better,” Mara said. “So you can go back and chase him away from your counter.”
    Mara grinned at me and I tried not to laugh. It wasn’t a laughing situation at all, with Miss Gale as sick as she was, but Mara’s smile could make me forget everything else.
    Another smile flashed through my head for a moment and tingles spread over my body.
    “Dylan?”
    I blinked, focusing my thoughts on Mara in front of me. She looked at me like she was waiting for an answer to a question I hadn’t heard.
    “What?”
    Mara heaved a sigh and then shook her head. “Never mind. I’ll get it.”
    She left the room, leaving me standing by the bed, still holding the glass of salt water. Miss Gale’s head had fallen to the side and her eyes were closed. She breathed softly in her sleep. I set the glass down on the table next to her bed, then stepped out of the room.
    I had intended to find Mara and see if she needed help with whatever she was doing, but instead, my gaze fell on the door across from Miss Gale’s. It was closed and had probably been closed for the last two months.
    The door squeaked a little when I opened it. I stepped into the darkened room, breathing in the familiar scent. Sailor . If I closed my eyes, I could feel her all around me. The room was full of her and of the memories I had with her. Her fiddle sat on a chair in the corner, now coated with a layer of dust. Her clothes were still tossed around the floor, as if she had changed out of them that day.
    On the dresser was a framed picture of the two of us. We were ten in the picture, and both of us held up crabs, dangling by one claw, as we grinned wide for the camera.
    I set the picture back down in its place and then crossed the room to Sailor’s bed. She still had the same yellow comforter she’d had for years, with the same goldfish shaped pillow tossed on top of it. I laid back on the bed, breathing deeply as I turned my face toward the pillows.
    “What are you doing in here?”
    I sat up, startled. Mara stood in the doorway, a blanket clutched in her arms.
    “I was just...” I let my voice trail off, shrugging. “What are you doing?”
    “Miss Gale seems cold, so I went to find another blanket.” She stepped into the room, looking around cautiously, as if she expected Sailor to jump out at her at any moment.
    The goldfish pillow tumbled off the bed as I leaped to my feet. “Oh, okay. We should give it to her then.”
    But Mara didn’t move. Her gaze scanned over the room before settling on me again.
    “You feel closer to her here, don’t you?” she asked, her voice sad and small.
    I dug my hands into my pockets and nodded. “I spent a lot of time with her here.”
    My cheeks flamed at the smirk Mara gave me.
    “Not like that,” I said quickly. “I mean, we hung out here a lot. I used to spend the night with Sailor all the time when we were kids. We’d always get into trouble with Miss Gale.” I laughed as a memory sprang into my mind. “Once, we got into Miss Gale’s cold cream that she always used at night. She said it was for keeping wrinkles away, so we tried to put it on a lizard Sailor had found outside. When Miss Gale found out, she chased us both up and down the street,