A Scrying Shame by Donna White Glaser Read Free Book Online Page B

for the record, I’m the one supposed to be watching you.”
    “That’s enough, you two,” Ed said. “This is going to help both of you. In fact, I’m sorry to have to point this out, but neither of you has a choice. Instead of snapping at each other, you should be grateful.”
    “Grateful?” Grumpa snorted. “Grateful for—”
    “Yes. Grateful. Now, we’re going to need to find a new place for this cabinet. It sticks out into the walkway, and it’s going to get bumped again. Do you want it in your bedroom instead?”
    “I want it back where it belongs.” Grumpa pointed through the open door of Arie’s new room.
    “I understand you don’t like change, but Arie has to have a place for her things, too. How about the den?”
    “No, it doesn’t belong there.”
    “Harlan—”
    “It can stay right here until she gets her own place, and then it can go right back where it belongs. The girl can be careful, can’t she?” Grumpa didn’t wait for an answer before marching back to the kitchen.
    Arie sighed. “Dad, I can’t—”
    “Honey, this is just temporary. Heaven knows it’s not ideal, but really, what can you do? Not that I would mind, but if this doesn’t work out, you’ll have to move back in with your mother and me. And that means your grandfather would end up in a nursing home. Either that, or he moves in with us, and you find other arrangements. Or, heck! We might all end up living together—one big happy family.”
    Father and daughter shuddered.
    “Okay, but what about when I’m back on my feet?”
    “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it. At any rate, with you living here, we’ll have a better understanding of Harlan’s situation. He seems sharp as a tack to me, but your mother’s worried. And he has made some unusual choices lately.”
    Arie sighed again, then went into her room to unpack. She wanted to make it as comfortable as possible. She had a feeling she’d be spending a lot of time there.

CHAPTER TEN
    A few days after she’d settled in with Grumpa, Guts finally called. The job was on the rich side of town. The huge white van with BioClean emblazoned on the side was parked in the lot, letting her know she’d found the right address. As Arie pulled in next to it, she noticed a man walking away from the building. As he crossed in front of her car, their gazes met and held.
    Wow .
    The blue of his eyes almost stopped her heart, but it restarted with a bang when he tossed her a wink. He was parked two slots down, and Arie got a nice, long bonus view of his butt while he walked to his car. She snatched her gaze away when he glanced back, but not before he caught her.
    She waited until he’d driven off before getting out of her car. She noticed a sleek black pickup with the same logo parked next to the van. Oh, crap . The boss was here, and she was loitering in the parking lot, ogling strangers.
    She thought about the guy’s wink and decided it had been worth it.
    Guts stood next to Grady in the pristine white living room, issuing instructions. Grady had his clipboard out, and was nodding and taking notes. He wore his suit, too, but Guts was keeping it simple with jeans and a navy blue T-shirt with the BioClean logo. Arie hadn’t seen Guts since her interview and wondered if Grady had told him about her weird behavior at the hoarder job.
    As she approached the men, Guts was saying, “Took the cops forever to release the scene. I was starting to think we weren’t gonna get the job, but the head of the HOA finally called and gave us the go-ahead.
    “Bruno and Stan are gonna hate missing this one, but they’re on another job. So make sure you don’t eff this up. This is the big leagues here. The broad was a famous writer. Made a boatload o’ cash with some girly book”
    “Cool,” Arie said. “What did she write?”
    “How should I know? You think I got time to read? I got a business to run here.”
    Arie decided to fade into the background. She really didn’t