Lost Bird by Tymber Dalton Read Free Book Online

Mandaline’s apartment over the store.
    “No,” he said, watching her. “Something’s going on in your mind. What is it? Your focus was not out there today.”
    She struggled against the blush threatening to sweep up into her cheeks. “I’m fine, Daddy. I’m just…tired.” Okay, that was the truth. Especially since it felt like she’d tossed and turned all night long, between dreams of John Evans and Donut Hunk.
    It would be a loooong day today, and tomorrow, until she saw John Evans again.
    When she got to Many Blessings, she’d hoped to dash upstairs to Mandaline’s apartment and pull herself together before her friend spotted her.
    No such luck.
    Mandaline stuck her head out the office doorway as soon as Sachi stepped through the back door. Then Mandaline’s gaze narrowed and she quickly walked to the back to block Sachi’s progress.
    Mandaline planted her hands on her hips. “What’s wrong?”
    “Nothing’s wrong.” Sachi held her tote bag in front of her, a totally ineffective barrier against her friend’s senses.
    The witchy standoff lasted nearly a minute before Sachi felt her face heat. She pointed upstairs and stepped around her friend, who followed her up to the apartment over the store.
    “Spill it,” Mandaline said.
    Sachi set her tote bag in the bathroom and turned. “It happened again.”
    “What happened again?”
    “The aura.”
    Mandaline’s brow went from furrowed to raised. “Oooh. Where? And who?”
    She felt even more stupid explaining it. But when she finished with her story, Mandaline hugged her. “Maybe this is a good thing, right? You acknowledging you need to open yourself was what the Universe wanted to see before planting more opportunities in your path.”
    “I don’t need opportunities,” Sachi grumbled. “I don’t want them, either. I just want some peace.”
    “Maybe this is the peace you seek.”
    “The peace I seek isn’t seeing hunks in Publix. The peace I seek is…” She let out a groan. “I don’t know what the hell peace I seek, but it’s not a piece of ass I’m seeking, that’s for damn sure.”
    Mandaline grinned. “So says you. Maybe that’s not what the Universe says.”
    “I’m taking a shower.” She returned to the bathroom and locked herself in. With the water as hot as she could stand it, she stood there, letting it soak through her.
    Unfortunately, she knew it wouldn’t be hot enough to soak the memories of those gorgeous blue auras out of her mind.

Chapter Five
     
    Sachi, Mandaline, Brad, and Anna headed over to Tammy Evans’ house Sunday evening, arriving a little before six. It was a rural area, nearby properties sporting pastures with horses, cattle, and even the odd burro.
    Her rambling, one-story ranch-style house sat about a hundred yards off a crumbling, pothole-ridden asphalt road, the clay dirt driveway curving through a gate and up to a gravel parking area next to the house. The front yard looked well-tended, the grass freshly mowed, beds of azaleas surrounding the bases of several large, drooping oak trees that shaded the yard. Behind the house, it looked like a narrow swath of mowed yard led into overgrown and partially wooded land.
    “Looks like she needs a few pet goats to take care of that pasture,” Sachi muttered.
    Two cars sat parked there already, so Mandaline pulled her Honda Element behind one of them and parked. As they got out, Brad handed Mandaline her hobo bag with the stuff she’d need for the initial walk-through. Tammy Evans emerged from the front door, smiling as they headed up the walkway leading to the entryway.
    Sachi came to a sudden stop, Brad bumping into her, as she saw who emerged from the house behind Tammy.
    John Evans and Donut Hunk.
    Both of them still sporting delicious blue auras.
    She must have let out a terrified meep , because Mandaline stopped and turned. “You all right?” she softly asked. They were still far enough away that Tammy and the men couldn’t hear her.
    Sachi