The Fourteen Day Soul Detox, Volume Two by Rita Stradling Read Free Book Online

were waiting outside, locked in what
looked like a tense conversation. I tried not to disturb them as I
exited the theater, but they immediately looked over.
    “Hey guys, I feel really bad. I
totally changed plans on you and it seems like it’s stressing
you out. We could still cancel if—”
    “No, really, let’s get
going there. We’re already late,” Amy said.
    “Are you sure?” I asked.
    “Definitely,” Peter said as
he pulled out his keys. They turned to the parking lot, Amy’s
arm threaded through Peter’s.
    “Peter is parked over here, we’ll
pull around to you,” Amy said over her shoulder.
    “Okay,” I said, heading the
other way.
    By the time I got Sarah in her car seat
and gave her my phone to play with, Peter and Susan had already
pulled up in his sleek gray sports car. When I pulled behind them,
Peter sped ahead. He weaved through the traffic, and by the time we
exited the movie theater parking lot, having followed him by cutting
off three people, I stopped trying to keep up. A few blocks up, Peter
stopped dead, waiting for me.
    Sarah’s game blared out, playing
the same chord of music over and over. “Angel, if you don’t
turn your game down, I’m going to take the phone away.”
    “No take the phone away!”
she shouted as her game music decreased.
    “Thank you,” I whispered as
I caught up to Peter’s car.
    He slowed his pace and after a few
minutes pulled into a strip mall I’d never been to before. The
strip mall was lined with upscale boutiques and salons. We parked in
front of a small store. The windows were frosted and bare, except for
a decorative silver logo that read ‘The Scotch Cabinet’.
Peter got out of his car and entered the store, only to exit a minute
later with a wooden box.
    He rushed back to his sports car,
pulling out of the spot and barely waiting for me to pull out of
mine. We drove deeper into the southern coastal neighborhoods I had
never visited before. As we weaved through neighborhoods, the houses
bulked up so large only two of them could fit comfortably on a block.
    Peter turned down a road lined with
heavy, reaching oaks. We came out along the beach, where the few
houses were separated from each other with stretches of sand dunes.
    “Look how pretty it is out here,”
I said to Sarah. When she didn’t respond I said, “Isn’t
this neat? Kay lives on the beach.”
    Peter parked in front of a sprawling
one story house, behind what I recognized as Susan’s car. I
parked between two cars a little way down the road.
    “This is beautiful!” I said
to Amy as I exited my car.
    The roof slanted out at all angles,
interspersed with dormers, in a long low cottage-style house. Windows
stretched the length of the house, giving the illusion that the house
was made of glass.
    Peter and Amy waited by the walkway as
I helped Sarah exit her door. Sarah rushed up to join them and the
group turned and headed up to the large wooden door.
    The door opened and a woman’s
head popped out, her brown curls bouncing as she smiled at us.
    “Oh, wonderful!” she
exclaimed. “Come in, come in.” She pulled the door open
wide, and I got a good look at her. A huge smile spread across her
gorgeous heart-shaped face. She wore a long silky maxi dress that
cinched at her waist, and was barefoot.
    “I’m Carrie, Patrick’s
sister-in-law. Are you Jamie and Sarah?” she asked.
    “Yeah—”
    She crossed the distance and hugged me.
“You are exactly how I pictured you. I’ve been talking to
your friends, and I absolutely love them. They are so sweet.”
She pulled away and looked at Sarah, “And you are adorable. How
old are you?”
    “Ten,” Sarah said.
    “She’s eight; she just
likes the number ten, right angel?” I corrected.
    “I do too,” Carrie said to
Sarah, “But my favorite number is seven.”
    “My favorite number is ten,”
Sarah mumbled as she pressed her face into my stomach.
    “This is my sister Amy and her
husband, Peter,” I said, gesturing to