Animals and actual beast.., p.11
Animals & Actual Beasts, page 11
“What the hell?” he asked out loud.
What the hell had just happened?
Why hadn’t he been able to freeze the vision?
This had never happened before.
And where had the flames come from? There were no flames in the original vision.
He shook his head and tried to clear his mind. Then he took several deep breaths, determined to try again.
Five minutes later he yanked himself out of the vision with the same results. He couldn’t get it to freeze. It just kept playing and then, flames.
He tried once more, to no avail.
The damn thing wouldn’t freeze.
What the hell was he doing wrong?
Isaac had so many questions. So many things he needed to speak to his grandfather, Sterling, about. Only right now he knew that he didn’t have the time. He had to get back inside and back to his case.
His breathing finally steady, he opened the door and stepped out of the car. As he walked back toward the building, the stench of something burning slowly filled his nostrils.
14
“Miku!” Heather Fairchild’s voice was a delighted squeal. “You didn’t have to do this.”
They were standing in the doorway of Heather’s brand new apartment. It was in an historical building in a chic area of downtown Cleveland that had recently been refurbished into classy and modern apartments inside.
Miku Sato, Sidney’s realtor friend, handed Heather a large and gorgeous potted ficus.
“Nonsense,” Miku said with a wave a her hand. “I give all of my first time home buyers a small housewarming gift once they’ve settled into their new digs. It’s my way of saying thanks for trusting me to find your perfect place. Now, I know you’re only renting, but you’re also Sidney’s sister so I thought the housewarming gift was the way to go.”
Heather smiled at her. She was such an elegant little thing. Pretty, petite, and perfect, Miku always looked like she’d stepped out of the pages of a fashion magazine.
“Well, this is very kind of you,” Heather said. She turned and examined her sparse living room for just the right spot. “I swear Sid has the nicest friends.”
She walked over to the corner of the room and set the plant down on the floor right in front of the large window where it would get plenty of sunlight.
“And now so do you,” Miku said with a smile. “Because any sister of Sidney’s is a friend of mine. So tell me… how are you settling in? Is there anything I can help you with? Any resources I can point you in the right direction of?”
Heather ran a hand through her shoulder-length brown hair and thought about that question. “No, I don’t think so. Everything here was so new and beautiful that all I really had to do was move in. The only furniture of my own that I had was my bedroom stuff, so that room is the only one that’s put together so far.”
In California she had lived with her dad, Carlton. But when he realized that he was terminal he’d told Heather not to stay there in that house after he was gone. He had urged her to go somewhere else. Somewhere new. Somewhere where she could have a fresh start. Even if it was just to the next town over.
So that’s what she’d done.
She’d sold her dad’s house, packed up her meager belongings, and moved across the country to Ohio to be near the new siblings she’d only just met at their dad’s funeral.
Crazy, she knew.
But something in her heart kept telling her that it was the right move to make. That maybe she hadn’t lost all of her family when her dad died.
She set those thoughts aside for now and addressed Miku again.
“But my new sofa and chair are scheduled to be delivered day after tomorrow. And Sid and I are going shopping for drapes later this week. I bought an air fryer and an electric kettle online. It’s coming together!” she said with a hopeful lilt.
“Well, all right then!” Miku laughed at her before her tone morphed into all business. “Now, just let me know when you’re ready to get moving on the other location. I’ve already got a couple of places in mind to show you, but those are just examples really. A way for us to center in on what features you actually need this space to have. Then I’ll be able to zero in on places that have specifically what you’re looking for.”
Heather nodded. “I understand. I’ll let you know when I’m ready.”
“Okay. I’ve got to run. I have a showing two streets over in fifteen minutes, so I’m glad I caught you here.”
“Yeah, another five minutes and I would’ve been out the door. I’m going to Sid’s work to return something. But thank you again for the lovely plant.”
“You’re welcome. I hope it brings you many hours of joy. And tell Sid I said hey.”
Heather hugged Miku at the door before she left. Then she grabbed her things and locked her door on the way out.
She didn’t know much about her new city, but she had already memorized the way to Sidney and Ike’s house, and the way to Sidney’s place of business. She also knew how to get to the police station where her brother-in-law worked. One day soon, she was going to ask them both to show her how to get to Dayton, Ohio where their brother, Simon, lived.
On her drive to Hope House, Heather thought again about the crazy decision she’d made. Not the one to move from Cali to Cleveland. That one she’d never been more certain of.
It was the decision to start her own massage spa business that had her second guessing herself every five minutes. And it wasn’t so much the massage part that worried her. She was a highly trained and skilled professional in the area of therapeutic message. A licensed practitioner in several different techniques. And she knew she was good at what she did. She’d even had a couple of celebrity clients back in LA.
No, it was all the other stuff that had her stomach in knots. She knew next to nothing about the business side of things, or even really where to start. Google searches and YouTube vids could only take you so far.
She would need a building, and a staff, and equipment, and an accountant, and…
Her mind whirled like a cyclone every time she dwelled on all of the moving parts, and she wondered if maybe she shouldn’t take a step back before jumping in. Maybe she should take a business course first. She sighed and pulled her mint green Fiat to the curb outside of Hope House.
She rang the bell and waited. The door opened a moment later and a tall, slender woman in a pencil skirt and blouse opened the door.
“Hello. I remember you,” the lady said with a smile. “You’re Sidney’s sister.”
“And you’re her boss,” Heather said with an answering smile.
The woman laughed and opened the screen door, allowing her in. “Come in, come in. I’m Zoe. That’s z-o-e, like Joe. No ‘y’ on the end.”
“Got it.”
“Come on. Sid’s back here. Follow me.”
Heather noticed that she locked the front door before she led her through the hallways of the renovated huge Victorian home. They came to a large room at the very back of the first floor that had been turned into an office with two desks. File cabinets lined one wall, and now there was a play pen set up in the corner close to Sidney’s desk.
“There’s my favorite playmate!”
Heather rushed over to the play pen and reached inside, lifting baby Greer into her arms. From her backpack-shaped purse she pulled out a yellow-spotted, red, stuffed dinosaur. One that the child had left behind at her place the last time he and Sid were there.
“Look who I’ve got!” she said, waving the plushy around.
“Wexy!” Greer shouted, snatching the toy and hugging him tight.
“Oh, thank God,” Sidney’s tone held a little bit of sarcasm mixed with a dash of relief. “We thought Rexy was lost forever, didn’t we, Greer?”
“Yah,” the little boy responded.
“What do you say to Auntie Heather for bringing him back?”
“Tank you,” Greer smiled sweetly at her, melting Heather’s heart.
She kissed his chubby cheek. “You’re welcome, little dude. Hey, thanks for letting him visit with me for a couple of days.”
She returned Greer to his play pen with his much-loved dinosaur and then turned to her sister.
The resemblance between them bordered on freaky. It was basically the same face. Same light eyes, same complexion, same hair color. The only real difference was that she preferred to wear her hair straight and styled while Sidney embraced her wild, natural curls. Well, that and the fact that she was probably about two or three inches shorter than Sid.
“You got time for a break?”
Sidney looked up at her and a tiny smirk formed on her lips. “What’s wrong?”
Heather was shocked. How did she know?
“What makes you think something’s wrong?”
“Because you’ve got that desperate look in your eyes,” Sidney answered without hesitation. “It happens whenever you feel overwhelmed.”
Heather just stared at her. “I guess someone’s gotten to know me pretty well.”
Sidney smiled at her. “Pull up a chair and tell me all about it.”
Heather grabbed a straight-back chair that sat on the other side of Sid’s desk and pulled it around to where she could sit beside her, and took a seat.
“Okay, so I’m wondering if I might be making a mistake by jumping into this thing too fast.”
Sidney stared at her, and Heather could see the slight confusion in her eyes. “What thing? The massage thing?”
“Yes! I mean… I know the massage game inside and out. I was the manager at the last place I worked, and I handled that fine all on my own. The owner loved my work and didn’t want to see me leave.”
Sidney nodded, but kept silent as she listened.
“So I know the day-to-day operations of it. But I don’t know anything about owning an actual business. Maybe I should take a few business courses first. What do you think?”
Sidney looked her straight in the eyes, and Heather almost felt like her sister was looking into her soul.
“I mean… a few business classes certainly wouldn’t hurt,” Sidney began. “But there are thousands of people who open up their own small businesses everyday without ever taking a single business class. Ike’s sister, Emily, is one of them.”
“Really?”
“Yep. Now, I’m not saying you shouldn’t take classes,” Sidney continued, raising a hand to make her point. “I just don’t believe that it’s a requirement for success. Especially for someone who’s worked and excelled in your chosen field for as long as you have. I mean, you have tons of actual experience in the massage industry.”
“Right,” Heather’s voice was pensive and she hung on Sidney’s every word. Her big sister was so together and smart, and she valued her opinion so much. A twinge of sadness pinched her heart and she wished for the hundredth time since meeting Sidney that they’d grown up together.
“Plus, if you stop your forward momentum to go through a business course, you’ll most likely want to get a job to help support yourself while you’re in school. Unless you plan to live off the money from Carlton.”
Unbeknownst to any of the siblings, their dad had socked away a few million dollars — lottery winnings he’d never told anyone but his attorney about — and he’d left it for his five children when he died. Each of them had walked away with just over 625 thousand dollars.
“But if you do that,” Sidney went on, “you run the risk of running through the money from Carlton. Not to mention the risk of getting permanently sidetracked by whatever job you end up taking, and / or whatever guy you happen to meet at said job.”
Her tone on that last sentence was full of foreboding and disapproval, and Heather stared at her in complete and total awe because she couldn’t form a counter argument to anything her sister had just said.
“How do you do that, Sid?”
Sidney frowned at her. “Do what?”
“See the big picture like that? It’s like you pan out so that you can see the entire playing field with all of the game pieces and every future move before it’s even made. I wish I could do that.”
Sidney smiled. “You can do that, Heather. All you have to do is slow down and think about any given issue from absolutely every single side. Think about each course of action you might take and then think about all the things that could happen as a result of those actions.”
Heather grinned at her sister’s self-assured tone. The butterflies in her belly though told her they may look alike, but they were two very different people. She shook her head. “Not everyone can do that, sis. I’m not built that way.”
“I disagree,” Sidney said, watching her. “But I don’t know, maybe it’s just a skill that comes with age. Lord knows I didn’t always look at the big picture either.”
“You?” Heather found that hard to believe. Then again… she knew from their long getting-to-know-you talks that Sidney had been through her fair share of bad stuff.
More than her fair share.
“Me.”
“Older and wiser, huh?” Heather said.
“Exactly.”
“Hmm. Maybe.” She drew in a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Well, I guess I’ll contact Miku then. Tell her that I’m ready for her to start showing me locations.”
“You’re going to be great at this,” Sidney said with a confidence Heather wished she possessed.
“I hope you’re right.”
She glanced around the office and at little Greer, wondering if she would ever get her life together like Sidney had.
“Hey,” Sidney tapped her knee. “You’re still joining us for dinner tonight, right?”
“I am, yes.”
They continued talking for a while longer until a soft knock on the open door got their attention. Heather looked up and saw the handsome doctor guy she’d met here back at Christmastime. She couldn’t remember his name though.
“Hey, Sid. Just wanted to let—”
He stopped abruptly when his gaze landed on Heather. A slow, hungry smile spread across his face and Heather couldn’t help smiling back. He was cute, after all.
“Heather!”
Oh gosh. He remembered her name. Now she felt sort of bad about not remembering his.
“It’s good to see you again,” Cute Doctor Guy said. “I didn’t know you were visiting Sidney right now.”
Heather opened her mouth to respond, but Sidney beat her to it.
“You remember Dr. Lance Tobey?”
Grateful for the name reminder, Heather played it off and smiled bigger. “Of course. Hi, Lance!”
“Hey.”
They smiled at each other for a beat longer and then Sidney interrupted.
“You had something to tell me, Doctor?”
Her sister’s voice was sharp, like an ice pick, and Heather got the distinct impression that Sidney did not like the way Lance flirted with her.
“Huh?” he mumbled, distracted. Then he turned to Sid. “Oh, yes. I wanted to let you and Zoe know that I’ve re-bandaged Beverly’s wounds, and I don’t think that laceration on her arm is infected at all. It actually looks pretty good considering the fact that it should’ve had stitches.”
“Okay.”
“She’s still in quite a bit of pain from those bruised ribs her husband left her with though, so I’ve given her a mild sedative to help her get some sleep.”
“Thank you. I’ll let Zoe know.”
Lance turned back to Heather and smiled again. “So, uh… how long will you be in town this time?”
“Hopefully about ten or fifteen years,” Heather said in a flirty voice. “Maybe longer.”
“What?” he laughed.
“I just moved here to be closer to my big sis.”
“No.” Lance sounded happily surprised about this news. “Really?”
“Mmm hmm.”
“Well, we should go out and celebrate your new move or something. Have a drink.”
“Maybe we should,” Heather teased.
“Yeah?” Now he sounded intrigued. “Um, can I interest you you in dinner sometime?”
“Well, I’m still settling in right now, but I’ll definitely let you know. Maybe in a few days?”
“I’m pretty handy, you know?” Lance offered. “If you need help with anything I’d be happy to paint or hang pictures or whatever.”
Heather giggled. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks.”
“Sure thing. Ah, Sid’s got my number in case you need it.”
“Okay.”
Lance lingered in the doorway for a moment longer, grinning stupidly at her. “Okay. I’ll see you.”
Heather lifted her hand and wiggled her fingers at him. When he left the doorway she let go of a longer laugh. But then she turned to see Sidney staring at her and not smiling.
In fact, her face was stone.
“What? Why don’t you like him?” Heather shoulders sagged as she asked the question.
“I like him fine, Heather. I just don’t like him for you.”
What the heck did that mean? “What? Why not?”
Sidney hesitated, and Heather got the feeling there was a long and twisted explanation. But all Sidney said was, “Because he’s not good enough for you.”
Heather laughed. “He’s a doctor!”
Sidney rolled her eyes. “It’s got nothing to do with his job or his net worth, Heather. It’s about him. As a person.”
Heather blinked, and a slow smile spread across her lips.
“What?” Sidney asked, clearly annoyed.
“You really don’t think he’s good enough for me.”
“No, I don’t. I just said that.”
“You’re looking out for me,” Heather said, aware that her voice sounded all sappy and weepy. She couldn’t help it. She loved the fact that she and her new big her sister were bonding.
“You’re my little sister, Heather. Of course I’m looking out for you.” Sidney sighed. “And Lance is fine. He’s a good guy. Sort of. He’s just… I just want you to be careful with him.”
“Why? What’s wrong with him?”
“He’s just… a little… shaky.”
