Her eyes widened, and panic seeped into her voice as her words quickened. “And he said some five foot nothing bartender helped him. That’s when he started asking around and found out you’re a psychic, which I told him was ridiculous because you’d have told me if you were ...” She trailed off as I stared at her. Letting go of the door, she sighed. “Why are you telling people you’re psychic, Jane? You can’t even tell when someone’s bluffing at poker, let alone be a lie detector as people are claiming.”
I just kept staring at her, hoping she’d come to the right conclusion on her own. I really didn’t want to have this conversation with her in the middle of my apartment parking lot. Besides, she should know me better than that.
Like I knew she would, Mandy finally figured it out and stomped her foot like a petulant child. “Oh, come on Jane. I thought you were past all this. Weren’t you taking pills or something?” Now, her eyes had real worry in them.
Waving a hand to the passenger side, I waited until she climbed into the car before shutting my own door and cranking the car. “It’s not something you really get past, Mandy.”
“But you stopped talking about it, so I just assumed you were better.” Mandy crossed her arms over her chest, her ample bosom straining against the buttons of her blouse. I forced back a grimace at the very thought of the word. I should burn her shirt on principle.
As I eased down the road, I explained, “Just because someone stops talking about something doesn’t mean it’s gone. You didn’t want to know, so ...” I fluttered a hand in the air.
“And the pills?”
My fingers tightened on the steering wheel. “They make my head feel funny like I’m numb from the inside out.”
“But they helped, didn’t they?” There was a kind of hopefulness in her voice that I hated to destroy.
I shook my head sadly. “No, Amanda. They didn’t.”
4
My parents lived in a gated community, the kind that had a guard at the front who always looked at me like I was up to something. Of course, that was probably because I regularly egged his station when I was younger.
I was a bad kid. So, sue me.
The lawns were perfectly manicured with elaborately shaped bushes, like bears and other animals. When I was little, I had a reoccurring nightmare where the bushes were alive and were chasing me with pruning shears, screaming, “Just a little bit off the top!” Sometimes I still woke up in hot sweats shouting, “Cut ‘em at the roots.” One of those times Lucifer had been there. Wasn’t that something fun to explain?
In my honest opinion, the only bush shaping should be your own and only to keep it neat. None of that landing strip crap or fancy shapes. I once knew someone who did a lightning bolt. Like Harry Potter was going to come ravage her vagina. Some people.
Unfortunately, those kinds of people were the kind who lived in my parent’s neighborhood. It wasn’t mine. It’d never been mine. I’d always been the odd one out. Parents didn’t want their kids playing with the weird kid, go figure.
“Jane.”
Mandy’s voice startled me out of my thoughts, and I met her concerned gaze. “What?”
“Are you going to go in or stare at it all day?” She unbuckled her seat belt and opened the car door, not waiting for me to answer before she got out.
We’d arrived at my parent’s house already. I hadn’t even noticed. That’s how much I disliked being here. I laid my head against the cool rubber of the steering wheel, contemplating skipping today, but a knock on my window stopped that thought. Grumbling to myself, I unsnapped my own seatbelt and climbed out of the car.
The two-story house before us had an off-white color to it just like the majority of the other houses on the street. I knew one thing. If my parents ever did kick the bucket and left me their house, I was painting it neon green. I’m a rebel that way.
“I don’t know why you came,” I said, walking up the little stone path my mom had made me spend a whole week of summer vacation putting in.
“For moral support, of course.” Mandy kept up with me easily, her long legs making my speed walking seem like a languid stroll.
“I thought you were here on police business,” I reminded her with a look of disdain.
“Well, that too, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be here for you now that I’m already here. Besides, I love your mother too. I’d love to see her.” The sincerity in her voice was the only thing keeping me from snapping her head off.
Mandy wasn’t only my best friend, but she was my oldest friend. We’ve been attached at the hip since fourth grade when booger-eating Jeffery Polts broke up with her in front of everyone. He’d called her a giraffe neck and a wet kisser. Why they were kissing in the first place, I chalked up to bad parenting and rated R movies. But while everyone laughed at her, I had an epiphany.
See, I’d always been the smallest. The last to be picked at games and the one who everyone tried to bully. That was until they realized I wasn’t some weakling who’d just take it. I’d never laid back and taken anything in my life. Ask my dentist; he’s got the bite marks to prove it.
Jeffery Polts had been right about one thing. Mandy had a giraffe neck and legs. She was too large for our grade, and that worked for me just fine. So, I walked straight up to Polts and punched him in the nuts. Safe to say that no one laughed at Mandy after that and we had been best friends ever since.
“She’d want to see you too,” I murmured as we stopped at the front door. I’d always loved our door, one of the few things I did care about in the house. With a large wooden frame and slender windows on either side, it was the perfect place to spy on the neighbors. Of course, my mother didn’t even bother hiding, she’d sit out on the yard in a lawn chair, binoculars in hand.
Yeah, my mom was that kind. I rang the doorbell, a sound I could hear even from the doorstep. Like a foghorn, that thing was. I always joked that it was partly why my father was hard of hearing. Also, it sucked when you were trying to sleep in on Saturdays and your parents were social butterflies. It’d wake you from a dead sleep.
We didn’t have to wait long for the door to open and reveal my father, Richard Mehr. Greying on the sides, his hair was still holding strong even pushing sixty. He wore glasses that he was constantly pushing back up the bridge of his nose. Luckily, I had perfect vision. I didn’t think I’d rock glasses like Richard Mehr did.
“Janey!” My dad cried out, opening the door all the way to let us in.
“Hey, dad,” I smiled up at him despite myself. I barely stepped into the house before I was pulled into a warm hug. I let him hold me for a moment, taking in the scent of him. Modeling glue and peppermints. “Been playing with airplanes today, have we?” I asked as I pulled back.
The guilty grin on my dad’s face made me grin too. “I’m a surgeon, I have to keep my hands in tip-top shape.”
“Sure, that’s the reason,” I joked.
“Hey, Mr. Mehr,” Mandy stepped in behind me, my dad closing the door behind us. “How’s it going?”
“Good, good. Hospital keeps me busy. I might not get to perform surgery as much anymore but being the head of the surgical department still keeps me on my toes.” My dad might complain about his work, but I know he loved it. He’d never be happy doing anything else but helping people. Maybe a pilot. Or a plane designer. They had those, right?
“Well, come on in.” Dad ushered us into the house. “Want something to drink?”
“Sure,” Mandy and I both said, looking at each other and grinning.
“I’ve got some iced tea. The housekeeper, Beatrice, made this morning.”
“Tea!” Mandy and I both rushed to say, this time bursting out laughing.
My dad chuckled and shook his head. “It’s like you two are teenagers all over again.” When we reached the kitchen, he pulled down some glasses and poured us each some. “Not that I’d wish for you two hellions to be running around here all the time, but it is good to have some younger people in the house again.”
My expression softened as I smiled at my father. I really should visit more often, but with my father’s busy schedule and my evening shifts, it was hard to find an appropriate time to come. Maybe if I ended up consulting for the police, then I’d have more control over my schedule. Visiting more would be nice.