Handing both of Mandy and me our iced teas, my dad pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose. “Now, make sure you go see your mother. She’s in the solar.”
“As usual,” I muttered, earning me a warning look from dad.
“Now, Jane. You be nice to your mother. She doesn’t need any of your sass.”
I held my hands up in defense. “When have I ever sassed?”
My dad pursed his lips. “Only every other word that comes out of your mouth.”
He had me there. “I don’t have any reason to sass mom. As long as she doesn’t start talking about grandchildren, we’ll be peachy keen.”
Dad snorted. “Good luck with that. I’ll be in my office if you need me.” Left to our own devices, Mandy and I stood at the breakfast bar drinking our tea.
“So, you were here on police business, right? Something to do with that officer at my bar last night?”
Mandy glanced at me as if she just remembered that was the whole point of her visit in the first place.
“Oh yeah. Right. About that.” She cleared her throat and put her arms behind her back. Something I suspected she learned from the police academy to keep her from fidgeting. “So, that pompous idiot Clemons went to the police station spouting off about you and how you had gotten that guy to spill the beans ...”
“Dan.”
“Yeah, him.” She nodded and then finished her iced tea. “Anyway, he went on about how he’d been working on Dan for a good hour, and all it took was a sentence from you, and he was more than happy to spill his guts.” Mandy laughed. “He’d have told us his social security number if asked.”
Putting Mandy and mine’s glasses in the sink, I rolled my eyes. “I doubt that very much.”
She shot me a chastising look as we headed out of the kitchen. “Anyway, the captain made inquiries about you and your little psychic act. He thinks you check out and now ...” Mandy groaned as if it really hurt her to say the next words. “Now, he wants you to come on to help with the case.”
We passed through the living room which was filled with seats that made your butt feel like it had died and gone to Heaven. But even the best cushion could become hard as a rock if you sat on it long enough. I should know, I’d done a lot of sitting here in my day.
“What case?” I asked, the solar finally coming into view. I could just make out my mother’s dark hair sitting by the window. She always did like the outdoors.
“That’s classified until you accept the job.”
“Job? You mean with pay and everything?” I lit up like a birthday candle at the prospect of money.
Mandy pressed her lips together tightly, saying in a clipped voice, “Yes, you would be on the Blessed Falls Police Department payroll as their resident psychic.”
“I’ll do it.” I didn’t need to know what all the job entailed, it had to pay better than bartending, though I’d still do that in the evenings. I’d have to talk to the boss about shortening my hours though; that wouldn’t go over well.
Mandy grabbed my arm, stopping us before we could get to my mother. “There’s a problem with that.”
“What? I’d have to get stripped searched?” I cocked a brow at her and grinned. “Because I’d be up for that if the guy were right.”
Shaking her head, I could tell she was trying not to smile, but she finally sobered. “Stop trying to make me laugh. I’m serious, Jane. You see things that aren’t there. That doesn’t make you psychic.”
“How do you know? You don’t know the extent of my powers. I could have laser vision and see straight through your pants there.” I put my fingers on either side of my forehead and stared hard at her. “I can see that you are wearing your Wednesday underwear on a Friday.” I clicked my tongue with a shake of my head. “Naughty naughty. You should do your laundry.”
Mandy shoved my hands down from my head with an impatient sound. “Jane, be serious. You can get in a lot of trouble pretending to be something you’re not, and how would you help anyway? Have your angels go find her?”
“Actually, for your information, the guys each have special abilities that they lend me for such occasions.” I opened my mouth to keep going but snapped it shut.
“What is it?” Mandy asked.
I growled and shoved a hand through my hair. “We’re kind of on the outs right now. Probably have to fix that.”
Mandy snort laughed. “You’re on the outs with your imaginary friends? How is that possible?”
Shooting her a sideways look, I clipped, “They were getting handsy, which is incredibly frustrating when they’re not only super hot, but can’t actually touch you.” Not waiting for an answer, I started toward my mother once more.
I sat next to her on the bench. She didn’t look away from the window even as the cushion dipped my way. I placed a hand on her shoulder, startling her. Her grey-blue eyes focused in on me and a smile spread across her lips, showing the lines on her face.
“Jane, dear. When did you get here?”
“I just got here.” I hugged her slightly before sitting back on the bench. “Mandy’s here too.”
“Hey, Mrs. Mehr.” Mandy sat on the chair opposite of us. “It’s good to see you.”
Penny Mehr was a beautiful woman. People say I am the spitting image of her, but she’s better. Even at her age, she was still the most devastatingly beautiful person I’d ever met. But she’s my mom, so I might be biased.
“Mandy, you’ve gotten so tall.” My mom smiled at her. “And you’ve made detective I see.”
Mandy shrugged and scratched her ear, her tell that she was uncomfortable with my mom’s compliments. “Yeah, just recently actually.”
“I’m going to help them with a case,” I blurted out suddenly. Mandy gave me a warning look, but I ignored her. “Some guy at the bar liked how I got his suspect to talk, and now they want me to use my special powers to help them solve cases.”
“One.” Mandy held her finger up. “One case. And you haven’t even been accepted yet.”
“Working for the police, oh that sounds exciting.” My mom said as we pretended like we hadn’t even heard Mandy. “Are the boys all right helping you? I assume you did ask them?”
“Uh …”
“They’re fighting,” Mandy interjected, and I glared at her. She smiled smugly, her arms over her chest.
“Fighting?” My mom glanced at Mandy and me. “Jane, what did you do now?”
I scoffed. “Why does it have to be something I did?”
My mom leveled a look at me.
“Fine.” I threw my hands up. “I lost my temper and blew up on them. But you would have too if they kept flaunting their hotness at you but never put out.”
Most mothers would have chastised me for being crude but not my mother. She threw her head back and laughed, a tinkling sound that warmed my heart. “Oh, to be young again. I remember when Raphael used to hang around me all the time. I was half in love with the angel by the time your father came around. But let me tell you,” - she fanned herself with a wistful smile - “he was hot.”
“Mom!” I wrinkled my nose. “Gross.”
“So, you can talk about your sex life, but I can’t?” My mother rolled her eyes. “How is your sex life going? Outside of the boys?”
I did mention my mother sees angels too, didn’t I? Great isn’t it? Not really. While it was nice to have someone else with the same ability that I did, when mom got all nostalgic it could get awkward fast because you know… moms.
“Non-existent, mom.” I hoped that would be the end of it, but of course, it wasn’t.
“You know, if you need help finding someone, the Petersons’ son is back from the Middle East and I’m sure would be happy to see you.” She had a twinkle in her eyes that made me think she had more than seeing in mind for him and me.
“Darrell?” I asked, a disgusted look on my face. “He used to throw mud in my hair.”
“He was ten,” my mother reminded me.