She was exhausted and weak. She hadn’t eaten all day. Her body hurt—every muscle screaming. And still, she was aroused. Or at least horny.
Steam rose into the room, inviting her to step into the shower. It felt amazing having the water sluice over her sensitive skin. It didn’t replace what she really needed, but it was better than nothing.
After the longest, slowest-moving shower in the history of bathing, she stepped out and wrapped her body in a large fluffy towel to pad from the room and face her sister.
Melinda sat on her bed. She had changed the sheets and gathered up the laundry in a pile in the corner. She smiled. “It smelled like sex in here. I hope you don’t mind me tidying up a bit.”
Laurie blushed, but Melinda was a welcome presence, so she ignored the sex comment. She stepped across the room and grabbed clean panties and a loose T-shirt from her bag. She didn’t have enough clothes to go much longer. She hadn’t thought hard before leaving Cambridge.
Without an ounce of modesty, she dropped her towel and shrugged into her panties, wincing as the cotton touched her skin. The shirt came next. And then she eased onto the bed to sit at the head as if she’d been sick for months and barely had the strength to move.
That wasn’t far from how she actually felt.
“You gonna talk to me now?” Melinda asked.
“Depends. You gonna lecture me?”
“Maybe. You done trying to prove a moot point?”
“Nope.”
“Then I’m going to lecture you.”
Laurie lowered her gaze. She was losing this battle, but she wasn’t one who enjoyed admitting defeat. “How’s the weather?”
“The weather’s fine. You think you’re God?”
“Nope.”
“Then come home. Your mates need you. From the looks of you, you’ve fared worse than them. You need them.” She waved a hand through the air in Laurie’s general direction. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Prove a point you can’t prove? So what if the weather doesn’t behave in your absence. What does that prove?”
Laurie shrugged.
“You know, Mimi thinks this is crazy, but she didn’t want me to come here either. She was of the opinion that we should let you play this out.”
“Smart woman.”
“I think you’re stubborn, and the spirits are going to be pissed off for your misunderstanding. Whatever they want, it isn’t this.”
“How do you know?”
Melinda hauled a leg onto the bed and twisted her body to face Laurie head on. “I’ve been in touch with my shaman side far longer than you. Most of my life, in fact. You’ve been dealing with supernatural experiences for less than two weeks.”
Laurie started to respond to that, and Melinda held up a hand.
“I don’t mean that to be condescending. It’s simply a fact. I’ve been watching the weird occurrences in a forty mile radius for years. People have come to Mimi with spirit sightings for longer than that.
“Granted, most of them were seemingly innocuous. Nevertheless, in recent history I believe the spirits have been there to guide us to help mankind. Warnings we need to heed. In neither my case nor Rebecca’s did it seem the spirits wanted us to leave. Especially separate from our mates.”
Laurie shrugged. “Perhaps they don’t want me there.”
“That’s what your gut tells you?” Melinda narrowed her gaze. “Look me in the eye and tell me you honestly believe the reason for the sightings you’ve had of dark smoke coalescing into a shape in front of your face is to tell you to get out of town.”
Laurie didn’t move.
“You can’t. None of the sightings have left you with the vibe that the spirit was angry with you, right?”
“They’ve left me with nothing. That’s the problem.”
“So you think you can play God and decide what you believe the messages may be?”
“Hardly. I’m just testing a theory.”
“Really? And how’s that working?”
“Not well,” Laurie mumbled.
“So come home.”
“I’ve come this far. I’d rather see it through.”
“You’d leave two men sitting on their asses in Cambridge in a completely frantic state to prove a point? For how long? Days? Weeks? Months?”
“I told them three days.”
“Three days?” Melinda raised her voice. “This being the end of day one?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane. I know we haven’t known each other long, and it’s difficult for me to sit here in judgment of your choices, but Laurie, think about how much you’re hurting.” She paused. “Don’t deny it. I can see the pain on your face. You must feel like you’ve been through a tornado that picked you up, carried you two states away, and dropped you.”