Free Odd Stuff by Virginia Nelson Page B

I have missed you so much!” 
    I grinned at her. “Same goes, witch.”
    “Sit down, and gimme the long version of what’s been going on.” 
    So, I did. I left out all of the vampire kissing. Girl talk was okay if the guy had a pulse. When he didn’t, you wondered if you had flipped your lid. You do not gush over that which you yourself know was stupid. Knowing Mia, she guessed anyway. She chewed her lip when I got toward the end and I finished with, “So, now that you’re back—” 
    “I’m not.” She shook her head, bells in her hair clip musically emphasizing her gesture. “I’m still in hiding.” 
    I quirked a brow at her. In hiding did not fit sitting in a public place chatting it up.
    “So, I’m not very good at hiding! Anyway, can you keep covering for me?”
    “Why?”
    “Well, aside from the whole police thing,” she began, rolling her eyes, “someone is trying to kill me. I think it has something to do with Vance.”
    “Uh, huh. He said as much.”
    “Well, I have to try to get to the bottom of it before they stake me, too.”
    I nodded. Then I shook my head. “The police can help. I mean, say they lock you up? Great! Hard to stake someone in jail.”
    “Not so much. These aren’t exactly normal people we’re dealing with here. We have shifters, witches, vampires and drug lords, none of which are fond of Vance. If they want to get me, they will find a way around jail. My only chance is to keep moving and hope I can stay ahead of the pack.” 
    “Uh, huh.” I raised my eyebrows at her to show her I thought she was nuts.
    “You saw last night that I am not nuts.”
    Couldn’t argue with that. Unless I really had gone bonkers myself, which was still on the table.
    “I’m a mom. I can’t do this.” 
    “Yeah, but you are also my best friend. And Vickie must be okay or you would have shipped her off to your mom’s by now.” 
    I frowned. True. “But I found a freaking vampire in your kitchen last night. That is not a safe thing to have in the house with a nine year old.” 
    She nodded and nibbled a carrot stick. “The vampire in question would crawl into the sun before biting a child. I know, he’s a good friend of mine.” 
    “That’s swell. I don’t know him from Lestat.”
    She laughed. “At least you’ve kept your sense of humor.” 
    “Had to, or the divorce would have broken me.”
    “How on earth did you end up divorced, anyway? I mean you are a—” 
    I stuck a hand over her mouth. “I am a normal woman and these things happen.”
    She shrugged. “Seems contradictory to your nature to give up that easily, for one. For another, seems contradictory that you would lose a man, anyway.”
    I pointed at her, “I reiterate, Normal Woman.”
    “Uh, huh. Just as normal as me.” She waved her fingertips and sparkles twinkled where she waved.
    “Shut up.” I frowned at her.
    “Okay, subject dropped. But what are you gonna do about Vance? I mean, hello, vampire .”
    “He has no clue that there is anything wrong with me or anything that might happen between us.”
    Her turn to raise an eyebrow.
    I amended, “Well, no clue that he could possibly figure out.”
    “I wouldn’t put it past him. The whole ‘Janie meets a vampire’ thing is almost as intriguing as the stake murders. What would your mother say?”
    We laughed. I filled her in on the enrollment at the school, she gave me a few leads to chase on who might be after Vance on the normal end of things. Or as normal as there was, considering…
    Then she left, taking sunshine and laughter with her. I stood watching her pull away and had a bad feeling I was going to have to figure this whole mess out myself if I wanted my life back. 
     
    ~
     
    I headed for Jefferson, a nearby village. Only about twelve miles from Ashtabula, Jefferson offered a courthouse, three pharmacies, two fast food places, two pizza places and a gazebo. That was about it. Oh, and about four covered bridges and the same number