Date Next Door

“For some reason, I had a feeling you were in some sort of danger. Silly, I know, but…well, I had to call.”

Nic couldn’t help but smile. Aislinn could deny all she wanted that she had psychic abilities, but if she had picked up on the minor incident tonight, her abilities were much stronger than she wanted to admit.

“There was a fight after the game between some of the rival schoolkids. Well, almost a fight. I got in the middle of it and broke it up, along with some help from Joel and his friends and a security officer. It might have turned ugly if we hadn’t been there to stop it, but it was over almost before it began. I was never in danger.”

“A fight, huh?” Aislinn was quiet for a few minutes, as if trying to make the facts fit with her feelings.

“I suppose that could be it,” she conceded eventually, though she still sounded hesitant. “You weren’t hurt or anything, were you?”

“Not even a scratch. They were just kids—and skinny ones, at that.”

“Okay. Good. So you’re having a good time?”

“Let’s just say I’m not ready to slit my wrists. Yet.”

Aislinn laughed. “I’ll take that as a good sign. What are you doing now? Did I get you out of bed?”

“No, Joel and I were just about to have some hot chocolate. Actually, here he is now.” She smiled up at him as he stood over her, two steaming, marshmallow-topped mu

gs in his hands. “Aislinn says hi.”

“Tell her hi back. She checking to see if you’ve bolted yet?”

“Pretty much. Joel says hi, Aislinn.”

“I’ll let you enjoy your cocoa. Have fun tomorrow. And, Nic…be careful, okay?”

“Yeah, sure. Of course. You know me, I’m always careful.”

“Right.” Aislinn didn’t sound overly confident when she disconnected.

“What was that all about?” Joel asked as he handed Nic her mug, then sank onto the couch beside her.

Nic dropped her phone back into her tote bag and shrugged. “With Aislinn, who knows? She had a feeling that I was in danger, so she had to call.”

“In danger? Here?” The slight alarm in Joel’s expression was an indication of how seriously he had learned to take Aislinn’s vague warnings. “What did she say?”

Licking marshmallow off her lip, Nic shook her head reassuringly. “I told her about the fight we broke up at the ballpark. She agreed that was probably what had set off her…well, her intuition or whatever the heck it is that gives her those feelings. She felt a lot better after I told her how minor the whole thing was.”

“So she somehow picked up that you were in the middle of a fight earlier and she felt compelled to call and make sure you were okay.”

“Yeah. Basically.” Nic took another sip of her cocoa, enjoying the rich taste as it slid across her tongue.

“You have odd friends, Nic.”

She laughed. “You can say that after we just spent the evening with Heidi and the Watson twins?”

Looking rueful, Joel nodded. “Okay, you’ve got a point there.”

“You make really good cocoa. This is delicious.”

Smiling, he reached out to smooth a bit of marshmallow off her lip with the ball of his thumb. “It’s a mix. Add boiling water and stir.”

For some reason, she was suddenly flustered. She cleared her throat, looked into her mug and babbled, “No kidding? It’s better than the mixes I buy.”

Joel’s voice sounded a little strained when he replied. “Mom makes it herself using powdered milk and cocoa and stuff. I don’t know what else is in it. A little cinnamon, I think.”

“Maybe she’ll give me the recipe before we leave.”