“Excuse me, but did you just call my father crazy?” Mike stepped forward to defend his parent.
“Pot and kettle,” Edward muttered.
“Just how do you know this woman?” Mike asked.
“Ask her,” Edward said.
Amber turned to Clara. “Well?”
“I’ll explain in a moment,” she said to Mike and Amber. She glanced at Edward. “Now, what in the name of the Goddess were you thinking, making that animal your pet, you crazy old coot!” Clara asked him. “You’re nuttier than you were seven years ago!”
“And you’re bossier,” Edward snapped.
“Age will do that to you.”
Watching the byplay, Amber shook her head in dismay. Clara hadn’t mentioned knowing Edward before. And worse, the mild-mannered Clara Deveaux Amber had met in her shop had been replaced by a strong, take-charge woman with an agenda, leaving Amber feeling betrayed.
“How could you have deceived me that way?” Amber asked Clara. “I invited you here to help hi
m and you used me to…to what?” She splayed her arms in front of her, frustrated and annoyed.
She couldn’t bring herself to look at Mike. Beyond his confusion, Amber was sure there was anger simmering below the surface. Anger at Amber for bringing this woman into his father’s already off-kilter world, creating more chaos and causing him obvious pain.
“I should have told you…” Clara stepped toward Amber.
“That’s right, you should have,” Amber said.
Beside her, Amber felt Mike’s curious stare, but he remained quiet. Obviously, he was content to observe and find out just what kind of trouble Amber had caused him now.
“Honey, when you first came into the shop, you were just another customer.” Clara touched Amber’s shoulder.
“And when you realized I was talking about the Corwins?” Chilled, Amber ran her hands up and down her arms, shocked she’d been taken in by this woman.
“You were talking about us to this stranger?” Mike asked, his voice hard.
“I was looking to buy a gift for my father-in-law. I said he believed in curses and I wanted something to show him I respected his beliefs, something that would help him,” Amber said. “She drew the conclusion after I gave her my full name.”
Mike nodded slowly, seeming to accept that explanation, and Amber’s guilt eased a little.
“Edward and I knew each other a lifetime ago—” Clara’s stare drifted toward Edward and lingered, softening.
“One I wish I’d never lived!” the other man shouted at her.
“Oh, be quiet, I’m talking to Amber.” Clara waved a hand, causing her bangles to clink together the way Amber remembered.
Mike blinked. “They’re bickering like some old…couple,” he said to Amber under his breath.
She nodded, having caught those same undercurrents. Shocked, Amber merely glanced at Edward, expecting him to balk at being told what to do, but to her surprise, Edward crossed his arms over his chest and heeded Clara’s words. He shut up.
Though Clara spoke to Edward in a no-nonsense tone he understood and respected, there was no mistaking how her whole expression changed, grew softer and more caring when her gaze fell on him.
“I don’t know what to say,” Mike said.
“Beats me,” Amber said. But realizing Clara had genuine feelings for Edward allowed Amber’s feelings of betrayal to let up. But she was still upset she’d been played for a fool.
Much the way Mike must have felt when he realized Amber had lied to him. For the first time, Amber not only knew what she’d done to him, she was able to empathize and feel his pain. She owed him an apology, not just for the omissions, but for getting angry when he hadn’t understood her so-called justification.
For now though, she turned her attention back to Edward and Clara.