Stranger Danger (Lucy McGuffin, Psychic Amateur Detective 4)

“Lucy—” he pleads.

But I don’t hear the rest of what he’s saying because I’m already out the door with Paco on my heels. I sit in my car, too agitated to turn on the ignition.

My best friend has been lying to me for years, and my brother is in cahoots with the enemy (aka Heidi). And if that wasn’t enough, some … con man is running around impersonating J.W. Quicksilver, for what reasons, no one knows. I’m fake-dating the new cop in town, and if my mother finds out I’ve been lying to her about it, she’ll make me join Young Catholic Singles. Well, technically, since I’m twenty-six and financially independent, she can’t make me do anything, but she’ll guilt me into joining because I don’t have the guts to stand up to her.

My brother is right. My life is a mess.

Chapter Two

I get back to The Bistro by the Beach just in time to help with the last-minute lunch crowd. “Thanks for letting me sneak out for a few minutes,” I tell Sarah.

“No problem.” Sarah is a few years older than me, blonde, blue-eyed, gorgeous, calm, cool, and collected. She also makes the best macaroni and cheese you’ve ever tasted. Her husband, Luke, owns an environmental engineering firm and does quite well for himself. Besides being my business partner, she’s a good friend and my role model. When I grow up, I want to be just like her. Something I’m not doing a very good job with, considering how I stormed out of my brother’s office.

The last customer in line picks up his order. “What did you need to talk to Sebastian about? Or is it none of my business?” asks Sarah.

Since Sebastian was a bust, I might as well confide in her. Which is probably what I should have done from the beginning. Sarah is one of the few people who know both about my gift and about my feelings for Will. She’s been after me to come clean with him for some time now.

“You’ll be happy to know that Will and I finally had the talk.”

Her mouth hangs open for a second, then snaps back shut. “And?”

“And he said he felt the same way. Then he kissed me.”

She squeals, which draws the attention of a few of our seated customers, as well as Paco, who looks up at me from his place behind the counter. “Was it fabulous?”

“The kiss? I mean, sure, it was great.”

“Great?” She makes a face. “Girl, I want to hear that you saw fireworks and … oh, does this mean you liked Travis’s kiss better?”

Travis Fontaine, my fake boyfriend, kissed me a couple of weeks ago. He wants us to date for real but not until I sort out my feelings for Will.

“It’s not a case of better. They were just … different.” Even though I don’t have a lot of experience in this department, both kisses were pretty good. I thought that once I kissed Will, any feelings I had for Travis would disappear, but that isn’t the case, which means I’m still confused. “Right after Will kissed me, he lied to me.”

Sarah’s eyes widen. “What about?”

I wince. “Sorry, I can’t tell you. It’s complicated.”

“It’s probably better that I don’t know, but Lucy, what are you going to do about Travis and Will?”

“I have no idea.”

She mulls this over a few seconds. “I was thinking, I know how much you hate owing Will money. That sort of thing always mucks up a relationship, so if it makes things easier, I could cover the loan. That way you’d owe me and not Will.”

When Sarah and I bought The Bistro earlier this year, I was ten thousand dollars short on my half of the down payment to qualify for the bank loan, so Will lent it to me. I’ve been trying like crazy to pay him back, but between my culinary school student loans and Paco’s vet bill when he was poisoned by a crazy killer (that’s another story), I haven’t been able to come up with the dough. Will told me he was in no hurry to get paid back. At first, I was skeptical, because how much could he save as a small-town librarian? Now that I know he’s a world-famous author who goes around donating church roofs without blinking an eye, it makes sense. But Sarah is right. I want to pay him that money back ASAP because it doesn’t feel right between us until I do.

“That’s awful sweet of you, but it’s a lot of money. I already have the benefit of a free apartment.” The Bistro’s previous owners lived above the café in a two-bedroom, one-thousand-square-foot apartment that they renovated shortly before selling to us. Since Sarah’s husband, Luke, already had a house on the beach, they had no interest in moving here, so it only made sense that I’d be the one to get the apartment.

“And I have a husband who makes a lot of money,” says Sarah. “Besides, I saved up more for this place than what I ended up using, so it’s not a problem. Just say the word.”

This is tempting. And yeah, owing Sarah is better than owing Will, especially since she and I are already business partners. Ideally, though, I wouldn’t owe anyone money. Except the bank. We’ll be paying the mortgage on this place until we’re gray.

“I don’t know how long it might take me to pay you back in full.”

“No worries,” she says. “I actually have a few ideas about that.”

Before I can ask her what those ideas might be, the door to The Bistro opens, and Betty Jean Collins walks in, followed by Brittany Kelly. Brittany is the PR person for the chamber of commerce and my former nemesis. We went to high school together, but we were never friends until recently. Sometimes she can be a royal pain in my gluteus maximus, but she has some great qualities. She’s feisty and loyal, and if you’re ever being held hostage by a madman, you can totally count on her. The only problem is she’s got a crush on Will. In her defense, she has no idea how I feel about him, which complicates things to no end.

“Well, hello, Lucy.” Betty Jean saunters to the counter with the most self-satisfied smile I’ve ever seen, which is saying a lot because she generally walks around town like she owns the place.