A narrow path led to a wooden dock where two good-sized boats sat on the huge lake.
"Your home is beautiful, Angelina," Sophie said.
Angelina wiped her hands on a towel and came to the window. "Thank you. We love it here. It's so quiet. In the summer you can hear the cicadas sing and watch the lightning bugs do their dances across the black night."
She loved her trailer, but it was surrounded by nothing but dust, gravel, and a sparse collection of very wimpy looking trees. Here there were fat willows sweeping the ground, so thick you could hide within their branches. She sighed, knowing it did no good to want what she couldn't have.
"I'll have Logan show you around later," Angelina said, patting her shoulder.
"I don't think he'll be very willing."
Angelina gave her an enigmatic smile. "You let me worry about that part. Come, dinner's ready. Let's take everything out to the table."
53
Jaci Burton
Chapter Seven
There was too much food. Shrimp, crawfish, rice, beans and plenty to drink to go along with it.
Sophie stared wide-eyed at the plate in front of her, then looked over at Angelina, who'd filled it for her.
"Surely you can't be serious."
"It's not that much, cher. Enjoy it."
She ate, her mouth taking in the wonderful Cajun flavors as if it hadn't been fed for months. The Storm family definitely knew how to cook.
"Sophie, tell me a little about yourself."
Her gaze shifted towards Galen's strong voice.
Dilemma. How much should she reveal? She quickly looked to Angelina, who nodded and patted her hand.
"It's perfectly all right to be honest, ma belle. No one here will tell your secrets."
Such confidence Angelina had in her family. Sophie felt like this had suddenly become a very big deal.
"I come from a very long line of voodoo priestesses," she started, then paused as she waited for shocked or disbelieving expressions.
Surprisingly, no one batted an eyelash. No one but Logan, who arched a brow as if he was waiting for her to spew a stream of lies.
"Go on," Angelina prodded.
"When my parents died, I went to live with my Aunt Janine, who also practiced magic. She taught me to tap into the resources available to me. Turns out I listened pretty well, so after college I decided to open a shop in the Quarter. My aunt had saved 54
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the inheritance money my parents had left, and gave it to me as a graduation gift so I had the capital to fund my business."
"Whoa, back up a second," Logan interrupted. "You went to college?"
"Sure I did."
"Did you finish?"
"Yes, Logan, I finished." Was that a big deal?
"What was your degree?"
"Am I being interviewed for a job? Would you also like to see my resume?"
Aidan laughed so hard he spit out the piece of bread he'd just taken a bite of.
"Aidan Storm! Mon Dieu. Close your mouth!"
"Sorry, Mom," he said, still chuckling.
"No, you're not being interviewed," Logan continued, glaring at Aidan. "Just curious what you majored in."
Sure sounded like a job interview. "Psychology. And since you asked, I also got my masters and Ph.D. And yes, from legitimate, accredited colleges, not internet or mail order." Because she just knew that's what he'd think.
"Holy shit, you're a Ph.D.?" Aidan exclaimed.
"Aidan," Angelina warned.
"Sorry. Again. Shutting up now."
"Good idea," Lissa said, cramming another piece of bread in his mouth.
Sophie laughed.
"You've got to be in your mid-twenties, right?" Logan asked.
"Asking my age is illegal in a job interview."
Now it was Max's turn to choke.
Angelina rolled her eyes. "Boys. Really. Logan, you're browbeating poor Sophie.
Leave her alone."
55
Jaci Burton
"I don't mind, Angelina." She looked at Logan again and said, "Yes, I'm twenty-five. I graduated high school at sixteen, finished my Bachelor's in two years, my Master's in a year and my Ph.D. the year after that."
"Dayum," Aidan said. Lissa threatened him by holding up an even larger slice of bread.
"Wow, Sophie, you must be a genius. Congratulations."
Sophie blushed at Shannon's comment. "Thank you. I just happened to do well in school."
"Do well?" Shannon exclaimed. "Hell, you're obviously quite gifted to get through school that quickly. I'm impressed."
"I'll be damned," Logan whispered as he stared at the wine swirling around in his glass. When he looked up, Sophie was mesmerized by his crystal blue eyes. They seemed to hold her transfixed.
"You have a doctorate in psychology, and yet you run a cosmic voodoo shop in the Quarter."
"It's not a cosmic voodoo shop. It's what I do and it's a legitimate business. I love my job."
"So, in other words, you could be really helping people, using your education and your intellectual gifts to aid those who are suffering, and instead you choose to practice bullshit magic."
"Logan, I'm warning you," Angelina said.
The sky darkened outside as Angelina glared at Logan, a rumble of thunder shaking the floor underneath her. Then just as suddenly, the clouds lifted. Angelina focused again on Sophie. "Why did you open the shop, cher?"
Conscious of everyone watching her, she kept her eyes on Angelina. "When I first began to learn about the magic inside me, I toyed with it, trying to figure out what I could do. As a child I was very curious. Then as I got older my magic grew more 56
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powerful. I worked on it all the time and discovered I had a knack for foretelling--
predicting the future, I guess you'd say. I could 'feel' people. Inside of them. Not only where they'd been, but where they were going." She rubbed her forehead. "It's kind of hard to explain."
"I think we know what you mean," Kaitlyn said. "Our magic is similar in a lot of respects, although I don't think it's as extensive as yours."
"Thanks." What a comfort it was to be around people who didn't think she was some kind of bizarre mutant. At least most of the people seated at the table felt that way.
"Anyway, I discovered that I could accurately predict the future...at least as it related to people, not necessarily events. So don't ask me the lottery numbers for next week because I don't know those."
Everyone laughed. Everyone except Logan, who regarded her with an expression akin to utter disbelief. She refused to let him intimidate her.
"So you decided to set up your shop so you could tell people their future?" Lissa asked.
"Sort of. I also spent some time interning with a social worker and a practicing psychologist, so I try to blend a little magic and foretelling of the future with practical advice. Some people come to me thinking I can solve all their problems, when telling their future won't help them at all. I keep a list of social workers and licensed psychotherapists that I refer people to if I feel they need it."
"Aha, so in essence you are using your education to help people," Max said.
"I'd like to think so. I hope so. There are a lot of very lonely people in the world.
People who just want someone to listen to them while they reason out their problems."
"It seems like such a waste," Logan said. "You open up a shop, dole out advice from your crystal ball for a few bucks a pop instead of really helping people."
Undaunted by Logan's viewpoint, she said, "I am helping people. People who don't have the money for mental or social health treatment, or those who are too afraid of modern medicine to go to the professionals for help with their problems. Those people 57
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are the ones who come to me. And I spend a little time with them, talk out their problems, and by the time I'm finished I can usually get them to agree to seek professional help."
"I think what you're doing is admirable, Sophie," Angelina said. "And you're right.
There are those who stay with the old ways. People who need the kind of help you provide. You're not so much telling their future as you are helping them understand how their pasts affect their futures."
Finally, someone understood her. She beamed under Angelina's praise. "Thank you. I don't know about admirable, but it fulfills me, if that makes sense."
"It does."
Satisfied that she'd at least managed to win over Logan's family, she relaxed and enjoyed the rest of dinner, listening to them argue and talk over one another. Logan stayed silent, but at least didn't challenge her further.
So Logan didn't admire what she did. So what? It wasn't like she'd ever needed his approval, anyway. She did what she did because it was her destiny. She had no other choice, and wouldn't change it even if she could.
At least his family had embraced her and didn't ridicule her for what she did.
It was times like these that Sophie wished she'd had brothers and sisters. She regularly shared dinner with Sam and Joshua, but it wasn't the same as real family. Her own family.
An intense longing came over her. The need to have someone to love, and a family that loved her.