Page 140 of Shattered By the Currents

“We were talking about Herbert and Lotus.”

Her smile slipped. “Does Lotus mean anything to you guys?”

“Not yet.” But they’d keep digging.

She nodded.

His gaze caught on Maureen as she stepped inside the café. “Has Maureen offered you a reading yet?”

Just like he’d hoped, her smile returned. “She offers me one every other day.”

“And you don’t take her up on her offer?”

Raven lifted a shoulder. “I like life to surprise me…most of the time, at least.”

“Was I a nice surprise?”

“You were the best kind.” She glanced across at Ryan. “Maureen did say something interesting a couple weeks ago.”

“If she was looking at your palm while she said it, I’d take it with a pinch of salt.”

“No. She was looking at Ryan. She said she sees love in his future.”

Connor glanced at his friend. Ryan had eased up this last week. He was still pissed as hell that Ferris was allowing the movie shoot, after everything the town had been through, but he wasn’t walking around growling at everyone in his vicinity.

Thank God. The guy growled enough as it was.

Maureen stopped at their table, a yellow flower in her hand. “Hi, everyone. Having a well-deserved rest after taking down more of the town crazies?”

“According to Ward, taking down the bad guy was all him.” Zac scoffed.

“Argh. That old man has an ego the size of Texas.” Her smile widened. “You hear the news about the movie?”

Ryan lifted his coffee. “Yeah, apparently there’s no stopping it.”

“Why would you want to stop it?” Maureen asked, bewildered. “The stars and tourism it will bring to our town will be fantastic. Did you hear about the poor leading actress and her accident, though?”

Ryan tensed, but it was Zac who asked, “Is she okay?”

“No. Car crash. It was so bad that, apparently, she’s in a coma. They’ve had to recast the part.”

Ryan choked on his coffee before looking at Maureen. “Who’d they cast?”

She lifted a shoulder. “Not sure. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

It probably wasn’t Emily. But by the look on Ryan’s face, he wasn’t going to relax until he knew for sure.

“Have a good day, boys,” Maureen called over her shoulder as she headed toward the counter.

Maureen had barely left before Ryan was on his feet. “I’ve got to go.”

“Ryan, come on,” Connor started. “Finish your coffee.”

“I’ll see you later.”

As the door to Bloom closed behind him, Connor sighed.

“Is he okay?” Raven asked.