Crossroads Read Free Page B

against her arm and just for a moment she could have sworn she had heard Jake’s voice.
    Shaking off the strange feeling she stepped out of the door and headed towards the strange little cottage.
     
    Jake shivered as he crossed Olivia’s doorway, feeling as if someone had just stepped over his grave. Unwrapping his scarf and removing his hat he closed the door behind him.
    ‘Roni?’ he called out.
    ‘In here,’ a muffled voice replied from the library.
    ‘I thought I might find you in here,’ he frowned as he looked around at the stacks of boxes which she was filling with paperwork and books. ‘What on earth are you doing?’
    ‘Well ultimately I’m going to be organizing all this for Olivia,’ she looked around at the boxes she’d already filled, ‘it’s an absolute mess in here. Olivia and I had already discussed sorting through all of this so she could clean and redecorate.’
    ‘So while she’s gone you’re going to clean up her mess?’ his mouth curved in amusement.
    ‘No, not exactly,’ she tucked her hair behind her ear and frowned, ‘well…yes I mean, that is a byproduct but you’re missing the point.’
    ‘Which is?’
    ‘There are hundreds of years of books on magic and lore in here. Some of these books I’ve never even heard of before, I’m willing to bet they’re one of a kind. I doubt even Olivia fully understands the significance of what she’s got here. These are the most comprehensive resources on the occult I have ever seen, I don’t know how they managed to squeeze so much into one room.’
    ‘So you decided to catalog it all?’
    ‘Laugh all you like, but it’s like a balm to my frazzled soul,’ she blew out a deep breath and turned her serious blue eyes on him. ‘It makes me happy when things are categorized and in alphabetical order, it helps my stress levels.’
    Jake bit back a smile, she was so cute.
    ‘I need to feel like I’m doing something,’ Veronica sighed as she dropped down on the arm of the tatty old sofa.
    ‘I know’ Jake replied seriously as he stepped closer.
    ‘I just figured that somewhere in amongst all this stuff there has to be an answer, a solution,’ she shrugged helplessly. ‘Some way to cross the Veil and help them or at the very least allow us to communicate with them.’
    ‘That’s actually a very good idea,’ Jake frowned thoughtfully, picking up a book at random he leafed through it idly, ‘have you found anything helpful?’
    ‘Not yet’ she shook her head, ‘I was just going to pack this stuff up and move it back to my apartment to sort through. I don’t like being out here by myself so close to the lake, I know the gateway’s closed…but still.’
    ‘That’s understandable.’
    ‘What are you doing here anyway?’ she frowned. ‘You’re not still checking up on me are you?’
    ‘No,’ his mouth curved again in amusement as he dropped the book back into the pile. He knew she got really annoyed when she thought he was checking up on her. He probably didn’t need to mention that she hadn’t been out of his sight much since the gateway opened in the first place. ‘I was just picking up the spare bag of food for Beau. I figured I’d use that up before I go and buy more.
    Her scowl softened at the mention of Olivia and Theo’s cute little pup.
    ‘How is he settling in at your place?’
    ‘He keeps crying for them,’ Jake scratched the back of his neck thoughtfully, ‘but he’s slowly adjusting. Problem is, he shouldn’t really be left on his own and I can’t really keep him with me all the time.’
    ‘If you need to, you can drop him by my place or the museum,’ she looked up at him. ‘I’ll watch him when you’re busy.’
    ‘I might just do that’ he murmured as he studied her face. ‘Have you spoken with Mayor Burnett at all?’
    ‘A few times’ Veronica nodded, ‘mostly just about things concerning the museum, when it comes to Olivia and Theo she’s still not very forthcoming with information.