Goddess of the Sea Read Free Page B

generously reserved a ticket for you to the Andy Williams Moon River Theater, one of the most popular and long-running shows in Branson!”
    CC couldn’t stop the bleak groan that escaped her lips.
    â€œOh, I can well understand your excitement!” Jess gushed. “We’ll be sending you the official information packet in the mail. Just let me double-check your address . . .”
    CC heard herself woodenly confirming her address.
    â€œOkay! I think that’s all the information we need. You have a lovely evening, Miss Canady, and a very happy twenty-second birthday!” Jess Brown cheerfully clicked off the line.
    â€œBut where is Branson?” CC asked the dial tone.

CHAPTER TWO
    THAT’S right!” CC shouted at the TV, sloshing champagne onto the carpet as she raised her glass dramatically. “Click him off, girlfriends! Jack Nicholson wasn’t cute, anyway—it was the three of you who really had the magic the whole time.”
    CC hardly noticed her unsteadiness as she got to her feet to dance the Woman’s Magic Victory Dance while the movie credits rolled.
    â€œMr. Phone.” She took a break from her Victory Dance to catch her breath. Fleetingly, she wondered just who had eaten all that KFC.
    Mr. Phone seemed to be smiling at her from his place on the couch.
    â€œDo you know that women have all the magic?”
    He didn’t answer.
    â€œOf course you don’t—you’re a phone!” CC giggled. “You didn’t even know I was twenty-five instead of twenty-two.” She laughed until she snorted. “But you do now. And after watching that most excellent movie, you should know that women have magic, too.”
    Mr. Phone seemed skeptical.
    â€œIt’s true! Didn’t Cher and Michelle and Susan just prove it?” CC wobbled, but only a little. “Oh, I see what you mean. You think they have magic, but you don’t really believe that an ordinary woman, like me, could have magic.”
    CC couldn’t be entirely sure, but he appeared to be willing to listen.
    â€œOkay. You may be right, but what if you’re not? What if women really do have something within them, and we just have to find it? Like they did.” CC felt the spark of an idea, and her brow wrinkled in an attempt at concentration. “They didn’t believe it at first, either, but that didn’t stop it from working. Maybe it doesn’t matter if you’re ordinary-looking, or if you’re new somewhere and you don’t have any friends yet.” Or, CC’s mind added, if your birthday has been forgotten. “Maybe all it takes is a leap of faith.”
    And a milky light flashed in the corner of her left eye, breaking her concentration.
    What the . . . ? A little shiver of trepidation fingered its way down the nape of her neck.
    The light was coming from behind the closed drapes that shrouded the patio doors leading to her balcony.
    CC checked the VCR clock. The digital numbers read 10:05 P.M.
    â€œMust be the streetlights,” she told Mr. Phone, but her eyes remained riveted on the captivating glimpse of brightness. The sliver of light she could see had an odd quality, totally unlike the sterile brightness of streetlights.
    â€œCould be headlights from a parked car.” But as she said it she knew it couldn’t be true. Not in her top floor apartment. Car headlights didn’t shine up . They also didn’t have a quality of warmth that made her want to bathe herself in them.
    CC’s feet took her to the drapes before she consciously told them to move.
    â€œYou asked for some magic,” she whispered. Slowly, like she was moving through the sweet twilight between awake and asleep, she reached up and parted the curtains.
    â€œOhhhh . . .” The word came out on a breath. “It is magic.”
    The full moon hung perfect and luminous above her as if the goddess Diana herself had placed it there as a birthday