Hacienda Moon (The Path Seekers) Read Free

Emerald Isle. It was as if she still felt the sun beaming down on her shoulders as she and her daughter enjoyed time off from pre-school and work that stolen day. Back when life was simple, even though the end had already taken roots without Tandie knowing it.
     
    Sighing, she opened her eyes and stared at Breena. “You’re still not going to talk to me, huh?” Tears blurred her vision, and the pill bottle sitting on the desk by the window pulled at her for the first time in weeks. It was the strangest thing, because she didn’t remember putting it there.
     
    “We can do this. You’re better than that bottle,” she said aloud, a swift calm washing over her.
     
    Tandie fidgeted with Breena’s pink topaz ring she had worn dutifully around her neck since the car accident two years ago. Breena used to say that the rose-shaped stone was her magic rock for talking to the fairy people. Now it served as a salve for Tandie.
     
    Although her ex-husband fought to have the ring buried along with their daughter, Tandie raged a mother’s war during their final meeting at the funeral home. He’d already betrayed her with his adulterous behavior throughout the years. But bringing the other woman to the funeral humiliated her beyond words. She took a stand and did what she believed was the right thing to do. She refused to let him take everything.
     
    The ring once belonged to a powerful Lumbee medicine woman on Grandma Zee’s side, making it an extra special keepsake. In the end, the “grieving mother” was allowed her remembrance token. Tandie walked out of the room and her ex-husband’s life for good that day.
     
    “Don’t stay mad at me too long, Baby B. Okay?”
     
     
     
     
    2
     
     
     
    Stepping out of his Jeep, Eric’s nostrils were assaulted by the salty aroma coming off the ocean. The intensity was less dank than the air around the swamplands back in New Orleans, but still held its own little kick. His heart sped up a bit. He never realized how much leaving Castle Hayne had affected him until now.
     
    Walking into the Aeneid, he took in his surroundings. The old bar owned by his good buddy, Virgil McKinnon, sat on a street that was close to the coastline. The building’s exterior faced the shores leading to the ocean. The boy he used to play lacrosse with as a kid had done well for himself.
     
    On Thursday night, the place seemed a bit deserted. Several booths along the walls remained open and tables set up along the middle aisles were empty. Three waitresses too many waited on the few patrons already seated. The small stage set up diagonally across the room from the entrance was occupied by a woman reading poetry while a male pianist played a soft tune. Leave it to his best friend to know how to run a club that set just the right mood. The tourists ate this little spot up during peak season, no doubt.
     
    Eric chose the next to last booth on the right side of the club all the way in back. With no overhead lights near the doorway, he’d be able to surprise his friend.
     
    “Eric Super Cute Cheeks Fontalvo,” the woman’s voice said from behind him. So much for stealth tactics. A noise similar to a squeak shrilled into his right ear, and then he was tackled by arms and perfume. There was only one woman it could be—Abby Poole, Virgil’s baby sister. “It really is you. Oh my god! Nobody told me you were back here in these parts.”
     
    “I’ve been laying low. You know how it is around here every time I come to town. I always find out I slept with about ten of your friends before I leave.”
     
    “Do you think you can hide your sweet cheeks?” She pushed him toward the wall, reached down, and pinched his ass. Glancing around at the Aeneid’s patrons, he felt his face heat up. She could still make him blush after all these years.
     
    “Behave. That is, if you can,” Eric said, his face flushed.
     
    “Why should I want to behave with you back here in this town? Should have told me you