Hearts on Fire Read Free Page B

crystal ball holds for you must be very important.” She took a deep breath before placing her hands on the ball. “Focus on the crystal, sir. Open your mind to possibilities.”
    Steve glared at the fortune-teller. Her eyes were closed while she made woo-woo sounds and waved her hands around. He barely contained his laughter. Absolutely ridiculous, but entertaining. He could see why people paid for a reading. The spectacle was worth a few bucks.
    “You aren’t concentrating.”
    “I am,” he lied. Tearing his gaze from the show, he leaned down and stared into the ball.
    “Yes,” she whispered. Her hands stilled in midair. “Do you see it?”
    “See what?”
    “Your future.” Suddenly, she bent over, cradled the ball in her hands, and stared at it as if it were the most interesting snow globe ever. “There’s a woman—”
    “Oh, no, there’s not.” He had a few female friends he thought of as fuck buddies, but there was no woman, and there never would be. Been there, done that, have the daughter to prove it.
    The charlatan continued as if he hadn’t spoken. “She needs you. She’s been wandering for a long time, but she wants to come home. She desires you, but she isn’t sure she can settle. The freedom of the road comforts her.”
    Theresa.
    “You must convince her to stay, to put down roots again, to trust, to love.”
    No way in hell.
    “You need someone to love you, to make a home with you and your daughter. You desire this woman. Open your heart to her, and you will see she is everything you want and need.”
    “Wait.” Steve snapped out of whatever spell she’d woven over him. “How did you know about my daughter?” He had buddies on the police force. If this crazy woman had been anywhere near his family, he would have her locked up for good.
    “The crystal showed her to me.”
    “Like it showed you my ex?” He stood, not caring who witnessed his angry outburst. “Stay away from me, and stay away from my daughter!”
    The old woman struggled to her feet. “The woman…she is not your former girlfriend. I know nothing about this person you speak of. This woman is in your future. She is very important in your life. You must not let her get away.”
    “Lady, I don’t know what you’re trying to pull, but the last thing I need or want in my life is a woman.” He towered over her, his patience and goodwill dissipating like summer rain on hot concrete. “Did Theresa put you up to this? Is she here?”
    As the idea occurred to him, he looked around, expecting to see Megan’s mother stroll out from behind a tree.
    “I do not know this Theresa you speak of.”
    “You described her—flighty, wanderer, can’t settle. That’s Theresa.”
    “This Theresa…she needs you?”
    “Hell, no. Theresa never needed anyone but herself.” Not even her daughter.
    “Then she is not the woman the crystal showed me. The woman in your future needs you. She has traveled many miles, searching for love. You must find her before she is lost to you.”
    Steve rubbed a hand over his face. She’s nuttier than a fruitcake. And you’re crazy to be listening to her. He swung his backpack off his shoulder, digging until he found the paper he wanted.
    “Here.” He handed her the citation for violating city code by having an open flame in her booth. “Pay the fine at City Hall before you leave town.”
    “I will, but you must listen—”
    “Save your show for someone who cares,” he said, walking away.
    Reaching the interior of the faire once again, Steve paused with his hands on his hips. Since the event wouldn’t open until later in the afternoon on this weekday, only a few people milled about. At the far end of the mock medieval village, a man dressed in jeans and a cowboy hat groomed one of several horses tethered to a makeshift hitching rail. A few craftspeople arranged their stock while food vendors opened their carts in preparation for the tourists expected later.
    He nodded at a guy pushing a