Lucky Charm Read Free Page A

flowered sundress.
    â€œBack at you!” Sharon gestured to Gabrielle’s hair, cut in the latest style. “I’m dying for a good haircut, but I can’t bring myself to trust anyone locally!”
    â€œI found this great stylist in Boston. If you’re serious, we can go next week and you can get it done.”
    Sharon nodded, her eyes filled with excitement. “I would love it. Maybe I’ll even cut it above my shoulders, like yours.”
    â€œYou’d look gorgeous with shorter hair.” Their conversation reminded Gabrielle of an adventure they’d shared in high school, when they’d both dyed their hair with hydrogen peroxide, hoping to become shining blondes. Instead, they’d wound up living with green hair until their mothers agreed to pay for a professional fix.
    â€œLet’s shop Boylston Street and Copley while we’re there,” Sharon said, making a disgusted face as she pulled on the fabric of her dress. “I need some new clothes.”
    Gabrielle laughed. Some things never changed. They both loved shopping. She and Sharon were just like sisters—sisters who never fought and just enjoyed each other’s company.
    Sharon led her inside and they sat in the living room decorated by photographs of Sharon and her brother and eclectic other odds and ends favored by Sharon’s mother.
    â€œI’m so grateful you came to give that lecture for Richard. He’s convinced that in order to beat Mary Perkins, he has to get rid of the townspeople’s fear.” Her friend was a huge supporter of Gabrielle’s work and kept the library stocked with her books.
    â€œMy pleasure.” Gabrielle reached out and squeezed her friend’s hand. “I’m so excited to be living close by you again.”
    Sharon leaned forward. “Same here. But right now, I want to know about your newest project. What do you have planned for your next book?”
    Gabrielle drew a deep breath. “I’m going to write about the Corwin Curse.” And hopefully dispel it for good.
    â€œWow.”
    â€œExactly. I’m going to do some research, as well as interview the Corwins and the Perkins. I’m determined to shed some light on this thing, once and for all,” Gabrielle said, definitively.
    For years, she had dispelled other paranormal rumors like ghost sightings or UFO reports, writing about everything but curses to try to heal her pain over losing Derek. But avoidance hadn’t helped. The Corwin Curse had taken the man she loved away from her because Derek was a believer. If not for that curse, Gabrielle would probably have married Derek and been the mother of his children. She’d still be a writer because it was in her blood, but her personal life would have played out so differently. It was time for her to deal with that, Gabrielle thought. She planned to face her past, define her future and confront old ghosts.
    â€œHow do you think they’ll react?” Sharon asked.
    Gabrielle shrugged. “I can’t worry about it. I need to do this for myself.” From the day Derek had broken up with her, her life had been defined by that curse.
    After moving to Florida after graduation, she’d gone to college there. She’d majored in psychology and minored in human behavioral science. Over time, she’d let her writing become a means of working out her feelings. She hadn’t been able to fight Derek’s beliefs when he’d broken up with her, nor had she understood how he could allow an old curse to destroy the future they could have shared.
    Gabrielle needed to understand how human beings with free will could have their behavior swayed by things that didn’t exist. She had to somehow comprehend how the man she loved and who she thought had loved her had dumped her because he believed he was cursed.
    â€œI just can’t get over the fact that Richard’s future hinges on an old, ridiculous