"Eileen, come in. It's good to see you," Cassie greeted Eileen at the front door and let her into the house.
"It's good to see you too. It's been too long since we've had a chance to get together and talk," Eileen replied as she took a seat on the couch. "I've been busy lately."
"Me too," Cassie replied thoughtfully before quickly turning the subject back to Eileen. "What have you been up to?"
"Well, things are going really well with me and Lawrence, even though he's been busy with work and we don't get to see each other a lot. I just started looking for a job, but I really haven't decided what I'm looking for yet . . ."
"Have you been keeping up with the psychic studies?"
"No, not really . . . I've been kind of afraid to try after what happened last time."
"Yeah, that was wild," Cassie said, thinking back to the night they found out that Hector had murdered Clifford Stuart. "At least it worked," she mumbled.
"But what good did it do? We found out the truth, but nothing's been done about it. I went to the police and no one believed me. I just don't know what to do."
"Neither do I." Cassie shrugged. "The psychic stuff hasn't been going well for me either."
"Why? What happened?"
"There's this guy that I really like. I mean, every time I see him, I just get this feeling that we're meant to be together. Do you know what I mean?"
When Eileen nodded, Cassie continued, "The problem is, this other girl keeps getting in the way. To make a long story short, my mom came up with this idea to make a love potion. I was going to take it, but it turned into this huge disaster. Either the potion didn't work, or maybe it might be working subtly, I'm not sure, but either way I haven't seen any results yet. Nothing's changed."
"You actually made a love potion?" Eileen asked in disbelief. "Isn't that kind of extreme?"
"Maybe," she reluctantly admitted. "But wouldn't you do the same if it were you and Lawrence?"
"No, I wouldn't," Eileen insisted. "When I first told Lawrence how I felt about him and he told me he had a girlfriend, I backed off. I didn't try to do anything to make him want me... Have you just tried telling this guy how you feel about him?"
Cassie shook her head. "That wouldn't be a good idea. He has a girlfriend and they're living together now. It seems pretty serious."
Reese walked towards the entrance of the coffee shop. She was starting to feel bad about telling Blaine that she was too busy to meet him for lunch. She wondered if she should call and ask him to meet her, but she decided against it. Living together was a huge change for her and what she wanted most was a little time alone. Besides, she was only picking up something to eat, then it was straight back to the office.
As she walked opened the front door, her ears were filled with the sound of live music. She didn't recognize the song, but somehow it sounded familiar. When she looked around she was startled to see James performing in front of a small group of people. Next to him was a table that displayed a poster of himself and a stack of albums.
He looked up at the doorway just as she was coming in. Recognizing her, he smiled and winked hello as he finished the song he was playing.
Reese tried to looked past him as if she didn't notice him and turned her attention to the menu behind the counter.
Behind her she heard James strumming the strings of his guitar, adjusting the tuning, as the few people listening applauded politely.
"I'm going to change things up a bit. You won't hear this song on my album, but it's an old favorite of mine and I have a feeling some of you might enjoy it as well."
Reese stared forward waiting for her order as James began to play. She was doing her best to ignore him, but she couldn't help hearing the song and recognizing it. It was the same song he had played at Cassandra's party when he was trying to guess her taste in music.
Reese looked up and slowly turned her head, trying to look over her shoulder without actually looking like she was looking at James. When she saw that he was looking directly at her as he sang, she snapped her head forward quickly, her cheeks flushing a deep pink.
She focused her eyes on a particular spot on the counter until the barista returned with her order. Eager to get out of the coffee shop, Reese fumbled with her money as she quickly paid for her purchase and made a beeline for the door, refusing to look at James on her way out.
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