Edge of Shadows (Shadows #1) by Cege Smith Page B

noticed these signs that Melanie made seem to glaringly obvious. She relied so heavily on people’s auras that she often missed the most basic signs of people’s emotions. She knew that was one of her fundamental flaws, and was certain that was why she had a hard time relating well to other people. Plus she had been wrapped up so completely in her own little hell dimension for the last year that the others around her had almost ceased to exist. She felt a small tug on her arm, and saw that Kevin knew exactly what she was thinking. He winked at her, and she realized he was telling her to let it go.
    “We were all delighted for her, although cautious. After all, Lloyd had only recently passed on. But it was good to see Linda moving on with her life instead of watching everyone making a mess of theirs and trying to play the part of their mother.” Melanie looked pointedly at Ellie.
    Ellie rolled her eyes. “It’s not like I’ve ever asked her to take care of me. Geez.”
    “So far I think I’m still missing it,” David said, clearly try to run interference.
    Ellie was appalled that Melanie would talk about her so blatantly. But then David looked at her and she was torn between a sharp retort or letting Melanie finish. She decided it wasn’t worth getting into anything in front of David so she nodded at Melanie to continue.
    "I haven’t gotten to the good stuff yet,” Melanie said. “So then this car starts showing up outside the coffee shop to pick Linda up on the days that she works. It’s a new Lincoln Town Car with tinted windows, so you couldn’t see who was inside. She’s all aflutter about it and wouldn’t tell anyone what was going on, but every day she’d leave in that car.”
    Kevin suddenly jumped in. “I couldn’t stand it anymore, so one day I asked Linda if she had joined a cult and was ashamed to tell us about it.” They all laughed quietly. “And she finally fessed up about Randall. After that he’d come into the store and wait for Linda to be done with her shift.”
    The whole group turned in unison to look, but Randall and Linda had disappeared.
    “She won’t tell us how she met him or anything about him. All’s she would say was that she had met a nice man, and she was enjoying herself again,” Kevin added.
    “Doesn’t sound so bad,” David said, shrugging.
    Ellie caught a look pass between Kevin and Melanie. After a short pause, Kevin made a small nod in Ellie’s direction. Ellie wondered if David wasn’t the only one missing something.
    Melanie seemed uncomfortable, and then she sighed. “You’re right. If that’s all there was to the story I don’t think any of us would have thought another thing about it. But it was Randall’s other interest that concerned us.”
    “What other interest?” David asked.
    “Ellie,” Kevin said in a low tone. “It was pretty clear that he was paying an awful lot of attention to Ellie. Linda never seemed to notice, but I didn’t like it at all.”
    All eyes had shifted to Ellie, and she realized that this was the cause of the anxiety. Her friends were worried about her. “I’ve always thought that Randall was creepy,” Ellie said slowly. “And I did catch him staring at me a few times. Why didn’t you guys say anything?”
    This time it was Melanie and Kevin’s turn to look embarrassed. Ellie stared at them hard until Melanie finally met her eyes. “Look, doll. You know we love you. But you haven’t been fully present for a while now and we didn’t know how to tell you. We didn't want to upset you more than you already have been. It seemed easier to just keep an eye on things ourselves. We would have said something if there was any chance of things getting wacky. Randall is mysterious and creepy, but he seemed pretty harmless.”
    Ellie had no idea how to respond. She felt David put his arm around her shoulders, and she leaned into him.
    “I think it’s great that Ellie has such good friends. Sounds like you all look out for