way.
When he
felt that he had complete concentration on Sarah’s energy, Eddie interjected
into the conversation. “So it would really mean a lot if you could sit with us
for a few minutes. I know that Danny would be happy to know that I came to see
you.” He smiled at Sarah. It wasn’t difficult to send warm thoughts her way;
just looking at her made him smile. He didn’t care if she was married or not;
he could still appreciate her beauty.
“So you
know Danny?”
“Well…”
He didn’t want to lie to her. Liliana had stretched the truth a bit and had
perhaps implied that they knew her husband, but she hadn’t come out and said
so. If they were going to get Sarah to believe their story, it would be best if
they stuck to the truth as much as possible. So far, everything Liliana had
said was completely true; Danny would be happy to know that they had checked on
his wife. “Why don’t you get yourself a cup of hot chocolate and join us for a
few minutes. We can tell you all about it,” he said.
“Well,
it’s very kind of you to come see me. Maybe later this afternoon, when I get
off of work—”
Eddie
tried to sound disappointed. “I’m afraid we won’t be here this afternoon. We
have to head home.” He feared that his efforts to influence her had failed, and
he conjured up a new wave of positive energy to send her way. His efforts
seemed to work, because in a moment, her hesitant expression disappeared. Her
face seemed to lighten, and her eyes twinkled in reaction to his smile.
“All right,”
she said, “I guess it won’t hurt to sit for a few minutes, since you did come
all this way to see me. Let me just talk to Chelsea, our hostess, and see if
she can cover for me for a little bit. I’ll be right back.”
Eddie
watched Sarah walk to the podium by the front door. She spoke to the hostess
and then both girls disappeared into the recesses of the kitchen.
Once
Sarah was completely out of sight and earshot, he turned to Liliana with a
smile. “You were brilliant. Thank you.”
She
grinned in return. “You weren’t too bad, yourself.” She stared at the fire for
a minute and then asked, “Did you do the same thing on me? Charm me into
coming with you?”
Eddie
shook his head. “No, not at all. But, then again, it wasn’t necessary. You
could hear our thoughts, so you knew we were telling the truth.”
“That’s
true…and I trusted you from the beginning because I read your aura. Good, that
makes me feel better. At least I know that I’m here on my own free will.”
Eddie
laughed. “Yeah, well, I’m not that good. I can have a strong influence
over someone, but I can’t make people do anything they don’t want to do. Sarah wanted to sit and talk with us. She just had another voice in her head telling her that
she should work, instead. I just helped to quiet that other voice, for a while,
so that she could concentrate on what she really wanted.”
“And
what she wants is to sit down and talk with us?”
“Absolutely,
otherwise she never would have agreed to it. Believe me, when I was a kid, I
tried to convince my parents to let me stay up past my bedtime and not make me
eat my vegetables. It never worked because they truly wanted me to eat my
veggies, and they couldn’t wait for me to go to bed so that they could have
some alone time.”
Liliana
laughed. “That’s funny. Still, I’ll bet you were able to use your gift to your
advantage once in a while.”
“Sure,
like the time I wanted to go to Disneyland over spring break. My mother kept
insisting that she couldn’t take the time off of work, but that time I won out
and talked her into taking us. Deep down she really wanted to go. It just took
a little extra power of persuasion on my part.”
“Nice,”
Liliana said and then glanced up. “Here she comes.”
He
followed her gaze. Sarah was headed their way with breakfast plates in hand.
She set
the plates on the table and took a seat. “So, where are you