Page 99 of Deadly Misfortunes

“What?” Gregory sat next to Sascha on the sofa, their legs touching, her head on his shoulder.

She loved this with him.

He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and squeezed.

Maria came into the living room and asked, “Would you like a drink before dinner?”

He shook his head.

“No, I’m good, thanks,” Sascha said.

Nick was checking out the house again. Omar and Henry were sleeping so they could work through the night. Red was checking out the grounds.

Sascha hoped she wouldn’t have another nightmare or vision that brought them all running to protect her. Thankfully, she hadn’t had another experience like that since that night at the rental house on South Padre Island.

Gregory took hold of her hand and caressed it. “You were saying that I had dated Brendan’s girlfriend?”

“I saw a vision of it. You were dancing with her at a club and having drinks. It was rainy out. You were both wearing raincoats and had left them hanging on the back of the chairs when you went to dance. She was wearing a form-fitting, clingy hot-pink dress with black high heels. You were wearing a long-sleeved, button-down collar shirt, dress slacks, and black dress shoes. Brendan had broken up with her, and she was looking to date someone else. You fit the bill.”

“Hmm. I dated several women one or two times. I don’t recall her. I suspect we didn’t have anything in common when I went out with her. That was often the case. And then I didn’t ask the woman out again. What did she look like?”

“Her hair had been dyed red. She was really a blonde. She had green eyes. She was tall, shapely. Really pretty. But that confuses me because your mother said you hadn’t dated anyone in over a year.”

“Yeah, she was right. I was seeing a woman for about three months, and then we broke up. That was a year ago. I just went out on a date, not anything long-term like that. I don’t tell my parents about every date I’ve had that resulted in one or two dates. She would have wanted them to come over for lunch or dinner to meet them.”

Sascha smiled. “Sure, that’s understandable. What about the woman you had dated for three months?”

“Mom kept asking me to bring her over to see them. I wouldn’t until I was sure it was going to be something more official.”

Sascha thought that was interesting that he took her over to see his parents right away. Well, and said they were getting married, so he had not only made up his mind about that, but he also cared deeply enough about her that he wasn’t going to let her go. “So what went wrong with the woman you were dating for three months?”

Gregory shook his head. “She started seeing someone else behind my back. Then I learned she was seeing three other guys. I just took her for her word that she had photography sessions with clients. Until I caught her at several places with some other guy. I confronted her, and she always had an excuse. She was meeting with a client about a new photoshoot, was her usual excuse. So I accepted it, for the most part. But when I ran into her at a coffee shop and saw her with guy number three, and she was kissing him, that went beyond a photographer-client relationship.”

“You are much too trusting.”

Gregory smiled. “Naïve, yeah. Though I hate to admit it. Rose scolded me because she didn’t believe my girlfriend when she told me she was working. Rose told me I had so much going for me, I didn’t need to be with a woman that couldn’t be honest with me, or loyal.”

“For sure. You should have listened to your sister.”

“I should have, and I told Rose so after I ended it with the girlfriend. And you? Have you dated a lot?”

“Damon has been the only one I ever dated. Until you.”

Gregory hugged her. “It’s hard to believe, as beautiful as you are and how nice you are, that you didn’t have a lot of dates. I’m glad I went to the Worthingtons’ party to see you.”

“You were trying to learn about my family’s secrets.”

Chuckling, he squeezed her tight and released her. “Yeah, but I also wanted to see you. You were like a total magnet, and I couldn’t stop watching you, wishing I was with you, garnering your full attention the whole time I was there.”

“Well, in truth, I genuinely couldn’t stop looking to see where you were at the party, even while I was giving future readings.”

He laughed. “I knew it. Then Red had his indigestion attack, and that was the end of me seeing you.”

“You weren’t giving up though.”

“Nope. I wanted to see you at my party the next night, but I couldn’t believe you would reject my invitation and not show up.”

She laughed and kissed his cheek. “I had to keep my mystery persona, and besides, I had planned to have the night off. The only time I do readings two days in a row is when I’m at the fairgrounds. Doing a show at a special event, like the ones I do at homes, takes a lot out of me.”