The Touch (Healer Series) (6 page)

  
“No can do, bud,” she replied, walking
towards his car. “Pop the trunk, I know you still have clothes in there. You
haven’t pulled anything else out of your car since you got here except for that
one dirty suitcase, and there’s no way someone picks up and moves to a new
place with that little. Gram will have a fit if you don’t come right over. She
has the meal all timed out. You can shower there.”

“How
do you know so much about what I have in my trunk?
You spying
on me?” He couldn’t help the teasing tone in his voice and realized it might be
harder than he thought to switch into a friendlier mode.

“I
guess I just assume you have to have more than cargo pants and tank tops in
your wardrobe.”

“Don’t
judge me.”

“Ditto.”

  
AJ lifted the trunk and Addie grabbed a bag,
hurrying back to the truck and tossing it in the back. “Let’s go,” she said,
trying to act nonchalant. She was fighting the fact that his presence made her
feel 18 again. Her heart fluttered when the cute guy walked in the room. She
had just booted Joseph so she told herself that she didn’t need another man
around telling her what to do. Besides, she thought, what if he didn’t even
feel the same?

  
He climbed in the passenger side, and they
were on their way to Gram’s house. It wasn’t long before they pulled up a long
driveway directly through an apple orchard to an old, beautiful farmhouse
painted a pristine white. Black shutters adorned the windows and Gram was
waiting in the doorway.

  
They got out and headed inside, Addie showing
AJ where the shower was. He felt awkward showering at a stranger’s house. Gram
seemed nice enough yet it still felt odd. Then again, a lot about this place
had proven odd so far.

  
Addie headed down to help Gram with the food
when she realized she had forgotten to leave AJ a towel. She excused herself
from mashing the potatoes and headed upstairs to try and sneak one of Gram’s
pink fluffy towels into the room without him noticing. As she rounded the
corner of the banister to head in and drop off the towel, she bumped right into
a shirtless, half wet man – and as her hands indicated from the feel, he was at
least wearing his shorts.

  
“I’m, oh my God, I’m sorry–”

  
“It’s okay,” he laughed, finding it an
icebreaker of sorts. Something had to lighten up the atmosphere given that he
had been feeling completely tense since arriving. He loved getting a rise out
of her. “No big deal. I’m dressed.”

  
“Somewhat,” she said, trying to break her
gaze from his body. Inches apart, she looked up at him and thrust the towel up
between them. “I brought this, thought I forgot.”

  
“You did,” he said, his voice softer than
before. His brain was shouting at him that he shouldn’t be in this moment, that
he should break himself from it and walk away, yet something stronger was
keeping him there. As he reached for the towel, his fingers brushed hers and
the same feeling of electricity shot through them again, her eyes closing this
time instead of looking at him with fear of the unknown. Visions filled his
head of her and Rose in five years, twenty years – he found that every bit of
his soul wanted to be part of that future. She was laughing and smiling,
running through the fields that surrounded this house. It was a frightening
feeling that came out of nowhere, almost biological as opposed to emotional.

  
He took it from her, running it over his hair
and shoulders. To smile so much was making his face hurt. He hadn’t used those
muscles in years. He moved his hand, placing it under her chin, pulling his
face closer to hers. She didn’t push away. His scent was transfixing; his body
warm close to hers.
    

  
“Dinner!” a voice from downstairs
interrupted, snapping Addie back to life.

  
“Time for dinner!”
Addie said, stepping back and stumbling a bit before turning and bolting down
the stairs. AJ stood there for a moment, collecting his thoughts. What had just
happened?

  
He felt guilty, almost as though he were
taking advantage of her. She’d only just left Joseph and it wasn’t right to try
and step into that world right now. He’d have to make sure that in the future
he was more careful and kept his distance. He couldn’t risk hurting her after
all she’d been through.

**************************************************

  
“Dinner was delicious, thank you Gram,” he
said awkwardly, after Gram had insisted he call her that. She convinced him
everyone did. He wasn’t so sure.

  
“You are very welcome! Thanks for being our
guest. It’s not too often we get new blood in this town!” she smiled, lifting
some dishes from the table. She was a happy soul. AJ figured she and Helen must
have come from the same breed.

  
“Let me help,” he insisted, picking up a
plate. Gram immediately placed her hand on his saying, “Nonsense. You’re our
guest.”

  
As soon as she touched him her eyes darted to
his. She didn’t have a look of fear or shock like all the others did. She had a
look of knowing and it scared him. Her eyes almost seemed translucent. He
pulled his hand away, dropping a plate on the floor.

  
“I’m so sorry,” he managed to get out,
kneeling down to begin picking up the broken pieces dotting the linoleum. “I’ll
get this cleaned up, right away.”

  
“AJ, honey,
it’s
okay,” she said, kneeling down to his level. She looked at him until he met her
eyes with his. “It’s okay. Let me get this. Why don’t you go sit down a bit?”

  
He was shaken. He sat down in his chair,
trying to pull it together so Addie might not notice. Luckily, she’d been in
the kitchen when it happened so she hadn’t seen everything. He was days into a
new town, and the last thing he wanted was to start standing out already.

  
He heard Addie in the kitchen talking to
Gram, mentioning how she had to get going and get Rose home and in bed. Gram
told her to go on ahead, that she’d bring AJ home. There was some whispering,
and then Addie leaning around the doorframe to tell AJ goodnight. She wasn’t
going to get too close to him again after what happened. She needed simplicity
for awhile.

  
“Night,” AJ said, smiling meekly at her.
“Night Rose.”

  
“Night Mr. AJ!”
Rose
shouted, peeking with a giggle around the corner.

  
He smiled, watching the screen door shut
behind them. When Gram came back out to the table she pulled out the chair
directly across from him and sat down. They stared at each other, not a word
being uttered, as if Gram was studying him.

  
“You can’t work your charms on me,” Gram
said, releasing her stark stare into a smile.

  
“Charms?” he said, trying to laugh. “I have
no charms. I’m lucky I have enough brains just to put two and two together.”

  
The tension was only growing. The way she
looked at him was making him highly uncomfortable and he squirmed in his seat.

  
“Yes,
your…
charms.
You could feel it, couldn’t you?”

  
He thought about making a cougar joke, as he
would have normally done in a tense situation. Her stare suggested it wasn’t a
time for laughter.

  
“What do you mean?” AJ said while attempting
to decipher what she knew. Had she heard about him on television? He leaned
forward in his chair, his hands clasped together and elbows resting on his
knees. He was ready to dart out the door and back to his car, heading out for
the next safe location that he could find in a town far, far away. He realized
he sounded more menacing than quizzical, which he hadn’t meant to do.

  
“You know what I mean,” she said, settling
into the chair. “Your hands can’t change me. They can’t affect me.” She leaned
back, relishing in the moment. It had been a long time since she had met
someone like him. “Although to be honest, it scares me a little bit that you
may have seen a need to.”

  
The look of shock was now on his face. He
hadn’t met a mortal that could decipher what he was before, especially with
nothing more than a touch.

  
“How do you-”

  
He cut himself off. He wasn’t about to be the
first one to say it out loud in centuries.

  
“Relax, sweetheart, I know all about it.”

  
He stared at her with squinted eyes. She
couldn’t know who he was. He’d traveled far enough away to a place where people
barely owned televisions. There was no way someone knew who he was.

  
“How?”

  
“I used to be you,” she said, making his
heart race as she reached for his hand. He was scared and excited all at once,
unsure what she meant by
used to.

  
No sooner had the words come out than the
visions started, beginning with Gram having a heart attack and in the hospital.
She wasn’t going to die, he noted. He wasn’t allowed to heal her either prior
to this. It was going to serve another purpose, although the visions didn’t
always tell him what. Then one more vision – Addie telling him she knew what he
was.

  
“What do you mean?” he asked, leaning closer.
His excitement was obvious, as was his anxiety. Could he trust her not to “out”
him? She hadn’t to Addie. Or had she? Was that what the whispering was before
they left?

  
“I mean, I used to be you. I was born a
Healer. Addie’s mom was too, although she gave up her gift after only a year.
It was too much for her and she lost her mind. Something we don’t talk about and
a topic you best not broach with Addie. And besides for the two of us, I don’t
think I’ve come across a Healer in Lee for decades.”

  
She spoke about it like it was everyday
conversation, as if it weren’t a huge revelation or big news. Her nonchalant attitude
made him even more uncomfortable if that were possible.

  
“Addie too?”

  
“Addie never inherited the gene because she just
isn’t cut out for the job. She is a beautiful person, however one that’s meant
to be a mother and settle down. She wasn’t meant for the life of a Healer.”

  
AJ was rattled. In all his life, he’d never
encountered a mortal who had known what he was. Or who had been a Healer
before, but wasn’t now.

  
“What do you mean by used to? Are you still a
Healer? You can’t be, if Addie is your granddaughter.”

  
He was stuttering, trying to piece the puzzle
together. It was so out-of-the-blue, so strange. And it was happening so fast,
as if this were everyday conversation for Gram. She was so calm.

  
“I mean, I was you, once upon a time. I spent
decades - or centuries even, I forget exactly what the time was after all these
years – helping others. Then, as some of us do, I met the love of my life. I
gave up everything to be with him.”

  
“How?”
The question
was honest, almost accusatorial. He couldn’t fathom Healers walking away from
their gift. They were meant to help.

  
“It wasn’t easy. It was a big decision. I had
watched for a century as my friends fell in love, got married, and started
their lives. I hadn’t found someone I felt that way for so I continued with the
work I was doing until I met George. Everything changed. It took a lot of
thought and consideration. I ultimately gave it all up to be with him.”

  
“Why would you do that? He’s gone now and
you’re all alone.”

  
AJ instantly felt sorry for the words as soon
as they escaped his lips because they sounded cruel. His intentions were not
ill-willed; he just could not comprehend giving up everything to lose someone
anyway.

  
“What happened was the price you pay when you
give up something like the ability to heal. I gave it up, got married, and had
some children. We had many, many happy years together.”

  
“And then what happened?”

  
“What happens to mortals all the time - he
got sick. I wasn’t able to heal him anymore and either there was no Healer around
or the Healer saw a bigger reason for his passing. He was gone. The pain from
not being able to save him sent me into a tailspin, same with Addie’s mother.
That’s what caused her breakdown.”

  
AJ sat back. It was a lot of information to
take in; relevant information, pertinent to the aspects he was struggling with
every time he laid eyes on Addie. It hadn’t occurred to him that he could lose
her at any time once his powers were gone. He would never be able to heal her
if something happened. If she fell sick there was always a possibility he would
be restricted from healing her, dependent upon what the visions said. He
preferred a slight chance over a non-existent one.