Home > The Chosen(3)

The Chosen(3)
Author: Jill Sanders

The moment she stepped out of her van, she felt a wave of power rush through her. Why the hell couldn’t she just be normal?

She was pretty sure that her hair and fingertips were sparking with the burst of energy she felt pulsing through her. She took several deep breaths, straightened her spine, and walked through the doors of the Coffee Corner.

She hadn’t expected the woman behind the counter to stop what she was doing and smile at her.

“Good, you’re finally here. Come on, then.” The blonde-haired woman motioned behind her. “We’re backed up.”

“I…” Tara glanced around. Sure enough, there were more than half a dozen people in line waiting to place their orders. Everyone turned to look at her, and her heart rate spiked. Some had annoyed looks on their faces, as if upset that she wasn’t hurrying behind the counter to make their morning drinks. Others looked at her like most did a stranger in their small hometown.

Since more than several of those people were looking at her with annoyance and impatience, she moved closer to the woman behind the counter.

“I’m not…” she started to say, but the woman just shook her head.

“There’s an apron just inside that door.” The woman waved towards the double swinging doors. “We need three lattes, one mochaccino, a skinny latte, and an espresso. Think you can handle that?”

Without missing a beat, Tara nodded.

“Good.” The woman waved her hands and turned back to take the customer’s money.

Grabbing the apron, Tara took a quick moment to look in the back of the coffee shop and noted another employee rushing around doing dishes.

When Tara was done with the first order, she took the tickets for the next order and got to work while the bell over the door kept indicating new customers flooding in.

How could such a small town have so many people wanting coffee at this time of day? How had the woman dealt with all of this herself before she’d come in?

It was half an hour before there was finally a long enough break in the orders that she could talk to the woman.

“So, what’s your name?” the woman asked, leaning against the counter as she sipped an iced tea.

“Tara,” she answered. “I think there’s been—”

“No mistake.” The woman smiled. “I’m Jess St. Clair.”

“Tara Dawson,” she answered.

Jess gave her a big smile. “Welcome to Hidden Creek by the way.”

“Thanks,” Tara said, unsure of how to move forward after this. Should she tell the woman she was making a mistake or just go along with it, in hopes that she could maybe at least get a free meal and a cup of coffee for her time.

“Want a cup of something and a muffin?” Jess motioned to the display case. “Help yourself.”

It was almost eerie how the woman seemed to know what she was thinking ahead of time.

“Thanks, it’s just…” Tara tried to start again.

“You do want the job, right?” Jess asked with a smile.

“Yes.” It almost burst from her.

Jess chuckled. “Good, then it’s settled.” She grabbed a chocolate muffin and an orange juice from the cold case and set them in front of Tara.

Tara twisted the cap off and took a swig of the juice and realized it was just what she’d needed. She’d craved the coffee, but the juice soothed the thirst and the need for sugar. She took a nibble of the muffin and held in a groan of appreciation.

“So, welcome aboard.” Jess held out her hand. Reaching out, Tara took her hand easily. Whatever sort of mistake this was, she was going to enjoy it while she could.

The moment their skin touched, Tara felt an electric pulse zip through her. Her vision grayed until she saw an image of three women chanting words Tara didn’t understand. Then the flash was gone just as quickly as it had come.

“Interesting,” Jess said, tilting her head slightly as her eyes narrowed.

The bell above the door chimed, and she watched Jess transform. Her smile brightened as she rushed around the counter to greet a police officer holding a small boy about a year old in his arms.

Seeing the man in uniform, Tara tensed and shrank back.

“There are my men,” Jess said cheerfully as she took the child from the cop.

If she hadn’t been so concerned about this exposure to the law, she would have spent more time appreciating the man in uniform. He was tall and dark haired, and had a sexy-as-sin grin on his face as he looked at Jess. As it was, she turned and tried to busy herself by wiping down the countertop.

“Is this her?” the cop asked, getting her attention.

“It is. This is Tara. Tara, my husband, Jacob, and our son, Reed.” Jess shifted the child on her hip and walked behind the counter to hand the kid a small biscuit, which the boy immediately shoved in his mouth.

Tara warded off the desire to run away and instead walked over and nodded towards Jacob. The man ran his eyes over her, and her heart skipped several times.

It wasn’t as if she was wanted by the police. Not that she knew of, at any rate. She had run away from the halfway house when she’d been seventeen, but that had been ten years ago, and she was well within her legal rights to be out on her own. Besides, she doubted anyone at the shelter had called the cops when she’d disappeared.

Okay, so she was driving without a license and the van’s registration was a few years out of date. Hell. How was she supposed to get it registered when she didn’t have a physical address in the first place? She had tried to register it in a few different states that claimed they didn’t need permanent addresses, but they had required her to have a license, and for that she had to have an address.

So, she was breaking the law… but only a little since she’d put down a PO Box address and the clerk hadn’t picked up on it.

“Nice to meet you,” she said clearly, holding in her worries.

“Likewise. Jess was pretty excited about you coming into town,” Jacob said, surprising Tara.

“She was?” Tara glanced over at Jess, who was bouncing her son on her hip, watching Tara closely.

“Yeah, she kept telling me that she couldn’t wait to finally have someone in town capable of making a good cup of Java besides her.” He nodded. “I told her I’d believe it when I tasted it. Which brings me to my order…” He smiled at her, and she relaxed. Okay, so small-town cop wasn’t going to hound her for her credentials.

“What’s your poison?” she asked easily.

While she made Jacob’s brew, she listened to the couple talk, trying hard to overhear what they were talking about. It wasn’t until she’d set down his drink that she heard them mention Xtina.

“You know Xtina?” She hadn’t meant to ask that out loud, but when the pair stopped and turned to her, she blushed. “I, um, read an article about her a while back.”

Jess smiled at her. “Yes, Xtina’s my best friend. She and the rest of the gang are eager to meet you.”

“Me?” Tara asked with a frown.

Jess nodded and then sighed. “I don’t want to scare you off, but…” Just then the bell above the door chimed again, and Jess glanced over.

The man who stepped into the building looked familiar somehow. His dark hair was cut short, military style. He was easily as tall as Jacob was, reaching about six-two or more. Where the cop had a lean build, this man had wide, thick muscles and very tan skin. Like he spent a lot of time outdoors.

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