Her expression was so full of doubt that he had to resist the urge to ask her if she knew something about him he should know. How nuts was that? Of course she didn’t know anything. She didn’t know him from Jack Sprat.
She leaned across the counter. “Not many know this, but there was a family right here in Miami where all the women inherited the gift of sexual healing.”
Again not sure how to respond, he nodded and she said, “I only know because I met the mother and one of the daughters. Must have been at least ten years ago. The daughter was just fourteen at the time and she was this quiet thing. Nothing like her sisters, according to the mother, but there was something about that child. She came in for some feng shui classes—” she gestured to a book leaning against the register “—and she had this presence. I have my own gift. I can tell things about a person. I sensed this powerful energy about her, so I wasn’t surprised when the mother, Maggie McClellan, hinted at the family background. They all have it. There’s an aunt, too—she comes in from time to time—but you’re closer in age to the daughters.”
“But even if I was interested in pursuing…that, which I’m not saying I am, what are my chances of meeting any of them?”
Her shoulders shifted beneath her loose cotton dress. “The aunt was in recently, so I believe they’re still around. Can’t be all that many McClellans in the area. What was that young one’s name…Evelyn? No, Erin McClellan, that’s it. She was an excellent student of feng shui. I’d be willing to bet she’s practicing it somewhere.”
“You’re suggesting that I look up this woman, strike up a relationship, see if she’s interested in sharing her ‘gift’ with me?”
“Something like that.”
He stared at her a moment in disbelief. How could she think such an insane plan would work? Only a desperate man would embark on such a mission.
“One step at a time. Thank you for the book. You have a good day.” He headed for the door, but she stopped him halfway there.
“If I were you, I wouldn’t take too long with that one-step-at-a-time stuff.”
He gave her a half smile, then continued on his way. His chest tightened and he rubbed it. He had time. The one thing he wasn’t was a desperate man.
2
“YOU ARE A DESPERATE MAN.” Amanda Barnes, Jack’s good friend, power walked over a pile of seaweed and regarded him through narrowed eyes. Beyond her, white clouds drifted past a pale blue sky.
He inhaled a breath of salt-tinged air and lengthened his stride to keep pace with her, though the tightening in his chest increased with the effort. “I went there because you told me to go.”
“And you do everything I say?”
“Not normally.”
“Exactly.”
“I’m not saying that I’m even thinking about taking this woman’s advice, but I thought you’d have an opinion on tantra.”
A wave crashed along the shore beside them and she swerved to avoid the spray, her short blond hair swinging. “I think tantra is a good thing. I don’t know much about it except that it involves different positions and meditations.”
“Can you see me approaching one of these women? What would I say? ‘Please excuse me, miss, but I’m looking for a good sexual healer. I was wondering, might you be available?”
“I’ll bet that you could find someone online who would schedule through drop-down menus.”
“Is that legal?”
She shrugged. “They’re not selling sex. They’re selling sexual healing. It’s not the same. I’m sure any decent lawyer could establish the difference. Besides, you don’t really want to find a healer online. You need to meet her in person. Where did this bookseller say you could find these women?”
“She said one of the daughters’ names is Erin McClellan and she’d be around twenty-four and she studied feng shui when she was younger. The woman thought Erin would be practicing it now and I could find her that way.”
“You know, I might have heard something about this. What was that last name again?”
“McClellan.”
“If this is what I’m thinking, they could be the real thing, truly gifted. Not just tantra, but something…more.”
“You’ve actually heard of them?” he asked.
“I have this friend from yoga class who knows a guy whose roommate’s brother may have dated a McClellan. Don’t know if she had any sisters or not, but how many sexual healers can there be?”
He pressed his hand to his chest. “I never said I was looking for one of them.”
“Why not?”
Stopping, he stared at her in disbelief. “You said I was desperate for mentioning it.”
She circled back beside him and her brown eyes took on a serious light. She nodded to where his hand pressed against his chest. “Your symptoms are getting worse. Look at you, we’ve hardly gone a quarter of a mile and you’re winded. Your best option at this point is surgery that may or may not fix your heart, if you survive it. I’d say you’re pretty desperate.”
He scowled and started walking at a slower pace. His cell phone sounded. Without stopping, he answered it. “Hello?”
“Jack, it’s Aunt Rose. Have you got a minute?”
“Sure. What’s up?”
“The computer keeps locking up. Do you have time to look at it?”
“Did you ask Bobby?” he asked, slanting Amanda a glance.
“He ran a virus check and did a few other things, but it’s still not right. You know he can’t fix these things the way you can.”
“Okay, I’ll try to stop by sometime over the next few days. I’ll call you.” He said goodbye, ignoring Amanda’s look of censure.
“Jack, you gave in way too easy that time,” she chided.
“It’s just a computer.”
“You can’t continue to be everything to everybody. You’re so busy taking care of all of them, you’re not looking out for number one. You don’t need the extra pressure now. What happened to your plan to help them become less dependent on you?”
“I’m easing them into it. At least this time she called Bobby first. They’re trying.”
Amanda frowned. “Fine, but we still need to get you better.”
“Not to worry. There are plenty of other alternative-healing methods I haven’t tried. That book listed ones I don’t think you know about.”
“Did you schedule with that reiki master?”
“I went this morning,” he said.
“And?”
“It was very peaceful and relaxing, but I didn’t feel the earth move.”
“It’s not like that.”
“She said the reiki would continue to work for a while longer and that my energies were more balanced, whatever that means.” He glanced at her. “She said my heart chakra—some kind of energy-center thing—was closed or deunified or something and that was partly why I was having trouble.”
He spread his arms in appeal. “I don’t get all this energy talk. Maybe I should stick to conventional medicine. I have a physical defect in my arterial valve. How will balancing my energies or channeling some life force or whatever she was doing help that?”
“It’s