my shoulder from here.” He did slide forward in the chair so he was sitting at the front edge at least.
In an effort to save his snow suit from the oil, she shook out two towels, draping one over his lap and tucking the other into the wad of insulated material at his waist, then stepped between his legs and reached for the oil.
“The skin on your shoulder isn’t bruised, unless it’s such a deep bruise that it hasn’t come out yet. Is that the case?”
“Doubt it.”
“Okay, how did you injure it?”
“Lifting Max. He is good at his job but he doesn’t have the greatest problem-solving skills. Got stuck, couldn’t jump out...”
“So you picked up a huge dog that probably weighs more than me.” She rolled her eyes again. “Next time, just get his front feet or something. Picking up half a dog is less likely to injure you than going whole dog.”
“He’s my dog. I don’t like to see him scared or in pain. I’m a little sore, it’s no big deal. I’d do it over again.”
“Fine. Anyway, it doesn’t look like it’s more than muscle strain.” She drizzled the oil on and spread it around, carefully avoiding looking at his face. Looking a man in the eye was like challenging him, and she wanted him to feel comfortable, not put on the spot. Besides, if he was feeling as vulnerable about this Jude situation as she knew he was, then he wouldn’t want her seeing it. “What should we talk about?”
Anson shook his head minutely, but didn’t answer right away. Not until she’d started working her thumbs into the corded muscle on his shoulder. “Your spirit quest.” He grunted the words.
Ellory didn’t particularly want to talk about that either, but a small amount of explanation could keep him from thinking she’d just gone down there for some excuse to ‘do drugs with a shaman.’
“I needed to try and figure something out, and I believe we’re our own best healers. Your mind and your heart can heal you if you let them. I didn’t want to see a psychiatrist and tell her things I already know, and have her give me some pharmaceutical that might do more harm than good, a pill to dull and pollute. I wanted to get through it on my own.”
“Did you?” he asked, and did honestly sound interested. She didn’t hear the censure she’d expected. And to his credit he hadn’t yet asked what her issue was, maintaining some respectful distance from that subject.
“Not all the way. But I figured out that I needed to come home to get right. It gave me a starting point, and it also filled me with wonder for the universe... It’s amazing that the earth gives us plants that allow for this kind of experience. I wish I understood better, but there’s too much going on when you drink it. The shaman said it detaches your consciousness from your body, which sounds all woo-woo and like astral projection—something I’m not sure I buy. But I’m glad I went, despite having more questions than answers. Sometimes the biggest part of solving a problem is figuring out what the right question even is.”
A soft pained sound escaped when her thumbs hit a particularly knotted area. He tried to cover it with words. “Did you go alone?”
“No. I went with my last boyfriend.” She tried to ignore how final that sounded, like the last one she’d ever have and from here on out was a lifetime of loneliness. “He wanted to learn to hold those kinds of rituals so he could lead people in their own quests up here in the States, some retreat in Nevada he wants to work at. But I don’t feel like his heart was in it for the right reasons. He was after money, not to help people. That’s no kind of cause. So I left him there and came home. Been trying to work on my quest alone since I got back.” She paused long enough for him to look up at her, establish fleeting eye contact, and asked, “Do you want to talk about Jude?”
Anson frowned. “There’s nothing to say. He’s still out there, and I’m getting a
In an effort to save his snow suit from the oil, she shook out two towels, draping one over his lap and tucking the other into the wad of insulated material at his waist, then stepped between his legs and reached for the oil.
“The skin on your shoulder isn’t bruised, unless it’s such a deep bruise that it hasn’t come out yet. Is that the case?”
“Doubt it.”
“Okay, how did you injure it?”
“Lifting Max. He is good at his job but he doesn’t have the greatest problem-solving skills. Got stuck, couldn’t jump out...”
“So you picked up a huge dog that probably weighs more than me.” She rolled her eyes again. “Next time, just get his front feet or something. Picking up half a dog is less likely to injure you than going whole dog.”
“He’s my dog. I don’t like to see him scared or in pain. I’m a little sore, it’s no big deal. I’d do it over again.”
“Fine. Anyway, it doesn’t look like it’s more than muscle strain.” She drizzled the oil on and spread it around, carefully avoiding looking at his face. Looking a man in the eye was like challenging him, and she wanted him to feel comfortable, not put on the spot. Besides, if he was feeling as vulnerable about this Jude situation as she knew he was, then he wouldn’t want her seeing it. “What should we talk about?”
Anson shook his head minutely, but didn’t answer right away. Not until she’d started working her thumbs into the corded muscle on his shoulder. “Your spirit quest.” He grunted the words.
Ellory didn’t particularly want to talk about that either, but a small amount of explanation could keep him from thinking she’d just gone down there for some excuse to ‘do drugs with a shaman.’
“I needed to try and figure something out, and I believe we’re our own best healers. Your mind and your heart can heal you if you let them. I didn’t want to see a psychiatrist and tell her things I already know, and have her give me some pharmaceutical that might do more harm than good, a pill to dull and pollute. I wanted to get through it on my own.”
“Did you?” he asked, and did honestly sound interested. She didn’t hear the censure she’d expected. And to his credit he hadn’t yet asked what her issue was, maintaining some respectful distance from that subject.
“Not all the way. But I figured out that I needed to come home to get right. It gave me a starting point, and it also filled me with wonder for the universe... It’s amazing that the earth gives us plants that allow for this kind of experience. I wish I understood better, but there’s too much going on when you drink it. The shaman said it detaches your consciousness from your body, which sounds all woo-woo and like astral projection—something I’m not sure I buy. But I’m glad I went, despite having more questions than answers. Sometimes the biggest part of solving a problem is figuring out what the right question even is.”
A soft pained sound escaped when her thumbs hit a particularly knotted area. He tried to cover it with words. “Did you go alone?”
“No. I went with my last boyfriend.” She tried to ignore how final that sounded, like the last one she’d ever have and from here on out was a lifetime of loneliness. “He wanted to learn to hold those kinds of rituals so he could lead people in their own quests up here in the States, some retreat in Nevada he wants to work at. But I don’t feel like his heart was in it for the right reasons. He was after money, not to help people. That’s no kind of cause. So I left him there and came home. Been trying to work on my quest alone since I got back.” She paused long enough for him to look up at her, establish fleeting eye contact, and asked, “Do you want to talk about Jude?”
Anson frowned. “There’s nothing to say. He’s still out there, and I’m getting a
Similar Books
