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Chapter 4
“Honey, that was no coincidence.” Destiny Storm lifted her coffee mug to her mouth. Her multiple silver rings winked in the morning sunlight. “The cat is your spirit animal. Spirit animals guide us to the places we need to be.”
“I really didn’t need to be on Pelican Beach in the middle of a storm.” Aria sipped her takeout matcha tea and studied the front of Meow and Then, which sat across from Destiny’s Moonbeams store on historic Mariposa Street.
“You came out of the storm, didn’t you?” Destiny quirked an eyebrow. A voluptuous, stunning woman in her mid-thirties, she’d been the first person to hire Aria for a job when Aria was a high-school junior. They’d become fast friends and stayed close even during Aria’s absences from Bliss Cove.
“I wouldn’t be so quick to dismiss such a literal message, if I were you,” Destiny added. “Especially one involving a man who sounds like a fantasy come to life.”
Aria considered the idea that Porkchop’s escapade last night had been motivated by spiritual guidance rather than feline defiance.
“It was a random encounter.”
“No encounters arerandom.” Destiny leaned against the doorway of her shop and flicked a lock of raven-black hair over her shoulder. “Though you might not know for a long time, if ever,whysomething happens, every single event in your life has led you to this moment.”
On the surface, “this moment” wasn’t much different than twenty-four hours ago, when Aria had also been having a morning cup of tea with Destiny before opening Meow and Then.
But beneath the surface? Deep down inside, in her heart of hearts? The place where she was still rebuilding what she’d lost and constructing the things she’d never had?
Maybe a small change had happened there. Like a seed breaking open or clouds parting. Creating a space for something new to happen.
Aria shook her head and took another sip of tea. She’d thought about Hunter all night. Not onlyhimin all his glowering, cat-rescuing, gentle-kissing glory, but also about how she’d been prompted to throw herself at him. Though the kiss had been incredible, she’d learned her lesson about spontaneity a long time ago—primarily that it led nowhere good.
She’d told Destiny about the cat chase, but she hadn’t confessed that she’d kissed Hunter. That would remain her own little secret. And his.
“Morning,caras.” Nico, the owner of the pizza parlor, came out to sweep the cobblestones in front of his shop. “How are you lovely ladies today?”
“Better now that you’re here.” Destiny smiled.
Nico chuckled. “You both get the contract from that company? Imperial Properties?”
“Mine just came yesterday.” Aria’s shoulders tensed. “I put it right in the trash where it belongs.”
“I hear the Howells are already planning to sign.” Nico nodded toward the large flower shop housed in a crumbling stucco building that had originally been used as a trading post.
“They’ve been wanting to retire for years.” Destiny took a sip of coffee and shrugged. “Can’t imagine anyone wanting to buy the old place. I’ll bet they think Imperial is a godsend.”
“They’re a scourge.” Aria frowned. “Have you responded yet, Nico?”
“No,cara.” He tapped the side of his head. “Still thinking.”
Aria shaded her eyes from the sun and swept her gaze over the old street. The long, narrow stretch of shops was anchored at one end by the Vitaphone movie theater and at the other by the boarded-up Hotel Casa Grande, a gray stucco hotel with half-a-dozen rooms that had once been the town’s main lodging house. Now only the lobby remained open for the Mariposa Business Association meetings.
Mariposa Street had been the first area built by explorers and missionaries in the nineteenth century before a ship captain from Maine turned the town into a shipping port. Over the years Bliss Cove had transformed into a fishing community, then a college town, and then one of many places hit by economic hardship. Despite its struggles, the town retained its quaint seaside culture, with locally owned businesses, a community theater, and a historical museum that preserved Bliss Cove’s colorful heritage.
As Bliss Cove’s downtown grew over the years, the Mariposa neighborhood, unfortunately, had fallen by the wayside. Many of the shop windows were covered with splintered boards, and graffiti defaced the once-elegant building façades. But beneath layers of grime and peeling paint, the evidence of Mariposa’s lively history and culture was clear in the painted clay tiles, intricate plaster ornamentation, and ironwork decorations.
Aria had a soft spot for the oldest part of Bliss Cove, which her historian father had always admired and appreciated. Though when she was younger, she hadn’t really understood his dedication to history, she had distinct childhood memories of walking through Mariposa with him while he told her about the history of the area’s indigenous people prior to the arrival of the Spanish missionaries and all the turmoil of the subsequent years.
Of course, she’d been more interested in getting an ice cream at the time, but when her father died unexpectedly in a car accident a year and a half ago, that memory resurfaced like a brilliant piece of sea glass. She’d clung to it, even after leaving Bliss Cove and plunging into a relationship with a man who had been anything but good for her.
Realizing Steve was capable of physical abuse—that it was only a matter of time before he turned his violent streak on to her—had finally given her the strength to leave him. When she’d returned to Bliss Cove, she’d wanted desperately to confide in her mother and sisters, but Eleanor Prescott’s health scare had sent new shockwaves through their lives and prevented Aria from giving voice to her own mistakes. Even after her mother had been given the “all clear,” Aria had been too ashamed to turn to her family or friends for comfort.
Well, not her human friends anyway. She’d spent countless hours with furry friends at the rescue shelter. Because of the animals—nonjudgmental, friendly, resilient, and loyal—the aftermath of the worst time in her life had become bearable and eventually even hopeful, giving her a purpose she’d never had before.
“I need to get over to Mom’s to pick up my order.” Aria clinked her cup against Destiny’s and waved at Nico. “See you both later.”
“Live in the light, honey,” Destiny said.
