Running Hot

do-over?”
    “Yes,” she said.
    “What about her?”
    Grace moved her hand in a dismissing gesture. “The usual story when a young woman marries a much older man. She’s in it for the money and the status. For now she’s satisfied with the bargain but one of these days, she’ll take a lover.”
    “Are you guessing or can you really see those things in their auras?”
    “I can’t see the precise details. There’s no such thing as true mind reading, you know that. But I can detect patterns and themes and chords in auras. My talent allows me to interpret those elements and make certain kinds of inferences. It’s an intuitive process.”
    “No wonder Fallon finds you useful.” He contemplated the couple with the two kids. “But I don’t think you have to be psychic to figure out the dynamics in that family. Older man, beautiful young wife and very young children. It’s a common enough scenario.”
    “True,” she agreed. “But I happen to be very good at this game. Want to try another table? One where the dynamics aren’t so obvious?”
    “Game?”
    She shrugged. “I invented it when I was a kid. I call it the There’s No Such Thing as a Perfect Family game. I’ve played it a lot over the years. Show me a family, any family, and I’ll tell you where the fault lines are.”
    He whistled softly. “Wow. That’s cold.”
    She flushed, embarrassed. “Yes, I suppose it does sound that way. It’s a self-defense mechanism, of course. When I was younger I didn’t have to feel so bad about not having a family of my own if I could look around and see all the tensions and problems in other people’s families. Somewhere along the line the game became a habit.”
    “Damn. I think you’re even more cynical than I am.”
    “Wouldn’t be hard.” Her eyes gleamed with sudden amusement. “You’re a genuine romantic.”
    “How the hell can you say that?” It was his turn to be offended. “I haven’t got a romantic bone in my body. Just ask either of my exes.”
    She gave him first a surprised and then a considering look. “Your exes didn’t know you very well, did they?”
    They sure as hell didn’t know me the way you do after only one night, lady, he thought. But he decided this was probably not a good time to say that out loud.
    “According to them, I didn’t understand them,” he said instead. “They were right. The divorces were my fault.”
    “Why do you say that?”
    He shrugged. “Because it’s true. In hindsight, I think I scared both of them. Just took them a while to realize that they were scared. About a year in each case.”
    “Were either of your wives sensitives?”
    “No.”
    She nodded sagely. “And you kept your little secret from them until after you were married, right?”
    He felt himself redden. “Figured it would be easier to explain once they got to know me better. But it was the same pattern both times. Things started off with a bang and then went south. They would hear rumors about me from the spouses of some of the other people in the department. They asked questions. Each time I tried to ease into an explanation of how psychic talent works but that just made things worse. Eventually they decided that I wasn’t just weird, I was delusional. Possibly dangerous. They filed for divorce.”
    “I think it was probably a little more complicated than that.”
    “What do you mean?”
    “Power of any kind is attractive at first. I’m sure each of your wives sensed your strength and found it exciting, even though they didn’t understand what it was that got their attention. But after a while they became uncomfortable because they intuitively knew that you were too strong for them. They probably began to feel intimidated, maybe a little overwhelmed, even though they could not explain why. The bottom line is that the balance of power was never even remotely equal. Unequal relationships are always treacherous.”
    “Yeah? So what makes you so sure I’m a romantic?”
    “It’s in your aura,” she said simply. “And in your career path, of course.”
    “Of course?”
    “You didn’t become a cop by accident, and it’s no coincidence that you work for J&J these days. You were born to protect and defend.”
    “I’m also a bartender,” he said, wanting to challenge her. He wasn’t sure he liked being analyzed. In fact, he was very sure that he didn’t like it. “How does that fit into your little theory?”
    “I don’t know yet but I’m sure it does,