Sea Haven 01 - Water Bound

know why she wanted food she’d never eat. She chewed on her thumbnail and glared at the store. A person could do anything for a short period of time. She had to be able to go into a grocery store, and if she didn’t hurry, more people would come and then it would be impossible.
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    Squaring her shoulders, she went back inside, and this time she managed to make it to the actual entrance to the aisle before she stopped, dizzy and sick. She couldn’t enter that small space where the lights pushed needles into her brain that exploded like firebombs behind her eyes. She shook her head, near tears. Anger welled up like a tidal wave, black and ugly
    —it was a force she often had to fight when she became frustrated.
    “Rikki.”
    Inez’s voice was brisk, matter-of-fact, never that pity sound she detested. Rikki turned around to face her, knowing she had to leave the store again and fighting her blurred vision.
    “Give me your list. I’ll get your things and you can stand over by the window.” Inez held out her hand.
    Was it defeat? Or victory? Rikki didn’t know, but she had no choice.
    She handed the list to Inez, grateful she seemed to understand the problem.
    “You weren’t at the wedding,” Inez said, all chatty.
    Rikki grit her teeth. Did one answer a statement? She made a sound in the back of her throat, the only acknowledgment she could think to make.
    The timbre of Inez’s voice took a background to the hum of the fluorescent lights. The lights were like a strobe now, continually flickering. The needles stabbing through her skull became ice picks.
    “The girls looked lovely,” Inez added. “Everyone had such a good time. We missed you though. Elle made a stunning bride. And Jackson was so handsome.”
    She sounded proud of Jackson, almost as if he were her son. What did Rikki know of Inez, anyway? Other than she knew everything about everyone, so Rikki made certain to avoid her whenever possible. Jackson was a deputy, and as far as Rikki was concerned, that put him right up there with the officials who had relegated her to the state home and accused her of starting fires and killing the people she loved.
    “Frank and I danced the night away.”
    Frank, Frank Warner, was Inez’s fiance, who owned one of the local galleries. He’d been incarcerated for something. Sometimes he was in the store sitting behind the counter; he was quiet and had little to say. Rikki identified with him more than she did most people. She knew others probably judged him, just as they did her odd behavior.
    Inez was still talking, the sound of her voice grating on raw nerves, but the woman was doing her a favor so Rikki wasn’t going to let the pain in her head make her do something stupid, like get violent. It had happened in the past, more than once. Lexi called them “Rikki’s freak-outs,” but it was 114

    embarrassing not to have control. She did deep breathing, hoping she didn’t pass out.
    “Thank God you weren’t out on the ocean that day, Rikki,” Inez was saying, pushing a cart with great efficiency. “A huge rogue wave came out of nowhere and would have hit the beach, but the Drakes did their thing and it was gone. But your sisters must have already told you that.”
    Now the ice picks were daggers, stabbing through her brain. Rikki put her hands over her ears to drown out all sound and concentrated on her breathing. Inez was working fast. Rikki could see that the woman was aware something was wrong. She was trying to help, obviously talking to distract her, but between the humming of the lights, her voice and the flickering, the pain in Rikki’s head had increased.
    “You can take anything for a short period of time,” she murmured to herself, uncaring that people thought her strange for talking to herself. If it helped her get through this without losing her mind, she’d talk to herself.
    “Here you are, hon,” Inez said, her voice that same brisk tone. “I’ll just run them through fast.”
    Rikki pressed her fingers to her temples. “Put twenty dollars on Bill’s tab and after I leave, will you take him coffee and something nutritious for breakfast?”
    “Sure,” Inez worked fast. “No peanut butter today?”
    “I picked up a large supply a while ago.”
    “Are you having company? Your sisters over?”
    Rikki drew cash from her wallet and put it on the counter, ignoring the query. Inez was still talking but Rikki couldn’t make out the words. A thousand needles pricked her body,