Lucid by P. T. Michelle Page B

breaths, then stood and headed for the coat rack by the front door, calling behind her, “You stay here with Loch. I’m going to go look for it.”
    I was beside her in an instant, tugging her black wool coat from her hands. “No, I’ll go.”
    Lainey pried the coat out of my grip, determination in her gaze. “I should never have grabbed Mom’s gloves. She calls them her ‘lucky’ pair since they’re from Ireland. I was just in a panic over Loch. Getting the glove back is my responsibility.” When she shrugged one arm into her jacket, panic gripped me.
    “Listen to me!” I squeezed my eyes shut as I reached for her hand, expecting a bone-jarring shock. When my fingers connected, but nothing happened, my eyes flew open and I exhaled a breath of relief. “You’re not going.”
    The same stubborn look I’d seen on her face during study hall resurfaced. She started to speak, but I cut her off. “I’ll go shopping with you on Thursday if you let me go look for the glove, Lane.”
    Lainey clamped her mouth shut. She knew when I called her “Lane” I was speaking from the deepest part of our friendship, which meant she needed to listen. Excitement suddenly flickered in her gaze. “You’ll go?”
    I nodded. “Now put your coat back. You don’t know the path Drystan and I took. You’ll be wandering around out there forever. I can retrace our steps and be back here in minutes,” I said, tipping the scale in my favor.
    Lainey sighed and nodded her agreement. She grabbed my red pageboy from the rack, then jammed it on my head. “Here’s your hat back. The temperature’s dropped.” As I buttoned my jacket, she glanced at my hands with an exasperated look. “ Really , Nara? Where are your gloves?”
    I smirked. “Why does this sound familiar?”
    “You nut,” she murmured, then commanded, “Stay here.”
    I frowned after her, but waited, wondering what she was up to.
    She came back swinging a bright red gift bag. I stared at it, confused. “What’s that?”
    “Happy early birthday!” she said with bright eyes. “I wasn’t going to give this to you yet, but…” She paused and skimmed her gaze over my jacket. “It seems your aunt and I were on the same wavelength.”
    As I took the bag from her, I said for the second time in as many days, “But my birthday’s not for another couple of weeks.”
    Lainey smirked. “Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. Open it.”
    Setting the bag down, I pulled out the white tissue paper and unwrapped a beautiful bright red cashmere scarf. “Oh, it’s gorgeous! Thank you, Lainey.” I wrapped the scarf around my neck.
    When I looked up at Lainey and spread my hands wide in a “ta-da!” stance, she was holding a smaller tissue-wrapped package out to me. “You had two presents in the bag. Here’s the second one.”
    When I unrolled the white paper and a pair of black fingerless gloves fell into my hands, Lainey said, “I thought about getting you the capacitive ones for your touch screen, but they’re bulky. These are sleek, bad-ass, and totally go with your leather jacket and lace-up boots.”
    That was Lainey, ever the fashion conscious. Once I slipped the gloves on, she gripped my fingertips on my right hand, her hazel eyes glimmering. “Now you can text with Ethan anytime, anywhere. No more stiff fingers.”
    Lainey had put a lot of thought into my gift. And the fact she hadn’t forgotten about Ethan was an added bonus that effectively ripped Harper’s assumptions about her to shreds. Oh, how she’d gloat if she knew the truth. Either that, or she’d bitch slap Harper. Probably both, I thought with an inward snort.
    As I stared at Lainey’s fingers gripping mine, gratitude and emotion tightened my throat. I was so thankful for my ability to see my next day. I would keep her safe. Pulling her into a tight hug, I sniffled. “Thank you so much, Lainey. Your gift is perfect in every way.”
    When I leaned back and we locked eyes, her lips were