The basement door opened. “Sean!” Ambrose came striding down the hall in a green plaid shirt and cords. He was also blurry, but his out-of-focus face was ruddy, as if he’d been exerting himself. Sabrina trotted after him. “I was checking out the pipes,” Ambrose said. “Good to see you!” He stretched out his hand.
Sean shook it out of politeness. “I would say it’s good to see you, too, except that’s the problem. I can’t see.”
“Where are your glasses?”
Dorcas turned to him. “His eyesight got better this afternoon.” She said it with pride, as if she’d somehow accomplished that herself.
“Did it?” Ambrose rubbed his hands together. “That’s great news, just great.”
“But now it’s worse than ever,” Sean said. “Because of my eyes, I ran into Edith Mae Hoogstraten’s Buick.”
“Oh, my,” Dorcas said. “From what I hear, no one’s ever done that. Is she okay?”
“Physically she’s fine, but she’s mad as hell, and there was a big scene in the middle of the street, and I’m sick of this and I want you to fix me.”
“Come into the parlor,” Ambrose said. “We’ll talk.” He sounded so irritatingly genteel.
Sean’s anger built. “I don’t have time to talk. I have a family of skunks to protect.”
“A what?” Ambrose stared at him.
“Skunks. They live under my house, or I should say it’s Clem Loudermilk’s house, and his wife Clara wants them out, so Bob set out poison this afternoon.”
“That’s terrible,” Dorcas said. “You have to gather up the poison before night comes.”
“I can’t because I can’t see it.” Music still wafted up from the basement. Sean found himself trying to identify the singer. Bobby Darin, maybe? “I want to trap the skunks and take them out into the woods where they’ll be safe, but I can’t do any of that with my eyes like this.”
“And you don’t want to ask Maggie to give back your glasses?” Dorcas asked.
“No, because she needs…wait a minute. I didn’t tell you Maggie had them. How did you know that?”
“Come in and sit down,” Ambrose said. “Dorcas, don’t you have something you can give Sean?”
“Let me go look.”
Sean agreed to go into the parlor and sit on the sofa, but he didn’t sink back onto the purple cushions. He remained stiff and determined, ready to fight for what he needed. Sabrina followed them into the room and rubbed against his leg. He stroked her soft black fur, but he kept his gaze on Ambrose, who lounged in a wing-backed chair next to the sofa.
“Who’s that singing on the CD you have going?” Sean asked.
“Frankie Avalon.”
“Oh.” Sean remembered now. His mom used to love that guy. But just because Ambrose and Dorcas liked him, too, that didn’t mean Sean could trust them.
“It’s admirable that you want to save the skunks,” Ambrose said.
“Whatever.” Unwilling to be flattered out of his bad mood, he skewered Ambrose with a look. “Dorcas talked to Maggie this afternoon, didn’t she?”
“I don’t think so.”
“Come on. That’s the only way she’d know that I gave away my glasses. Whatever game you’re playing, I want it to stop. If you’ll just change me back the way I was, I can handle this situation without any interference from you.”
“Hostility isn’t going to help, Sean.”
“I’ll bet if you had this happen you’d be cranky, too. The changes went way too far. Nothing’s the same, not even my privates.”
Ambrose pressed his lips together, obviously trying to hold back a smile.
“Go ahead and laugh. Wouldn’t be so funny if it was your dick that had shrunk, now would it?”
“I’m sure not.” Ambrose cleared his throat. “But you have to admit you got what you wanted. Women leave you alone, now.”
Sean scowled at him. “Some consolation. Now I’m helpless to stop Maggie from buying that property.”
“I wouldn’t say that. I think you have many—ah, here’s Dorcas.”
Dorcas walked in carrying a plastic shopping bag, which was a good sign. Sean assumed the antidote was in there. No matter how obnoxious the stuff was, he’d take it. He’d eat rabbit turds if they would do the trick.
Sabrina bounded over to the bag and danced around it, reaching up to bat it with her paw.
“It’s not for you,” Dorcas said to the cat. “It’s for Sean.” She handed him the bag. “Let me know if these work.”
Sabrina hopped up on his lap as he peered into the bag, which contained several little packets tied with purple ribbon. Finally. Sabrina kept trying to get in the bag, and he had to keep nudging her back.
On top of the packets lay another pair of black-framed glasses. They were even uglier and in worse shape than the first pair. The nose-piece was held together with white adhesive tape.
Sean pulled out the glasses and held the bag closed so Sabrina couldn’t climb in. “These are to tide me over, right? Until the antidote works?”
“What antidote?” Dorcas said.
“Isn’t that what’s in the packages?” Still holding Sabrina away, he took one out and held it up. It smelled funky, like last week’s garbage. Sabrina started to meow.
“That’s skunk bait. It will attract the skunks into the cage you build, and once they eat it, they’ll become mildly sedated, so they’ll be easier to transport.”
Sean stood to get away from Sabrina, who was going a little crazy wanting whatever was in the packet. “These are all skunk bait?”
“Yes. I put in four, which should be enough.”
“I thought you were getting something to help me!”
Sabrina put her paws up on his leg and meowed again.
“This will help you.”
“Not with Maggie, it won’t!” Sean felt panic set in. “You have to give me some herbs to reverse this condition, at least a little bit. You have to.”
Dorcas folded her hands in front of her. “Sean, I would if I could, but it’s not possible. You’ll have to deal with this for the next two weeks.”
Sean stood there a moment, stunned by his incredible bad luck. In two weeks his plans would be wrecked. He wanted to lash out at Dorcas and Ambrose, but this was his own damned fault. He’d rushed into something he knew nothing about, and he was about to pay the price.
He put on the taped glasses. At least now he could see. Then he looked at the two people who had helped him trash his future. He couldn’t protect himself, but he would protect the skunks. “How do I know this bait won’t hurt them?”
“Open a packet and give a little to Sabrina. She loves it. When we travel, I give her some, which keeps her calm for the trip.”
That reminded Sean of Maggie’s suspicion that the Lowells were on the run. “I don’t remember hearing where you moved from.”
“Sedona,” Ambrose said.
“That’s in Arizona, isn’t it?” Sean had been so sure they were from California, but the wine label had been from Sedona, so apparently he’d been wrong.
Ambrose nodded. “Red rock country.”
Sean remembered seeing pictures of the place on TV, and he could imagine Dorcas and Ambrose there. “You didn’t like it?”
“It was fine,” Ambrose said.
But something had gone wrong there. Sean couldn’t explain why he knew that, but he would have bet all his carpentry tools that Dorcas and Ambrose had been forced to leave. Bob could do a background check on them, but Sean didn’t want to stir things up, at least not yet.
He decided to let the subject drop for now. Sabrina was still going nuts trying to get to the packets, so he looped the handles of the plastic bag over his arm so he could untie the ribbon on one packet and give her a little of what was inside.
The packet was full of brown pea-sized nuggets that looked like granola. “How much should I give her?”
“Two or three pieces is plenty,” Dorcas said. “You can’t overdose an animal on this, but yo
u might as well not waste it.”
Sean crouched down and held out the nuggets. About that time Frankie Avalon started singing his mother’s favorite song, Venus. He told himself not to get sentimental about it.
Purring loudly, Sabrina ate the nuggets before he could blink. Then she rubbed against his hand. He petted her for about five seconds and then she did the strangest thing. He could swear that she was moving her feet in rhythm to the song coming from the basement. She was doing a cha-cha just like the cats in an old cat food commercial. Except this wasn’t trick photography.
He was about to comment on it when she stopped dancing and hopped up on the purple sofa. After a big yawn, she curled up and closed her eyes.
Sean glanced at Dorcas. “Was she dancing the cha-cha?”
“No. Just happy to get a treat.”
Ambrose laughed. “Don’t I wish she could dance. We’d put her on Letterman.”
“Right.” He must have imagined it. “She seems relaxed, now.” He walked over and sat beside Sabrina. He stroked her fur and her eyes opened a slit before closing again. She looked as if all she wanted to do was sleep.
“I guess I’ll try the tranquilizer for the skunks.” He stood. “Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Dorcas smiled at him. “Let us know how it turns out.”
At the door he turned. “Isn’t Sedona kind of a woo-woo place?”
“Some people think so,” Ambrose said.
“I’ll bet somebody there could overnight the herbs to fix me up.”
Dorcas shook her head. “It’s not that simple.”
Sean didn’t believe her. He thought it might be that simple if she felt free to contact someone in Sedona. But then they’d know where she was. Dorcas and Ambrose were definitely hiding from something, which meant he wouldn’t be getting any help for his condition, damn it.
With a sigh, he took his skunk bait and left.
By five that afternoon, Maggie had to accept the fact that she wouldn’t be contacting the owner of the property until at least the next morning. When Jeremy couldn’t get the computer to work, he’d tried to figure out what was wrong with the office’s electricity, but he’d had no luck there, either. The electric company wasn’t responding to voice mail, so business was at a standstill for Denise.
Maggie left Denise and Jeremy to battle with the situation and drove to Madeline and Abe’s house for dinner. The thought of seeing Sean there made her jumpy. It wouldn’t be easy to sit across the table from him and try to act normal when earlier today he’d had his hand inside her panties. She still couldn’t believe she’d allowed that.
Maybe Abe would be on his rant about canned laughter and she’d be spared the need to make idle conversation. One thing she’d do for sure—return his glasses. She couldn’t have him running into people on the street on account of her.
She knocked on the front door and Madeline opened it this time. The television was still going full-blast in the living room.
“I don’t know what I’m going to do with that boy.” Madeline ushered her inside.
Maggie saw Abe parked in front of the TV with his notepad, but she didn’t think Madeline was talking about him. “Who?”
“Sean! He turned down a home-cooked meal so he can build a cage to trap that family of skunks. I’ve never seen the like!”
“So he’s not coming to dinner?” Maggie made the unwelcome discovery that she was disappointed.
“No, he’s not, and I’m worried about him.” Madeline wiped her hands on her apron, as if needing something to do with her hands. “That fender-bender today was a shock. Sean drives fast sometimes, but he’s never been careless.”
“It’s my fault.”
“Yours?” Madeline glanced at her.
Maggie took off the black-framed glasses. “These are Sean’s. Mine got broken, and so he loaned me these. That’s why he sideswiped Mrs. Hoogstraten.”
Madeline flushed. “So his eyes really are going bad? I was hoping it was temporary, like he said.”
“He thought they were getting better today, but I guess not.” Maggie remembered Madeline’s theory about why Sean’s vision was deteriorating. “But I really don’t think…” What an awkward topic. She wasn’t sure how to proceed.
Madeline wiped her hands on her apron some more. “I’ve been too hard on him. I don’t want that boy going blind.”
“He won’t. At least not because of…” Try as she might, Maggie couldn’t make herself discuss the harmless nature of masturbation with Madeline.
“I’d hate to chance it. He needs to find a nice girl and settle down. That would solve everything.” Madeline gazed at her for a moment. “Tell you what. Why don’t you take dinner out to him? I’ll give you directions to his place.”
“Madeline, are you trying to fix me up with Sean?”
Madeline’s round cheeks turned pink. “Well, you seem like a really nice girl, and—”
“I’ll only be here a few days. I have a career in Houston.” At least she hoped she did. “If you really want to find a woman for Sean, you’d better look closer to home.”
“He’s not interested in anybody here. If your job is a problem, I could find you one. Joe and Edith are always looking for more help at the diner. It’s a real good place to work.”
“I’m sure it is.” Maggie worked hard not to laugh. She didn’t want to insult Madeline’s choice of employment by saying that there was no way she’d be happy waitressing at the Hob Knob. “But I like the job I have.”
“I don’t think I caught what job that was. Sean didn’t mention it.”
Maggie hesitated. But she couldn’t keep it a secret forever, not in a small town like this. “I’m a location scout for SaveALot.”
“That big discount store?” Madeline’s eyes widened. “Are we getting one in Big Knob?”
“I hope so. It depends on whether I can find the right property.”
“I’ve only been in one of those stores a couple of times, but oh, the bargains!”
Maggie was encouraged. At last, someone who was excited about SaveALot moving to town. “That’s what people like about them,” she said.
“But if they build one here, why couldn’t you work out of that store? That would solve everything.”
“I, um, no…I need to be at the corporate headquarters in Houston.”
Madeline smiled. “Things have been known to change. We won’t worry about that now. Just take Sean’s dinner out to him. I’m sure the poor boy’s not eating right.”
“Okay, I can do that.” Maggie could see there was no point in trying to pry Madeline away from her matchmaking plans, and refusing to take him dinner would make her look mean-spirited. The trip would be harmless enough if she kept up her guard. She’d have a chance to return his glasses and check out the skunk situation, which intrigued her.
Ten minutes later, she was back in her car with a grocery sack on the seat next to her. Madeline had packed everything in Tupperware. Maggie decided she’d be safe with this meal because there wouldn’t be any wine involved.
The rain had stopped, leaving the pavement shiny in the beam of her rental car’s headlights. Once she returned Sean’s glasses, she would have some trouble getting back to Madeline’s house, but she’d go slow. She had to solve this glasses thing, though, or she wouldn’t be able to drive back to the Indianapolis airport. First thing in the morning she’d call her optometrist in Houston and ask him to overnight her a new pair.
Following Madeline’s directions, she found the turnoff to Sean’s house. He lived on the outskirts of town, not far from the property she was after. If—no, when—she bought it for SaveALot, Sean would be able to hear the noise of construction.
Damn it, she had to stop feeling guilty. She was saving him from making a terrible mistake, because that house would bankrupt him if he tried to restore it.
Sean’s truck was parked in the gravel driveway in front of a one-car garage next to a small bungalow. Maggie stopped behind the truck. Pu
lling the bag across the console, she got out of the car and immediately heard the whine of a saw coming from the garage. Sean must be working on his trap in there.
Her footsteps crunching on the gravel, she walked toward the door in the side of the garage, all the while watching out for skunks. She knew enough to realize that startling one would be a bad thing.
Knocking on the door did no good. Sean was making too much noise with the saw and a nail gun to hear her. Finally she twisted the knob, opened the door and stepped inside. Just to make sure no skunks got in, she closed it behind her right away.
Sean was so engrossed he didn’t notice that she’d come into the garage, so she had some time to watch him at work. A pair of safety goggles covered what looked like another pair of black glasses. She wondered where he’d picked those up.
But she was more interested in the way his T-shirt stretched across shoulders that seemed broader than she’d remembered. And his jeans revealed a really nice ass. How had she missed that before?
Yes, his hair was still messy, but that look fit when a guy was embroiled in a construction project. As he nailed another board in place on the large trap he was building, his muscles flexed under the white cotton T-shirt. The scent of fresh sawdust mingled with the aroma of the hot food she held in the bag, but that wasn’t what made her mouth water.
Maybe Sean wasn’t the sexiest guy on the planet, but at this very moment, he was the sexiest guy in Big Knob. He was more of a temptation than she’d expected when she’d agreed to drive out here with his dinner. Once again, they were alone in a secluded spot. She would have to watch herself.
Chapter Fourteen
Sean smelled meatloaf. At first he thought it was his imagination, wishful thinking considering that he could be sitting down to one of Madeline’s meatloaf dinners right about now. But the scent stayed in the air to the point that he stopped working and turned around.
Seeing Maggie standing there holding a paper sack startled him so much he dropped his nail gun on his foot. Fortunately it didn’t go off and shoot a nail into his leg.
“I’m sorry!” She rushed forward, bag and all. “Are you hurt? I should have called out.”
Over Hexed (The Hex Series Book 1) Page 14