First Moon : A Reverse Harem Tale (Lovin' the Coven Book 1)

by Jacquelyn Faye

  Herb got into his baby blue Buick and I got into my Soul. Josie had checked into the one and only motel in town. She was leaving everything up to me since it was my calling and not hers. I pulled away from the house and got behind Herb. We made a few turns and ended up back on Main, heading the way we had come.

  We passed the diner and I smiled at the sad oaks lining the road. They grew straight from the wide sidewalks. Most of the buildings butted up to it, not set back like they had been at home. It really was a cute little town. I wished it the best.

  Herb pulled into a gap between buildings opening into a smallish black-topped parking lot. The brick building to our right had a large scorch mark on the side.

  This must be the fire house. How ironic.

  I parked next to the Buick and got out of the car. Herb motioned to the front of the building. It was two stories. Had ample parking. When we turned the corner, half of the front was a double garage door. It had potential. They could be replaced or modified to accommodate sidewalk seating for the coffee shop. If the city ordinances allowed it. I looked around at the other shops. Many were boarded up or empty. I had a feeling the city council might allow sidewalk stripper poles as long as it brought in some business. The town needed a lot of work. Luckily, I had plenty of time.

  He pulled out a large keyring and unlocked the front door. It would need to be replaced with something a little more business friendly, but once he opened the door, my soul sang. I could feel the blood, sweat, tears, and joy that had been left over the years. The firehouse was lonely. "I'll take it. Sight unseen."

  "What?"

  "I want this building, Herb. I need this building. I already have ten thousand ideas for the store and I haven't even been inside. If I see any more, I won't be able to sleep tonight."

  "You sure?"

  I nodded. "Positive."

  "Okay. Come by the diner this afternoon. I'll have the house papers ready for you to sign and hopefully I'll have an answer about the firehouse from the county."

  "Thanks, Herb," I said and held out my hand. "Ádh mór," I said as he shook it. I pushed a bit of power into him. His eyes glazed over for a moment and he shook his head, looking down at my hand.

  "What was that?"

  "Irish, for good luck."

  "It was very pretty. You speak Irish?"

  I nodded.

  "You're a very interesting young lady, Dot."

  "Thanks, Herb. You're pretty interesting yourself. I'll see you this afternoon."

  He nodded, still in a little daze. I had no doubt whatsoever that he would secure the deal for the firehouse. Watching him lock the door and walk around the corner to his car, I put my hands in the pockets of my jacket and kicked a rock sitting on the sidewalk, watching as it rolled into the street.

  "That's dangerous. A car could have come along and hit that rock."

  I looked up at the Chief. "Hey. Sorry, I was lost in thought."

  "Was that Herb?" He nodded in the direction of the parking lot.

  Herb waved as he drove past us, pulling back out onto the road and heading toward the diner.

  "Guess it was."

  "Yeah. I just bought a house. And a fire house."

  "You bought this dump?" He pointed at the slightly dilapidated building behind me.

  "Hey. Be nice. It's going to be beautiful when I'm done with it."

  "It was on fire?"

  "Herb said there was no structural damage."

  "Herb is a real estate agent. They're right up there with lawyers and snake-oil-salesmen."

  "My grandfather sold snake oil," I said jokingly.

  "So, what are you going to do with it?"

  "It's going to be a bookstore and coffee shop."

  "Fail," he said and started walking away.

  "You're a pessimist."

  "No, just a realist," he said after he turned around, still walking backward.

  "Where are you going?"

  He pointed at the building next to mine. "Police station. At least you won't have to worry about getting robbed. Maybe."

  "See you later, Chief."

  "Bill."

  "Pardon?"

  "Call me, Bill."

  "Is that your name?"

  "No. I just picked it out at random. I always wanted people to call me Bill."

  "A pessimist and a smart ass. That's a deadly combination."

  "Don't forget realist," he said as he opened the door, entering the building and leaving me standing on the street.

  I grabbed my car and headed to the motel. It wasn't even a chain. Farrell's Motel sat just at the edge of main, back toward the highway. It wasn't even a proper motel. Instead of one large building, it was several small cottages linked together with a circular walkway. The motel office and lobby sat in the middle, looking no different from the others. Mr. Farrell himself was the owner, manager, receptionist, maintenance guy, and bell boy. Since ours was the only vehicle in the entire place, even with all the hats he wore, Mr. Farrell wasn't a busy man.

  I parked in front of number six. Josie opened the door as I shut off the engine and got out of the car. "You all done?"

  "Yep. We have a house and a building."

  "Oh, goody."

  "Hey. We have a place to live and a means to support ourselves."

  "Like you need a means to support you, Ms. Moneybags."

  "Not my fault you didn't listen to me on all those investments and savings plans. Seventy-years later, who is laughing now?"

  "You. I'm just a free-loading hitchhiker on this adventure of yours…"

  "No, you're not. You will be working. You're opening the coffee shop portion of…"

  "Of?"

  "Give me a minute. I'm trying to think of a clever name for our store."

  "Make it witchy!"

  "I'm not sure how well that would go over in this town. They might burn us at the stake," I said, half-jokingly.

  "Meh. I'd like to see them try." Flames flashed in her eyes. Josie was downright scary when she wanted to be. She had the flame trick mastered. She'd always joked she had an ifrit somewhere in her lineage. I started to doubt her less and less every time she said it.

  "Yeah. You hungry?"

  "We just ate breakfast two hours ago."

  "And it's lunch time."

  "Diner?"

  "Believe it or not, this town has a McDonalds. Want fries?"

  "Only if you get me some nuggets, too."

  "You and your nuggets," I said exasperatedly. "Why can't you eat Big-Macs like grown up witches."

  Chapter 4

  I pulled the handle on the diner, letting Josie go in first. She had decided to tag along with me while I signed everything and then we were going to grab some dinner before heading over and checking out the house. I still hadn't heard back from Herb about the firehouse though, and that was nagging at me.

  "Hey, kids," Flo said as we entered. She was delivering dinner to a young couple and their two kids.

  "Hi." I waved and slid into our usual booth. If you could call it usual after sitting there once before.

  She deposited the last of the food and came over. "What ya want to drink?"

  "I'll have a Coke."

  "You, hun?"

  Josie thought about it for a moment. "Iced tea?"

  "Unsweet or from the fountain?"

  "What's the difference?"

  "About a hundred calories and some raspberry flavoring."

  "Unsweet."

  She winked and grabbed a couple of menus for us before filling our drink order. I opened mine and noticed Herb waving to me from the kitchen. It wasn't a greeting either, he was waving me to come back.

  "I'm being summoned. Order me the turkey dinner," I told Josie and headed toward the kitchen.

  Herb swung open the door for me. "Come on back to the office. I have the papers ready."

  "How'd it go with the firehouse."

  "It's yours. Forty-five-thousand!"

  I squealed and threw my arms around him. "Looks like yo
u better get used to seeing me around this place."

  "You say that like it's a bad thing. Just don't make Marge jealous."

  "Who's Marge?"

  "My wife, the waitress."

  "Oh. I've been calling her Flo in my head." I laughed. Marge worked, too. I wondered if she'd let me call her Margie.

  He led me through the pristine kitchen and into a small office with a desk and a few chairs. I sat down at the mountain of paperwork laid out neatly on the desk. "I'm also the title company, so one stop shopping."

  "Jeez, Herb. You're gonna wear yourself too thin."

  "Yeah. Cuz eight houses sold in the past ten years keeps me so busy."

  That came as kind of a shock. It was worse than I thought. For the first time since I'd left on my little adventure, I found myself doubting the itch…

  "Where do I sign?"

  "Next to all the little yellow strips of tape with the arrow that says sign here."

  "Well that's convenient."

  "I do my best. I'll be in the kitchen. Holler if you have any questions or finish. The bank is closed for the day. You can drop off a cashier's check for the properties and I'll have everything ready for you tomorrow."

  "Sounds good!"

  He left me alone in his office which smelled like a combination of Salisbury steak and fried fish. It wasn't unpleasant either. It smelled like diner food, just a little more concentrated. My stomach started growling half-way through the contracts and title pages.

  "Coinnigh ag dul."

  I let go of the pen and it signed for me as I flipped page after page, trying to keep up. Within moments, I was done. I stacked everything neatly, grabbed the pen from the air, and set it down on top of the stack.

  "All done," I told Herb as I exited the office into the kitchen.

  "Holy cow, that was fast!"

  "Yeah. My hand is numb, and I think I might have left some scorch marks on page thirty."

  "As long as it's signed," he said with a wink.

  "You need one check or two?"

  "Two please. I'll give you the exact amounts with taxes and fees in a minute. You think about it again. Make sure this is what you want to do. Until the checks are in hand…"

  "Yeah, yeah. I'm sure. Quit worrying."

  "Okay. I will. Welcome to the neighborhood, kiddo."

  "Glad to be here!"

  I pushed through the door. Josie was talking to a very handsome fellow in a fireman's uniform. I sat at the counter instead of heading toward the table. I'd intended on being the ultimate wingman, but she waved me to come over.

  "This is my best friend, Dot. Dot, this is Richie."

  I shook his hand and slipped into the booth in front of my drink. Thankfully the food hadn't come out yet. I hated cold food. "Hi, Richie."

  "Pleasure to meet you, ma'am. I was just asking Josie if she would like to have some drinks this evening. Would you care to join us?"

  "I'm beat and have to get up early in the morning, you two have fun!"

  Josie shot me a questioning glance. I gave her a sly wink with the eye that Richie couldn't see. "Are you sure? Richie says he has a couple of friends who would be joining us…"

  Oh. "Well in that case, how could I say no?"

  "Great. Meet you at O'Malley's at eight?"

  "Where is it?" I asked, since I had no clue.

  "Corner of Second and Elm. That's two streets north of here and just head west. You can't miss it. There are only two bars in Cedar Falls."

  "See you then, Richie," Josie said seductively.

  Oh, boy. This is going to be interesting.

  He smiled and nodded then headed toward the counter.

  "Oh, my Lady. Did you see how hot he is?"

  "Scorching. I hope his friends are decent."

  "Firemen. I think it's a law they have to be hot. How else would they make all those calendars?"

  "Dream on. Remember the ones in Ashville."

  "Hey. There were a couple of hot ones."

  "Forty years ago."

  "Shush. Don't ruin the dream."

  Marge brought out our plates. She set Josie's chicken tender platter down in front of her. I rolled my eyes. One day, she was going to start clucking. I was sure of it.

  My mouth started watering when she set the turkey platter down in front of me. Sliced turkey sat atop mashed potatoes and slices of white bread. A gallon of gravy had been poured liberally atop all of that and the pile of stuffing next to it. Green beans came in another bowl and a large plastic tub was overflowing with jellied cranberries.

  I sliced into it, getting a forkful of everything but the beans and tasted it. It melted on my tongue. I scooped up some cranberries, shoved them in my mouth, and let all the textures and flavors combine into a delightful purview of the afterlife.

  "I fucking love turkey."

  "You're weird. Chicken's better."

  "Shut it, Yolko Ono. Them's fightin' words."

  She laughed and chewed on a tender while flipping through her phone. She sighed and set it down, concentrating more on her food.

  "Lemme guess, text from your mother?"

  She nodded.

  "How many?"

  "Forty-two so far."

  "Did you tell her?"

  "Yeah."

  "How'd that go?"

  "About as well as you'd expect. I'm sure she's casting spells right now trying to find me."

  "Shields up?"

  "They are."

  "Good. I'll strengthen mine in case she decides to start searching for your partner in crime."

  "Could you do me a flavor?"

  "As long as it isn't chicken," I said and slid another bite into my mouth, stabbing some green beans as I chewed.

  "Could you call your mother and have her talk to mine? Your mom was good with the move. Maybe she can calm mine down."

  "Mine wasn't good with it. She just accepted that I'm a big witch now and that I would have gone anyway. But yes. I'll have her talk to yours."

  "Bless your face."

  "You calling me ugly?"

  "Ha. You make me feel downright plain. Thanks for that."

  "Shut up, Josephine. You're gorgeous."

  "This is why I keep you around. You're good for my ego."

  "Yeah. Yeah. Hurry up and eat so I can change. I want a shower before we have drinks with the sexy firemen."

  "I do, too."

  Surprisingly enough, we made it early to O'Malley's. I think it might have even broken a personal speed record for the both of us. Which I was good with. If Richie walked in with a couple of overweight, balding flesh bags, I was faking an illness and sneaking out the back door. The bar had one. I checked.

  The place was pretty desolate. Sure, it was Thursday night, but I'd been expecting more than four lonely old men sitting at the bar sucking back whiskies. There wasn't even any music playing on the ancient juke box.

  "What can I get for you?"

  I glanced up at the ancient waitress. "I'll have a vodka on the rocks with an olive."

  "For you?" She turned to Josie, very slowly. I blinked when I heard more than one vertebra pop.

  "Whiskey sour."

  "Be right back. Start a tab?"

  "Please," I said and held out my credit card. She waved me off.

  "Trusting place."

  "Probably easy to remember all fifty people living in this town."

  "Yeah, but she doesn't know we live here."

  "Fifty people," I repeated. "I'm sure news travels fast. She probably knows our names and address already."

  "She's like a hundred and fifty years old. I'd be surprised if she knows her name and address."

  "Okay. You win that argument. Write it down."

  "Woo hoo."

  I was saved from her rubbing it in by Richie and his friends walking in through the back door. Luckily, both were hot since they cut off my evacuation route. I hadn't planned on them parking in the rear of the bar. I'd have to file that one away for future date and dashes.

  Josie becam
e a beacon of lust for Richie. She saw him and stood up in the booth, waving like a frantic maniac. "Calm down, girl," I whispered to her.

  "Is it that obvious?"

  "Just don't end up in the parking lot with him. If you want him, take him. At his place. Make sure he isn't married or live with his mother."

  "We can't bitch. We just moved out."

  "Yeah. Well. Whatever. Shut up."

  "Ladies. Good to see you again," Richie said smoothly. "These are my friends, Jimmy and Dennis."

  Jimmy was a little taller than Dennis. His blond hair had been pushed back, to keep it from dangling in front of his piercingly blue eyes. They were the first thing I noticed about him. And then his broad shoulders, muscular arms, and everything else. He wasn't just stunning, he was model stunning.

  Dennis, on the other hand, was a little more plain, but still a hottie. He just wasn't godlike in his physical perfection. Short cropped brown hair, brown eyes, and a little thicker in the waist. Not a dad bod, but I could see him having one after a few kids.

  "Nice to meet you," I said without offering my hand or standing up.

  "Wow. You weren't kidding, Richie. They are both absolutely beautiful."

  Josie blushed. I smelled a well-rehearsed line. "Thank you," she replied gushingly. I prayed for the ancient one to hurry up with our drinks.

  Richie sat down in the corner booth and slid over until he was close to Josie. Jimmy did the same on my side, leaving enough room for Dennis, who oddly stood where he was.

  "I'm going to grab some beers. Would you ladies care for anything?"

  "We've been here for a few minutes. The waitress is getting ours."

  "Okay," he said and walked over to the bar. I liked watching him walk.

  Jimmy caught me staring at his buddy's ass and smiled. I shrugged and smiled back. "So, you actually moved here on purpose? Is that rumor true? Your car didn't break down or anything?"

  "Nope. Was looking to relocate. Just happened to pull into town and said here."

  "You might want to reconsider…"

  "Everybody keeps telling me that. I'm pretty stubborn, though."

  "Is it also true you bought the old fire house?"

  "Wow. News does travel fast in this town."

  "You have no idea. Telephone, telegraph, and tell-a-Marge. I think she called half the town after you left the diner."