“Hannah Waters,” Landon replied, taking me by surprise.
“How do you know that?” I was confused.
“Landon.” The willowy blonde was completely focused on my fiancé. “It’s been a long time.” She extended her hand. “A very, very long time.”
The annoyance I’d been feeling thanks to Aunt Tillie’s antics turned into something else. I couldn’t give a name to it — or maybe I simply didn’t want to — but it felt like a mishmash of jealousy and discomfort. “You two know each other?”
“We do.” Landon shook Hannah’s hand and then released it, even though I had the sneaking suspicion Hannah would’ve been fine extending the greeting. “We were in the academy together.”
“Oh, well ... .” I didn’t know what to say. I’d been expecting a male profiler. “Um ... it’s nice to meet you.”
“A pleasure.” Hannah’s blue eyes were bright when they finally met mine. “Do you work here?”
“Not really.”
“This is Bay’s mother’s inn,” Landon volunteered, moving behind the counter to join me.
“And you’re Bay?” Hannah’s composure never cracked. “Do you work with Landon?”
“Sometimes,” I said.
“Bay is my fiancée,” Landon said.
“Oh, I heard.” Hannah bobbed her head. There was no disappointment when she focused on me a second time, although it was clear she was taking my measure. “I had drinks with Tom and Kevin in Chicago about three weeks ago. They mentioned that you’d gotten engaged. I didn’t believe it at first, but they swore it was true.”
“Who are Tom and Kevin?” I asked.
“Those are code names,” Aunt Tillie hissed. “They’re rogue Mary Kay sellers who want to infiltrate my inn.”
I lightly cuffed the back of her combat helmet. “Stop being weird.”
“Who’s being weird?”
“You,” Landon replied. “But that’s nothing new.” He shook his head before turning back to Hannah. “You’ll have to excuse Aunt Tillie. She’s ... an individual who likes attention.”
“So I see.” Hannah said. “Steve gave me a rundown on what to expect. He suggested I stay here. I wasn’t certain why, but now I assume it’s because you’re often here.”
“Actually, I live on the grounds.” Landon was doing his best to appear relaxed, but there was tension around the corners of his eyes. He was stressed out and pretending otherwise.
“You live in an inn.” Hannah looked to the ceiling. “That’s ... interesting.”
“Not in the inn. I live in a guesthouse on the property.”
“With your fiancée?”
Landon nodded. “Yes.”
“Well, that sounds ... like something out of a book.” Hannah giggled. “I didn’t realize your life had changed so much.”
“You can’t trust anyone who smiles that much,” Aunt Tillie warned me in a low voice. Even her best attempts at being quiet were failures. “That’s one of the first lessons I ever taught you. Remember it. Live it.” She thumped her hand against her chest. “Also, Mary Kay is crap. Nobody needs half the stuff they sell.”
I felt as if I was out of my element, but I refused to let this person — someone Landon clearly wasn’t expecting — rock my world. “Please ignore Aunt Tillie. The longer the day goes, the loopier she gets.”
Aunt Tillie growled. “And just for that, you’re on my list.”
Landon perked up. “Let me just say, I love the smell of bacon.”
Aunt Tillie had cursed me to smell like bacon as punishment more than once — resulting in half the male members of the town giving chase. He wanted the bacon curse again, but he couldn’t admit that in front of Hannah.
“I’m not rewarding you,” Aunt Tillie shot back, extending a finger in Hannah’s direction. “I will be watching you. If any of my good makeup is replaced with bad makeup, you’ll be in a world of hurt.”
Hannah’s smile never diminished, even when Aunt Tillie turned on her heel and flounced out of the room with Peg giving chase. “This is a unique place.”
Landon chuckled and moved his hand to my back. It was normal for him to touch me, but now the simple gesture felt somehow different, as if he was trying to send a message. I recognized the message wasn’t for me but for Hannah, which made me suspicious of exactly what their academy days were like.
“They have you down for a room on the third floor,” I said, keeping my eyes on the computer screen. “It looks like they’ve already run a corporate credit card.”
“Yes, Steve said he’d taken care of everything with one of the proprietors. Someone named Marnie.”
“It looks like everything is settled here.” I grabbed a keycard from the stack on the desk and ran it through the machine. “This should work. Room 302.”
“Great.” Hannah was all smiles as she took the card. “I believe Steve said that I would be in time for dinner.”
“Dinner is in fifteen minutes,” I confirmed, looking to Landon, who avoided eye contact. “We’re looking forward to a fun meal.”
“I can’t wait to meet the rest of your family,” Hannah said.
“Yes, won’t that be fun?”
8
Eight
Once Hannah had gone upstairs to her room, I slid my eyes to Landon. I did not, however, say a single word.
“What?” Landon barked after a few seconds, his eyes flashing with annoyance. “If you have something to say, say it.”
“I don’t have anything to say.” I turned away from him and finished filling out the ledger. When I finished, I moved to slide around him. “I’m going to get a drink in the library.”
He caught my shoulders before I could escape. “Bay ... .” It was obvious he was bothered by what was happening. Sometimes he was good with words — especially when he wanted to be romantic — but other times he fumbled like a Lions player taking on the Packers on Monday Night Football.
“She’s your ex-girlfriend,” I said.
He studied my face for a long moment and then nodded. “I don’t know that ‘girlfriend’ is the right word. We dated, briefly, in the Academy. That was a long time ago.”
“Okay.” I patted his arm. “I want something to drink.”
He refused to move out of my way. “I was twenty-two years old,” he said. “I thought I was a man back then, but I didn’t become a man until I met you and realized what it meant to love someone.”
“Do you think I’m going to turn into a puddle of insecurity because your ex-girlfriend is here?” I asked.
“I don’t want you feeling insecure. I love you more than anything. That will never change.”
“Thank you, but I’m okay. The fact that she’s your ex-girlfriend might help us. I mean ... she’s less likely to report us for being witchy nuts thanks to her ties to you.”
“I don’t know about that.” Landon scratched his chin. “She was always pragmatic. She didn’t believe anything she couldn’t see with her naked eye. The good news is that I think it’s likely she’ll chalk up anything she sees as part of the Hemlock Cove mystique. The bad news is ... if she sees actual magic, I think she’ll report it.”
That wasn’t what I wanted to hear. “Then I guess we need to make sure that she doesn’t report it.”
“That would be preferable.” Landon brushed his fingers against my cheek. “We’re okay, right, Bay?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t we be?”
“I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I just ... this feels weird.”
“Why?”
“She’s a part of my old life. I broke up with her and she might still have a crush on me. It’s just … odd all around.”
“We’ll get through it.” I squeezed his hand. “I know you love me. I refuse to be jealous of a woman you dated eight years ago.”
“That’s good, because you have nothing to be jealous about. Not only do I love you more than anything, I’m pretty sure I love you more than anybody has ever loved anybody else in the entire
history of the world.”
I couldn’t contain my smile. “You are the competitive sort.”
“This is just an added layer of crap we shouldn’t have to deal with. Between Brian Kelly and a murderer, she’s just a little too much extra to take.”
“It’s fine.” I wasn’t jealous as much as worried. What I didn’t say to Landon was that my greatest fear regarding Hannah’s possible continued interest in him revolved around her watching us a little too closely. “I’m not insecure about this. It’s weird, but we’ve been through much worse.”
He pulled me to him, hugging me tight as he rested his cheek on my head. “I’m still sorry. This is something we shouldn’t have to deal with.”
“We’ll survive.” I was certain of that.
HANNAH WAS UPSTAIRS TEN MINUTES, and by the time she came downstairs, Landon and I had cocktails and were completely put together.
Er, well, completely put together for us. We would never be the sort of couple that didn’t say moronic things and follow up the words with stupid actions.
“This inn is beautiful,” Hannah said as we led her to the dining room. “Will you inherit it eventually?”
I shrugged. “I haven’t really thought about it. The women in my family live a long time. They’ll be here to keep the inn in good running order for a number of years yet.”
“Still, it would be cool to own your own business one day,” Hannah pressed.
“Bay already owns her own business,” Landon said. “She owns the town newspaper.”
Hannah’s expression reflected confusion. “You’re engaged to a reporter? That seems ... weird.”
“Why is that weird?” I asked.
“Because at the academy, Landon always used to say that the only good reporter was a dead one.”
Landon pulled up short. “I did not say that.”
“You did. We were having that discussion on whether or not the media have the right to hold law enforcement accountable if there’s a screw up. We all agreed that it shouldn’t be allowed.”
Landon looked to me. “I did not say that.”
Hannah refused to back down. “I remember very distinctly because I was the only one who thought the press performed an important job.”
Landon glared at her. “I think Bay performs a very important job. I see how hard she works and respect her all the more for it.”
Before he could get up a full head of steam, I grabbed his wrist and gave it a squeeze. “It’s okay if you’ve thought better of ideas you had when you were younger and unevolved,” I pointed out. “I used to think a lot of weird things. It’s not the end of the world.”
He didn’t look convinced. “I never really wished reporters dead,” he said finally, shooting Hannah an annoyed look. “She’s making that up.”
Hannah’s laugh told me she was having a good time. “I see you’re still the same protective guy you always were. He’s always been a gentleman,” she said to me.
“I don’t know that I would call him a gentleman,” I hedged, thinking back to three nights before, when he conned my mother into making him an entire plate of bacon for a bedtime snack and then proceeded to eat it in bed while trying to get me naked.
Landon’s eyes lit with flirty energy when I locked gazes with him. It was as if he could read my mind.
“I’m a total gentleman,” Landon countered as he held the dining room door for Hannah and me. “See. Would someone who wasn’t a gentleman do that?”
I smirked as I shook my head and followed Hannah into the dining room. Everyone else was already seated and waiting.
“You’re late,” Mom snapped as she slid a platter of pot roast and potatoes toward the center of the table.
“Ooh, yum.” Landon danced around me and took his regular seat next to Aunt Tillie. “I love pot roast night.”
Mom shot him a fond smile. “I cooked with you in mind this evening.”
“And that’s why you’re going to be the best mother-in-law ever.”
Before I could sit, Hannah took my usual chair, settling between Landon and Chief Terry. “It smells good,” she said.
I stood where I was, rooted to my spot, and stared at the back of her head.
“What’s happening?” Thistle asked from the far end of the table. “Who is that chick sitting in Bay’s spot?”
Hannah glanced around the table, her cheeks coloring when she realized Thistle was talking about her. “I’m so sorry.” She immediately got to her feet. “I should’ve realized that was your spot.”
Landon already had a dinner roll stuffed in his mouth as he glanced between us.
“It’s fine,” I reassured her. “It’s not a big deal. We just ... eat together a lot.”
“And have regular seats,” Hannah said. “I get it. Am I okay sitting on the other side of ... this fine gentleman?” She shot Chief Terry a bright smile.
“Of course,” I replied. “If you want to sit here ... .” I trailed off and helplessly gestured at my normal chair.
“No, that’s not necessary,” she said. “I’m fine here.” She smiled again for Chief Terry’s benefit. “Everything looks lovely.”
“There’s nothing better than pot roast,” Thistle agreed. “Who the heck are you?”
It was only then that I realized I hadn’t made introductions. “I’m sorry, this is Hannah Waters. She’s an FBI profiler from Chicago and she will be in Hemlock Cove working on the Paisley Gilmore case with Landon and Chief Terry. I put her in the third-floor room you had earmarked for her in the computer, by the way.”
Mom nodded. “I’m sorry you had to do that. I thought Twila was at the desk.” She shot her flame-haired sister a pointed look. “Which begs the question, if you weren’t handling the front desk like you said you would, what were you doing?”
Twila was the picture of innocence. “What do you mean? I was in the lobby.”
“Bay just said she had to check in the FBI agent.”
“Hannah,” I corrected.
“Hannah.” Mom gave a smile that didn’t make it all the way to her eyes. “What were you doing, Twila?”
“Yes, what were you doing that was so important you couldn’t help with dinner?” Marnie drawled.
Sensing trouble, I cleared my throat to shut up my mother and aunts and then focused on Hannah. “I should probably do introductions.” I introduced everyone around the table. She lingered on Clove for a moment, seemingly entranced by her huge belly, and then focused on Chief Terry.
“You have a good reputation in law enforcement circles,” Hannah offered. “I didn’t know that you lived here. I guess I was ... misinformed.”
“I don’t live here,” Chief Terry said, shifting on his chair. “I just ... .”
“He shacks up with my niece,” Aunt Tillie blurted, ignoring the death glare my mother beamed at her. “He has a house, but given the hours Winnie works, he’s almost always here. Plus, the food is better here, and he’s motivated by his tastebuds and libido more than anything else.”
“Well, that’s nice.” Hannah added one slab of meat, one potato and four carrots to her plate from the roast platter. “Do you eat together often?”
She was digging. As a profiler, she wanted to break things down so she could wrap her mind around our family dynamics. I understood her curiosity, but I didn’t want her digging too deep. “Landon and I eat about ten meals here a week,” I replied. “Clove and Thistle don’t live on the family property, so they eat here three or four times a week.”
“Still, that’s a lot for adults,” Hannah said. “And ten times a week?” Her eyebrows migrated up her forehead. “That’s ... a lot.”
Landon didn’t appear bothered about being psychoanalyzed. “It’s really not,” he said. “We don’t cook.”
“He means Bay doesn’t cook,” Thistle sniped.
“I mean that we don’t cook,” Landon shot back. He had a heaping mound of food on his plate and seemed to be over the awkwardness. “We don’t need to. Winnie is the best
cook in the world and we can walk here in five minutes. Why would we cook under those circumstances?”
“Well, the ease of the meals is definitely a consideration, but it points toward a co-dependent family dynamic,” Hannah said. “I’m not judging you. I simply find it interesting.”
Landon rolled his eyes. “Please. You’re trying to shrink us because that’s what you do. Let me save you some time, okay? We’re definitely codependent. That’s not just Bay and her mother. That’s Bay and me ... and Bay and Chief Terry ... and Bay and Thistle.”
Now it was my turn to frown. “I think you’ve said enough.”
“Yeah, you’ve said that Bay is codependent with everyone in her life,” Thistle agreed. “And, for the record, Bay and I are not codependent.”
Landon shot Thistle a quelling look. “That came out wrong. What I meant to say is that we’re all codependent. Bay isn’t the only one. I’m just as codependent as everybody else.”
“I don’t think I understand what’s going on here,” Twila said in a stage whisper as she leaned closer to Marnie.
“That’s not unusual,” Marnie said.
“It’s not that difficult to understand,” Aunt Tillie insisted. “The FBI called in a profiler, like on television. That’s her.” She waved her fork at Hannah. “What makes everything so weird is that the new profiler used to let this one give her an extra side of bacon every morning when they were in the academy together.” She jabbed the fork at Landon.
I pressed my lips together and stared at the ceiling as Landon slid me an incredulous look. Aunt Tillie’s take on the subject was pretty accurate.
“Should it be side of bacon or sausage?” Aunt Tillie mused. “Personally, I think sausage is more phallic so it fits the sexual undertones of the statement better. But ... it’s bacon, and we all know how ‘The Man’ feels about bacon.”
“You’ll have to excuse us,” Clove volunteered for Hannah’s benefit. “In addition to being codependent, we also don’t think before we speak.”
“Not even a little,” Thistle agreed as she looked Hannah up and down with fresh eyes. “So, you dated Landon back in the day, huh?” Her expression was hard to read. I’d known her long enough to understand what she was thinking, though ... and it wasn’t good. She was debating how we would take out Hannah if it became necessary. I knew because Thistle’s mind always went that route.
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