by Rose Pressey
“Can I tell you that I’m glad you messed up? If not for that, I don’t know if I ever would have met you.”
I tried not to look at him, but my eyes wouldn’t obey. What did I say to that? The feeling was mutual?
I settled on, “I’m glad we met too. Although I wished it had been under different circumstances.”
“It all worked out in the end.” He glanced over and gave a bashful grin that I wasn’t accustomed to from him.
I shrugged. “I guess it did, but look at us now. We seem to be in another mess again. Well, actually I can’t say we. You’re just here for a little while and didn’t have anything to do with the magic.”
“I’m not sure the Organization will see it that way. I wasn’t supposed to come to Mystic Hollow. I wasn’t supposed to go anywhere that had the magic, especially the most magical town around. This was the last place I was supposed to come.” He looked at me, but quickly glanced back at his feet. “But I couldn’t help myself. Something pulled me back to Mystic Hollow. I think you know that the something is you.”
My heart thumped until I thought it would pop out of my chest. I couldn’t deny that I had suspected that was the reason for Tom’s return. “I thought you came back because you didn’t have anywhere else to go?” I asked, still in shock over his announcement.
His hand brushed mine and I could hardly breathe. It was as if the world was closing in on me. When we took a few more steps and his hand touched mine again, he reached over and grasped it in his. I didn’t stop him. My skin felt as if it was on fire. If it felt that way when he touched my hand, what would his lips feel like? Not just a quick peck on the lips, but the real deal, his tongue with mine, expressing the feelings that we were keeping inside. It wasn’t good to keep your feeling bottled up, right? Maybe just one good, long kiss would tell me how I really felt. We could get it all out in the open and move on with our lives.
“You didn’t come back to Mystic Hollow to see me, did you? I mean, doesn’t your family want you home with them?”
“I don’t have any family to speak of, my parents died in a car accident years ago.” He looked down again.
“I’m so sorry,” I said softly.
“I came back because I knew you’d understand what’s it’s like to be accused of performing bad magic.” He winked and gave a half grin. “Honestly though, you know I wanted to see you again.”
Heat rushed to my cheeks.
“The Organization has been my life, my family. I never felt like I needed a real family until now.”
“Mystic Hollow will always be your home now,” I said.
He shook his head. “Even so, I shouldn’t have come here.”
“I’m happy that you did.” Did I just say that out loud? “I mean, I needed the extra help and all,” I said with a wave of my hands.
He frowned for a second, then attempted a smile. We’d made a circle and ended up in front of my house again.
“Let me walk you back to your door.” As we moved up the stone path, he said, “Elly, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have told you about this tonight.”
“No, I’m glad you did. You knew I’d find out when the Organization showed up.”
“Regardless, there’s nothing we can do right now. It’ll just ruin your sleep.”
I didn’t bother to tell him that my sleep was probably already ruined before he came along.
Tom guided me along the path with his hand on the small of my back. I’d practically forgotten about the eerie feeling the darkness had given me. He stood behind me as I unlocked the door. When I turned to face him, he was mere inches away. I sucked in a sharp breath.
Tom reached out and stroked my cheek. His movements seemed as natural to me as breathing. Without saying a word, he leaned closer. His warm, sweet breath caressed my cheek as his soft lips touched my skin. He lingered there for a second, then turned and stepped off the porch. When he was halfway to his car, he turned around, pausing for a brief moment. We exchanged a searching gaze. At that moment, a part of me wanted to go wherever his magic would take me. Finally, he released my stare and slipped away into the night, leaving me standing at the front door wondering what had just happened.
Chapter Fifteen
Fluffy white clouds drifted like barges across the blue sky. Bright sunlight painted the area, covering Mystic Hollow with warmth. So why did it seem as if a black cloud hung low over the town? I was constantly looking over my shoulder waiting for someone with the Organization to burst through the door.
I’d just started my morning prep work when Tom strolled into the café looking as handsome as ever. My cheeks flushed, remembering the previous night. He certainly wasn’t bringing this ominous feeling my way.
Sure, he always had a dark aura following him, but it wasn’t a bad presence. It was more of the sexy kind of dark. No matter, I didn’t need to be concerned with that right now, although his sexiness had been on my mind all night. How could it not? I had tossed and turned all night. When I hadn’t been consumed with thoughts of the spell, my mind went back and forth from Rory to Tom. There shouldn’t be any back and forth thoughts. I was happy with Rory, but….
Now that I thought of it, Tom had brought a whole new taste to the food at Mystic Café. My cooking had become more urgent, as if filled with desire. I supposed having a good-looking man around the kitchen would do that to a woman. A certain chemistry was coming through in the food. Was that somehow responsible for the strange happenings around town? No, no, no. That was a ridiculous thought. I was only giving myself false hope with that notion, trying to rationalize a different source for my dilemma.
As I stood in front of the front door, I watched the chaos outside. Two men stood in front of the café, arguing over what looked to be an old pair of shoes. It was like watching tug of war. It wasn’t as if these were special shoes. Then again, maybe they had magic attached. A little further down the sidewalk, Mrs. Robertson had just pushed Mrs. Thomas in the back, then Ms. Thomas turned around and walloped Mrs. Robertson in the head with her pocketbook. Cars sped down Main Street as if it was race day at the speedway. Everyone walked with hurried steps. It was enough to make my head swim.
I stepped out of the way and Tom entered the café looking as sexy as ever.
“Good morning, gorgeous. Oh, am I supposed to call you boss?” He flashed his dazzling smile.
Would he mention what had happened last night or continue to act as if nothing had changed?
“I definitely don’t want to be called boss. How about sticking with Elly?” I gestured with a tilt of my head. “Did you happen to notice the weirdness going on out there this morning? It’s getting worse.”
He stopped and looked over his shoulder, then said, “I did.” He nodded and moved on behind the counter.
“Well, that’s it? No other comments?” I followed along behind him.
He grabbed an apron from behind the counter. “I stayed awake last night trying to think of a plan. Unfortunately, I wasn’t too successful. If I was allowed to investigate… but I kind of have my hands tied. I’m no longer a part of the magic.”
He’d stayed awake last night, too? Were his thoughts only of making a plan?
“The heck you aren’t. You’re still a part of the magic world. You always will be. We have to do something about this.”
Okay, I was sounding completely paranoid. I’d wanted to grab him and shake him. Tom would soon figure out what I’d done. I was only making things worse by not confessing to my mishap.
“I don’t know what’s going on.” He shrugged, then slipped the apron over his clothing.
I still wasn’t used to seeing him in an apron that said Mystic Café across the front.
“You know you don’t have to wear that thing.” I pointed. “I wouldn’t want to cramp your style.”
“No, no. If I’m working here I want to be just like any other employee.”
I shrugged. “Whatever you say.”
Tom made his way to the kitchen door.
/> I called after him. “Don’t you think we should call someone before they get here? No, wait. Scratch that. Maybe we’ll just ignore everything that’s going on. That’s probably the best.” Now I was blabbering.
As I made my way toward the kitchen door, the bell on the door jangled and I whipped around. Talk about tense.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” Rory said.
I almost groaned. What the heck was going on? Now they were both calling me the same term of endearment? This was downright bizarre. What was I going to do?
“I thought I’d stop by and see if you needed any help today?” A huge smile spread across his face as he stuffed his hands in the pockets of his jeans and looked at me expectantly.
I quirked a brow and walked toward him. Why was he volunteering again? “More cooking? Waiting tables?”
“Yeah, sure, I can help with everything here at the café.” He touched my chin with his index finger and flashed a huge grin.
Uh oh. Did he think he needed to be around everyday just because Tom was working here now? That wasn’t like the Rory I knew. He was more confident than that. He certainly had never been overly jealous. Don’t get me wrong, a little bit of jealousy was a good thing, but not too much. No crazy stalker stuff.
“Um, I’m okay. But that was so sweet of you to ask.” Rory wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me closer. Being in Rory’s arms felt natural, as if I’d come home.
“I know things have been crazy busy for you the past few days.” He looked over my shoulder. I knew who he was searching for.
“Things have been crazy.” I nodded.
“Is Mary Jane here yet? I thought I heard you talking to someone when I came in.” He glanced over my shoulder again.
“No. It’s just me and Tom.”
As if on cue, Tom emerged from the kitchen with a stack of plates in his arms.
Rory nodded. “Good morning,” he mumbled.
“Yeah, good morning,” Tom muttered back.
Thank goodness, a group of customers entered before they could exchange any more pleasantries.
Rory released his hold on me. “If you need me, you call right away and I’ll be here.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
“I’ll see you tonight,” he said, then gave me a quick kiss on the lips.
Mary Jane had slipped in the café unnoticed, sidling up beside me. We watched Rory move down the sidewalk away from Mystic Café. He wore a T-shirt that revealed his tanned arms and well-worn jeans.
After a few seconds of silence, she said, “Clearly, both of these guys are your Jake Ryan. I can’t see a flaw in either one. How is that possible? Tell me there’s something wrong with either one of them.”
I frowned and glanced over at her. “Jake Ryan?”
She placed her hands on her hips. “You know, from Sixteen Candles? The perfect boyfriend.”
“Oh yeah… well, of course there’s something wrong with them. Everyone has faults, a flaw here or there. Heaven knows I sure do.” I paused. “And they are not my Jake Ryan. I’m not dating Tom, remember?”
“Oh yeah…” she said softly.
Mary Jane had said Rory and I were quite the item around town. I wasn’t sure I’d use that catchy little phrase to describe our status. After dumping my fiancé and moving back to Kentucky, I had wanted to take things slow with Rory Covington. Especially after he’d just been introduced to a world of magic, thanks to me. Rory had taken the introduction much easier than I had. Mary Jane said there was no way to take things slow with a man like Rory… and she’d been right. Rory was so wonderful that it was next to impossible to take things too gradually.
We continued to stare out the window for several more seconds until I noticed the most bizarre scene yet. It was a donkey… coming down the street. Even stranger was that Mystic Hollow’s mayor was riding it. Yes, a donkey. Right there in the middle of the town. His legs bounced out to the sides with each trot. No one seemed to notice or care. Had Mary Jane noticed, too? Yeah… it was kind of hard to, huh? No one walking up and down the street seemed to find this behavior odd.
“Did you see that?” she asked. Her mouth hung open as she looked at me, then out the window again.
Well, there was my answer. Yes, she’d seen the mule riding mayor of Mystic Hollow.
I’d have to break the bad news to Mary Jane soon. She was already stressed, so I hated to freak her out even more. But she was a sharp one, she’d probably guess that something peculiar was happening.
Yes, things did seem different around town, but it wasn’t the sense of happiness like Grandma Imelda had said the spell would bring. There were more scowls and frowns on people’s faces than smiles and laughter, not to mention the sense of hurriedness. No one stopped to smell the roses. I could tolerate the rushed pace, but the bizarre antics were too much to handle.
Mystic Hollow had always been such a normal town. Well, other than the magic thing. But now I didn’t know what to think. Even the birds seemed to be in a lousy mood. Instead of chirping sweet songs, it was more as if they were arguing with each other. People didn’t wave when they passed by as they usually did. No smiles or even nods of their heads.
Were Tom, Mary Jane and I the only people who noticed? Surely someone else had picked up on the weird happenings. Then again, we’d been so busy working, we hadn’t taken part in the potion consumption. Had Tom seen something like this before? If he hadn’t… well, I was in serious trouble. He hadn’t mentioned ever witnessing this stuff before. Now that I thought of it, Mary Jane hadn’t taken the potion, but she’d been acting a little strange and she was hard to affect with magic. Spells had never really worked on her in the past.
Chapter Sixteen
We’d just finished serving the breakfast crowd when I spotted her. Tom didn’t need to tell me who she was because I knew right away. Things were different with her arrival though. She didn’t bring that same energy with her that Tom had every time he approached town. From inside the café, I watched as she moved up the sidewalk and straight toward the café. When she reached the door, I spotted Mr. Wibble climbing out from the wheel of a black sedan parked at the curb. He had been Tom’s boss at the Organization. Tom had been right. They didn’t waste any time getting to Mystic Hollow.
I hurried across the dining room floor to the register. I didn’t want them to know I’d been watching from the front window. If I acted casual, maybe they’d disappear. Yeah, that was likely to happen in this century.
The woman yanked the door open, then moved across the floor with purpose toward us. Soft brown hair fell to her shoulders and her cheeks had a natural rosy glow. Her formfitting black skirt and white shirt were tailored to her hourglass figure. She fixed her dark eyes on me with intense scrutiny. Mary Jane’s eyes narrowed as she looked the woman up and down. I knew she didn’t like her already by the way Mary Jane twitched her nose. She’d always had a temper.
“Is Tom here?” the woman asked while looking over my shoulder. She stood ramrod straight, obviously attempting her most businesslike appearance.
I glanced back, then back to her again. “Yeah, I think he’s in the kitchen. May I tell him who’s here to see him?”
Maybe it was none of my business, sure, but I had always been a little nosy, okay, a lot nosy, what could I say? It didn’t hurt to ask. She probably wouldn’t tell me anyway. But no matter, I already knew who she was, even if I didn’t want to admit the truth. Mr. Wibble entered the café as she placed her bag down on the counter and pulled a card from the front pocket.
Suddenly this all seemed real. The realization of what was happening smacked me in the face. I’d been telling myself it wasn’t a big deal. That was me, always trying to stick my head in the sand. I took the card from her outstretched hand and looked down at it. The room seemed smaller all of a sudden. Too bad I hadn’t installed a trap door, then I could have dropped out of there before they had a chance to tell me how screwed I was.
I swallowed hard when I read the text.<
br />
The National Organization of Magic
Sydney Whitman, Investigator
Peachy. Tom had been right. It sure hadn’t taken them long. The Organization was all over me like a rat on cheese. What did she want with Tom? He hadn’t made any mistakes else since arriving in Mystic Hollow. Couldn’t they leave him alone? It was me that they really needed. The National Organization of Magic had been around for many years. So many years that they’d practically lost track as to when it was actually formed. They had strange way of handling things and they really didn’t make sense to me, but it seemed to keep some form of order to the magic. Without them, who knew what would happen.
I looked her up and down, trying not to let her think she’d intimidated me. She was as friendly as a rattlesnake. As far as I was concerned, there was only one magic investigator around here. If they wanted to be mean and take away Tom’s job, then I would give them the same treatment.
The new investigator didn’t budge from her ramrod straight stance, still all official business like as she stood in front of me. She met my stare and I had a feeling my tactics weren’t appreciated. She continued to look over my shoulder. How did she know Tom was back there anyway? Did she know he had been working at the café? Well, that was for me to know and her to find out. My lips were sealed.
“Why do you want Tom?” I asked while hiding my uneasiness from her intense scrutiny.
“This is an official Organization matter. I can’t discuss that with you.” Maybe I was imagining it, but her hands seemed to tremble slightly as she kept the straight by her side.
Yeah, if she couldn’t tell me what she wanted with Tom, then I couldn’t tell her where he was. I certainly wouldn’t tell her that he was working at the café.
Sydney Whitman eased down on the stool, pinning me with her stare. It didn’t look as if she planned on leaving anytime soon. If she hung around for very long, she’d find Tom because he’d come walking through that door. She glanced around the café. Asking her if she wanted something to eat seemed like the right thing to do. Even though I just wanted her to get the heck out.