What was she up to? I leaned in a little closer to study the particulars of the spell she was reading about.
“Hey, gorgeous.”
A hand flew to clutch my chest as I jumped a foot off the ground. A chuckle followed the greeting and I whipped around to see Adam sauntering into the coffee shop.
“I didn’t mean to scare you,” he added, laughing under his breath.
I smiled at him and my heart raced even faster. “You didn’t.”
“Uh-huh.” He folded his arms over his broad chest and my eyes took a quick tour of the muscles in his flexed arms. “What was that jump, then? You trying out for a cheerleading team?”
I laughed and shook my head, giving him an eye roll. “No.”
“Pity.”
My cheeks flushed and he laughed again. He loved watching me squirm.
Evangeline turned in her seat and offered a sultry smile to my boyfriend. “Hello, Adam.”
The smile slid off my lips and I directed a harsh glare at her. Not that she noticed. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but sometimes it felt like Evangeline was a little too interested in Adam. We all lived together at the Beechwood Manor, a halfway house for supernaturals. As roommates, it was easier if we were also friends, but her interest pushed right up against the boundary between friendly and friendly.
At first, I’d tried to ignore it, reminding myself that I was more than a little rusty in the dating department and was potentially being extra possessive because I was scared of something going wrong. But as time went on, it got harder to rationalize her behavior.
“Hey, Evie.” That was what he called her. Evie. Adam had a thing for nicknames.
Evangeline looked away when Adam planted a kiss on my cheek. “You ready to get outta here?” he asked me.
I worked my lower lip between my teeth as I glanced over my shoulder at the large, copper-plated clock on the wall.
Adam groaned. “I know what that look means …”
“I’m sorry, Adam.” I cut a glance back to Evangeline and then grabbed for Adam’s arm and dragged him away from her table. I didn’t need to give her any ammunition.
“Did you forget?” he asked.
I cringed, not wanting to cop to it. What kind of girlfriend forgets a date? “Things have been hectic all day, mostly thanks to Evangeline and her posse of wannabe boyfriends. Cassie hasn’t taken a break, so I just told her to take half an hour. Then we’ll need to close and get some cleaning done.”
“Holly,” he groaned, raking a hand through his thick, dark hair.
I forced myself to meet his equally dark eyes and saw embers of frustration glowing behind them. It wasn’t the first time I’d had to bail on a date to stay at the shop and help Cassie. We were down an employee, since Frankie had decided to take a job at the lumber mill in the next town over. Paisley and Kirra were only able to work part-time hours, which left Cassie and me with the bulk of the work, and we had officially cruised into tourist season, which was just as crazy as everyone had warned me it would be.
“I’m really sorry, Adam. But I can’t leave her. She’s working herself to death as it is.”
“It’s fine. I get it.” Adam flexed his jaw but his frustration passed quickly and he relaxed again. He fixed his wide smile back in place as he reached for me and ran his hands down my arms. “You’re a good friend. We can see the movie tomorrow night instead.”
“Well …”
He cringed. “No?”
I sighed. “I have to work on some”— I paused and glanced around — “potions. I’m running low on everything and I have people coming in this weekend to pick up orders.”
Adam scrubbed a hand along his scruff-coated jaw. I hated making him so anxious and agitated. Adam was normally the epitome of cool. But, now that we were dating, my unavailability was a sore spot between us.
“Adam, it’s not that I don’t want to—”
Adam’s eyes drifted past my shoulder. I followed his glance and rolled my eyes before pivoting on my toe to spin around just as Evangeline wandered across the cafe to join us. She had her forest green purse slung over her shoulder and her textbooks back under her opposite arm, like she was on her way out. “What are you two doing tonight? I was just thinking about getting some dinner.” She smiled at Adam.
Sure, now she was leaving.
“I was going to go get something for dinner over at McNally’s,” Adam replied, his tone still terse.
Evangeline lit up like a Christmas tree. “That sounds great! Would you mind if I tagged along?”
“Not at all.” Adam glanced over at me. “Holly?”
My heart sank to my toes but I forced a smile. “I can’t. But you guys go ahead.”
Evangeline’s eyes sparkled as she looked up at Adam and the room seemed to spin around them. Adam looked back at me one last time before leading the way to the front door. “See you at home, Holly.”
I nodded, unable to speak, and watched as Adam held the door open for Evangeline. The smile slipped from my lips as I watched them set off towards the center of town. I forced my hands into action, straightening and restocking the long table at the front of the shop. But my eyes weren’t focused on the task and I fumbled around as Adam and Evangeline walked across the parking lot together, smiling and laughing about something. A twinge of jealousy welled up inside of me but I quickly stuffed it down and got back to work.
“You’re just being paranoid,” I whispered to myself. “Evangeline isn’t into dark magic and Adam isn’t into Evangeline. There. End of story.”
CHAPTER TWO
“Whew.” Cassie collapsed against the counter once the out-the-door line was finally cleared. A few patrons were seated inside, but most of them had moved on or were outside on the back patio, watching the sun finish setting over the Pacific. She heaved a deep sigh and then went to work on adjusting her topknot, re-centering it on her head. “All I can say is thank goodness I have two interviews next week to replace Frankie.”
I gave a dry laugh. “No kidding. When you guys told me that the summer gets busy around here, I have to say, I did not expect this. It’s pure chaos!”
Cassie giggled. “Preaching to the choir, girl. I’ll get someone hired soon. Although we’ll still have to train them. But Kirra has her last final early next week and then she’ll be here full time, too.”
I nodded. “Thank the stars.”
Cassie flashed me a smile, not even questioning my catch phrase. She’d grown used to my strange expressions. “Thanks for hanging in there with me, Holly. I seriously don’t know what I would do without you here!”
I returned her warm smile. “Of course, Cass. You’re doing an amazing job as the manager. I’m sure it’s overwhelming.”
She nodded. “Yeah. Phillip calls every week to ask about things, and I do my best to put on a brave face, but man, it’s not easy. That’s for sure.”
Phillip Tanner was the new owner of Siren’s Song after the previous owner, Peg Holloway, had been brutally murdered a little over a month ago. By some odd set of circumstances, I’d ended up getting tangled in the investigation and had wheedled the confession out of her killer. After the case was resolved, Phillip had gone back to Idaho and left Cassie in charge of the coffee shop.
“I’m sure he’s just happy to not have to come back into town and babysit us all. He trusts you, Cass.”
Cassie moved to the cash register and started a preliminary count of the till as the shop would only be open for another twenty minutes. “He’s not a bad guy, but I’d be lying if I said he didn’t intimidate me!”
I laughed and patted her shoulder as I passed by on my way to the pastry case. “Right there with ya. I still remember the first time he came to the shop!”
“You mean you have nightmares about it,” Cassie teased.
Phillip was a hard-looking man, and for a while, he’d topped my suspects list as I tried to solve Peg’s murder. So, finding out he was going to be my boss had been a shock. In the end, he’d had
nothing to do with Peg’s murder, but he still gave me the heebie-jeebies.
Cassie and I worked together to go through the closing procedure checklist. Cassie finished counting up the till and divvied out the tip jar into two piles while I went to the back room and started sweeping. When I finished, I took the large broom to the front and started working around the two tables with lingering customers, stacking chairs onto the empty tables. As I worked, the two customers—both tourists—got the hint that we were almost closed and packed up their belongings. Cassie and I waved goodnight to them as they left and then breathed a collective sigh of relief at the quiet, and finally empty, shop.
“One good thing about summertime: the tips. Almost fifty bucks a piece.” Cassie pushed a stack of worn bills to the edge of the counter in front of me. “Not too shabby for a day’s work.”
“Seriously?” My eyes probably bugged out of my head.
Cassie giggled at my stunned expression. “Yep. People get pretty generous around here.”
“Well, except for Evangeline’s crowd,” I grumbled, sweeping under the last table now that it was vacant.
“Yeah. That’s true.” Cassie sighed as she crossed the shop and pulled the cord on the small Open sign that hung to the right of the front door. She didn’t lock the door just yet, as we technically had a few minutes left until closing, and Cassie was a rule-follower through and through. Instead, she went to the long, narrow table built from pieces of driftwood that the shop used as a coffee bar. “What’s she like?” Cassie asked, her back to me as she straightened and organized the caddies that held sugar packets, stirring sticks, and coffee cup sleeves.
“Evangeline?”
“Yeah. Do you guys get along?”
I paused, leaning against my broom. “I guess. I mean, we don’t not get along. But it’s not like we’re best friends. She and Lacey do the BFF thing.”
“Oh. I still haven’t met her.”
I smiled and went back to sweeping. Lacey was a vampiress and only came out at night, after the coffee shop was closed. Cassie had been to Beechwood Manor on a handful of occasions, but so far hadn’t experienced Lacey first hand. “She’s pretty busy these days.”
Cassie went back to the counter. “Hmm. Must be. But she and Evangeline are close?”
I nodded as I lowered down beside the dust pan. I held it steady to sweep up the small pile of crumbs, dirt, and crumpled paper straw wrappers. “Yeah. I’m not really into their hair and makeup tutorials or the endless talk about clothes, so I’m not part of their club.” A smile tugged at my lips as I finished sweeping the pile into the dust pan. “They drive Adam crazy. He calls it sleepover talk. He’s the only guy in the house now.”
Cassie laughed. “I would think he’d like that. Works with his whole Casanova persona.” Cassie stopped short and shot me a worried look. “Not that I think he’s looking for someone else … I mean … not now that you two are together.”
I grinned and boosted myself back up to standing. “I know what you meant, Cass. It’s okay. I’m not worried about him.”
Well, at least, I hadn’t been, until he and Evangeline had waltzed out of the shop together. I knew he was agitated that I’d forgotten our movie date. Was it possible that he would want to break up and pursue Evangeline instead? The stars knew she was always available. I shook my head, dismissing the idea.
Cassie fussed with a wet rag, wiping down the counter. “How’s that going, anyways? You and Adam?”
With a shrug, I rounded the counter, stepped behind Cassie, and went to put the broom away. “I don’t know. Good, I guess,” I replied, coming to lean against the archway that separated the front of the shop from the back room where we kept cleaning products and extra stock. There were also two industrial-sized refrigerators and a small supply closet-turned-office that Cassie used to make the schedule, place vendor orders, and do paperwork for the payroll company Phillip employed.
“Good, you guess?” Cassie turned and smirked at me over her shoulder. “That’s it? That’s all you’re gonna tell me? Your very best friend?”
I laughed and pushed off the wall. “I’m just not sure how to gauge it, I guess. It’s not a measurable thing in my eyes.”
“Are you happy?”
“Yeah. I mean, we have a lot of fun together and he … gets me.”
Cassie grinned. “Well, for what it’s worth, I think you two are adorable together.”
My stomach swirled; thinking about Adam and me together as a couple was still new enough that I got butterflies thinking about him. All at once, I felt a rush of urgency to get back to the manor and steal his attention away from Evangeline. It was close enough to closing that I could probably slip out. We weren’t likely to have any more customers and Cassie usually stayed late to do paperwork on her own.
I was about to ask Cassie if she’d mind if I ducked out, when the small bell on the front door tinkled. Cassie and I both grimaced at each other before turning to greet our last-minute customer. We both sighed with relief when Nick Rivers walked inside. “Hey ladies!” he greeted, flashing a wide smile at us both.
“Told you we should have locked up,” I deadpanned to Cassie, smiling at Nick.
He chuckled and strode up to the counter, unfazed by my comment. “Espresso machine still turned on?”
Cassie laughed. “For you? Of course.”
I rolled my eyes. Cassie had a little crush on our resident private investigator. “Hey, Nick.”
“Hey, Holly. How’s life treating ya?”
“Good. How about you? How’s business?”
Nick smiled, making his blue eyes even brighter. “Great. I just got a new case, so I’m headed out for the night to do a little … observation.”
“Putting those stalking skills to good use, huh?” I asked, playfully. The first time I met Nick, I’d caught him skulking in my rose bushes in the middle of the night because he’d heard rumors that the house might be haunted. We ended up working together to solve Peg’s murder and we’d formed a good friendship since then, mostly because he was no longer trying to weasel his way into ghost hunting at the Beechwood Manor.
Nick laughed at my assessment. “Something like that. It’s a pretty typical case. Woman thinks her husband is stepping out on her, so I’m following him around a little to see if I can catch him with anyone.”
“Sounds like a party,” I said, leaning against the counter as Cassie hurried to make Nick’s drink.
He shrugged. “Keeps the lights on. As a fringe benefit, I get to dress like James Bond.”
I considered Nick’s all-black outfit, recognizing it from the first time we’d met. “You’re missing the hat.”
“It’s in the car.”
“Of course.” I pursed my lips. “I think I like James Bond more when he’s wearing a suit. Maybe you should try that next time.”
Nick laughed. “Noted.”
“Here ya go,” Cassie said, coming to join us, a steaming mocha in one hand.
Nick took the cup from her and breathed in the decadent chocolate scent as he raised it to his lips. He took his mochas very seriously.
Cassie cocked her head at him. “Doesn’t that feel weird? Prodding into other people’s lives like that?”
Nick shrugged as he took a long, lingering sip. “Not really. I guess I look past the fact that I’m following someone around, and focus on the part where I’m helping someone else. In this case, the woman who hired me. Trust me, adultery cases are by far my least favorite. I’d rather be looking for long-lost siblings or parents and spurring on a reunion or something happy.”
I smiled at him. “You’re such a marshmallow, Nick.”
He chuckled and set the cup down on the counter long enough to fish his wallet from the back pocket of his relaxed-fit jeans. “Let me settle up my tab and I’ll get out of your hair.”
Cassie opened the drawer under the register and pulled out a small binder where we kept track of ongoing tabs for our best customers. She consulted the record and ra
ttled off the total for the week. Nick pulled out some bills from his wallet and handed them over. In addition to being a marshmallow, he was also old fashioned and seemed to like the tactile quality of having cash on him instead of using his bank card like most people I knew. Then again, that might have had more to do with the fact that cash was harder to track. He was a PI after all.
Cassie made his change and tried to hand it to him, but he shook his head. “You guys keep it.”
“Nick …” she protested, glancing down at the leftovers in her hand. From my vantage point, it looked like it was close to ten dollars. “Take it.”
“Nope.” He flashed another smile, picked up his cup, and backed away. “See you ladies tomorrow.”
Cassie huffed and tucked the bills into the small ceramic jar beside the register. “At least take a muffin or something!”
Nick laughed and pushed out the front door.
“He’s impossible,” Cassie said, shaking her head.
“You like him,” I said, elbowing her in the ribs.
She turned away, going back to counting the till, but her red cheeks gave her away.
I lunged for her and grabbed her arm, shaking it just enough to throw off her counting. “Cassie! I’m your best friend! Wasn’t that the line you just used on me?”
She giggled and set aside the stack of bills in her hand. “What do you want me to say?”
I grinned at her. “That you’re using cookies and mochas to make Nick fall head over heels in love with you.”
“That’s ridiculous.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “You make it sound like I’m bribing him.”
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