Witch Me Luck (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 6)

by Amanda M. Lee

  “Oh, don’t do that,” Lila said. “Don’t try to distract me. I know what I just heard.”

  “They say dogs can hear things other people can’t,” I said, giving in to my snarky side. My mother was right. Cowering in front of Lila wasn’t going to get me anywhere. She was going to go after me no matter what. Hiding wasn’t going to stop that.

  “You were talking to yourself again,” Lila crowed. “You still do that. You still hang out with your imaginary friends. That is just so … pathetic.”

  “Plenty of people talk to themselves,” I said.

  “You’re not even going to deny it?”

  I didn’t see the point. “No. I was just running through a list of things to do today.”

  “No, you were telling your imaginary friend to come out to the inn to see you,” Lila said. “I heard you. I can’t wait to tell your FBI boyfriend about it, by the way. I know he was standing up for you yesterday, but that’s only because he has no idea what kind of loser you really are.”

  “Stay away from Landon,” I warned.

  “Are you afraid of a little competition?”

  “You’re not my competition,” I said. “You’re not anything to me.”

  “Then why do you look so worried?”

  Did I look worried? Probably. I wasn’t worried about Lila going after Landon, though. Well, mostly. My life was full of enough worries to make Lila a distant concern. “You know what, Lila? I think you should do whatever it is you want to do. If you want to tell Landon what you heard, go right ahead. I’m sure he’s at the police station with Chief Terry right now.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because Chief Terry came to the inn to get him this morning,” I said. “The teller from the bank died. They’re now working on a murder, not just a bank robbery. That makes their job more difficult.”

  “Landon is staying at your inn for the anniversary celebration? That’s interesting.”

  “He’s not staying at the inn,” I said smugly. “He stays at the guesthouse with me.”

  Lila pursed her lips. “Do you really expect me to believe that?”

  “I don’t care what you believe,” I said. “It’s the truth. If you want to go after him, knock yourself out. You’re not his type. Trust me.”

  “Because you’re his type?”

  “Because I trust him,” I said, realizing I believed the words. Landon initially walked away when he found out what we were, but since he returned, he’d accepted every one of the strange things he’d witnessed. There was nothing Lila could do to entice him. “So go and get him,” I said. “Just don’t come crying to me when it blows up in your face.”

  “You’re boastful, but I don’t think you’re truthful,” Lila said. “I’m going to call your bluff.”

  I watched as she smoothed her hair and started down the street. When I saw Chief Terry and Landon standing in the parking lot next to the police station a block down, I realized she was heading in their direction. I couldn’t stop myself from following her.

  Landon and Chief Terry were entrenched in a serious conversation as Lila approached.

  “Well, there you are,” Lila said, smiling broadly at Landon. “I wondered where you’d been hiding yourself.”

  Landon shifted uncomfortably. “Ms. Stevens.”

  “I told you to call me Lila.”

  “Is there anything you need, Ms. Stevens?” Landon asked. His gaze was focused on Lila, and I didn’t think he knew I was trailing her.

  “I just wanted to see you,” Lila cooed. “Our brief encounter yesterday only whetted my appetite. I thought maybe we could get some lunch. I mean, it’s not every day you get to meet a real, live FBI agent. Especially one as … charming … as you.”

  “I already have lunch plans,” Landon said, turning his attention back to Chief Terry.

  Lila faltered. “But … .” She clearly wasn’t used to being turned down. “I’ll pay.”

  Landon was nonplussed. “I’m good. Thanks.” He finally shifted his gaze, and when his eyes landed on me they were hard to read. “Here comes my lunch date now.”

  Lila glanced over her shoulder, scowling when she saw me standing a few feet away. “Oh, good grief! You’ve got to be kidding me. You’re going to lunch with her? You know she’s a freak, right?”

  “I guess it’s good I like my women freaky,” Landon said. “Do you want to eat with us, Terry? We still have a few things to discuss, and I’d rather not work late tonight if I can help it.”

  “Um … sure,” Chief Terry said.

  Landon dodged around Lila, his gaze focused on me. “Are you hungry, Bay?”

  “Sure.”

  I wasn’t sure what was happening, but whatever it was, Lila didn’t like it. “You realize she was just standing in front of the bank talking to herself, right?”

  Landon stilled. “So? I talk to myself all the time.”

  “She was telling her imaginary friend to come and visit her at the inn,” Lila said. “You don’t find that … odd?”

  “No,” Landon said. “I like it.” He held his hand out to me. “Come on. You didn’t get to finish your breakfast this morning. I’ll buy you a big lunch.”

  I took his hand wordlessly.

  “W-what is going on here?” Lila asked, her gaze bouncing between Landon and me. “I just told you that your friend there is talking to herself in public. I invited you to lunch. I even offered to pay. You’re still taking her to lunch?”

  Landon refused to turn around as he dragged me across the street. “Yup.”

  “DO YOU want to tell me what all of that was about?” Landon asked once we were settled at the diner ten minutes later.

  “She’s evil.”

  “Other than that.”

  “Amy Madison was in front of the bank,” I said. “I talked to her for a few minutes, and Lila overheard the end of the conversation. She was practically salivating, she was so excited to tell you.”

  “Yeah, I figured that out myself,” Landon said, leaning back in his chair and playing with the straw wrapper in front of him. “Why was Lila inviting me to lunch?”

  “Because she wants you,” I said.

  “Did she tell you that?”

  “Yes.”

  Landon glanced at Chief Terry. “What do you think about Lila?”

  “I think Bay is right,” he replied. “I think she’s evil. She’s always been a menace.”

  “See, the problem is, I don’t think she really wants me,” Landon said. “I just think she wants to beat Bay. What else happened?”

  “I just told you.”

  “There has to be something I’m missing,” Landon said. “I know I was never a teenage girl, but it can’t be normal to hold a grudge for this long.”

  “I don’t know what you want me to say,” I said. “She’s always hated me.”

  “Just because you were different?”

  “In a small town, that’s enough,” Chief Terry said, trying to help me. “There aren’t a lot of people to begin with, and you either fit in or you get pecked to death by the other chickens.”

  “She’s just so … overt,” Landon said. “There’s something off about her.”

  “I told you, she’s … .”

  “Evil. I got it.” Landon reached over and cupped my hand. “You know you don’t have anything to worry about, right?”

  “That’s what I told her.”

  “But then you followed her,” Landon said.

  “I … .” Well, crap. How do I explain that? “I just wanted to see what she would do.”

  Landon studied me for a moment. “She’s not going to do anything,” he said. “I won’t let her. Don’t get all … worked up.”

  “I’m not worked up.”

  “You look worked up.”

  “Well, I’m not.”

  “You do look a little worked up,” Chief Terry said. “Lila Stevens is not worth your time or your worry. You were always ten times the kid she was.”

  “I think
you’re just saying that because you like to flirt with my mother and aunts,” I teased.

  Chief Terry’s face was serious. “I’m saying that because you were always a good kid,” he said. “You rarely caused problems, and you were always eager to help. Lila was an entitled brat as a kid, and her mother didn’t do her any favors by letting her grow into an entitled adult.”

  “That’s nice. Thank you.”

  “Like it or not, I think having Aunt Tillie in your house was good for you guys as kids,” Chief Terry said. “You were never allowed to get too big for your britches.”

  Actually, Aunt Tillie often cursed us by making our pants too small to wear. That saying really had no basis in our household, but I let it go. “I know I should ignore Lila,” I said. “Everyone keeps telling me that, but it’s as though she always seeks me out. It’s impossible to ignore her.”

  “Then take her down,” Landon said.

  My eyebrows flew up. “What?”

  “You have two people in your life who are chomping at the bit to go after her,” Landon said. “Why don’t you let them? In fact, why don’t you join them?”

  “Don’t you think that’s a little immature?”

  “I think it’s massively immature,” Landon said. “I also think that’s the only thing Lila is going to respond to. She’s going to keep going after you as long as you let her. So stop letting her.”

  I swiveled to Chief Terry. “Is that what you think, too?”

  “I think you’ve put up with enough,” Chief Terry said. “You’re not the same scared girl you were back then. You’re not terrified all the time. You’re not hiding. You have your family. You have Aunt Tillie. Heck, you have the long-haired FBI agent. They’re all willing to back you up. You should let them.”

  “There is nothing wrong with my hair,” Landon said, running his fingers through his black locks. “I have to keep it long in case I get an undercover assignment.”

  That was always his excuse, but I think he liked his hair long. “Your hair is beautiful. Don’t ever cut it.”

  “See,” Landon said, tilting his chin obstinately in Chief Terry’s direction. “She knows quality when she sees it.”

  Chief Terry snorted. “You two are cute. If you had told me a year ago I would be in favor of this relationship I would have called you a filthy liar. Now, though, I have to say you two seem like a good match. He even knows when to let Aunt Tillie off her leash.”

  “I’m not sure I want to do that,” I said. “I need to give it some thought.”

  “Do what you want,” Landon said. “We’re behind you. I just don’t want to sit here and watch you be miserable. Things are going to be tough enough over the next few days if we can’t find a way to clear Sam. You shouldn’t let Lila make things worse. This is your town, too. Put your foot down.”

  His words warmed me. “I’ll give it some thought.”

  “Do that,” Landon said. “I don’t want this Lila thing to get away from us. The more you let her push you around, the more desperate she’s going to get where I’m concerned. She doesn’t want me because of me, she wants me because of you. You’re the one who is going to have to handle it.”

  “What is she going to have to handle?”

  I froze when I heard the voice, turning quickly to find my father standing behind me. “Dad! What are you doing here?”

  “Looking for you, actually,” he said. “I checked the newspaper office and it was empty. You weren’t at the pie contest. The secretary at the police station said she thought you were here. She was right.”

  Chief Terry shifted uncomfortably next to me. Since my father left Hemlock Cove when I was a child, returning only recently to open his own inn with Clove and Thistle’s fathers, there was an unspoken rivalry between the two men. Chief Terry filled in when my father wasn’t there, and Dad didn’t appreciate his constant presence in my life now.

  “Did you need something?” I asked.

  “I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight,” Dad said. “We’re having a big feast. I’m sure you’ll be busy at The Overlook with your mother this week, but I didn’t think one meal would be cause for concern.” He glanced at Landon. “Since you’re in town, you’re obviously invited, too.”

  “Thanks for the invitation,” Landon said. “It’s up to Bay, though.”

  Dad focused on me. “What do you say? Can you wrangle up your cousins for a nice dinner? We’d kind of like to show you off to our guests.”

  I felt trapped. “Sure. I think we can work something out.”

  Unfortunately, I had a feeling that “something” was going to be a big fight between the women in my family.

  Twelve

  “This is an absolutely terrible idea,” Thistle said, leaning forward in the back seat of Landon’s Explorer so she could pinch me. “Terrible!”

  “He trapped me,” I said, jerking my arm away. “He approached me in public. What else was I supposed to do?”

  “Tell him no.”

  “Oh, please, you wouldn’t have told your father no.”

  “Yes, I would.”

  “You’re lying.”

  “I’m going to beat the crap out of you later,” Thistle said, studying the front of the Dragonfly Inn as Landon parked. “This is just so … stupid.”

  Since their return to town, our fathers had made several attempts to spend time with us. Most of those attempts involved food. I think they were under the misguided notion that we wouldn’t embarrass ourselves in front of other people. They obviously didn’t know us.

  “It’s one meal,” I said. “What could possibly go wrong?”

  “Oh, great, you just jinxed us,” Thistle said. “Now we’re going to go down with the ship.”

  “What ship?”

  Thistle narrowed her eyes. “Don’t you think the people on the Titanic thought it was just one boat ride?”

  She was clearly losing her mind. I met Marcus’ steady gaze. “It’s your job to make sure she doesn’t do anything … bad.”

  “Oh, sure, task me with the impossible,” Marcus grumbled.

  “What did you just say?”

  “I said that you’re the light of my life,” Marcus said. “Let’s just get this over with.” He pushed open the back door and hopped out, pulling Thistle after him. “Please try not to make a scene,” he said before giving her a quick kiss.

  “I don’t make scenes.”

  “Of course not,” I said. “You would never make a scene.”

  “You’re dead to me,” Thistle snapped.

  Landon led the way up the front steps of the Dragonfly. “At least Clove isn’t here,” he said. “If she were here we’d definitely be dealing with a scene.”

  “Speaking of Clove, have you seen her today?” I asked Thistle.

  “She didn’t come to work,” Thistle said. “She texted me to say she was busy and I was on my own. When I tried to call her back, the phone went directly to voicemail. I think she’s sending us a message.”

  “I think the message is that she hates us,” I said, rubbing my forehead.

  Landon slipped an arm around my waist. “She doesn’t hate you. She’s just upset.”

  “She hates me.”

  “You’re having a rough week,” Landon said, smiling down at me. “First your high school nemesis comes back and fawns all over me because I’m so hot, and now Clove hates you because you can’t exonerate Sam. You really are a terrible person.”

  I scowled at him. “You’re not helping.”

  “I know.” He gave me a soft kiss. “Let’s get this over with. I’d rather sit through ten dinners with Aunt Tillie and her combat helmet than one with your father.”

  “That’s because Uncle Jack thinks you’ve always got your hand up Bay’s shirt,” Thistle teased, referencing an unfortunate hammock incident from a few weeks ago. “I think he wants to cut all your fingers off.”

  “I forgot about that,” Landon said, his face blank. “Wasn’t that the same weekend you shared a bed wi
th Aunt Tillie and Marcus?”

  Thistle glared at him. “You promised never to bring that up again.”

  “I did no such thing.”

  “Bay promised.”

  “I’m not Bay,” Landon said.

  I pinched his side. “Do you really want to start a fight now?”

  “No,” Landon conceded, holding up his hands. “I’d rather put up a united front than split apart. Can we table all fights until we get back to the guesthouse?”

  “Fine,” Thistle said, pushing in front of him and opening the door. “When we get back home tonight, though, I’m going nuts.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  The four of us filed into the inn to find the one thing that could break our truce: Sam and Clove.

  “Uh-oh,” I muttered.

  “I think I need a drink,” Landon said.

  “I DIDN’T know you guys were going to be here,” Clove said, her eyes restless as they bounced around the room. “I would have declined the invitation had I known you would be visiting this establishment as well.”

  Well, that was interesting. Clove had somehow turned into a robot.

  “Are you talking like that for a reason?” Thistle asked.

  “I have no idea what you mean.” Clove’s tone was icy, her words clipped.

  “She’s kind of … tired,” Sam said by way of apology. “I tried to make her take a nap this afternoon, but she was kind of … .”

  “Oh, we know what she was,” Thistle said. She shifted uncomfortably. “How are you?”

  “I’m fine,” Sam said. “I got a lot of gardening done today.”

  “When he wasn’t being questioned by cops for a crime he didn’t commit,” Clove seethed.

  “Knock it off, Clove,” Landon warned.

  “You knock it off,” Clove shot back.

  “I’m not doing anything.”

  “You’re being … you.”

  “I seriously need a drink,” Landon said.

  I rubbed his back. He wasn’t the only one. “Clove, if you want to talk about this, maybe we should go outside.”

  “I don’t want to talk to you,” Clove said. “You’re the one who told the police that Sam is a bank robber.”