Larry on one side and Gail on the other I was guided toward the truck just in time to see Blitz scoot into the front seat right next to Jonathan. Ouch! Luckily I was just too tired to care that much.
All eight of us rattled down the hill to The Hang Ten where Ante welcomed us with open arms. It was Wacky Wednesday Chicken Night and everyone was complaining that they were starving. Harmony ordered a couple of bottles of chardonnay and was quick to fill everyone’s glasses. I looked at mine, but chose to not touch it. I was just a little concerned about being back in control of myself.
“What were you doing out on the cliffs for so long Olivia?” Jonathan asked staring directly at me.
I smiled back at him and said, “I was just imagining I could fly like the seagulls.” Only I heard the sharp gasp that Harmony and Constance simultaneously let out.
Over dinner the group talked about the building schedule and when we might be able to start advertising and actually taking bookings. Larry brought up to the group that he had been approached by two people who were already looking for a job at the cottages. We all waited with curiosity burning a hole for him to spill who these two individuals are.
“Officer Parker let me in on a little secret,” started Larry. “As you know he has been the only New Moon Beach Safety Officer for years now and he is getting ready to retire.”
“I didn’t know that,” I said more than a little sad that Officer Parker had not shared this info with me. I’m not sure why I deserved that advance notice, I just felt like I did.
“He hasn’t given me his notice yet,” said Harmony in her formal Mayor's voice.
“He will. Anyway, he had a great idea,” said Larry. “He suggested that we get a small shuttle bus so that we can drive people back and forth between the cottages and the beach and the New Moon Beach Village shops. And he offered to be our first driver slash tour guide.”
“He’s right. That is a great idea,” said Constance. “Do you think that we can afford the shuttle and his salary?”
“Well, it might take a little while to confirm that we have the funds. But that’s okay. He’s going to Hawaii for a month after he retires. When he comes back we should be ready.”
“Awesome idea,” said Gail. “I love Officer Parker.”
“Who was the other person who wanted a job?” I asked.
“Man, you are really pale, Olivia. Are you alright?” Jonathan asked, looking at me as if he was seeing me for the first time.
“I’m just a little tired,” I said. “Who was it Larry that wanted a job?”
“It was Penelope Martin,” he said.
My two sisters and I all responded at the same time, “What?”
“She was so adamant about keeping her shop open when we were talking about the Bella Vista Hotel coming to town. She really put me through the ringer! I can’t believe she would consider closing down her shop now,” said Harmony more than a little frustrated.
“Oh, she’s not going to shut it down,” said Larry. “She wants her younger sister to take the shop over. She’s looking to slow down a bit and thinks that our gift shop would be the perfect sized store for her to transition to.”
“She has so much experience that we can only benefit from her talents,” said Constance.
“I guess,” was all that Harmony could muster.
After dinner we all piled into Jonathan’s truck and headed back up the hill. Blitz had decided not to ride back up with us and stayed at the restaurant to share a beer with some friends of hers. That left the front seat open for me. Or should I say, everyone else left the front seat open for me. So I took the challenge head on; gods be damned!
I was so cold that I asked Jonathan to turn on the heater and I scooted into the front seat. Jonathan swung his arm over my shoulder and said, “Scoot over Livy and I’ll keep you warm.” He revved his motor, turned up the heater and headed back to the cottages wearing a smile that I hadn’t seen for quite a while.
I replayed his kind words in my head before I realized how much they had caught me off guard and the combination of my unsettling cliff event and the fact that Jonathan had seemed to have forgotten me lately sent me to tears. I was trying so hard not to cry. But the harder I tried, the harder I cried.
“What is with you Olivia? I don’t think I know what to do to make you happy? All I did was offer to keep you warm and you start bawling!”
“I know,” I said. “Thank you for offering to keep me warm. I’m just so tired and I’m not feeling very good.”
“Well, why didn’t you tell me? I can take you home, just leave your car at the cottages and I’ll drive you home,” he said sounding concerned.
When we got to the cottages he told me to stay in the truck and left the engine and the heater running. As everyone piled out Jonathan told Gail that he’d be taking me home. Gail offered to drive my car home and poked her head in the window to ask for my keys. “See, I told you that he still cared,” she said smiling.
“Hey Gail, will you do me a favor?” I heard Jonathan ask. “Will you call Blitz and tell her that I can’t meet her back at the Hang Ten. I need to drop off Olivia. I guess she’s feeling sick and it will probably be too late by the time I get her home.”
As Gail nodded her head, her eyes met mine in the rear view mirror. My tear ducts had begun to fill again. He was taking me home because he felt obligated, not because he cared. At least that was how I saw it. He had planned to return to share a beer with Blitz; now he was stuck with me. I guess that the gods were still in control.
Chapter Twenty-One
My dad stopped by the shop the next morning with concern radiating from his deep black eyes. In fact, I guess you could say that he was vibrating with worry. When I was little, I could always tell how upset my father was about something by how much energy he radiated. It was almost as if I could feel his tension bouncing off his body and colliding with mine. This morning was no different.
“Thanks for calling me, Gail. How is she doing today?” my dad asked softly.
“She is awfully quiet and I’m not sure if it has to do with the cliffs, Jonathan or possibly the poltergeist who messed up our store the other day.”
“You told me about the cliffs and Jonathan, but what’s this about a poltergeist?” he asked with alarm in his voice.
“I’m going to let Olivia tell you about that part,” said Gail. “I want you to know that I tried to intervene. I cast two spells to get some help. I smudged the store to get rid of the spirit and I added a spell of clarity to find out who or what it was.”
“Well, thanks for not letting Olivia cast the spell. You know how she is lately with her spell casting skills. Only the gods know what she would have dragged in with one of her crazy spells,” he said with a slight smile crossing his face.
“The thing is, we never did find out who the spirit was and I’m not really sure if it actually left the store,” Gail said with a worried look on her face. “That’s one thing that you could do for us. You’re a much stronger witch than the two of us put together. Maybe you could do a casting spell to see what spirit information you could catch in your net?”
“Let me see what I can do,” said dad before he walked over to the couch to talk with me.
I was just so happy to see him. This was new for me; seeking comfort from my dad. And I have to say that it felt really good.
“Well,” he said. “You’ve certainly been busy.”
“Yeah,” was all that I could think to say. I felt empty and confused.
“Olivia,” my dad said, looking directly at me. “Tell me exactly what happened yesterday. Everything.”
And so I did. I told him about the voice and how I felt like if I stepped off the cliff side, I would have been able to fly. I told him how scared I was and that I just didn’t know what to do or how to handle it anymore. He sat and looked at me for a long time before letting out a deep breath.
“Okay. We’ll get back to that in a minute. Tell me about Jonathan.”
“No,” I said, looking at my dad. “I need to do a lot more thinking before I talk about him with anyone.”
“Alright. But I will be returning to that topic before I leave today,” he said. “Let’s talk a little bit about what happened at the shop the other day. Gail seems to think that you might have some sort of poltergeist trapped in here,” he said with concern radiating from his eyes.
“Oh, I don’t know dad. Once Gail performed her spells and we smudged the place, we haven’t had any more incidents. I think that it might have just been a nasty spirit passing through. At least I hope that was all it was.”
“Well, if you don’t mind, when you close shop tonight I’ll stop by and cast a spell or two myself. I want to make sure that nothing bad is hanging around.”
“That’s okay with me dad.”
Slowly and with more hesitation than I have ever seen in my father, he said, “I want to talk with you a little bit about your mother’s family. I am concerned that your night flights may have something to do with them.”
My dad very rarely spoke about my mother and even less about her family. In fact, I knew less than nothing about my mother’s family.
“I am wondering if your Great-Grandmother is reaching out to you,” he said with his eyes cast downward.
“My Great-Grandmother? I didn’t even know that I had a Great-Grandmother.”
“Oh, you have a Great-Grandmother and three Great-Aunts. And let me tell you, they can be one big pain. Your mother used to live with them until she married me. And I don’t think that they ever forgave me for taking her away from them,” he said. Your Great-Grandmother always promised to seek you girls out once you got older and had your powers. I think that she may be responsible for all of this darkness.”
With that, the lights in my shop began to flicker and that same wicked little laugh that I had heard the other day returned.
“Oh brother, if that’s you Isadora, knock it off,” my dad said.
“Isadora?” Could Isadora be my Great-Grandmother?
But my dad never anything more as he headed out my front door with a determined look on his face.
Twenty-two
The Open House for Jasmine’s Cottages By The Sea was incredible. Larry, Jonathan and Matt worked so hard to make sure that everything was ready. And my sisters and I had spent a lot of time with the guys providing cheap labor and also helping to pick out designs, colors, fabrics and more. We had even begun answering the phones in anticipation of taking reservations.
Constance had joined forces with Ante to come up with the hors d’oeuvres for today as well as the menu for our soon to open restaurant. Both had agreed that they wanted to keep their own restaurants, so they were looking for someone to hire as our new chef.
And as I drove onto the cottage grounds I was overwhelmed by how beautiful it actually was. My mother would have been so proud. You could smell the flowers and a hint of orange or was it apple? I’m not sure. And I had to admit that I wondered if one of my sisters had magically added the scent to the air. If they had, awesome! If not, Mother Nature had taken good care of us today.
We invited the whole town to see all that we had accomplished. Harmony was there in her official capacity as Mayor welcoming everyone in. She had given each New Moon Beach City Council member one of our T-shirts, designed of course by Marcy, and we were all pleased to see that they were actually wearing them.
As I walked towards Ante, who was all decked out in his white apron and chef’s hat, my nostrils filled with the most delicious smell I’d ever experienced. He was busy serving amazing tasty bite sized treats that were as good to look at as they were to eat. He bent down and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek saying, “Now don’t tell my Constance I did that. She might get jealous.” Winking at me he wandered off to share his gourmet treats with our guests. Ante was just too cute and it made me happy to think that he and Constance might be cooking up some magic together.
Walking into our gift shop I found that Penelope Martin had worked her artistic magic to the max. The room was a sea of color and held all sorts of cute cards, candles and other assorted artwork. She was busy speaking to several local artists about adding some of their work to the store. I was surprised to hear her barter on potential commissions. Man. She was good! I don’t think that I had ever seen her look younger or more alive.
Everywhere there were people and balloons and flowers and food, lots of food. Gino’s had even made special cookies for us to hand out that looked like little cottages. And Silly Sweets, Ice Cream Store was giving miniature ice cream cones for all of the kids. I didn’t even know that we had asked them, but I was happy to see them anyway and made a mental note to grab a chocolate peanut butter mini scoop sometime soon.
Our cottage team members were all wearing Jasmine’s Cottages By The Sea golf or T-shirts so that we could answer any questions that a visitor might have. And our local newspaper, The Sea Breeze, came to take pictures and to run a story about the opening.
“How did you discover this parcel of land?” a reporter asked.
“Well, actually,” started off Harmony, “Our mother left us this land and we are so happy to have created such a beautiful place in her honor.” She continued to talk about all of our plans as she walked the reporter and photographer around.
Matt was taking guests on tours of our new orchards and pointing out where our new horses would soon be living. We had held off on filling up our horse stalls until after Open House. We just didn’t want to take any chances. But our chicken coops were full and our dozen or so chickens were laying eggs as fast as they could.
I have to confess to you that Constance has cast a wellness spell on our chickens and she may have gotten carried away because there were eggs everywhere. Yikes! Maybe someone else was having trouble with her spell casting skills.
Larry had created some of the most amazing wood and metal benches and placed them around the cottages. More than one guest asked where we had purchased them and if they could buy one too. Whether he wanted it or not, bench business was sure to come his way now.
“Welcome. Are you interested in yoga?” she asked guests who wandered into the yoga studio. Blitz looked darling in her colorful yoga outfit as she showed guests her new studio. We had decided to also let her teach classes to the public on Wednesdays so she was having fun enticing residents to sign up. I watched as Jonathan gave her a hug and told her how much he appreciated all of her help getting the studio going. She smiled back before whispering something in his ear and they both laughed. Ouch. It was time for me to keep moving.
As I wandered out of the yoga studio, I came upon a tiny little woman with the most incredible sea blue eyes. She was standing next to an orange tree looking out to sea and I would have missed her had I not been watching where I was going.
“Hello,” I said “and welcome to Jasmine’s Cottages By The Sea,” I said warmly. “Are you from New Moon Beach?”
“Hello,” she said, taking in a deep breath of ocean air. “This is such a beautiful site, you have all worked so hard to make it special,” she said, looking at me without ever confirming where she was from.
“Yes, the land belonged to my mother, and if not for the hard work of our partners and my sisters this land would probably have sat dormant.”
“Yes, I agree,” she said. “This was how the land was supposed to be. It was bubbling with life and just waiting to be loved again,” she said.
Turning back and looking into the yoga studio and at Jonathan she continued, “You really care about that young man, don’t you?” Not waiting for me to answer she continued, “I can see it in your eyes and I can feel your heart aching when you look at him. He must be very special,” she said.
“He was once,” I responded, not sure why I was even speaking with this stranger.
“Oh, he still is. You just got yourself turned around a bit,” she said. “You need to seek him out. Let him know you still care,” she said with a smile that brought warmth to the center of
my heart. “He’s afraid to trust in your love again. But he wants to,” she said.
I turned for a moment to look at Jonathan and was surprised to see that she was gone when I turned back around.
“Who was that?” I wondered out loud. And should I believe in what she said? Was Jonathan afraid to trust that I truly loved him? How did she know any of this? Why did this weird stuff keep happening to me?
I found one of Larry’s benches and sat. I needed a few minutes to collect myself, I thought as I unconsciously ran my fingers over the witch who was entwined in the design on the back of the bench. How had I previously missed that?
______
Later that night, sitting around a large oak barreled table at The Bottle Inn restaurant we all enjoyed a celebratory dinner. We had ordered family style and large bowls of pasta, marinara sauce, ravioli, meatballs and baskets of warm bread were quickly emptied along with five or so bottles of wine.
“A toast,” said Larry “to the best friends a man could have.” Stopping for a moment to collect himself, he continued, “You have become my family and I am so grateful for all of you. Thank you for letting me tag along on this fun journey.”
Turning with tears in his eyes, he looked closely at his violet eyed girlfriend and said, “Especially you, Gail. You have made my life complete and I love you.”
No one moved. Wow, that was one heavy duty bomb to let loose in front of everyone and for a moment I wondered how my best friend would react with all eyes on her. I knew for a fact that Larry had never declared his love for Gail before tonight.
Running her hand through her lavender spiked hair, Gail stood up. Her tiny five foot nothing frame looked even tinier standing next to all six foot two inches of Larry. “And I love you too,” she whispered as she stretched up onto her toes attempting to speak into his ear only. “But there is so much about me that you don’t know,” she said as a tear slid down her cheek.
Night Flight Page 9