She went off to work looking a little happier than she had when she’d first gotten out of bed. Now that she was gone, Jasper could concentrate on this spell that he had to figure out all by himself.
He considered pulling the books off the shelf and trying to read those, but he’d have a much easier time of it as a man than as a cat. Cruising the Internet wasn’t quite as difficult as reading a heavy book, so he decided to research online.
Besides researching, he planned to spend part of the day thinking about why his time had been extended already. Anica had assured him it wasn’t the foul potion he’d had to drink. So if the potion hadn’t taken him from ten minutes the first night to an hour the second night and three hours the third night, what had?
He was obviously doing something that caused his time as a man to lengthen. But he had no freaking idea what that something was. What the hell was the X factor here?
Calling up the sites where Anica and Lily had found the god-awful potion he’d forced down, he started reading about magic spells and how they could be reversed. A lot of the reversals involved the phases of the moon. Maybe the moon had something to do with it.
He checked what phase they were in now, which turned out to be a waning moon that was at the one-quarter mark. Nothing about that seemed significant. Anica hadn’t put the spell on him during a full moon, so nothing pertaining to full-moon spells applied. Finally he decided that he was headed down a blind alley with moon phases.
Besides, the moon was an external thing he couldn’t control. From what Anica had said, the cure would be entirely within his control if he could only pick the right suspect out of the magical lineup. Damn. He hated needle-in-a-haystack situations.
Anica’s landline rang in the kitchen. She didn’t use that phone much, he’d noticed, preferring her cell phone, which she carried with her. But she had an answering machine hooked up to the landline, and it clicked on.
He listened to her cheery little message and felt sad all over again. That was the woman he’d been attracted to, that optimistic person who’d built a business from scratch and seemed to know what she wanted from life. Until she’d found out about Sheila, she’d wanted him.
She wanted him again, at least in her bed, and he thought she might not be so focused on the Sheila issue anymore. Living with her, being able to see the world through her eyes, he realized she’d been right to hate that about his approach. He’d lied to her to get her interest.
His real shame was that she wasn’t the only one. He’d done the same thing . . . a few times. He cringed to think how many.
Anica’s caller left a message, and he recognized Julie’s voice on the phone. “Hey, Anica, I didn’t want to bother you at work, but I have to tell you these kittens are soooo adorable. I know having Jasper get loose was scary, but if he hadn’t done that, I wouldn’t have Persephone and her babies!”
From his short association with Julie, Jasper wasn’t surprised that she’d choose a name like that. He vaguely remembered the name from one of his classes in school.
“I’m gonna name the kittens, too,” Julie continued, “but I want to let their personalities develop first. Anyway, just wanted you to know this has totally changed my life for the better!”
Jasper let that joy sink in for a while. Cool. Something good had come out of this disaster. He thought about the animal rescue site, the one he’d given so much money to. He didn’t intend to give any more money, but he might just go over there and click the button a few times so the pet food company had to give some more.
Once he was there and had cost the pet food company a few hundred bucks, he had the strangest urge. Giving that money yesterday had been horrifying . . . at first. Now, not so much. He wouldn’t get carried away like last time, but his info was already in the system. He gave them another two hundred, being careful about the zeroes. Nice feeling. If he weren’t a cat, he’d be smiling right now.
In an increasingly good mood, he continued with his research. As he was clicking back to the Google page listing sites about magic, he noticed a business card lying on the desk. He thought it might have been there before, but maybe the name registered this time because he’d been thinking about Sheila.
The card had her e-mail address on it. He probably would have remembered it regardless. In fact, he had a good memory for e-mail addresses. If he concentrated he could probably come up with an e-mail contact for the women he’d dated—and misled.
Slowly a plan developed, one that had nothing to do with reversing the spell, but everything to do with his peace of mind. Tonight, besides reading Anica’s magic books, he’d write some e-mails.
Chapter 18
Lily came by the coffee shop around two, and Anica was thrilled to see her. Nobody besides Lily knew the hell Anica was going through—well, some heaven mixed in with the hell—and she was relieved to talk to someone who would understand.
Lily breezed in wearing her do-me boots, her red trench coat and a slinky black dress under it. She glanced around the coffee shop as she walked over to the counter to get in line. Anica was manning the counter because she’d given her two employees, who happened to be dating each other, a half-hour break. They’d missed getting those breaks during the days she hadn’t been spending much time at the shop.
“The place looks a little ragged around the edges,” Lily said when her turn came to order.
Anica sighed. “I know. I never realized how much I depended on my powers to keep the place tidy. What can I get for you? The usual?”
“You bet. I love those triple shots and they love me back.”
Anica felt energy pouring into her just by being around Lily. Maybe it was because Lily still had her magic, but Anica thought it was mostly because Lily was so full of life. “Want a brownie? It’s on the house.”
“Sure, but can you come and sit with me? I don’t see Frick and Frack around anywhere.”
Anica laughed. “They’re in the break room.” She lowered her voice. “Probably making out. But they’re due back on duty in five minutes. Take a seat. I should be freed up soon.”
“Good. Interrupt them if you have to. I don’t much care about their sex life, but I’m dying to know how yours is coming along.”
The customer behind Lily, a middle-aged secretary who arrived every afternoon about this time, widened her eyes.
Anica ducked her head to hide her blush. “Gee, Lily, could you say that a little louder, please?”
“I could, but I’d hate to embarrass you in front of your customers.”
Anica looked up and gave her sister a big fake smile. “Sure you would.”
“I’ll just go sit down right over there.” Lily cocked a hip and pointed dramatically to a table by the front window. “And wait breathlessly for a description of your latest orga—”
“Yes, I’ll have that triple shot right up for you, Ms. Revere. Thanks for coming in.” She turned immediately to the secretary. “Ellen! The usual? Decaf latte with skim?”
Ellen glanced over at Lily sashaying to a table. Then she turned back to Anica, her eyes sparkling behind her cat’s-eye glasses. “Actually, I think I’ll change my order, shake things up a bit.”
“Really? What can I get you?”
“A triple shot. Just like the one you’re making for her.”
“Absolutely.” Anica grabbed the smallest paper coffee cup, which was what Ellen usually ordered.
“The next-biggest size, please.”
“You bet.” She put down the first cup and picked up the medium.
“No, wait. I’ll take the largest one.”
“Coming up.” Anica wasn’t surprised. Lily had this effect on people. She gave off attitude in a way that made others want to imitate her. Anica used to envy that about Lily, until she realized that underneath all that bravado her sister was confused and had no idea what she wanted out of life.
Lily returned to the counter using her runway model walk just as Ellen was paying for her coffee. “Can I have the brownie
now?” Lily asked. “I need something to nibble on while I wait.”
“Sure. Just let me finish this and I’ll get it for you.” Anica took Ellen’s five-dollar bill and opened the cash register.
“No problemo. I’ll wait right here.” Lily twirled the end of the red belt hanging from her trench coat.
Ellen took her change from Anica and dropped some coins in the tip jar. Then she leaned forward. “Glad to hear you have a boyfriend, dear. I hope he’s a sweetheart, like you.”
“He’s great,” Lily piped up, uninvited. “In fact, he’s a real pussycat, isn’t he, Anica?”
Anica took a brownie out of the case and congratulated herself on handing it to her sister instead of throwing it at her. “You could say that.” As she turned to make the two drinks, she wondered why she’d been so happy to see Lily, who was such a total pain in the ass. How could she make fun of such a serious thing?
But by the time Anica’s besotted employees returned and she was free to join Lily, she realized what Lily had been doing when she’d deliberately joked about the situation with Jasper. She was daring Anica to maintain a sense of humor in the face of potential disaster. Anica needed to be reminded of that. A sense of humor would most likely save her sanity.
“Did he change again?” Lily asked the minute Anica sat down.
“Yes. For three hours this time.”
“Ooh la la!”
Anica felt herself blush for the second time in ten minutes. How irritating. So what if they’d spent three hours in bed and she started to burn all over again when she thought about what she’d done to awaken her inner bad girl? Lily wouldn’t let herself blush over a little thing like that.
“That good, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Lily seemed to have forgotten all about her espresso as she leaned forward. “So what else?”
“We had a fight.”
“My, you two were busy little bunnies, weren’t you? Does he know that breaking the curse is up to him?”
“He does now.”
Lily nodded and picked up her espresso. “Given three hours to work with, I would hope you’d get that settled and not spend the whole time boinking. But I’m proud of you for grabbing the opportunity when it was offered, sis.” She lifted her cup in a toast.
“Thanks. Oh, and I called Dorcas to check out a technicality. She’d said I could confirm the cure if Jasper guessed it, but I didn’t know if he had a limited number of tries.”
“I’m thinking yes.” Lily took a sip of her coffee.
“Three tries. I already told him we couldn’t play twenty questions, but now I can clarify that.”
“Dear Zeus, yes. At this point, you don’t want something going wrong on a technicality.”
“Sure don’t.” Anica sighed and did a modified neck roll to loosen up the tight muscles of her neck.
“Poor baby.” Lily reached over and patted her arm.
“I’m just trying to figure out what the heck he did that took him from one hour to three hours.”
“Hm.” Lily drank more coffee. “It must have been a big-ass act of kindness to get him that much time. He saved the mother cat and kittens and only got fifty minutes more.”
“He’s been giving Orion some of his dinner.”
“Yeah, that’s worth about three minutes each. It has to be something bigger.” Lily gazed at her. “Was he doing acts of kindness in bed that first time?”
Anica wasn’t sure she could discuss oral sex in the confines of Wicked Brew, with customers and her two employees milling about. “I . . . uh, I’m not really comfortable talking about—”
“I’m just sayin’ that if he got another two hours while he was doing you, I’m going to be consumed with jealousy.”
Anica shook her head. “He was good, but compared to saving the mother cat and her kittens . . . not another two hours’ worth of good.”
“I still think I’m jealous, considering that I’m currently alone with only a vibrator to keep me company.”
“TMI, Lily.”
“Oh, I keep forgetting that you’re the prudish sister. Pretend I never mentioned the vibrator. We were discussing Jasper, who obviously is better than any old vibrator. So how does he do it?”
“Lily.”
“I mean acts of kindness, Anica. How does he do acts of kindness when he’s so limited by his circumstances?”
“I don’t know.”
Lily tapped the side of her cup with a manicured finger. “Let’s look at the facts. This is like one of those locked-room mysteries. He was in the apartment all day, by himself except for Orion, correct?”
“Correct. And Orion sleeps all day. I don’t see how Jasper could accomplish any acts of kindness for a sleeping cat.”
“And no visitors, right?”
“No visitors,” Anica said. “Nobody has a key except you, and thank you, by the way, for putting that protection spell in place yesterday morning. I was so upset when I came home after seeing Dorcas and Ambrose that I didn’t notice at first.”
“No problem. It was perfect timing. I was in the magic mood after jerking Jasper’s chain a little.”
“What?”
Lily waved a hand. “No biggie. I just worked a little spell to convince him that if he messed with you, he’d have to deal with me.”
“What in the world did you—” Then she stopped herself. “You know what? I don’t even want to know. But thank you for sticking up for me.” Lily’s sisterly concern settled like a warm blanket around Anica’s tense shoulders.
“Sure. No problem. But this mystery of Jasper getting extra time somehow is going to drive me crazy if I don’t figure it out.” Lily stared out the window at people hurrying along the windy sidewalk. “The computer,” she said at last, glancing back at Anica. “It’s his only way of reaching the outside world. Could he accomplish acts of kindness on the computer?”
“Maybe. It wouldn’t be easy, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. I just hope he’s able to figure out that whatever he did, whether it was on the computer or not, is what he needs to keep doing to gain more time.”
“He’s a smart man. I’m betting he’ll come up with the answer.” Lily popped the last of the brownie into her mouth.
“So what’s up with you?”
“Nothing compared to your life, sis.” Lily rolled her cup between her palms. “There’s this guy . . .”
“The customer at the Bubbling Cauldron.”
“Yeah. His name’s Griffin. Griffin Taylor. He’s a divorce lawyer.”
“Mm.” Anica wasn’t going to say it, but she had a hard time imagining a serious professional guy being interested in Lily. Lily tended to attract the professional gamblers, the musicians, the nightclub owners. People like her, in other words. “So what do you like about this Griffin guy?”
“He’s hot.”
Anica laughed. “I’m sure. You wouldn’t look twice at him otherwise.”
“But he’s hot in a cool way. Not obvious, you know? Low-key. I like the way he jokes around with the other lawyers who come in for happy hour. He has a nice smile, a great laugh.”
Anica could read the signs. Lily was crushing on this divorce lawyer with the great smile. “Have you had any conversations with him?”
Lily gazed into her coffee. “Not so much. I’ve tried to catch his eye, get him interested, but he just . . . isn’t. He’s polite and everything, but there’s no flirting on his part. Only on mine.”
“That must be rough, particularly if you’re really attracted to him.” Anica was thinking it would be especially rough on Lily, who usually got any guy she went after.
Lily shrugged. “I’ll get over it.” Then she looked up and gave Anica a high-wattage smile. “When do you want another dance lesson?”
Anica thought of her complicated life. “Well, I’m not sure if I—”
“Yeah, I know. It’s a busy time, a strange time. That’s okay. Never mind.”
Anica picked up on the disappointment
Lily quickly tried to hide. For the first time Anica wondered if Lily might need her more than she’d let on. She might be lonely. “The shop’s closed on Saturday. How about Saturday afternoon?”
“You’re sure?” Lily looked cautiously hopeful.
“Yep, I’m sure.”
“This deal with Jasper could bust wide open, and then you might not want to.”
“If that happens we’ll talk about it,” Anica said. “But for now let’s plan on Saturday afternoon.”
“Cool. I’ve been practicing some more moves I want to show you. We’ll have margaritas again.”
“What’s a dance lesson without margaritas?”
“Way too boring. Well, sis, I gotta go.” Lily stood. “Keep me informed of any developments.”
“I will.” Anica stood, too. Then Anica did something that she hadn’t done in a while. She hugged Lily good-bye.
“Oh, I see we’re getting all touchy-feely, now,” Lily said. But she hugged Anica back really tight, and when she left, she was smiling.
Jasper could tell Anica was in a better mood when she came home from work. He was in a pretty good mood, too. He was working on a theory about the spell, and if it panned out . . . but he wasn’t going to get his hopes up too high.
He’d typed a message to Anica on the computer, so he sat—sort of patiently—on the desk chair while she took off her coat and hung it in the closet. He waited—not quite as patiently—for her to greet Orion. But he refused to be jealous that she’d petted Orion first.
After all, Orion was only a cat. And Orion would be here long after Jasper was gone. She should love him up before she moved on to Jasper.
Yet when she stood next to the desk chair and stroked his head, when she rubbed that spot on his chin that made him feel so great, he purred louder than ever before. He admitted it—he was glad to see her.
She put a paper bag next to the computer. “I see you have another message for me, Jasper.” She leaned down and looked at what he’d typed while she continued to rub her finger along his chin.
WELCM HOM. HW MNY GESSES?
She answered without hesitation. “Three. I called Dorcas and that’s what she said.”
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