by T. M. Cromer
Uh, oh. Wrong thing to say. One thing Summer knew growing up in a household of siblings was that you didn’t compare one unfavorably to the other.
Holly’s face turned the shade of a boiled lobster. Her hand rose and the liquid of all the drinks on the table started to bubble and create steam. From the kitchen, the sound of rushing water and liquid boiling over onto the hot burner could be heard along with Pete’s swearing.
Summer sent up a small prayer of gratitude to the Goddess that they weren’t on a beach because her twin would’ve decimated them all with her tidal wave of fury.
“Let me guess,” Holly said between gritted teeth. “You’re proud of her?”
“I am.”
Unable to take another second, Summer rose to intercede. “Stop! Just stop!” To Holly, she said, “I only found out he was my father five days ago. He can’t be proud because he had no hand in raising me.” To Alastair, she said, “What I see when I look at her is a smart, confident woman filled with compassion. She didn’t have to sit and try to cheer me up when I walked in today, but she did. As far as her husband, we can’t choose who we love. I’m proof positive of that. You owe her an apology, Alastair.”
“I don’t want one. I just want him to leave me alone—forever!”
“I can’t do that, child. I need you, with the help of your new sister, to find me another object.”
“The Chintamani Stone,” Summer said.
“The Chintamani Stone,” he confirmed.
“I’m done running your errands, Alastair. Do it yourself,” Holly growled.
“You aren’t doing it for me. You’re doing it for your mother,” he replied smoothly.
His little declaration took the wind from Holly’s sails.
25
“Coop said my relationship with Alastair was going to bite me in the ass. I didn’t believe him.”
Alastair had long since disappeared, but the women were dealing with the fallout from the bomb he dropped. They were to perform a major scavenger hunt to find the object able to bring their mother back. Oh, and not back from the dead. Apparently, she was playing the role of Sleeping Beauty waiting for Prince Charming to wake her with a kiss—and the Chintamani Stone could do this. A stone that had been missing for the last fifty years.
“I can’t believe this. All this time, she’s been alive.”
“It’s been almost twenty years!” Summer shook her head. “He has to be lying, right?”
Holly shrugged as she stared moodily out the front window over the main street of Fontana Village, a town boasting less than a hundred residents. “Why lie when he can threaten, intimidate, or con you into doing what he wants?”
“Did you know her?” Summer asked softly, well aware that her twin was suffering.
“I did.” Other than Holly’s darker coloring, her sister’s actions were like watching herself in a mirror. The casual shrug and raised brows were Summer’s go-to gestures when she tried to appear uncaring. She was usually anything but.
“Did you get to see her for your whole eight years before…?” She couldn’t bring herself to say ‘her death’ now that the possibility existed Aurora was resting in stasis.
“Eight? I was thirteen when she disappeared.”
Thirteen? She’d been told her mother died when she was eight. Initially, the story was that Aurora was injured while she and Preston were traveling abroad. Later, after the last of the Thorne sisters turned eighteen, Preston and GiGi sat them down and told them Alastair was responsible.
Now, to find out that nothing she’d been told was the truth, made the reality difficult to absorb. Her mother hadn’t died. She had, in fact, continued through life without once bothering to visit her other four children for five additional years before her coma.
The walls were closing in around her. “I have to go.”
“Summer.” Had the entreaty not been in Holly’s voice, Summer would’ve teleported back to her mountain. But her twin’s pain spoke to her own. “Will you come back?”
Loneliness. It hung around Holly’s neck in the heaviest of chains.
“I’m the screw up of the family,” Summer found herself saying. “I can’t seem to perform more than a basic spell without it going awry.” Unable to meet the compassionate understanding in eyes so eerily similar, she stared beyond Holly to the street outside. “I’ve loved one guy for an entire lifetime. Today he told me he can’t handle what I am. It isn’t the first time he’s objected to my abilities, but somehow it was the worst, because I thought we were happy.”
She hadn’t realized the tears were falling unchecked down her face until Holly gently wiped them away.
“Coop was right. Other than my sisters, I have no friends,” she whispered. “Or, no friends that aren’t animals.”
“Being what we are means we can’t have friends. At least, that’s what mother always told me,” Holly said, her voice and expression far away, as if she were remembering. “She said, I can only trust myself and needed to listen to my heart.”
“But?”
Holly smiled and met her inquiring gaze. “But I didn’t listen. I believed I could have friends and they would be okay with what I am.” She drew aside the V of her waitress uniform. A jagged scar ran from collarbone to breast on the right side of her chest. “Courtesy of my best friend and my husband.”
Summer’s hands flew to her mouth. “Oh, Holly!”
“They wanted to be together but were afraid of me. They thought if they killed me, I wouldn’t have the power to exact revenge for their affair.”
Tears poured faster. The suffering her sister must’ve endured ripped Summer’s heart out from the inside. “I’m so sorry.”
“It’s the past.”
“Please tell me they are in jail.”
“He’s dead. Until now, I’d only kept Beau’s last name to remind me to make better choices.” She shrugged. “I started the paperwork to change it back to Thorne. As for my ex-best-friend Michelle, she’s in an institution somewhere, babbling about a man who appeared from nowhere and set Beau on fire.” Holly’s smile was pure evil satisfaction. “Of course, she was tried for his murder and found guilty. I do have one thing to thank our father for, I suppose.”
Unable not to, Summer reached for Holly and pulled her into an embrace. “I can’t imagine what you must’ve gone through. I’m sorry.”
“It’s ancient history.”
“No, I’m sorry I wasn’t there to light the match that set that fucker on fire.”
Summer waited for the sneeze that never came from her curse word. She drew back and glanced around then turned stunned eyes on Holly. “I didn’t sneeze.”
Holly’s blue eyes flew wide. “You didn’t!”
“Do you think it’s because you were a buffer? Because I was hugging you?”
“It’s possible. Try it without.” Holly backed up and gave her an encouraging nod.
“Do you really want mice to fill up your restaurant?”
Holly shrugged. “It’s just us and Pete.”
Summer cast a wary glance over her shoulder in the direction of the kitchen. “Does Pete know what you are?”
“Yes. Alastair assigned him as my protection. But the man doesn’t possess an ounce of magical ability and falls asleep while chopping vegetables. If I didn’t, you know…” She wiggled her fingers. “… I’d have nothing to serve the customers.”
“Okay, here goes.” Summer drew in a breath. “Damn,” she said and promptly sneezed.
A small scurry of mice appeared at the edge of the room.
“Now again but hold my hand,” Holly urged.
Summer gripped her sister’s fingers. “Damn.” Nothing. “I can’t believe this. You try!”
“Shit,” Holly said. No sneeze.
They laughed as one and took turns coming up with creative curse words.
“Well, isn’t this a sight,” drawled a deep I-could-do-you-all-night voice.
The girls screamed in stereo.
“Quentin Buchanan! You mangy cur! You can’t just sneak up on people like that.” Holly scolded the man with the mussy dark hair and milk chocolate bedroom eyes who sat on the counter.
His amused chuckle brought to mind endless hours of making love.
He jumped off his perch and sauntered to where the sisters stood. His walk was pure seduction.
“Dear Goddess,” Summer breathed. It was hard to imagine anyone sexier than Cooper Carlyle, but this man had Coop beat hands down.
Her eyes shrugged off her brain’s command to rein in her inappropriate sexual thoughts and continued to eat him up.
The slow knowing smile that spread across his face created a tingling in her lady bits.
“You’re a warlock,” Summer blurted.
“I am. And you’re a witch…” He nodded toward Holly. “… like her.”
“I am.”
His hot gaze swept a leisurely path from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. The returning journey paused on all her woman parts. His appreciative smile grew wider.
“You certainly are.”
Her ovaries fired up and caused a wave of heat to encase her entire body.
“Why don’t you two get a damned room already?” Holly snapped. Achoo!
Crows landed on the sill outside.
In a move which shocked Summer speechless, Quentin swept an arm around Holly and buried his head against her neck. “There’s no need to be jealous, my love. There’s enough of me to go around.”
“Get off me!” Holly snapped.
Quentin ignored her to run his tongue up the side of her throat and nip her ear. “I love it when you play hard to get.”
As suddenly as he grabbed Holly, he released her and focused on Summer.
Feeling like a deer in the headlights, she froze as he stepped to where she stood. “Hello, gorgeous. And who might you be?”
“Mine,” growled a voice she’d recognize until her dying day.
There was no need for her to check to know who stood behind her. What she didn’t know was how the hell he’d teleported here. She assumed Alastair until she heard Autumn add, “But I’m definitely single and willing.”
Fury at her sister’s disloyalty boiled inside Summer. She’d sent Autumn a text to explain the situation when she’d first arrived at the restaurant. For her to show up with Coop in tow was a betrayal of the sister code.
But for now, Summer would take one issue at a time. She whirled and pinned Coop with a glare.
“Yours? Pfft.” She stormed to where he stood ten feet away. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but weren’t you the one who said he needed a break…” She consulted the clock on the wall. “…less than five hours ago?”
Her fist found his chest. The impact made a satisfying thud so she did it again. “You can kiss my ass!” Her sneeze brought more members of the rodent gang scrambling into the room.
“I’ll be damned. It happens to her, too,” Quentin laughed.
Coop shot him a shut-the-hell-up glare then addressed Summer. “You blinked out of my office without a by-your-leave, and then don’t answer a damned call or text? What the hell is up with that?”
“You said we were over,” she enunciated as if he were hard of hearing.
“No, I didn’t. I said I needed a few days. You assumed we were over.”
“I am not your plaything to pick up and put down when you get bored, Coop,” she seethed. “You can go fu—!”
His hand clamped over her mouth. “Based on the emotion behind that word, we’re going to have the entire rat population of North Carolina here in under a minute.”
Summer shoved his hand away and clamped her jaw shut.
Cooper wasn’t finished. “It turns out, I didn’t need a few days. I didn’t even need a few hours.” He softened his tone and ran his thumb over her lower lip. “I only needed two seconds after you disappeared to realize I’d just pulled the second most bone-headed move of my life.”
She knocked his hand away and took a step back. “I’m not accepting your honeyed words this time. When I said goodbye, I meant it.”
“Bravo!” Quentin cheered. “Holly, my love, doesn’t this scene bring back memories? Remember, just last—”
“Shut up, you tool,” Holly snapped. “My sister is experiencing a moment of triumph, and you’re ruining it.”
“Sister?” Three heads whipped back and forth between Summer and Holly.
“Yes,” Summer confirmed. “Seems dear old Mom gave birth to twins, then thought it would be a great idea to separate us and give Holly to Alastair to raise.”
Autumn stumbled forward. “You’re our sister?”
Holly nodded and reached for Summer to pull her close.
“How long have you known?” Autumn’s temper, when riled, was a thing of beauty. She’d perfected an icy demeanor. In this, she was more like Alastair than either Summer or Holly.
“I found out less than an hour ago,” Summer said.
Autumn’s anger fizzled out, and she cast an apologetic glance Summer’s way as she stepped up to Holly. “Sister.” She nodded. “Now it makes sense. When Summer was about six months old, I started dreaming there were two of her, but one went missing. I’d wake up crying. Dad would hug me and tell me it was all just a dream. That the other Summer was my imagination.” She stroked a hand down Holly’s arm in wonder. “You really do exist. The other Summer.”
* * *
As Coop looked on, the tear-fest started for the three women. Quentin let out a disgusted snort, mumbled something about needing a drink, and disappeared in a swirl of light.
Another warlock.
“Great,” he muttered under his breath.
Those bastards were popping up left and right faster than Coop could process the fact they existed in the first place.
The desire to escape the unfolding emotional scene was upon him. But he feared the moment he set foot outside, Summer would disappear again. Not that he could stop her if he wasn’t outside, but he could at least attempt to reason with her to stay and work through their issues.
He’d been the idiot everyone had been calling him lately. Coop had told the truth when he told Summer it had only taken moments for him to regret his urge to take a break. What type of man ran in the face of a little adversity? A coward.
Coop wasn’t a coward. Not by a long shot. But he’d been thrown into another world, one where people had the power to alter your mind, to make you forget, to disappear at will, to electrocute people with a bolt from their hand, to create tidal waves, and to freeze time with a curl of their fist. It was enough to shake even the most stout-hearted and make them freak the fuck out.
He moved away to give the women space. As he stared out the window, he noticed a male watching the restaurant from across the street. Coop took special note of his appearance; tall, maybe six-three or four, large build, but leaning to the trim side. The guy couldn’t be more than thirty or so because he still retained the look of youth about him. His clothes had a look of quality, as if they were from the finest department store or tailor made. His shaggy blond hair fell across his eyes and made it difficult for Coop to get a bead on their color. In the guy’s hand was a gold coin that he worked through his fingers and across his knuckles—not dissimilar to hustlers in a movie.
But what struck Coop as odd was the air of sullenness mixed with sadness. Coop followed the guy’s line of sight to the three women. He knew one of them, that was for sure. Or at the very least, he wanted to.
As if he sensed Coop’s regard, the man shifted his head by slow degrees until he spotted Coop off to one side of the large window. He straightened, ducked back into the shadow of the doorway he’d been loitering in, and in a quick flash of light, the guy was gone.
That made two new warlocks in less than thirty minutes. They were multiplying like rabbits in these parts. It couldn’t be a coincidence.
Coop would be happy to see the last of this town.
“What do you mean you’re staying?”
“Exactly what I said, Coop. I’m staying.” Her stubborn chin shot into the air.
His fists clenched with the desire to wring her neck. “Summer, you have a home and business back in Leiper’s Fork. I have my job as Sheriff.”
Her lip curled in a semblance of a sneer. “You and your job don’t figure into my plans, Sheriff.”
“Why?” he demanded. “We love each other, and if you could see my side of this for one damned minute, you’d see that, while I made a mistake, it wasn’t done to hurt you.”
“Yeah, you keep saying that. You should have it tattooed on your forehead. Maybe then you wouldn’t need to sound like an annoying song on repeat.”
He stepped in close but didn’t touch her. “Thornes only love once.”
“So when we draw the short straw we should count ourselves lucky and go with it?” she asked nastily. “Tell me, Coop, if you can’t handle me as I am, how are you going to handle any kids we might have? Goddess forbid they break one of your millions of rules or let an elephant swim in your pool. Let’s not even touch on the subject of one of them levitating their fork through the air in front of a stranger. Ooohhhh, we might have to alter a memory so witnesses forget what they’ve seen. Ooohhhh, we’ll have taken their free will.” She waved her hands about to emphasize her point.
He swiftly lost his temper. Because he didn’t have an answer about hiding any future children’s magic, he zeroed in on Eddie. “That elephant is a pervert and wants to mate with my prize mare.”