Still. It had hurt knowing his family was the reason they weren’t together.
When word reached Wil that Jolene’s husband, Lloyd Morton, had a heavy hand and liked to spend more time down at the Magic Eight Ball bar than he did at home, Wil had taken an active interest in the man.
Something anyone with any sense wouldn’t want.
Wil had gotten all the verification he’d needed when he’d caught sight of Jolene talking to her friend Polly, sitting outside of the general store, with a black eye and a split lip.
Wil had heard Polly threaten to curse the man for Jolene, but Jolene had declined the offer, deciding instead to leave on a bus to visit her brother and his wife, who had just had a little boy named Sigmund.
Shame that she’d passed on Polly’s offer. Polly always had some of the best curses.
Wil had taken matters into his own hands and waited for the man to stumble out of the Magic Eight Ball. As far as the town of Everlasting was concerned, Jolene’s husband had gotten sloshed and foolishly decided to take his boat out that night.
He’d never been seen again.
Wil had gotten a few side-eyed stares from the locals back then, but none seemed mad. If anything, they seemed pleased with him. Polly had kept him in baked goods for six full months after that night. He was fairly sure she knew the truth but she’d never breathed a word to him about it.
Sheriff Francine Bull had once made a comment indicating there was no need for a search party for Lloyd. Wil suspected she knew what he’d done too.
Everlasting had a way of taking care of its own.
The only worry Wil had back then was how Jolene would take the news her husband of two years had been lost at sea. She’d put the house up for sale quickly and moved to the one she was in now, saying very little on the matter of her husband’s disappearance. Around a decade after it happened, she changed her last name back to Bails, quietly, not that anyone had ever taken to calling her Mrs. Morton.
Over the years, Jolene had become known as something of a matchmaker for others, yet she never married again, nor did she date anyone that he was aware of.
When Wil’s wife had passed, Jolene had sent a huge arrangement of flowers to the memorial service, but she’d not come. She did show when Wil’s son was killed. It had been the first time she’d spoken to Wil since he’d pushed her out of his life. She’d told him how sorry she was, hugged him, and then stayed close as Wil tried to comfort Penelope, who was only six at the time.
Once Penelope had been taken by her maternal grandparents to live with them in Mississippi, Jolene went back to avoiding Wil.
The last year had changed that. She was coming out of her shell with him, being her normal high-spirited self and taking none of his shenanigans.
Just like old times.
“You’re staring at me funny,” said Jolene, yanking Wil from memory lane.
“Sorry. How about we get you inside now?”
Jolene took a long breath and Barry, her cat, ran to the back door, scratching at it lightly. Jolene opened the door and entered, holding the door open for Wil. Barry hurried in. “Might as well come on in and thaw. You’re far too old to be sitting out in the cold. The last thing I want to do is have to call Polly to help me try to mystically unfreeze you from the rocking chair. Since she’s out in Colorado still, you’ll be getting a long-distance assist. I don’t know about you, but its worrisome enough when she casts a spell and she’s onsite to see what she’s doing. Long-distance help from her scares even me.”
Wil laughed at the mention of Polly, a local eccentric witch who was currently out in Lucky Valley, Colorado. “So long as she doesn’t try to get me to drink any of her concoctions, I’m fine with the thawing. Though you with a crowbar might be the safest option. I’ve seen the woman’s work.”
Jolene grinned and shut the door behind him. “Do you think Polly is taking care of that Cadillac?”
“You mean outside of spells and mystical duct tape?” he asked, shaking his head. “Not a chance.”
Jolene sighed. “Yeah, I didn’t think so either. One of these days I’m going to get my hands on it and give it a good tune-up.”
Wil’s step wavered slightly as he looked around the kitchen. It was done all in off-white, looking French country and handcrafted. Dried flowers hung from a rack over the sink and a number of glass jars held what looked to be varying cooking oils. A larger square wooden table, painted with teal chalk paint, sat in the center of the room. On it was a big white ceramic vase filled with flowers.
He hadn’t been sure what the inside of Jolene’s house would look like, but this wasn’t it. It was softer than he’d imagined. Reminding him of the woman he’d once known. The hopeless romantic who wanted a real-life fairytale of her own, like from the romance books he’d caught wind she liked to read. Not the tough-as-nails woman she’d grown into.
Chapter Three
“Pull your jaw up, Messing,” Jolene snapped, going to the cabinet and pulling down a bottle of over-the-counter pain relievers. She took two. “You’ll catch flies like that.”
Wil snorted, liking how quick she was to set him in his place. Most folks in town feared him because of what he was—a hunter. They assumed he was still neck deep in hunter affairs and behaviors. Some even went as far as to cross the street when they saw him coming. Over the years, Wil had learned to find it all amusing. Sometimes he even gave menacing stares to some locals, just to keep the rumors permeating. “Sorry.”
“Admit it, you thought I had hubcaps on the walls and wrenches in place of silverware,” she said, glancing back at him as she poured herself a glass of water to take the pills.
He nodded. “Well, I had my suspicions.”
“Petey had the same look on his face when he was here,” she said with a smile. “So did Marty.”
Wil tensed at the mention of Martin “Marty” Hanover. The man was newer to town and he’d been spending far too much time loitering around Jolene’s service station for Wil’s liking. Marty had also come up during the crystal ball freak-out. An image of him had flashed quickly in the balls before an image of a church and what could only be described as a wedding was shown to Wil.
If Marty thought he was going to move in on Wil’s girl, he was in for a rude awakening. “What, exactly, was Marty doing in your house?”
Jolene peered down the end of her nose at him before setting the glass of water on the counter. “He was having dinner here. You got something against people eating?”
“No,” he said gruffly. “Why were you having dinner with him?”
“Because I offered to make him some homemade lasagna. He mentioned that he hadn’t had it in years.”
“So, you just asked him over?” asked Wil, green with jealousy. “You were just out and about and randomly thought, ‘hey, I wonder if he likes lasagna?’”
Jolene faced him and leaned her hip against the kitchen counter. She crossed her arms over her chest. “Why, it’s the craziest thing. That is exactly what happened,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her every word. “Planning to yell at me some more about having a man over for dinner in my own home? Correct me if I’m wrong, Messing, but you lost your right to lecture me a long, long time ago.”
He grumbled partially under his breath and she leveled an even harder stare at him. It was downright murderous. The darn woman could make a hunter shake in his boots with her stern glares. He wondered if she went out in the woods and practiced the look on bears to see if they ran. He was betting the bears hightailed it lickety-split. “Erm, I’m not planning to lecture you.”
“Funny,” she said, still giving him the hard look. “Didn’t sound that way to me, Messing.”
He was a trained hunter, taught to handle any supernatural threat there was, but Jolene managed to make him anxious. His throat went dry.
“Erm, well, see, we don’t know that much about Marty. He could have nefarious intentions.”
Unamused, Jolene’s jaw set and Wil cringed.
“What? He could,” he tried to protest but knew he sounded ridiculous.
She put a hand on the counter, inching it toward the knife block near the stove. “Uh-huh.”
He watched her hand. “Are you considering stabbing me?”
“No,” she said, her hand still going in that direction.
She was simply that perfect for him. A lopsided grin formed on his face as he soaked in the sight of her. How was it the woman managed to get even more beautiful with age?
She rolled her eyes. “I’m scolding you and you’re smiling. Looks like not much has changed.”
It was true. He’d always found her sass amusing and endearing. “My hair is whiter now and I’m older. There are two.”
“Wil, you’ve been old since I’ve known you,” she said with a wink.
“Well, my hair finally caught up with me,” he said, licking his lower lip.
She took a small step and cringed, her ankle going out on her.
Wil moved with hunter-like speed, regardless of his age, and steadied her before sweeping her off her feet and holding her to his chest.
She gasped, and he fought the urge to kiss her.
She pushed on his chest. “Put me down before you give yourself a hernia or something.”
That was extremely unlikely, seeing as how he possessed strength far greater than a human and she didn’t weigh much at all. He carried her in the direction he hoped her living room was. He was right, and when he entered it, he had to hide his smile. It too was decorated in a way that reminded him of the cover of a decorating magazine. Elegant, yet homey with romantic touches. Everything Jolene didn’t seem to be at first glance. But it was everything she was underneath it all. He knew that. He knew the real her.
He set her gently on the oversized white sofa and then grabbed extra throw pillows from the chair next to him. He used one to prop her head and the other to prop her ankle. He then began to work her boots off her gradually, mindful of her sore ankle.
“I can take my own boots off,” she said, reaching for them, appearing annoyed. It was a look she wore often around him.
Ignoring her, Wil continued to tend to her. When he got her boots off, he couldn’t stop his laughter at the sight of her socks. They were fleece lined and had kittens knitted into them. The kittens reminded him of Barry when the cat was little.
She swatted at his arm. “Stop laughing at my fashion choices.”
“They’re adorable, Jo,” he said, using the same nickname he’d called her long ago.
She stilled and watched him before taking a deep breath. “Well, I think we can both admit this is awkward.”
Trust her to call a spade a spade.
“Yes, but does it feel wrong?” he questioned, desperate to hear her answer. While he fully understood who she was to him now, there was no guarantee they’d end up together. Not with everything that had happened in their past.
Jolene shook her head and her hair broke free from the clip it was in.
As the clip fell to the floor, he caught sight of it—and tensed. It was from his shop.
The last time he’d seen it had been when Marty Hanover was in, looking at a variety of items. Marty had seemed drawn to the clip in particular, asking about it more than once. Since the clip was vintage and had come from an estate sale, Wil could offer little information beyond the year it was more than likely from.
There had been an issue with one of the delivery trucks that Wil had been forced to step away and deal with. Thankfully, Kelsey had stopped by to drop off some homemade soup, so she was able to mind the shop while Wil sorted out the mess with the delivery truck. Upon his return, Marty and the clip were gone.
Wil retrieved the clip from the floor. “This a gift from a friend?”
She eyed him with a curious expression. “I don’t know, is it?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Wil glanced up and out of the oversized front window. The snowfall had increased dramatically since he’d arrived. He knew the weather was supposed to take a turn but he’d thought it would happen later, giving him time to check on Jolene and see her for a bit. Since she was obviously in pain and not doing well with her ankle, he didn’t exactly want to leave her alone, but if he didn’t go soon, the roads would be impassable until the plows had time to work their wonders.
That, or until one of the local magics up and decided they’d had enough of snow and mystically cleared the roads. That tended to backfire, as magic often did. Once, a well-meaning witch tried to get it to stop raining so the annual Cranberry Festival wouldn’t be interrupted. The spell she’d cast had gone haywire and it rained for forty days and nights. It was all very biblical.
That had been nearly a decade ago, and as far as he knew, no magics in town had tempted fate again. He highly doubted tonight would be the exception.
“Messing, indecision is written all over your face,” said Jolene, her hand finding his cheek.
The act was intimate and made his breath catch.
“What’s eating at you?” she asked, her thumb running over his lower lip lightly.
“I’m worried about leaving you alone but that storm you were reading me the riot act over has apparently found its stride.” He motioned to the window. “It might let up in a bit. That or the plows could catch up with it.”
She sat up slowly and Barry attempted to jump onto her lap. He was so pudgy that he missed and rolled onto the floor. The cat lay on his back and closed his eyes as if the effort had been too much for him and a nap was called for. “Wil, this was nice tonight.”
He nodded. “It was.”
“Kind of felt like old times for a second there,” she said, glancing away as she did.
He opened his mouth to apologize for everything he’d done wrong to her in his life.
She held up a hand, stopping him. “Our paths had to go in different directions. That was meant to be. I get that now. Had they not, Penelope wouldn’t be here, and I can’t imagine her not being in this world. Not to mention, you wouldn’t be a great-grandfather now. And I think we can both admit Prudence is adorable.”
“Her father is a heathen who formerly had a foul-mouth,” said Wil quickly. Hugh Lupine had mated to Wil’s granddaughter. Hugh hadn’t been Wil’s first choice of a husband for Penelope, but fate had other things in mind. The two had a little one named Prudence, who was just over three months old.
A knowing look came over Jolene. “You like Hugh. You think of him as a son now.”
He grunted. While that may be true, he didn’t want word of it getting around. “Don’t be telling him that. I’ll never hear the end of it. That boy will have a billboard put up letting everyone know I like him.”
“Your secret is safe with me.” She stood, and it took her a moment to steady herself. “I’m watching Prudence for them this weekend, so they can have a date night.”
Wil stayed at the ready to catch her if need be. “I’ve been going out of my way to keep them from having alone time. That heathen would be happy with twenty little ones.”
Jolene laughed. “So would you, so stop your bellyaching, Wil. I’ve seen you with that little girl. You melt the minute you see her. Just like you did with Penelope at that age. Truth be told, Penelope still has you wrapped around her little finger. As a granddaughter should.”
“I’m just happy Prudence looks like her mother.”
Jolene grinned. “Admit it, you worry every day that Hugh is going to tell you they’ve decided to move down to Hedgewitch Cove to be closer to Curt, Sigmund, and Petey. You know he’s been best friends with both Curt and Sigmund since he was basically in diapers.”
Wil narrowed his gaze. “He tries that, and they’ll never find his body.”
“Hmm, a fair number of people go missing around you. Should I be worried?”
Reaching out, he touched her cheek, just below the grease smear he’d yet to tell her about. He wondered if she knew the truth about Lloyd and about Wil’s uncles. If she did, this was the firs
t she was letting on to as much. “You know better than that, Jo.”
She stepped closer to him, and Wil continued to touch her cheek. “You got a little bit of grease on your face.”
She nodded. “Of course I do. I was so focused on getting it out from under my nails that I didn’t stop to think about the rest of me. Occupational hazard, I guess.”
He smiled. “It would be strange for me to admit I think it’s adorable, right?”
“Yes, but you’re a strange guy, so it fits,” she returned. Her attention went to the discarded clip that was now on the coffee table.
He narrowed his gaze on it. The idea of braving the elements just to hunt down Marty and warn him away from Jolene crossed Wil’s mind. It took a great deal of restraint to keep from rushing off and doing as much. Deep down, he knew the action would only raise the level of water under the bridge between he and Jolene, and it was already high enough for Wil to require a lifeboat. He didn’t need to help it along any.
“I should get going now. The snow is really coming down out there.”
She nodded and then put her hand over his. “Be careful.”
“Always.” Reluctantly, Wil stepped away from her and went to the front door. “Do you need my help getting up the stairs?”
“I’ll be fine.” She followed him toward the door.
He opened it—and paused as he looked through the storm door to see a package, wrapped in white wrapping paper with a big red bow, sitting on the porch. That hadn’t been there when he’d arrived hours before, and he’d never heard anyone approach. That was saying something because not much got by Wil. “Jo?”
She glanced past him. “Another present?”
“Another?” He looked over his shoulder at her. She’d gotten more of them? Who were they from? His gut tightened as he thought about the interest Marty was showing in Jolene. “Marty leaving you gifts?”
“And if he is?” she asked sternly.
Wil bit his tongue as he opened the door and retrieved the package. It had some weight to it. He brought it in and past Jolene, going right for her kitchen table. He set it there and stared at it as if he was expecting it to explode.
An Everlasting Christmas (The Happily Everlasting Series Book 7) Page 3