“So why didn’t he ask you out?”
“He was a year older than me. That was the summer before college.” She studied her fingernails. “He said he’d be leaving and he didn’t want to get tied down.”
I did the mental math. Cassandra was a year older than me, he was a year older than her, which meant he’d had at least two years since he’d finished college. “And now?”
She held her arms out at her sides. “Even when he came home for summer breaks, he never said anything, never called me, like it never happened. I figured I was his practice for college. Learn to kiss, that sort of thing. I suppose I should be glad things never went any further.”
“Never?”
She sighed. “I always thought he’d be my first everything, you know? That when he came home the next summer, we’d pick up where we left off and sort of graduate to the next step, but no.” She leveled her gaze on me. “When he didn’t renew his interest, in a manner of speaking, I explored other avenues when I went to fashion design school in Milwaukee.”
“But you never got over him.”
“I don’t want to be ‘practice’ anymore. You know what I mean?”
“You want him to step up to the plate. Declare himself instead of pretending you’re not there, except as a make-out buddy.”
She cringed. “Well, sort of.”
“Yeah, I get it. You don’t want to be a booty call. But from what Kyle told me, when you went out the other night, he was making a public statement. Your own ‘Nobody puts baby in the corner’ moment. That’s why he didn’t take you somewhere out of town.”
“And look how that went. He still hasn’t called me.”
“You could call him.”
She shook her head. “No. He has more at stake. I don’t want to be a convenience. Let’s not forget he blew me off in high school.”
“So you make the first move. Remind him what a spectacular kisser you were, as evidenced by the fact he kept coming back for more. The more grown-up version of the man might decide he isn’t willing to go without those kisses even one more day.”
She laughed. “I tell you what, I didn’t get my kiss goodnight after we ran into Mrs. Hazelton, and I was really looking forward to one.”
Did I want to share with her how Kyle and I had gotten past our breakup with a booty call? Unplanned, but a reminder a physical connection can sometimes push you over the final hurdle.
I glanced out the window, where Lucas came out of the five-and-dime across the street. “You want a kiss, now’s your chance,” I said.
“What do you mean?”
I stepped outside the store, calling to Lucas telepathically. He stopped, glanced around looking for what had garnered his attention, saw me and waved. I motioned him toward the store.
“Brynn.” Cassandra whispered a warning behind my shoulder.
“Go in the back,” I told her. “I think you might need help getting something off a shelf that you can’t reach.”
She drew a sharp intake of air, face flushed, and scurried to the back room. Part of me worried she’d run out the back door.
“Hey, Brynn,” Lucas said. “I only have a minute. I’m on my lunch hour.” He looked through the window—for Cassandra? “What can I do for you?”
I sized him up, assessing his frame at about six-foot-three. “Cassandra and I were trying to get something off a shelf in the backroom and neither of us is tall enough. You think you can lend a hand quick?”
“I can give it a try.”
He followed me into the shop and set his bag on the counter.
“If you go right on back, Cassandra can show you where.”
She appeared, a sheepish look on her face, blushing prettily.
“Show me what you need,” he said, following her into the backroom.
I moved discreetly toward the windows, merchandising her clothing and trying not to listen, not that there was anything to hear.
Ten minutes later, Lucas reappeared, his mouth red with Cassandra’s lipstick and his cheeks blotchy. He straightened his glasses, adjusted his pea coat, and gave me a shy smile. “I think she got what she was looking for,” he said with one last glance over his shoulder before he left.
Cassandra followed a moment later, readjusting the nearly-sheer white blouse she wore over a navy blue bralette. “That was enlightening,” she said.
“Good enlightening, or bad enlightening? He’s wearing your lipstick, by the way.”
She laughed. “Oh, definitely good enlightening. He hasn’t forgotten how to kiss, and he’s learned a few new tricks since high school.” She winked. “He wants to go out tonight, and he said he doesn’t care who we see or what they say.” Cassandra gave a squeal. “He says he wanted me to be his girl ever since high school, but never felt like it was the right time. He’s tired of waiting.”
I hugged her. “Good luck. If nothing else, you can get him out of your system, huh?”
“I have no intention of letting him go. Nobody else kisses like he does. I can’t wait to find out what other skills he has.” She gave me another wink and settled behind her sewing machine.
Toward the end of the day, she got fluttery and I sent her off to prepare for her date while I started my closing routine. Before I locked the door, the bell announced one more customer.
Jason.
Chapter 30
“I’m closing,” I told Jason. “Unless you wanted to buy something?”
His facial tic indicated he was irritated—no surprise.
I tilted my head, waiting for him to tell me what I’d done wrong today.
“Thank you for finding Georgia,” he said.
I raised my eyebrows, surprised. “No matter what you think or believe, I do value family.”
Jason looked away, his hands tightened into fists, leading me to believe he hadn’t come of his own accord, but because someone had asked him to.
“Apparently Jeannine trusts you. More than she trusts me.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because whatever secret you two share, she wasn’t willing to tell me.”
The baby. “I was there when it happened. Otherwise, I’m sure I wouldn’t know, either. You were already long gone. I expect, with time, she’ll be able to talk to you about it.”
His face twitched again. No, he wasn’t happy. “I told Sharon not to keep your appointment tonight.”
Ah, now we were getting to the reason for his visit. “And if she wants to talk to me? She’s the one who asked for the meeting. But since you’re here, what the fuck, Jason?”
His eyes widened. Mission accomplished. I’d gotten his attention.
Hands on hips, I leaned toward him. “Forget the fact I haven’t done anything bad to you. Ever. Forget the fact I’ve cared for your daughter and she remains unscathed by the experience.” I stopped short of pointing out how he’d frightened her every time he vented his anger.
“I asked you to stay away from my family.”
“Apparently they didn’t get the message. I didn’t seek them out, Jason. They came to me. And so did Sharon. What game are you playing at? If you aren’t seeing Sharon anymore, why do you keep including her in your life?”
“Not that it’s any of your business, but we’re still friends. The dating part was a long time ago. Before LeAnne.”
“You keep her around so you have an adoring public? Is that it?”
“You’ve got it all wrong. Our relationship ended years ago.”
“Not for her, it didn’t, and if you aren’t willing to let her go, I suspect not for you, either. Yet here you are, with a wife and two children and the old girlfriend tagging along. Not a good look, Cousin.”
“You’re going to lecture me on morality? You? A witch?”
I pinched my fingers into an ‘L’ the way Hannah had taught me, calling on the white light to cover my temper. In a burst, I saw his fear.
“What about Georgia?” I said. “Do you plan to disown your own daughter?”
&nbs
p; “You leave my daughter out of this.”
“No. I know what it’s like to be discarded by the people who are supposed to love you. Is that your plan, Jason? When you can no longer deny the truth, are you going to turn your back on her?”
“Don’t you talk to me about my daughter.”
I flattened a palm against my chest. “I can help.”
Between the tic and the purple color suffusing his face, I wondered for a moment if Jason might have a stroke.
“Stay out of my life,” he growled. “It’s bad enough Georgia calls for you in her sleep. She’ll forget about you with time.”
“No. She won’t. She needs guidance and she needs love. I can give her both those things. Can you?”
“I’m her father.”
I reached for his arm. He didn’t pull away, but he did stare at my hand as if it might burn him. “Jason. If you must think of me as a witch, think Glinda, not the Wicked Witch of the West. I use what gifts I was born with to help people, not to hurt them. And, if it helps you to know, karma is real. People who set out to hurt others pay a price.”
He stared at me, still twitching. With measured words, he said, “I would appreciate if you didn’t keep your meeting with Sharon. And I would appreciate if you stay the hell away from my family.” He pulled away and walked out, nearly running into Kyle in his hurry to leave.
Kyle glanced after him, then at me. “And?”
I shrugged. “Same story, different day.”
“Even after you helped find his lost daughter?”
“Oh, he did say thank you for that, right before he told me to stay out of his personal business.”
“And?”
“We have an appointment to keep with the other woman.”
Ash yawned and meowed at the same time, making a funny sort of noise from where she sat upright on the counter, waiting for me.
“But first,” I said, “I’m taking Ash home.”
“I’m still coming with you,” he said.
Kyle had made it clear he didn’t want me to deal with Jason on my own, without a bodyguard. I didn’t need one, but after one confrontation, I could use an ally for what promised to be another. “I wouldn’t expect any different.”
Half an hour later, we arrived at the Hillendale Pub, where Sharon sat at a booth, tapping a toe, repeatedly tucking her hair behind her ears, first one side, then the other. She looked up, saw us and jumped to her feet, a frightened glint in her eye. She surveyed the pub, then eased into her seat.
As Kyle and I slid onto the bench across from her, she stared into the glass of clear soda in front of her.
“This is a waste of time,” she told the glass.
“What is?” Kyle asked.
She shot a quick glance first at him, then me, then her glass. “Look, I just wanted to tell you to watch out for LeAnne. I thought I was wrong after she got pregnant, that she’d changed, but no.”
“Wrong about what?” I asked.
She tucked her hair behind her ears again, then tapped her glass. “Forget it. I’m transferring back to Madison. The person they got to fill my position didn’t work out. It’ll be better for everyone. Really. Better money. Better position.”
“Sharon.” I leaned on the table. “What’s going on? You didn’t want to talk to me about your job.”
She met my gaze. “What are you going to do to me? You killed Narcy. I was hoping you’d help me. Make Jason see. Make him understand. Break the spell that witch has over him.”
The second time Sharon had referred to LeAnne as a witch. Intentionally? She had spent time with Narcy, after all. Three years was a long time to hope Jason would leave his wife.
I gentled my voice as if talking to a skittish colt. “First, I didn’t kill Narcy.” Did Sharon understand the magic? “She tried to kill me, and karma stepped in.”
Sharon shook her head. “She wouldn’t. For all the times she stepped in to defend me, I never knew her to hurt anybody.”
“I was there,” Kyle added. “Narcy set Brynn’s house on fire, and when the windows exploded from the heat, a shard caught her in the neck. If Narcy would have waited until she got help, she would have survived, but when she pulled it out, she bled to death.”
A tear slid down Sharon’s face. “Why? Why would she do that? She said she’d found a place to start her own business. She was going to move closer to me.”
“My business,” I told her. “Except it wasn’t for sale.”
“So she tried to kill you to get it?” Sharon asked.
“She told me she could take from me anything she wanted.”
Kyle reached under the table and squeezed my hand. He’d been a pawn in her demonstration of power.
Sharon snickered. “Now that sounds like her.”
Pieces came together in my mind. Sharon dating Jason, LeAnne winning Jason’s affections. Was it fate? Or had LeAnne given fate a boost, the way Narcy had?
“When you say LeAnne’s a witch, you’re avoiding using a coarser term, right?”
Sharon laughed. “No, she’s a bitch on top of everything else.” She steadied her gaze on me. “She’s like you.”
Like me? I hadn’t seen the glow in her eyes, hadn’t sensed anything extraordinary about her. Had I missed something?
Kyle tensed beside me. “We should go.”
“No. Wait,” I said, but when Sharon didn’t say anything more, I probed her thoughts telepathically.
Sharon shook her head. “Narcy used to do that. It isn’t going to work.” She finished her drink. “This was a mistake.” She pushed against the table, rose to her feet and walked away.
“Do you want me to stop her?” Kyle asked.
“No.” As Sharon left, I sorted through all the things she’d said, and the things she didn’t say.
Had LeAnne seduced Jason the way Narcy had seduced Kyle? The picture Sharon painted of Jason’s wife didn’t match the woman I’d met, Georgia’s mother. I’d liked LeAnne, hadn’t sensed anything extraordinary in her. Then again, I hadn’t sensed anything extraordinary the first time I’d met Narcy, either. I’d written my lapse off as ignorance, not looking or not wanting to see. Until I’d come to terms with my gifts, I hadn’t wanted to acknowledge the magic. Or, as Nora had told me later, Narcy might have hidden her true self from me.
I thought she’d changed, Sharon had said. When she’d gotten pregnant again. A question for Nora? Did witches lose strength, for lack of a better word, when they got pregnant?
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” Kyle asked.
“Things are starting to come together, and I have to say I don’t like where this is leading.”
“You don’t believe her, do you? The other woman would say or do anything to get her man. I’ve seen situations like this more often than I care to.”
“Then why is she giving up now?”
“Because Jason is a doting father? He has a new baby to care for and won’t have time for a mistress.”
“Or,” I said, treading lightly, “he isn’t thinking clearly. How did you describe it? Like he’s a puppet?”
Kyle tensed.
Insecurity reared its ugly head once more. Would Kyle remember how he’d been manipulated by Narcy? Would he think I’d done the same? He’d said he knew the difference between enchantment and his authentic self, but would he re-examine his feelings?
“I got over it,” he said.
“Because she changed her mind,” I reminded him.
“Maybe. Partly. Or because you were the one I was in love with, the one I wanted to be with.”
My heart swelled. “Are you sure?”
He cupped my chin with his hand. “Always. The question now is what do we do about your cousin?”
Chapter 31
We stayed at the pub for dinner, and when Kyle and I returned home, I went to my workroom out of habit. I stood in the dark, afraid to turn on the lights. Who might be outside the windows, watching?
Kyle slipped his arms around me from
behind. “You okay?”
I shook my head.
“Want to talk?”
I did not, and I hated being afraid. I flipped on the light switch, marched to the windows and pulled the blinds closed.
“What’s this?” Kyle held a sock monkey in his hands.
“Rhetorical question?” I asked.
“I didn’t think you brought your inventory home.”
I took the sock monkey from him and immediately flashed on Georgia. Had she been here? I closed my eyes and reached out to her. Nothing.
“Brynn?”
“What do I do?” I asked Kyle.
“About...?”
“If what Sharon said is true... if this is Georgia’s sock monkey... but Jason made it clear I’m not welcome. If LeAnne...” My breath caught. “She wanted to be part of his family. Surely, she wouldn’t do something to hurt Georgia, or me.”
“Tell you what. First thing tomorrow, I’ll look into LeAnne. Find out what I can. The same way not everyone you meet is a criminal, not everyone who can do the things you do is a bad person.”
I scoffed at his avoidance. “Depends on who you ask. Jason seems to think so.”
“I’m guessing Jason doesn’t see in his wife what he sees in you.”
Validation. I turned to Kyle. “Right? Which makes me think Sharon is lying. Or hiding something. Or there’s another mysterious woman lurking about.” The woman Hannah had told me to watch out for. A shiver shook me. “What do I do?”
“There’s nothing more we can do tonight. We’ll see what more we can learn tomorrow.”
Except Georgia hadn’t responded to me, and I was certain I held her sock monkey. Something had changed, intensifying my concern for my little cousin. Would the hidden grimoire help? More shivers ran through me like maggots on a corpse—and why did that image jump into my mind? “I have work I want to do in here, special orders for tomorrow. It’ll help me focus my energy somewhere else for a while.”
The Hidden Grimoire Page 14