Chapter 18
“How are you feeling?”
If the knot in her stomach was anything to go by, Thea was feeling a mix of emotions. Excitement, primarily, but also fear and a hint of worry. Swallowing thickly, she readjusted her bracelet and sent Granny a weak smile.
“I’m great,” she replied gently. Thea gestured towards her outfit. “How do I look? Do I look okay?”
Granny laughed, noticing the apprehension written across Thea’s face. “You look amazing. Beautiful, even.”
“Oh, stop it,” she whispered, brushing out the wrinkles in her jeans. “Blaine should be here any minute now.”
“Will you be spending the whole day with him and his family?”
“Not the whole day, but a good portion of it,” Thea explained, glancing at the clock. She wrung her hands together, feeling at the lines on her palms. “...I think he might propose.”
“Really?” Granny exclaimed, smiling at the news. “That’s great news, Thea! I’ve always liked Blaine. He’s a strong, sensible young man who cares a lot about you. It’s clear that he’s the right one for you.”
“You don’t think it’s too soon?” Thea asked, picking her gaze from the floor. “I mean... getting engaged is a huge step for any relationship. I hope we’re not moving too fast.”
“I think you two are moving at a reasonable pace,” Granny replied. “What’s not to love about Blaine? Don’t tell me you’re starting to feel cold feet about this whole thing.”
“N-No! Not at all!”
“Well? There shouldn’t be an issue,” she said, leaning back into her chair as she gazed out the window. “He’s kind with a reasonable sense of humor. And he’s dedicated to his career. He’ll be a great husband for you, I’m sure of it.”
Just as Thea nodded, the small ping her phone made notified her that Blaine was outside. She bid Granny farewell before hurrying outside and entering Blaine’s car. When his eyes landed on her, he immediately smiled.
“Ready?” he asked.
Her throat felt tight, so she nodded instead. That was more than enough to make the grin on Blaine’s face get wider.
“And...” he began, leaning back to fetch something from his backseat. He brought forth a cup holder with two coffees, both steaming out of their lids. “I got you that coffee. Can’t have you falling asleep on me while I drive.”
“We can’t have you falling asleep at the wheel either,” she said, blowing at the coffee to cool it down.
“Very true. And considering I barely got a lick of sleep last night–” Blaine thumped his cup against Thea’s. “Cheers. We’ve got a long drive ahead of us.”
“THIS IS THE PLACE!” Blaine announced, pulling into the main road that led into his family’s farm.
Blinking the grogginess from her eyes, Thea readjusted her position in the passenger seat to get a better view of their surroundings. Her breath hitched in her throat, realizing how tranquil the farm was. Things were much more rural around there than what she was used to, but it still carried a homely vibe. One that made her feel safe, despite the distance between there and Ardensville.
From where they were, she caught a glimpse of where they kept the goats and chickens. Their property sat on the edge of the forest, which made sense given that they were a family of bear shifters. It gave them the space to do whatever they wanted when they shifted.
“I like it here,” she said as Blaine parked his car in front of his family’s barnhouse.
Taking a quick look around, she noticed the pale blue two-story house situated a few yards away from where they stood. A few cars were parked near the building. Blaine offered her his arm to take as they approached the house.
“Aside from your mom and dad, who else is here?” Thea asked.
“Just my older brother, I think. His name is Jasper,” he replied, knocking on the front door. Thea held her breath. “He can be a bit annoying sometimes, but that’s just me. Since he’s older than me, I’m always going to think he’s annoying.”
“That makes sense.”
A few seconds later, the front door whipped open to reveal a woman in a stained cooking apron. When it dawned upon her that it was Blaine and Thea, her eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hands.
“Oh! You two made it!” she exclaimed, bouncing on the heels of her feet in excitement. “Joel! Jasper! Come over here! Blaine’s arrived and he brought Thea with him!” She immediately turned towards Thea and offered her hand to shake. “My name is Abigail! I’m Blaine’s mother.”
“Thea? That’s the girl he talked to us about, isn’t it?” an older man appeared, wearing some flannel and jeans. He stuck his hand out towards Thea once Abigail moved out of the way. “Nice to meet you. I’m Joel.”
“And I’m Jasper,” he piped up, leaning on the back wall and sending them a small wave. “It’s nice to finally meet the girl my little brother keeps rambling about.”
“I don’t ramble,” Blaine mumbled as his mother engulfed him in a hug. The tips of his ears burned red. When they parted, she cupped his cheeks.
“How are you two? Was the drive here okay? Are you hungry?” she asked, bombarding them with questions. She reached over and took Thea’s hand in her own. “We’ve already finished up most of the food preparations. Would you like a bite of anything?”
“Sure! I’m a bit hungry,” Thea said, following along as Abigail led her by the hand. Blaine stayed on their trail. “I really love your farm, by the way.”
“Thank you! I appreciate that. Most people don’t look twice at our place,” she explained. Once they entered the kitchen, she let go of Thea’s hand so that she could serve her a plate of food. “I mean, I don’t blame them. Not much to see around these parts aside from nature and trees.”
“It’s nice to be away from Ardensville for once,” Thea said, glancing at Blaine. “It’s a change of scenery for me. I’m not used to being away from home.”
“Well, I hope you make the drive out here to visit us more often from now on,” Abigail said, beaming from ear to ear. “We’re honored to have you. And Blaine, be a dear and get Thea some water. I’m sure she’s thirsty.”
“Sheesh, mom. And no concern about me?” he quipped, already fetching a glass from one of the cabinets.
She waved him off. “Ladies first, Blaine.”
Chapter 19
Thea felt warm and her face hurt from smiling. It was getting into the afternoon, but the day felt like it had flown by.
Thea could not have had a more wonderful day with Blaine’s family. They were cute and charming and though she was nervous about being around them as a girlfriend rather than a friend, she was so happy they went out to meet everyone.
Blaine and Thea were in the kitchen washing out their mugs of tea that Blaine’s mother had made for them. Though she insisted that they could just leave them on the coffee table, their urges towards classic Midwestern etiquette had them in the kitchen washing them to leave on the drying rack.
Blaine looked at his watch before turning to Thea and smiling.
“Are you having a good time?” he asked.
“I am. Your family is so cute.” She said, nudging them. “You know I love them.”
“I do, but I’m happy to hear you say it.”
“Should we get heading out of here soon?”
“Let’s start now. I’m sure getting out the door will take an hour at least,” he joked.
Thea and Blaine walked back into the living room where Blaine’s family was sitting.
“Whelp, I think it’s about time for us to head out,” Blaine said.
Blaine’s father looked at the clock on the wall. “I guess it has been a few hours, huh? It feels like it’s just blown by.”
“It really has been a joy to have both of you,” Blaine’s mother said with a smile. “We’ll have to do this again sometime soon.”
“We definitely will,” Blaine promised.
Blaine, Thea, and the rest of Blaine’s family walked towards th
e front door. Standing in the entryway, they began to say their goodbyes.
Blaine and Thea hugged everyone, promising to visit again soon. Thea hugged Abigail last. Abigail held her tightly and rocked from side to side.
“You know he smiles more when you’re around,” Abigail whispered to Thea.
Thea felt the warm feeling inside her grow and a grin spread across her face.
Abigail winked at her as she let go of Thea. “Don’t be a stranger. You two feel free to come back any time.”
“We will,” Thea promised.
“We’ll see you soon, mom. Love you,” Blaine said as he opened the door.
He and Thea stepped outside. Blaine’s family stepped out onto the porch and waved, watching them as they went. Blaine and Thea got into his car and drove away.
“Hopefully they weren’t too overwhelming,” Blaine said as he drove.
“No, they were perfect,” Thea said. “Your mom is such a mama bear.”
“Yeah, she’s like that. I always thought it was fitting.”
“I agree. I think it’s so cool that you have a family like that.”
“Well, I think I failed to appreciate some of the good parts growing up, but I’m happy to have a family like that. It felt a little overbearing and annoying growing up, but I’m glad we’re so close now.”
“I swear your family walked out like a television show for the ideal family,” Thea joked. “Even your house is quaint and adorable.”
“And out in the middle of nowhere,” he added. “We’re going to be driving for a bit.”
“Ideal for a family of bears with two cubs getting into mischief,” Thea said as she playfully shoved his arm.
“That was in fact a good call on their part,” he joked. “We really got to be kids—and cubs—out here.”
“I always wished I could have a picture perfect family like that,” Thea said, turning to the window. Even in all of her happiness, she was beginning to feel a bit sad.
“I don’t know. I think Granny is a lot funnier than anyone in my family. She’s really quick. And I know you’ve learned a lot from Tiegen.”
“I have, and I love them, but I don’t know. Sometimes I think about my parents and how things could be different. I think about what the stalker has taken away.”
Blaine coughed. “You know, I’ve been thinking about how to best search the apartment complex. You know, for the case.”
“Have you?”
“Yeah. It’s such a large area. And if someone was there, we could tip them off. I don’t know. It’s just been on my mind.”
“I think we can start with figuring out which home it is. Then we don’t have to search such a large area.”
“Good thinking. Let’s do that.”
“Well we had already talked about doing that, remember?”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I had forgotten. Thanks for reminding me. We’ll do that before we get into the search.”
“No problem,” Thea said. She felt like Blaine was acting strange but she wasn’t sure why.
“When we get into town, why don’t I drop you off at the shop? There’s still a few more things I need to do at the station.”
“That works,” Thea said. “I’m sorry if we stayed too long up here.”
“No, don’t worry. I’m glad we spent the day together. I wish it could have lasted longer.”
“Me too,” Thea said.
“And when the case is over we’ll really get to relax. We can make a whole day of it.”
“That sounds really nice. I can’t wait.”
Blaine drove Thea the rest of the way into town. He pulled up in front of the shop and stopped the car.
He leaned in and gave her a kiss. “Today was great. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Yeah. Have a good rest of the day at work,” Thea said.
She got out of the car and watched as he pulled away in the direction of the police station. Though she had a wonderful day, she couldn’t shake the gnawing feeling that something was off in the way he responded to their conversation in the car.
She turned towards the shop and walked in. She had plenty of mysteries to think about.
Chapter 20
Thea walked into the shop and saw Jesse and Pippa along with several customers. Thea worried for a moment that the two were in over their heads. If two workers weren’t used to getting things done together, it could mean chaos.
However, Pippa and Jesse even from a distance looked like a well-oiled machine. Pippa was taking care of customers while Jesse was restocking and fetching things as needed.
Thea just stood for a moment and watched as the two worked around one another. They seemed totally in sync. They very quickly moved through the customers who were waiting to check out.
Pippa spotted Thea first. She waved Thea over.
“Hey, how was your trip?” she asked. “Was it a good meeting of the family or a stressful meeting of the family?” Jesse went over to Thea as well. Since they had cleared the customers out, they both had a bit of downtime.
“It was a good meeting. They’re so nice and friendly. They really are one big happy family.”
“Oh, that’s so good,” Pippa said in relief. “I knew it would be good but I was still stressed out, you know?”
“I knew it would go great,” Jesse said. Pippa rolled her eyes, but she kept smiling.
Thea smiled too, though her mind kept going back to her conversation in the car with Blaine. Something seemed very off about their talk. She wondered why he had switched the topic so quickly. She hoped he would trust her enough to tell her why.
“Can you two watch the shop again tomorrow?” Thea asked.
Pippa looked surprised and then smiled. “I think we can manage that. We got into a real rhythm today, didn’t we, Jesse?”
“That’s right. We were a really good team.” Jesse looked off, almost seemingly like he was distracted.
“That’s great. Blaine and I really need to catch this killer. I don’t want anything to happen to anyone else.”
“Oh, I was actually thinking about that,” Pippa said. “I think, if Dean seems like he has an alibi, you should talk to Francis again.”
Thea nodded. “Thanks for the tip. We’ll be sure to do that.”
“Actually, Thea, I nearly forgot, there’s some new paint in the back. I think it might not be the color you ordered. Can you take a look at it?”
Thea sighed heavily. Though her day had started out well, a botched order might be enough to drive her over the edge.
“Yeah. Let me see it. I swear, if I have to send it back, I’m going to scream.”
Jesse walked Thea into the back room and shut the door. Thea looked around. “Where’s the paint?”
“Um... Actually, the paint was fine. I already stocked it.”
Thea cocked her head. “Okay, then why did you bring me back here?”
Jesse bounced on his heels. “I just needed to tell someone.”
“Tell me what?”
Jesse sat down and started to wildly talk with his hands. “Today was just...”
“What? Is something wrong?”
“No, the opposite. Today was great.”
Thea smiled. “I’m so happy. You two seemed like you worked really well together.”
“We did. We worked great together. I thought there would be some issues or like we’d drive each other up a wall, but it was just perfect all day.”
“Jesse, that’s great.”
“And when you said we’re working together tomorrow... Well, I felt like I could practically sing.”
“So I guess it’s safe to say things are going well?”
“That’s the least I could say about this,” Jesse said. He took a deep breath and leaned back in his chair. “Honestly, Thea, I think I love her. It sounds wild to say out loud, but I do.”
Thea could hardly contain her squeals of excitement. She didn’t want to draw Pippa to the back room and have her see that there was no paint.
Thea instead settled on tightly hugging her friend. It was the only way to silently get her emotions out before she needed to act calmly in front of Pippa.
THEA SETTLED ONTO THE couch with Granny. Sybil curled up into her lap. She handed one of the hot mugs she held in her hand to Granny. It was well after the store had closed. Thea had gone home and changed into her comfy clothes so she could sit and talk with Granny.
“I really couldn’t be more pleased about how nice they were to you,” Granny said. Thea had recounted her day and Granny was happy to hear that Blaine’s family was as wonderful as him.
“I am too. It got me thinking about some stuff though,” Thea admitted.
“Like your own parents?” Granny suggested, wisely. Thea knew she couldn’t keep anything from her.
“Yeah. I’ve just been thinking about them a lot lately. Even with my dad upsetting the shifters... I don’t know. It just doesn’t feel like they had anything to do with it. And then I think about the stalker.”
Granny nodded sympathetically. Thea sighed.
“It just feels so hopeless. It happened so long ago. How could I have any hope of figuring out what happened.”
Granny gripped Thea’s hand tightly and Sybil purred in her lap.
“Honey, you have figured so much out already,” Granny said. “Others would not have gotten this far.”
“Maybe, but it doesn’t feel like I’m very far at all.”
“Things may seem out of sorts now, but you will figure this out. I know you, Thea.”
Thea stared down into her mug. She didn’t feel very hopeful.
“Why don’t I teach you another ritual circle?” Granny offered. “Would that help you see how talented you are?”
A thought popped into Thea’s head. “Actually, that reminds me,” she said. “How were you able to switch the scrying from the bowl to the map without breaking it?”
“Oh, I just redirected the energy. Once a ritual begins, all that energy has to go somewhere. If you don’t direct the energy, then the energy can go anywhere, and then, well... Ka-boom.” She mimicked an explosion.
Ghoulish Magic (Tabby Kitten Mystery Book 5) Page 7