Almost Charmed

by Rose Pressey

  “What’s the deal with that guy? There’s something fishy going on,” Thomas said.

  “I don’t think anything is wrong necessarily. But I am being cautious.”

  “He just showed up here unannounced?”

  “That’s what happened,” I said.

  “That never ends well, you know that.”

  He could be onto something there. I mean, after all, that was how I’d met Nicolas and Liam. And my life had been pretty chaotic since they’d come around. I would definitely keep my distance from Paul.

  When Thomas stepped into the kitchen he paused and looked around.

  “I thought you said you made breakfast in here?”

  I just stared at him. Within seconds he realized what had happened.

  “You did magic. Did you tell him?”

  “No, there was no need to tell him. He doesn’t need to know.”

  “What’s the deal?” Thomas asked as he walked over to the refrigerator and opened it up.

  “You won’t find food in there. Remember I am supposed to be on my honeymoon.”

  “We’re not supposed to talk about that,” Thomas said as he closed the refrigerator door and then moved on to the freezer. “Why didn’t you conjure up enough breakfast for me too?”

  “You won’t find ice cream either,” I said.

  He spun around. “You ate the ice cream?”

  “I was dumped at the altar last night. We’re lucky there’s still a refrigerator there.”

  “Good point,” he said as he sat on the stool.

  “I can whip up something for you,” I said.

  “Oh, I’m an afterthought?” He placed his hands on his hips.

  I blew the hair out of my eyes. “Don’t be so dramatic.”

  “Seriously, what’s the deal with this guy?”

  I shrugged. “I told you everything I know.”

  “Some stranger came to town to buy the Bubbling Cauldron that wasn’t even for sale?” Thomas tapped his fingers against the island.

  “I pointed that out and he just said he convinced them to sell.”

  “Is he a witch?” Thomas asked.

  “He said he is.” I leaned against the counter.

  Thomas quirked an eyebrow. “I think we’re going to need some proof of that.”

  “What? Like asking him to cast a spell?”

  “Yes, exactly.” Thomas pointed.

  “I don’t think that’s a good idea, but I will find out details about him from the coven leader in Atlanta if that will make you happy.”

  He held his hands up. “Hey, I’m just doing this for your own good. I’m here to help you, remember?”

  “How can I forget? We have another problem though,” I said.

  “What’s that?” he asked with wide eyes.

  “My mother will be here soon to help get rid of the decorations. When she sees him, it’s going to be chaos. I hope he gets out of here before she arrives.”

  “You know she’s going to see him eventually, right?”

  I sighed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right. I might as well get it over with now.”

  “She’ll probably have you out there trying to marry the new guy. He’s a good-looking dude.”

  “He’s also a stranger, so I think that’s where she’ll draw the line.”

  “She’s probably still in denial about what happened,” Thomas said.

  “No, I think she’s moved past that quickly. Now she’s in the revenge mode. I just hope that she doesn’t find Nicolas before she gets out of that stage. Once she gets out of that stage she should be in the sad mode, which will not be good. And then she’ll try to fix me up with someone else. Turning garden gnomes into dates, etc.” I waved my hand.

  “So maybe this new guy would be better than a garden gnome.” Thomas wiggled his neatly plucked eyebrows.

  “I’d rather just be single, thank you,” I said.

  “I don’t blame you for that. You were left at the altar. How embarrassing,” Thomas said.

  “You are so kind to me, Thomas,” I said sarcastically.

  I stepped over to the back door and looked out the window.

  “Don’t even do that,” Thomas said as he pulled on my arm and escorted me away from the door. “Soon enough we’ll have it all cleared out and it’ll be a fresh start.”

  “Funny, that’s what I said last night after I saw that man.” My hand flew to my mouth.

  “Wait. What are you talking about?” Thomas asked.

  I hadn’t meant to tell anyone about the ghost.

  “You mean Paul? You saw him in your room. I knew he was a psycho.”

  I swallowed hard and then said, “No, there was another man in the manor.”

  “Oh, you’ve really lost it now,” he said, shaking his head.

  “I’m being serious. It was a ghost. I called the police and everything.”

  “You’re kidding?” he said.

  “I thought he was real. I even have it on surveillance.” I pulled out my phone and showed Thomas the clip of the man walking from the library.

  “Oh, that’s terrifying,” Thomas said as he rubbed his arms to fight off the chill. “Is he still in the manor?”

  “I have no way of knowing. I haven’t seen any other clips of him on video.”

  “You should send that to Ghost Adventures. They would be excited. Zak would lose his mind.”

  “Yeah, well, I don’t want more publicity about this. I mean, we all know there are ghosts around and the last thing we need is to publicize on TV that they’re in the manor. There are enough rumors about this place as it is.”

  Just then the doorbell rang. Thomas and I peered at each other.

  My eyes widened. “Oh, no, she’s here.”

  “You better hurry up. She’ll be coming through a window if you don’t open that door.”

  I walked out of the kitchen, pushing my shoulders back and holding my head up high. I would just have to take this like an adult. My mother would just have to accept this. Part of the business was having guests and that was exactly why Paul was here.

  Chapter 12

  As I opened the door, I braced myself for the impact. My mother didn’t even look at us when she started through the door.

  “Well, I hope you’re ready for a new start. We’re going to get this wrapped up today and then I have big plans for us,” she said in a breezy tone as she headed across the foyer toward the parlor.

  I wasn’t even sure if she knew Thomas was standing there since she didn’t even glance at him. Thomas and I exchanged a look.

  “This is worse than I thought,” he said.

  “I’ve never seen her this way.”

  “Perhaps she needs a small vacation,” Thomas whispered while pinching his index finger and thumb together.

  “She needs a vacation, but convincing her of that would be impossible.”

  Thomas and I hurried behind my mother as she marched toward the kitchen. We were halfway there when the sound of footsteps echoed down the staircase. Unfortunately, my mother heard the footsteps too. She stopped in her tracks. It was too late to get her into the kitchen.

  Of all the lousy timing. Couldn’t Paul have waited ten more minutes until I had her in the kitchen? She spun around and immediately her eyes went to the foyer. Paul appeared at the bottom of the stairs. The look on her face was priceless. Without saying a word, she marched over to Paul. His eyes widened as if he was preparing for an attack.

  “And who are you?” she asked, placing her hands on her hips.

  I ran over to my mother. “This is a guest.”

  I couldn’t believe she was acting this way. That wedding had really messed her up. Everyone was forgetting that I was the one who had been left at the altar and was now trying to pick up the pieces of my life.

  “My name is Paul,” he said with a smile.

  “Halloween, you didn’t tell me that you had a guest arriving today,” my mother said in a sharp tone.

  “It was a walk-in,” I said
. “We do occasionally get those.”

  I wouldn’t be surprised if Paul didn’t leave immediately to find a hotel room after all.

  “Paul, I would like you to meet my mother, Annette.” I gestured.

  “Nice to meet you, Annette,” he said, sticking his hand out.

  “Likewise,” she said with a tiny wave in place of the handshake

  It wasn’t an overly warm welcome, but at least she wasn’t trying to kick him out.

  “Are you in town on business?” My mother quirked her one real eyebrow.

  And now came all the questions.

  “Yes, I am,” Paul said.

  “And what kind of business?” she asked, eyeing him up and down.

  What would she do when he told her he was buying the Bubbling Cauldron? Immediately after his answer she looked at me as if to say, Are you kidding?

  My mother turned her attention to me. “And you didn’t know about this?”

  It was as if I’d done something wrong.

  “They didn’t discuss it with me,” I said. “But it is their business. They don’t have to get my approval first just because I’m the leader of the Underworld.”

  “Well, you would think they would’ve told you the plans,” my mother snapped.

  “I suppose they didn’t think of it,” I said. “Regardless, Paul has a meeting and we have work to do. We should just discuss it later.”

  My mother placed her arms in front of her chest. “I just think it’s odd. Why would you want to buy the place?”

  I took her by the arm. “Okay, Paul, I’ll see you later.”

  “See you later,” he said with a grimace.

  I guided my mother toward the parlor. Thank goodness Paul headed out the front door. My mother was still trying to get a glimpse of him. But Thomas had her other arm and we were escorting her toward the kitchen.

  “Halloween, how could you just let him come here?”

  “It’s a bed-and-breakfast, Mother. I have to take guests.”

  “Well, I’m going to look into him,” she said with a point of her index finger.

  “I don’t doubt that you will,” I said.

  Was she going to do that after she searched for Nicolas? I wouldn’t even bring up his name. Thank goodness we only had a couple of hours until my mother would have to be at the shop to open up for the day.

  “I’m not telling you what to do, but if I were you I would get to the bottom of this,” my mother said.

  She would love nothing more than to tell me what to do.

  “I’ll make sure to look into it, okay? Does that make you happy?” I asked.

  “Don’t sass me,” she said. “I’ve been under a lot of stress.”

  Glancing over at Thomas, I rolled my eyes. He shook his head.

  “Let’s just get rid of the chairs and everything. The rental place will pick them up later. We’ll get rid of the decorations so that we can move on,” I said.

  I sensed it was going to be another night of crying. I would have to find something a bit healthier to eat though. I couldn’t drown my sorrows in a bucket of ice cream every night. My mother was a woman on a mission when she stepped outside and started taking down those chairs. At least that was occupying her time and she didn’t feel the need to discuss Paul.

  After only an hour we had all the chairs stacked up and the decorations boxed up too. The rental company would be by later to pick them up. I would no longer have to stare at the horrible reminder of the way the day had ended. We were headed back inside when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye by the old graveyard.

  I thought for sure I’d seen a woman. The same woman I’d seen talking with Nicolas. And why did she keep going around that cemetery? Perhaps I needed to investigate that further. I would check in with the neighbor. That would have to wait for another time though, because right now I had to go to the Bubbling Cauldron. I would just pop in and see what was going on with the place. Would Paul think that was rude of me? I just wanted to make sure that things were on the up and up.

  Thomas noticed that I was distracted. “What are you looking at?”

  “There was a woman over there by the graveyard. I’ve seen her before. I saw her talking to Nicolas.”

  Thomas quirked an eyebrow. “Interesting. Where did she come from?”

  “I think she might be staying at the house down the way.”

  “You should definitely look into this.”

  “It will have to wait because I have to go to the Bubbling Cauldron,” I said.

  “Oh, we’re going to the club? How fun,” he said.

  “Calm down, it’s not nighttime, and we’re not clubbing. Plus, I had another idea for you.”

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “You could maybe take a peek around that house over there.”

  “You mean you want me to snoop around as a cat? You want me to spy?”

  “Exactly,” I said.

  “I can do that,” he said with a smile.

  When we stepped into the kitchen my mother was pulling out spices.

  “What are you doing now?” I asked.

  “I’m going to cast a spell.”

  I raced over and grabbed the bottles of spices from her hands. “Oh, no, you don’t. You don’t need to cast a spell on Nicolas. I don’t want a garden gnome as a date and leave Paul alone until we know exactly what he’s doing.”

  She placed her hands on her hips. “That’s not what I was doing.”

  I crossed my arms in front of me. “Okay, then what were you doing?”

  “I was just placing a spell around the manor for positive vibes because it seems like we have a lot of negativity going on around here.”

  I exchanged a look with Thomas.

  “We’re not buying it,” I said.

  She grabbed her purse. “Fine. I’m going to work. All I’m trying to do is help you.”

  She stormed out of the kitchen. I groaned as I hurried after her. She was making me feel bad. Maybe I was being too tough on her and she really was just trying to help.

  I raced after my mom. “You can do the spell. I’m sorry.”

  She held her hand up as she walked. “No, it’s too late now. I have to go to work.”

  She was going to be mad at me for a while. That was the last thing I needed. Could I break down in tears now or should I wait until tonight and cry into my pillow? She stormed out the door and to her car. Thomas and I stood on the porch and watched as she drove down the driveway.

  “Well, that didn’t end well,” Thomas said.

  “I guess it’ll get better at some point,”

  Thomas wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “I promise it will. So what do we do now? Take off for the Bubbling Cauldron?”

  “We might as well. Wait. You were going to go over to the house and cat around.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” he said. “Well, I suppose I should get to it.”

  “I’ll meet you back here in a couple of hours, okay? But be careful.”

  “Don’t worry about me,” he said with a wave of his hand. “I just worry about you. Maybe you really shouldn’t go alone.”

  “I have no problems with going alone. I can handle it.”

  “I hope you’re right,” he said. “I just get a bad vibe, that’s all.”

  “You always have a bad vibe.” I picked up my purse from the foyer table and grabbed my keys. “Like I said, I’ll meet you back here in a couple of hours. I hope you find out something.”

  “Same goes to you,” he said.

  Thomas stood on the front porch and waved as I got into the car. I figured he would turn right after I left. I really hoped he found something when he went over there. I would have to go see for myself, of course, but I’d feel better if he checked it out first. That way I might know more about what I was getting myself into. I liked to always be prepared in situations like this.

  Chapter 13

  After driving the twisting and curvy road that followed along the river, I ar
rived in the middle of Enchantment Pointe, right at the Bubbling Cauldron. A stone wall surrounded the outer edge of town with cobblestone sidewalks and wrought-iron accents adding to the charm. Mostly specialty shops and boutiques were in this area of town, so the nightclub stood out with his blinking cauldron sign.

  I parked along the street and sat there for a moment contemplating if I really wanted to do this or not. I hated to invade Paul’s privacy or interrupt the transaction. But I also had to look out for myself and for everyone else in Enchantment Pointe.

  I spotted Paul’s Jeep parked a short distance up ahead. That meant more than likely he was already in the building. I unbuckled my seatbelt and got out of the car. I supposed it was now or never. With a bit of anxiety in my stomach I headed down the sidewalk toward the front entrance of the Bubbling Cauldron. A rustling noise from my left caught my attention. I stopped and looked over my shoulder but saw nothing that would’ve made the noise.

  I sure hoped it wasn’t some kind of creature ready to scurry across my feet. Nevertheless, I continued my walk toward the entrance. That was when I heard, “Psst.” I whipped around again, positive that I would find someone standing behind me this time. But there was no one there. This was odd and a bit unsettling. Someone was playing a trick on me. I glanced around to see if someone was maybe across the street or hiding behind a corner.

  “Who is it?” I asked. “Is someone there? If you have something to say come out and talk to me. I don’t have time to play games right now.”

  No one came out from hiding and I saw no one around either. But I knew I had heard something. I turned around and continued my walk down the sidewalk.

  “Psst.”

  I spun around when I heard it again. “I know I heard you this time.”

  A couple seconds later I saw the person peeking out from around the corner of the building. I hurried that way because the person zipped back behind the building when she saw me looking at her.

  I raced around the corner of the building. “Why are you playing games with me?”

  The woman stared at me with wide eyes. She was shorter than me. Since I was only five foot two, she was probably four foot nine.