As Effie strolled past the house Theo was renting – which, let’s face it, was the entire point of the trip to the coffee shop – she made a point to keep her gaze pointed straight ahead, even as she drank in the property through what little peripheral vision she had. Bonnie was always on about her needing to try contact lenses for this reason, and perhaps, for once, her sister had a point.
But as she did, a gust of wind kicked up. A letter smacked her in the face. Rude!
She grabbed at the envelope, thankful that her rain-speckled glasses had saved her from some sort of papercut-related eye injury, then squinted at it.
It was addressed to Theo.
Effie glanced at the brick path that separated the sidewalk from the front door. Her heart skipped as she thought about walking its moss-filled length, climbing up the front steps and standing there, on Theo’s porch, with only the vintage yellow door separating his public life from his private.
She could just give him the letter the next time at the library. But what if it was urgent? A letter from the IRS, perhaps. Or a bill. She didn’t know an awful lot about Theo, but she did know that he was prompt when it came to paying his bills.
She’d better drop it off in person. Just in case. Out of the goodness of her heart.
There was nothing untoward, nothing sneaky, nothing voyeuristic about it. She didn’t care to see how Theo lived, not really. The white Art Deco home with the curved cornersand the dramatic stripes and the simply incredible geometric chandelier above the front door did nothing for her. Even if it did remind her of something straight out ofThe Great Gatsby, which, according to the book log she’d been keeping since elementary school, she’d read sixteen times.
Effie’s umbrella bobbed as she picked her way along the garden path, then crept up the steps. There would absolutely be no slipping this time.
All right. Here she went.
She slid the letter through the flap in the door, but as she did, a curtain twitched.Please let that be a ghost, she thought.
Of course it wasn’t. It was never a ghost when you needed it to be.
The front door opened, and Theo stood there, dressed in activewear and sheened with sweat from a workout. Effie had never really seen the appeal of working out, what with all the grunting. It felt too much in the realm of Bonnie’s poltergeist hauntings. But, curiously, she was suddenly starting to come around to it. Theo held a protein shaker bottle in one hand, and clutched the doorframe with the other. Effie couldn’t help but notice the curve of his bicep and how his shirt clung to his well-muscled chest. She swallowed, hoping that the flush creeping over her cheeks wasn’t as vibrant as it felt.
‘Are you delivering books direct to my door now?’ Theo asked, nodding at her book bag.
Effie pointed to the mail slot. ‘There was a letter kicking about in the rain. I thought I’d deliver it safely. In case it was important. What with all the move admin.’
Theo retrieved the letter from the mailbox and opened it.
‘Thank you. I don’t know what I would’ve done without this ten per cent off coupon for home surveillance.’ He grinned. ‘There’s a smart doorbell on the place already. That’s how I saw you coming up the driveway. Although I did assume you were a duck. They set it off every time they goby. There are so many ducks around here. Wheredothey come from?’
‘Oh, there’s a portal,’ said Effie airily. ‘We’re just supporting characters in a duck’s fantasy novel.’
Theo chuckled. ‘You are extremely unexpected, Effie. And please don’t take that as an insult the way you did at the bar.’
Effie exhaled slowly. ‘All right. I’m just’ – she hesitated – ‘not used to compliments. They tend to flow Bonnie’s way.’
‘It must be hard living in her extremely loud shadow. I get it, a bit. My dad’s the larger-than-life one in my family. Smart, successful, handsome. It’s impossible to live up to him sometimes.’
Given that Theo was all of those things, Effie suspected that he was just being nice. And hated him a little bit for it.
‘Are you getting coffee before work?’ Theo added.
Effie froze. She’d been on her way to The Winged Monkey, but perhaps she could skip it and rely on the crusty machine at the library. Nudged with a strong enough charm, it put out something at leastresemblingcoffee. If you added enough cream and sugar and about ten pumps of hazelnut syrup, you could choke it down without making a face.
‘I’m going to take your delayed reaction as a “yes, I really need coffee”,’ said Theo, reaching for his wallet.
Yes, she thought, I really need a coffee.Alone.
But if that was so true, why had she come to his house? With a letter that hadclearlybeen junk mail and which she could easily have thrown in the recycling at the library. But that was too much self-reflection for a librarian who hadn’t had a coffee yet.
‘After you,’ he said, waiting for Effie to pick her way gingerly down the front steps. At the bottom, she turned, waiting for him to catch up. But as had happened that fateful day at the Toto Hotel, gravity and dampness intervened. Theo slipped on the step second from the bottom, his feet kicking up and his arms splaying.
Before she could even register what she was doing, Effie clicked her fingers and with a thin stream of emerald magic quickly righted him. Theo paused, frowning.
Effie could tell he’d figured thatsomethingweird had just happened, but exactly what was beyond his comprehension. She hoped.
