The shower was still running as I dressed hurriedly. I stared at the bathroom door indecisively.
I wanted to say good-bye to Blake, but I wasn't sure if I should. He hadn't said a word last night about wanting to see me again. I'd never had a one-night stand before, so I had no idea what the protocol was here.
He was in the shower, so did that mean he wanted me to be gone when he got out? If I did go in there, what would I say? "Hey, thanks for the mind-blowing sex I'll call you the next time I'm in town"?
Then there was also the fact I might not be able to stop myself from stripping back down and getting into the shower with him if I saw him naked. If I did that, I wouldn't get out of here for a few hours and my mother would likely hunt me down with all the furor of the CIA.
Okay, I'd leave him a note with my number. The next move would be his. It was the perfect way to avoid face-to-face rejection if he didn't want to see me again. If it were nothing but a one-night stand, I wouldn't hear from him. If he wanted to talk to me again, he could call. Simple as that.
I walked over to the desk in the corner of his bedroom and found a sticky note pad. Quickly, I scrawled out a short message with my phone number at the bottom and carried it to the nightstand.
As soon as I stuck it to the cordless phone on the table, I hurried out of the house.
Thirty minutes later, I pulled up in front of my aunt's house and the front door flew open before I even had a chance to get out of the car.
My mother rushed out and down the steps.
I stared at her for a moment before letting my head fall forward and banging it against the steering wheel. "Can't. Catch. A. Break," I mumbled with each bounce.
The driver's side door handle rattled but it was locked so the door remained shut. Mom rapped sharply on the glass with her knuckles and I lifted my head to look at her. She stood next to the car, her arms crossed over her chest, and she looked pissed as hell.
I shut the car off, grabbed my bag, and climbed out. "Hey, Mom. Think this could wait until I've had some coffee?"
"Where in the hell were you, Candela?" she asked.
Apparently, Mom didn't think it could wait.
"Mom, don't go there, okay?" I headed up the walk to the house, my mother close on my heels.
"I am your mother, young woman. I have a right to know where you were all night while I was worried sick!"
I turned on her. "Mom, you didn't call me for the first time until six-thirty this morning so you weren't that worried."
She fell silent and the guilty expression on her face made me stop and think for a second.
"Mom, you didn't."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," she replied defensively.
"You cast a spell to find me, didn't you?"
She shrugged. "Well, when your father and I woke up and came down for coffee, you weren't on the sleeper sofa in the library so I got worried. Then I checked my phone and saw you texted me around eleven but nothing else after and I wanted to make sure you weren't dead in a ditch somewhere."
"Then why in the hell did you call me freaking out?" I yelled. "You knew I was perfectly fine."
"Well, Fenella said something about having a couple of young men from the coven over for brunch and she seemed quite put out that you weren't here."
"Oh, for crying out loud, I can't believe you two."
By this time, we were in the foyer at the base of the stairs.
"Can't believe what, Candela?" my aunt asked as she descended the steps.
I whirled around and pointed my finger at her. "I have had enough, Fenella." Then I turned and pointed my finger at my mother too. This was a no-no in witch etiquette because it could be seen as a threat of magic, but I was too angry to care. "I am a grown woman and perfectly capable of finding a man on my own. I don't need you two shoving them in my face every time I turn around. Especially not during the holidays."
"Candela Rosamund Lewis, do not talk to me that way in my house!" Fenella exclaimed.
I shot her a look over my shoulder that had her stopping in her tracks. "Aunt Fenella, I love you, but I don't need a man to be happy. Even if I did, I gotta tell you, we don't share the same taste in men. At. All."
