Then she waited.
The index and middle fingers of her right hand tapped against her thigh.
The front door opened. Her heart pounded. The chief stood there, a look she could almost identify as shock on his austere face, and he kept his hand on the antiquated door handle in the shape of a bird's head. He reminded her of a statue, the way he held himself, the way he only moved exactly how he needed.
"Miss Nguyen," he said, his voice coming out gruff.
"Chief," she responded. She swallowed nervously.
She watched him look around. When he looked back at her, his dark eyes calculating, she wondered if this had been a grave mistake. She was alone. No one knew she had come here. And she knew what he was, or she thought she did. It still seemed outlandish, and yet...
"Can I help you?"
She held up the basket. "I brought you some of my honey wine and Kelsea's magical chocolate cake."
He looked at the basket. Then to her. "You brought me wine and cake," he said.
"Mhmm," she smiled brightly. She was a bright person, and she thought that maybe it would annoy him, but he tilted his head the slightest in piqued interest.
"Why?"
"Because you saved Bess's life. And you believed us about Cassidy." She shrugged her petite shoulders. "And you're new in town, and I wasn't sure if anyone had properly welcomed you yet."
A gust of almost-summer wind wound around her, the smell bright and hopeful. She watched him clench his strong jaw.
"Well, it's my job. Happy that Bess is alright," he drawled.
"You're from Texas, right?"
He stared at her. Nothing on his face gave him away. And perhaps he had, over years. He would use it as a tactic to deter people from intruding. Or pull out a shadowed confession. It was a warning, but just short of angry and dangerous. She knew angry and dangerous.
And for some odd reason, she might need to internally deconstruct at some point, she liked poking at that stone front of his.
So she smiled. "Well, I won't take up more of your time. Hope to see you around, Chief." She stepped forward, handed him thebasket, her soft hand brushing his, her breath catching as he stiffened. A tingle sparked inside of her. She blinked behind her green glasses as he took on that statuesque form.
That was enough playing with the large, mysterious man. She stepped back and waved as she walked down the steps and to her car. She counted to eight.
And then she drove home, wondering why she had gone there, why she had gone to all the trouble. But the moment his dark eyes had hit hers, the waning light gracing his sharp cheekbones, and the way that his lips had looked like they'd been stained just the slightest, she knew she'd needed to.
Chief Theo Landry was exactly what Bess had suspected.
"Tilly?" Ursula's voice, soft and curious, brought Tilly back to the sunny kitchen where her three friends and a raccoon stared at her with concern.
"I haven't seen him in a couple of months," she said, feigning indifference with a shrug. What she didn't tell them was that it had been purposeful. She hadn't been sure what to do with her new certainty of the chief, and even more confusing was her attraction to him. Which had not waned by any measure and was concerning. "So, solstice," she changed the subject with bright charm. Eloise eyed her suspiciously, but she brightened her smile. "Thinking the graveyard?"
"Ursula, will you help me gather herbs and plants from your garden for the evening of the solstice?" Crystal asked.
"Absolutely.""We can meet as the sun begins its golden ownership over the night."
"I swear, she's from a different time," Eloise whispered to Ursula, who nodded in agreement.
"Farewell, my darlings!" she sang with a flourish of her hand, leaving the kitchen and women behind. "Remember, good food, strength, and ecstasy!" Before she was fully down the hallway,she called for Tilly, shouting in her sing-song voice to look in her pocket for something that she might need.
Tilly gave Eloise and Ursula a look, and in sync, they shrugged their shoulders. She frowned as she reached into her front jeans pockets, coming up empty. Then she slid her hands down her backside into those thin pockets, her right hand catching on something smooth.
She pulled out a familiar black and gold card, holding it up to surprised faces. Even Lady Macbeth sat on the island at attention, one of her small kits snuggling into Lady's side.
"Is she getting more..." Tilly bit her lip, trying to find words.
