Everyone laughed at the horrified expression on the guy’s face before we all turned back to our respective books and kept reading. The books my girls had produced were more than just a little old; they were ancient, and as such, were treated with care, so when I dropped cookie crumbs on the page I hurriedly swiped them off, hoping they didn't leave any chocolate or residue behind. The last thing I wanted was to piss off any of the witches that had loaned us the books. My girls had scoured their homes and the home libraries of all their witchy friends, hoping we’d find something more helpful in these books. I knew a little chocolate smudge wouldn't piss off my friends, but the others? I had no idea about them.
“Oh, no.” Deva slapped her hand on the table, her voice a groan, like she'd just remembered a dentist appointment or something.
I looked up to see her staring out the windows with her eyes wide before narrowing into a furrowed glare. Then the front doorbell jingled.
We all swung our gazes around to see Deva’s ex walk in the door with his arms full of African violets. There must have been over a hundred of the tiny purple flowers. “He keeps doing this,” she whispered. “These are my favorite. Seems like ever since we broke up, he's suddenly remembering my preferences. He didn't give a crap when we were together though.”
The women and animals stared coldly at Jason as he set the violets on the table and backed away, making tiny bows and with his eyes glued to Deva. “I know I don’t deserve a second chance, but I won’t stop trying. I love you, Deva. Name the price and I'll pay it.”
He briefly scanned his eyes over everyone else, saluting the rest of us before he backed out the door.
“That boy didn’t know what he had until it was gone,” Carol tutted as she shook her head sadly and grabbed another cookie. “Those are pretty, though.”
“They’re toxic to animals,” Buster murmured from the floor. “Burn them.”
“How about you just don’t eat them,” Beth countered. “Problem solved.”
“Human,” Buster muttered, then huffed and rolled around in his sunbeam until he was the shape of a kidney bean with all four paws in the air. I'd seen cats in that position before and it was always a trap. They put their fluffy bellies on display, making you want to pet them, but then as soon as you did the paws and claws and teeth captured your hand. I wasn't sure if he was like every other cat I knew, but I wasn't about to test that theory and fall for the trap. “I think I’ll poop in your shoe later," he purred with satisfaction.
I was surprised it wasn't Marble, the tortoiseshell cat, that was giving Beth a hard time, but she was off sleeping in the corner. Buster and Beth had an odd love-hate relationship, as I imagined many owners did with their cats.
“Hey,” I interrupted their argument. We’d been hanging out at Beth’s office for three days and all they’d done is go back and forth. It was their dynamic. And it was getting old. “Can we focus?”
“Right,” Carol said before turning to look at Deva. “You’re going to fall back into old patterns if you get back with him.”
“He’s trying really hard, but I don’t think I could ever love him again.” Deva delicately stroked one of the flower’s petals before dropping to the fuzzy leaf that lay underneath. “But I’m going to enjoy these flowers, though. Theyaremy favorite, after all.” Her tone made me wonder if she would actually hold out against Jason's attempts at romancing his way back into her heart. When she arched an eyebrow and stared off into space, a memory probably replaying itself in her mind, I saw the resolve settle on her like a cloak. “I willnot, however, make another damn sandwich for any man!”
“Yeah!” I yelled. “Except, you know. At your restaurant.”
“Or if it’s your turn to cook. Cause that’s fair,” Carol said with a shrug.
“But we get the sentiment and totally agree!” Beth chimed in with her fist in the air. “Girl power!”
“So, how about a different guy? You might want to make therightguy a sandwich, or maybe he'll want to make all the sandwiches. You'll be showered in sandwiches and love,” I said, my mind wandering off to what I was starting to think the rest of my life might be like without Rick hanging over my head like the sword of Damocles, although that implied I had power over the situation, which hadn't been true, at least not until recently. It was more like he was the axe the executioner was getting ready to swing. I was just waiting for the blow to land. Sure, the initial blow had been finding out about the cheating, but until the divorce was settled and I knew where I stood, it felt like there was the possibility of another blow that could be even worse than the first just around the corner.
Buster lifted his head blinking his jade green eyes slowly. “You can make me a sandwich. Tuna, hold the mayo.”
“Shut up!” We all yelled in unison. He sniffed and rolled over, giving us his back.
Deva blushed. “I can’t even consider a different guy, or any guy really, until I’ve healed myself.”
Daniel’s face flashed through my mind, followed quickly by Rick’s. Ugh. “I need the same thing. Time. The heart will heal, though. At least that's what I keep telling myself.”
Everyone nodded, but I couldn’t help but hope that Daniel would still be single once I was ready. I also hoped that the sirens would be reasonable, that we wouldn't have to fight them for Henry, and that I'd get him back unharmed, or at the very least alive.
That was a whole lot of hope floating around.
18
Emma
Sighing, I let my head fall back against the headrest. Beth and I were waiting for Deva and Carol to come out of Carol’s house. Deva had some stuff she’d baked that she hoped would help us on our mission. I was agitated though, antsy to get to the place the sirens were going to be arriving for their ceremony and get Henry out of trouble. A good chunk of me wanted to yell at them to hurry up, but that was just me being impatient, so I took another breath and slowly released it.
“Mystic Hollow moves a little slower than the rest of the world,” Beth mused beside me. She was putting on a bright shade of pink lipstick in the rearview mirror and fluffing her mass of wavy blonde hair. She was wearing a pink low-cut top and jeans.
“I forgot.” And I had. So much had changed, but certainly the slow pace of the place hadn’t.
“But that should be fun with your next relationship.”
