“Oh!” I said.
Concern filled his eyes. “Everything okay?”
Oh no! Oh crap! Panic clawed at my throat as a sea of small orbs lit up the forest below. I could not have Shane see them. He would ask questions about magic. He might want to investigate. We needed to leave. Now.
I gently put Lady on the ground and rose, folding my chair. “Listen, I just forgot that I…left my oven on! How could I be so dense. I’m sorry, but we’ve got to go.”
Shane slowly rose. “Is everything okay?”
“Yes, it is. I just need to get back.
I handed him my chair and then folded his up. “Sorry to cut this short.”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “No, it’s no big deal,” he said, sounding super confused.
I could have kicked myself in the head for being such an idiot. Left my oven on? That was the lamest excuse, like, ever.
I handed him the chairs and kicked dirt on the fire. Shane started to turn toward the lights, but I steered him in the direction of the truck, which faced the opposite direction, thank goodness.
I scooped up a snoozing Lady from the ground and followed Shane back to the pickup, all the while seething.
Someone was down on the other side of the bluff working magic, and it ticked me off. If some idiotic witch started shooting off her powers in a town of regular folks, they would start to ask questions. People would look at each other funny. They might look at me funny. No. I had created a solid life in Peachwood, and under no circumstances would I allow it to be ruined by some dum-dum out fooling around.
I tugged Shane gently toward his pickup. “Come on. We’ve had such a nice night. I’m such a dolt for leaving the oven going. Plus, I’ve got to get up early if I’m going to deal with Dooley and all his craziness.”
Shane nodded absently as he unlocked the pickup. “No problem at all. I totally understand.”
He tossed the chairs in the bed and smiled. “We should do this again.”
Feeling the heat from his stare, I nodded. “I would like that.”
But first I needed to get down to that bluff and find out who the heck was trying to ruin my life.
Chapter 6
Shane dropped me off at my house a few minutes later. The romance from before, when we sat in front of the fire, had been broken. Besides, I was preoccupied to say the least. I needed Shane to drop me off and drive away so that I could hop back in my truck and get on over to the bluffs and find out who the heck was up there messing around with magic.
“I had a nice time,” Shane said, his arm resting on the steering wheel.
I did my best to look like I wasn’t distracted, which was hard because I was seriously distracted, y’all.
“Me too.”
“Listen,” Shane said, “about last night at my bar. You sure that you weren’t hurt by those two guys?”
“What guys?” Apparently I had a short memory.
“The ones you said were knocked out by that other woman?”
Gosh, why were we discussing this right now when I had a witch or wizard to catch? I thumped my foot against the seat well impatiently.
I placed a hand on his arm and just about jumped at the electricity that snaked down my fingers. “Shane, please don’t worry. I promise they weren’t bothering me. I think they saw you were gone and decided to hit on that other woman, who was having nothing of it. Next thing I knew, she had socked them both.”
He frowned and stared out the window.
“Why are you so disturbed by it?” I asked.
Shane hiked a shoulder to his ear. “It’s just that they didn’t seem to remember anything about what had happened.”
