Cupid in a Bottle

by Danielle Garrett

  But one look at Harmony making lovey-dovey eyes at a passing waiter was enough to persuade me to stick to my plan. The girl was a magnet for trouble. The sooner I could get her working, in her own place, and out of my hair, the better.

  Marco was in the kitchen, conducting the staff as if he was the maestro of a finely tuned orchestra. The wizard was persnickety to a fault, which served him well in the high-end restaurant business. He caught sight of me and threw his arms up even higher as a broad smile burst across his thin face. “Anastasia!”

  “Hello, Marco,” I replied, returning his smile.

  We embraced and exchanged a pair of air kisses.

  “How is the rehearsal dinner going? I made sure I brought in the best staff for tonight. Just for you!”

  “You’re the best.” I flashed a winning smile. “There is one thing I wanted to ask you.”

  “Anything for you, cariña!”

  “I need you to give my little sister a job.”

  “A job?”

  “She’s new in town and needs something full time. I know she would fit in here and well … you do owe me a favor. Remember?” I smiled sweetly, and batted my lashes. Just a little.

  Marco frowned but I could already feel him caving. “What kind of job does she want?”

  “Oh, she’ll do whatever. Hostess? Dishwashing? It really doesn’t matter.” I waved a hand at the kitchen doors. “She’s actually here with me tonight. I was hoping you might have a moment to meet with her. See what you think.”

  The door flung open before he could respond and a waiter scuttled through, his face white. “Um, Anastasia—I mean, Ms. Winters, um, you might want to get out here.”

  I furrowed my brow and exchanged a look with Marco. He placed a hand on the small of my back and ushered me toward the door. The waiter held it open and we hurried through. The sound of a glass shattering echoed down the small hallway and a roar of voices followed, clearly coming from the private room where my happy couple was supposed to be wining and dining.

  “You have to be crazy to think I would still marry you after that!”

  I froze in place.

  The hysterical voice belonged to Belle. My bride.

  Another glass shattered and I jolted back into action, lunging ahead of Marco, who let out a string of curses in Spanish as he hurried to follow me.

  I burst into the room and took in the scene with one sweeping glance. Belle and Eduard were squared off on opposite ends of the table. The rest of the diners stared at them, not noticing my arrival, their faces all frozen in shock by whatever had occurred.

  “I’m so sorry,” Eduard started, reaching out to his fiancé. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Please, can you—”

  She surged forward, snatched another glass, and threw the pricey champagne in his face. “Ugh! I can’t even look at you right now!”

  With that, she hurtled the glass across the room and it exploded against the wall.

  Marco yelped. “Dios mío!”

  “What happened?” I demanded, staring at Harmony, who was pressed up against the wall nearest the door.

  She shook her head. “The groom started to give a toast, but then he—”

  Her explanation was drowned out by Belle grabbing a pile of dessert plates from the gilded dessert cart at her side. The cart was loaded with miniature replicas of the wedding cake they’d selected for the reception. With an ugly sneer, she picked up the tiny cake and lobbed it at Eduard. It hit its target with a squelching splat.

  The girl had a good arm.

  I hurried forward, holding both hands up in surrender. “Belle, please, let’s regroup here. We can—”

  The frosting-stained plate went flying next, sailing like a heavy frisbee.

  I cringed, mentally tallying up the damages. The bill wouldn’t be mine to foot, of course, but the likelihood of Marco ever allowing me a reservation—let alone a job for my kid sister—was shrinking with every zero added to the total.

  Harmony raised her hands and before I could protest, a warm yellow light poured from her hands. “Stop!” she snapped, the magic enveloping the plate right before it crashed to the ground. With a flick of her fingers, Harmony brought the plate back to the opposite end of the table, safely out of Belle’s reach. “Enough with the dishes, lady.”

  My eyes went even wider.

  Belle glared at Harmony for a moment, then her expression rearranged into a pitiful, pinched look as she burst into tears. Clumsily, she rounded the table, nearly tripping over the chair beside her, and ran from the room. “It’s off! Call it all off!”

  I snapped back into action and raced after her. “Belle! Wait. Please, tell me what happened.”

  She crashed out of the private room into the hallway and made a mad dash for the restrooms. I lunged, reaching for her arm, only to be left with a sleeve of her buttery satin dress as it slid to the floor. From the folds of luxe fabric, a small bird rose and zipped back down the hall in the opposite direction. I blinked, not sure what I was seeing, and when I opened my eyes again, the bird was gone.

  An outburst from the kitchen sent me racing forward again.

  “Get that thing out of here!” one of the chefs yelled.

  “Who let a bird in here?” another staffer screeched in a panic.

  My heart slammed against my chest as I barreled toward the kitchen doors. “Stop!” I screamed. “Don’t hurt it! That’s the bride!”

  The kitchen doors flew open as I rushed through them, but it was too late. One of the waiters had a window open and the dot of a bird was soaring away into the night.

  I sagged against the doorframe. “Well, that’s a first for me,” I groaned. “A fly-away bride.”

  Chapter 4

  The dining room was still in an uproar when I returned; people were firing accusations across the table, too loud and jumbled to make out the particulars. Eduard was still on his feet, squared off with his own best man. At first glance, it looked like they were about to come to blows, but then I realized that Martin, the best man, was actually holding Eduard back. “Give her some space,” he told the red-faced groom.

  I clipped across the room as fast as I could without running. Hellfire could rain down through the ceiling, but it was my job to keep it together. After all, I was a professional.

  “Where is she?” Harmony asked as I made a beeline to her side.

  “She flew out a kitchen window,” I replied, keeping my voice low. “She’s a hummingbird-shifter,” I added at Harmony’s raised brow.

  “That’s … special.”

  “Tell me about it.” I twisted my fingers together absently, scanning the room. “What the heck happened? I was talking to Marco and missed the whole thing!”

  Harmony cringed. “Well, the groom was giving a toast, telling everyone thank you for coming, the usual. Everyone had a drink and he sat down, but then he popped right back up again like a champagne cork! All of a sudden, he starts going on and on about … that girl.”

  A curse slipped from my lips. She was pointing directly at Bridget, the maid of honor who was rushing away from the table.

  Dread filled my stomach. “What did he say about her?”

  Harmony cringed. “He said he’d been in love with her since the beginning of time and—”

  “He actually said the beginning of time?” I interrupted, my nose wrinkled.

  “Yeah, it was pretty painful. But then it got weird…”

  I arched a brow. “Then it got weird? The whole thing is weird!”

  “Well, yeah. I just mean, he stood there, staring, and then the bride started crying and screaming at him. He shook his head and said he had no idea what she was talking about. His best man said something I didn’t quite catch, but he must have told him what he’d said, because next thing he was trying to apologize to the bride, but she wasn’t having any of it and took off.”

  “Stars above,” I muttered.

  Harmony clucked her tongue and rocked back and forth on her heels. “So, what now? I�
��d imagine the wedding is cancelled? Does that mean we can go back to your place? I’m starving and being around all this food isn’t helping.”

  I shot her an icy glare. “No, Harmony. We can’t just go. I have to … to fix this!”

  She lifted her brows and surveyed the room. “Not to be a downer, but I don’t think there’s much of a comeback here, Stace.”

  She was right, as much as I hated to admit it. The groom professing his love for the maid of honor was a cliff I’d never gone over before.

  “It just doesn’t make any sense,” I said. “You saw them at the rehearsal. Belle and Eduard were the picture of love!”

  “Cold feet?” Harmony suggested with a shrug.

  I shook my head, instantly rejecting the idea. “No. He wouldn’t put Belle through this, he’s not a monster.”

  Harmony’s attention drifted to the dessert cart. “Are those little cakes up for grabs?”

  “No!” I snapped. “I need to think.”

  Harmony started rummaging through her purse.

  “What are you doing?” I hissed.

  She shrugged. “I think I have a chocolate bar in here somewhere.”

  I groaned and threw my hands up into the air.

  “Oh my stars…” Harmony gasped.

  My eyes slid to her, narrowed. “What?” I growled.

  “I think—” She remained frozen, half of her arm buried in her too-large purse. “Oh this is so not good … but I think I know what made groomie go all cheater, cheater, pumpkin-eater on us.” Her blue eyes fluttered to mine and she held out her purse. “My potions are gone!”

  “And?”

  “Remember how I told you that I got fired from my potions job? When I left, I took my messed-up potions with me. One of them was a love potion. A sort of … experimental love potion.”

  I groaned and pinched the bridge of my nose. “You have got to be kidding me.”

  “I think someone must have—”

  I snagged her by the wrist and hauled her from the banquet room, cutting off her floundering explanation.

  “What do you mean experimental love potion?” I demanded, boxing her into the nearest corner. “Of all the ridiculous, irresponsible things!”

  She took a step back and bumped into a narrow table, unsettling a potted orchid.

  “Hey! Watch it!” a squeaky voice cried out from somewhere above our heads.

  Harmony and I both snapped to attention, looking around.

  “Up here,” the voice snapped.

  A small face protruded from the wall and glowered down at us, its wrinkled expression illuminated by a floating candle a few inches to its right.

  “Yikes!” Harmony yelped, backing away. “What is that thing?”

  “Security troll,” I replied out of the corner of my mouth. “All the high-end establishments use them.”

  Harmony muttered something indiscernible under her breath.

  “You’ll have to excuse us,” I said politely to the troll. “We were just—”

  “This is a fine establishment, ladies,” he chided us. “We prefer to keep bickering in the hallways to a minimum.”

  “Right. Sorry. Won’t happen again.” I reached for Harmony’s wrist but she snapped it away from me and huffed off toward the restrooms.

  With a sigh, I followed her out of the troll’s earshot—assuming it had ears somewhere in the plastered wall. Once I was sure we were alone in the ladies’ room, I continued in a low voice, “Tell me about this potion. What would it do?”

  “We—Jess and me—wanted to make something we could actually sell. Something no one had ever heard of before. Everyone knows about love potions. But this was something special.” Her eyes trailed over my shoulder and her brows furrowed together. “It all fits. You know?”

  “No,” I growled. “I don’t. Enlighten me.”

  She drew in a quick breath and met my gaze. “We thought about actors, you know, always having to pretend they’re in love for a movie or TV show. We thought, wouldn’t it be cool if there was a potion that made them have perfect chemistry? No one would be able to tell they weren’t really in love. So, we came up with a temporary version of Cupid’s Arrow.”

  “That’s a banned potion!”

  Harmony chewed on the corner of her lip. “Technically, yes. But you can still get it.”

  I groaned. Whatever was coming next, it wasn’t going to be good.

  “After drinking the potion, the partaker would fall for the first attractive person they set eyes on. But it’s different in the way that it works afterward. Instead of needing an antidote, Jess added a time limit instead. Sort of an expiration date. Within minutes of drinking the potion, the person would return to normal. That’s probably why Eduard is back to normal and trying to apologize. He doesn’t remember or have any residual feelings for the temporary object of his affection. We thought that was important.”

  “Well, at least that explains his burst of amnesia.” I pushed the door open and peeked out into the hall. Servers passed by, to and from the kitchen, and I knew I couldn’t hide in the bathroom all night. Tempting as it was. “Okay, so who knew about this potion? Apparently, someone thought this would be a funny prank to pull.”

  “I, uh—” She trailed off and I glanced over my shoulder. A dreamy smile melted across her face as she followed a passing waiter, the one she’d been making eyes at all night.

  “Harmony! Focus!” The lightbulb flashed over my head half a heartbeat later and I groaned. “You told him, didn’t you?”

  Her eyes dropped to the tops of her—my—shoes. “I told him we were going to be working together and he asked if I’d worked in a lot of restaurants. I told him that my last job was in a potions shop and he was really interested!”

  I held up my finger, cutting her off. I didn’t need to hear any more.

  “Come on! We’re going straight to Marco! He needs to know that one of his employees thought it was a good idea to dose an important patron with a mystery potion!” I threw the door open and dragged Harmony back into the hallway.

  “You don’t think he did it, do you?” she protested.

  “You got any other suspects?”

  Harmony tugged on my arm, pulling me to a stop. “Why would he do that? It doesn’t make any sense!”

  “How should I know why?” I ripped my arm back from her and narrowed my eyes. “But besides you, he’s the only one who knew about the potions. Right? Maybe he just wanted a laugh! Dose a groom with a love potion in the middle of his rehearsal dinner—” I threw my hands up, flicking Harmony off like a pesky mosquito as she reached for me again. “What could be more hilarious?”

  “Ladies!”

  I winced. We’d accidentally wandered back into the cranky hall monitor’s path.

  “Sorry,” I mumbled. “We’re going.”

  I started back toward the banquet room but stopped short and rounded on my matchstick heels to look up at the troll’s face as he melted back into the wall. “Wait! Do you see everything that happens in this restaurant? I mean, you’re kind of a security alarm, right?”

  His large nostrils flared. “I am a guardian. I do not squawk or fuss in case of emergency.”

  “What do you do, then?” Harmony asked.

  He heaved a long-suffering sigh and shifted his russet eyes toward her. “If someone breaks in, I break them.”

  Suddenly, the inky walls shimmered and two beefy fists appeared below the face. Harmony gasped and I tottered back a step. I wasn’t sure about his range of motion, but given his surly mood, I wasn’t going to risk it. With his revulsion for noise making and untidiness, I decided he had to be the love child of a loan shark flunky and a crabby librarian. Ya know, in troll form.

  “Listen, we need your help,” I dared, edging closer again. Harmony looked around the hall, her eyes lifted as though waiting for more strange faces to pop out at us. “About fifteen minutes ago, there was a waiter bringing in glasses of champagne for the toast in the banquet room. Did you see anyth
ing strange? Maybe he slipped something into one of the flutes?”

  The troll frowned, his lips curved in a severe arch as he thought.

  “Something from a small pink vial,” Harmony added, her voice hopeful.

  The troll pondered this for a moment. “I think you mean Carter. Six-two, sandy brown hair, blue eyes.”

  Harmony gave a miserable nod.

  “You saw him slip something in a drink?” I asked, unsure why that wouldn’t warrant some kind of alarm.

  “No, but the woman with him had a vial like you’ve described,” the troll replied.

  “A woman?” I repeated. “What did she look like? Is she an employee?”

  “I’ve never seen her before,” the troll said, a bemused smile spreading across his wrinkled face. “I doubt I’ll be forgetting her anytime soon, though.”

  I frowned at Harmony. She shrugged.

  “She was a striking brunette, wearing a fetching black and gold dress that looked as if it had been painted on.”

  The look on the troll’s face made me yearn for a hot shower. “Okay,” I said, holding up a hand. “You can stop.”

  Harmony budged me with her elbow and whispered, “I think he’s talking about the dragon lady from your office.”

  “Kait?” I froze in place. “Kait was here?”

  She nodded. “I saw her in the ladies room after we first got here. I went to check my lip gloss and she was coming out of one of the stalls.”

  “Why didn’t you say something?” I asked between gritted teeth.

  She frowned. “Why would I? She works at your office. I figured she was here to help with the dinner or something.”

  “Well, she’s not. This is my event! She didn’t even know it was tonight until I told her back at the office.” A horrifying thought struck me and I took off without thanking the troll.

  “Of course it was Kait!” I muttered, stepping back inside the banquet room. My gaze swept the room, searching every face. The occupants had thinned out significantly. Eduard remained, sitting in his spot at the head table, his face in his hands. His best man stood off to the side talking on the phone, one shoulder turned away from his friend.