Kiss and Spell (11 Valentine's Day Paranormal Short Stories)

by Liz Schulte

  “You think kids still hang out up there to smoke?”

  “I wouldn’t be surprised.”

  He rubbed his jaw. “I’ll do a second walk through and check for signs of marijuana and other drugs. Could be someone’s partying got out of hand.”

  They fell into what should have been a comfortable silence, but Zoe was antsy. Tonight she’d planned on asking Reid to move in with her. Hell, he was pretty much living there anyway, but she thought it was time to make it official and get him out of that one bedroom apartment he rented up in Lead.

  Before she could chicken out, she took a gulp of wine for gumption and blurted, “You should move in with me.”

  “Are you serious?”

  She could see surprise in his wide gaze. “Yeah, I am.”

  He looked back at the fire, his profile a one-sided frown. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because my ex-wife’s head will explode if she finds out we’re living together.”

  She drained her glass. “I don’t give a shit about how your ex-wife feels.” She set the glass on the ground. “And I thought you didn’t either, but apparently I was wrong.”

  “Zo.” His frown fell on her. “Don’t be like that. I thought we were having fun here, taking things slow.”

  By slow, she hadn’t realized he meant at a slug’s pace. “You’re right.” She stood up, looking across the rocky outcrop toward the trees, wanting to run and hide under their cover.

  Oh, Christ, what had she been thinking? It’d been only a few months that they’d been sleeping together. He hadn’t actually said he was in love with her, only acted the part. Now that she thought about it, the gifts he’d given her were pretty trinkets, nothing serious like the protection necklace she’d given him here on this very outcrop, or the silver watch with the ward-covered band she’d surprised him with last week.

  “Zo.” He stood, taking her hand. “You know I’m nuts about you, but now is a bad time for me what with my ex-wife threatening to take me back to court again for more child support. After ten years of a shitty marriage, I’m not sure I’m ready to get serious again yet.” He grimaced, the firelight and shadows emphasizing it. “If ever.”

  If ever. She tried to hide the sharp pain she felt stabbing her heart behind a wide smile. “I understand.”

  Damn, she was such a fool. She’d known better than to get involved with another local after the last disaster. But oh no, she’d gone and done it again. To make it even more of a mangled mess, this time she’d not only let Reid into her bed, but into her heart as well. She should win the prize for dope of the year.

  Reid tipped her chin up, kissing her breath away. “Are we good?”

  Not even a little. “Sure.”

  “Want to go home? It’s getting cold out here.”

  Yes, but not with him, not tonight. “Let’s pack up. We’re supposed to have snow in a couple of days.”

  “Weather up here in the hills reminds me of Montana. Fall lasts for a day, maybe two.”

  She forced a laugh and helped him collect the last of the wine and douse the fire. She tried to keep the hurt burning a hole in her gut to herself all the way back down to Deadwood. When he pulled up in the drive, he killed the engine and joined her at the front door, same as usual.

  She hesitated with her keys in hand, knowing she should send him away but wanting him to stay a little longer.

  She’d barely made it inside before he was pulling her close, kissing her senseless. So senseless, in fact, that she led him up to her bed in spite of the voice in her head that forewarned of even greater pain the longer she let this last.

  The pattern continued for the next couple of months. Day after day she’d tell her herself they were done, that the prior night was the last time. Reid was no good for her and it was time to move on. But then night would fall. He’d show up at her door again, and she’d let him stay over just one more time.

  It took her many tears and a lot of Southern Comfort to finally come to terms with the fact that she was in love with a broken man. There’d be no fixing him, and allowing him to continue keeping her bed warm was only prolonging her pain.

  One night, she finally hit rock bottom.

  They’d gone out to dinner at one of their regular haunts. Things had been going smoothly until she’d mentioned him joining her at a family dinner for her brother’s birthday.

  He set his beer down on the table. “That’s probably not a good idea.”

  “Why not?” It wasn’t like she’d asked him to make a lifelong commitment to her. “It’s just dinner.”

  His grimace lit a fire in her chest. “I’m not sure I’m ready to meet your family.”

  It had been almost six months since the night she’d removed the imp from his shoulder. “Will you ever be ready, Reid?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe someday. My ex’s family was full of a bunch of backstabbing assholes. They are part of the reason I left Montana.”

  She pushed her half empty plate aside. “Okay. No problem. I just thought I’d ask. I’ll be right back.” She made a mad dash for the ladies room and locked herself in a stall until her chest stopped aching enough to take several deep breaths.

  She kept her cool until the ride home. “Reid, I don’t want you to come inside tonight.”

  “What?” The dashboard lights made the lines on his forehead seem deeper. “Why not? Are you feeling sick?”

  She shook her head, staring out the windshield. “I think we need to stop seeing each other.”

  “What are you talking about?” He pulled into the Rec Center’s parking lot, letting his truck idle as he turned to frown at her. “Is this because of what I said earlier about meeting your family?”

  She shook her head. “It’s because of the fact that you and I are looking for two different things in our lives. I’ve put my wants on hold while you and I had our fun, but now it’s time for me to return to what I want.”

  “And what do you want?”

  “A husband.”

  He balked. “If you’d just give me some time.”

  “You’ve made it crystal clear that you’re done with marriage, Reid. I don’t think time is going to change your mind.”

  “It might.”

  “Look how you reacted at the idea of moving in with me.” Which was silly considering how many nights he stayed at her house.

  “I need a little longer to get my last relationship mess out of my hair, Zo, before jumping into another.”

  He’d been divorced for almost three years. How much longer would he need? “Another mess? Boy, that says a lot for what you think of me.”

  “I didn’t mean it that way.”

  “Yes, you do, Reid. It’s why the idea of any kind of commitment to me freaks you out. You think that I’m going to be the same as your ex-wife, family and all. You’re not willing to give me a chance before writing us off.”

  He sighed. “Zo, can we not do this right now?”

  “Sure.” She shoved open her door.

  “What are you doing?”

  “Leaving you.”

  “What? No. That’s not what I meant.”

  “Maybe not, but it’s what I meant when I started this conversation.” She grabbed her purse from the floor and then tried to smile at him, but couldn’t. “Goodbye, Reid. I’ll leave your clothes and shaving kit on the front porch tomorrow morning.”

  “Zo, don’t do this.”

  “Too late. It’s done. Don’t call me, don’t come around, and don’t try to tell me you love me. I know better.” She shut the pickup door and jogged to the trees where a stairway led to her neighborhood. Her empty house waited for her. A safe but lonely sanctuary.

  * * *

  … “It took me well over a year to stop agonizing about that son of a gun,” she told me. “And he didn’t make it easy for me, showing up at my door time and again, prolonging the pain.” She pointed down at where Reid lay. He was starting to stir. “And now he�
�s back, trying to worm his way further into my life.”

  “Don’t you think the fact that he still wants you back means anything?”

  “Sure. It means he’s lonely. Hell, we all get lonely. But that doesn’t mean I should let him into my life so he can leave me broken hearted again.”

  Reid groaned, interrupting any further words on the topic. One eye opened, then the other. He blinked a couple of times before sitting up.

  “Welcome back, sunshine,” Aunt Zoe said, her arms crossed.

  He held his jaw, moving it back and forth while grimacing. “Shit, Zo. Did you hit me again?”

  “Not on purpose.” She moved over to him, her hand out to help him up.

  “You hear that, Sparky?” he asked me after he was upright, stretching his neck side to side. “She’s in denial.”

  “You shouldn’t have sneaked up on me,” Aunt Zoe told him. “Especially while I’m holding my block.”

  “I would have knocked, but you’ve made it crystal clear that you won’t open the door for me.”

  “I learned my lesson about letting you cross my threshold years ago.”

  “Times have changed and so have I.”

  “But I haven’t.”

  “Good. That means I have a chance.”

  “No, it doesn’t.”

  “And now you owe me for knocking me out.”

  “I do not owe you for accidentally hitting you again.”

  He pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket. “You do, and I’ll take your payment in the form of help with this case.” He took her hand and pushed the paper into it. “Tell me what you know about the Sugarloaf Building up in Lead.”

  I did a double take. Did he say Sugarloaf? I’d been researching that building for my old boss when she had been brutally murdered.

  “You need to stay out of it,” Aunt Zoe warned.

  “Too late, I already went inside. But don’t worry.” He pulled up his shirtsleeve, revealing a watchband with dark glass shapes decorating it. My brother, Quint, had a similar one Aunt Zoe had made for him when he had started traveling more for his job. “I gave you back the necklace you made for me that night you tried to kill me up at our favorite spot, but I still wear this for good luck.”

  Aunt Zoe smirked. “I wasn’t trying to kill you.”

  He waved her off. “I saw something in that building, Zo. Or rather it saw me.”

  She frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  “I think you know.”

  I turned to Aunt Zoe. “Do you know what he’s talking about?”

  She glanced at me, nodding.

  “What’s in there?” I pressed.

  “Trouble.”

  “What kind of trouble?” Reid asked.

  “The kind that might try to kill you now that it knows you have this.” She pointed in the direction of his watchband.

  “Zo,” he said, catching her hand. “I need you.”

  Her cheeks reddened. “You need my help, you mean.”

  “No, I need you.” He kissed her knuckles.

  “Stop it,” I heard her whisper. She took a step back, her hand shaky when she rubbed it over her mouth. “Violet’s here.”

  “Sparky already knows about us.”

  “Not all,” Aunt Zoe said.

  He reached into his pocket and came out with a ring with a red ruby in the center of two diamonds, holding it out to her. “Zo, please, put me out of my misery.”

  She and I stared at the ring. Then she looked up at him. “Is this a marriage proposal?”

  He nodded.

  Her eyes narrowed. “Let me see something first.”

  To my surprise, she went up on her toes and kissed him right in front of me. It was the hot and heavy kind of kiss, too, making me blush.

  When she stepped back, she blew out a breath. “I thought so.”

  She thought so?

  “What do you say, Zo? Marry me?”

  Aunt Zoe smiled. “No.”

  His forehead wrinkled. “No?”

  After a glance in my direction, she headed for the door. “Be careful in the Sugarloaf Building, Reid. That watchband will protect you only so far.”

  Then she was gone, closing the door behind her, leaving me scratching my head.

  When I turned back to Reid, he had a smile on his face, too.

  “You’re smiling? I don’t get it. Didn’t she just turn you down?”

  He pocketed the ring. “She wants me to chase her.”

  “She does?”

  “Oh, yeah.” His smile took over his whole face. “Now it’s going to get fun.”

  “It is?”

  He patted me on the shoulder. “Do me a favor, Sparky, hide her shotgun whenever I come ‘round.” Then he headed for the door, pulling it open and yelling, “Zo, how about a lemonade?”

  He followed her out, leaving me standing there staring after them, wondering if Reid were right about Aunt Zoe. Then again, she could be pretty stubborn when she put her mind to it. Time would tell if the old flame would burn red hot yet again, and I planned on sticking close to the fire ring so I could watch the sparks fly either way.

  Picking up the glass-blowing block, I hefted it back and forth in my hands, then played batter-up and swung. The heavy piece of cherry wood could really ring someone’s bell. Reid was lucky all she did was knock him out.

  I looked over at the mirror with the weird metal frame. Maybe I should go with Reid the next time he paid a visit to the Sugarloaf Building.

  I swung the block again, harder this time, liking the weight of it in my hands.

  Maybe it was time to see what Aunt Zoe believed was waiting in that building for Reid.

  And me.

  The End ... for now

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  Facebook (Personal Page):

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  About the Author

  Ann Charles is an award-winning, USA Today Bestselling author who writes romantic mysteries that are splashed with humor and whatever else she feels like throwing into the mix. When she is not dabbling in fiction, arm-wrestling with her children, attempting to seduce her husband, or arguing with her sassy cat, she is daydreaming of lounging poolside at a fancy resort with a blended margarita in one hand and a great book in the other.

  Also by Ann Charles

  Deadwood Mystery Series

  Nearly Departed in Deadwood (Book 1)

  Optical Delusions in Deadwood (Book 2)

  Dead Case in Deadwood (Book 3)

  Better Off Dead in Deadwood (Book 4)

  An Ex to Grind in Deadwood (Book 5)

  Meanwhile, Back in Deadwood (Book 6)

  Short Stories from the Deadwood Mystery Series

  Deadwood Shorts: Seeing Trouble

  Deadwood Shorts: Boot Points

  Jackrabbit Junction Mystery Series

  Dance of the Winnebagos (Book 1)

  Jackrabbit Junction Jitters (Book 2)

  The Great Jackalope Stampede (Book 3)

  The Rowdy Coyote Rumble (Book 4)

  Goldwash Mystery Series (a future series)

  The Old Man’s Back in Town (Short Story)

  Dig Site Mystery Series

  Look What the Wind Blew In (Book 1)

  (Starring the brother of Violet Parker from the Deadwood Mystery Series)

  Coming Next from Ann Charles

  Deadwood Mystery Series

  Title TBA (Book 7)

  Dig Site Mystery Series

  Title TBA (Book 2)

 

 

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