“Yeah. It’s been … interesting.” I couldn’t fill Cassie in on the oh-so-fantastic details. Like the part where the first time they saw me I was wearing handcuffs. Or that they’re starstruck by my gorgeous roommate and former paranormal soap star. Or that they’re gonna resent me unless I can somehow convince Adam to move back to the haven system—a place I’m not even allowed to visit.
Cassie cocked her head. “How so?”
I dragged in a sigh and polished off the rest of the blueberry muffin. Comfort food was required if we were gonna talk about Adam’s parents. I started eyeballing a croissant in case I needed backup. “They seem to want a certain type for Adam and unfortunately I don’t think I fit the mold.”
Cassie frowned. “Like what? You’re gorgeous, smart, ambitious, and you make their son very happy. What more could they possibly want?”
“Thanks, Cass.” I pushed my hair back from my face. “I think they want him to be with someone who wants to get married, have kids, and be more of a homemaker, I guess. They don’t seem to appreciate my entrepreneurial spirit and the fact that I’m not pushing Adam to move to a big city and expand his business. Oh, and his mom’s wardrobe puts mine to shame.”
Cassie wrinkled her nose. “Ugh. I’m sorry, Holly. That doesn’t sound like fun. How long will they be in town?”
“Another week I think.”
“Ouch.”
I sighed deeply. “It’ll be fine. Adam doesn’t seem to be taking it all that seriously. It could be worse. He could be one of those mama’s boys who does whatever their mom wants. Adam is more duck and water with all of this.”
“Yeah, he’s not exactly the type to be swayed, is he?”
I smiled. “Not at all.”
The bell at the front door jingled and I hopped off the table to go help the incoming customers.
****
When my shift was over, Cassie was on her way out for the day as well. We parted ways out front when Chief Lincoln pulled up in his sedan to pick her up. I smiled as he scrambled to get out of the car and hurried around to open the passenger door in time for her to slide into the seat. We waved to each other and I watched as they drove off into the night.
My conversation with Cassie played back through my mind as I hoofed it back up to the manor. For Cassie, whether she wanted to admit it or not, getting engaged to Chief Lincoln and settling down would be a dream come true. I was happy for her and hoped she got a big, sparkly ring, but while I was thinking about it, I had to admit to myself that I didn’t want that from Adam. We were in a completely different place, and after spending time with his parents, I wondered if I’d ever be able to live up to their expectations—or his. We hadn’t talked about it, but while Adam might not want to move back to the havens anytime soon, he hadn’t denied wanting to settle down and start a family. The problem was that I didn’t know if that was what I wanted.
Evangeline and Teddy were waiting for me in the living room once I got back to the manor. I joined them after kicking out of my shoes and saying hello to Boots. I noticed that they were sitting so close together they were practically sharing a couch cushion. I took the loveseat adjacent to them and Teddy started the meeting. “So, tell me, Holly, what is it that you’re hoping to accomplish with the hearing?”
“All I’ve ever wanted is to get my potions master license so I can legally sell my custom potions, both here in the human world and inside the havens.”
Beside Teddy, a pen hovered over a green notepad and moved of its own accord as I spoke. He followed my gaze and offered a quick smile. “I hope you don’t mind. I find I need a little help keeping notes.”
I nodded. “Right. Not a problem.”
Teddy clasped his hands together and leaned forward. “I’ll shoot straight with you, Holly. I’ve poked around your record and can already tell you it’s going to be a hard road, but I think we have a shot. As you know, the Haven Council can be a bit biased. But that’s fine. We know what we’re walking into and we will fight hard to keep the focus on you and your business and keep the mess with Gabriel out of the conversation.”
“Trust me, I’m all for that. He has nothing to do with this, so I don’t see a point in discussing him.”
Teddy nodded. “Good.”
“Tell him about Harvey,” Evangeline interjected.
“Oh! Right. Harvey Colepepper is my SPA case worker and he’s agreed to testify on my behalf,” I explained to Teddy. There was no reason to point out that he would only do so if and when we solved the mess with the vampires. And now that a human had confessed to the crime, I wasn’t sure where that left things with Harvey’s investigation. I decided staying positive was the best course of action.
Teddy nodded excitedly. “That’s great! That will help a lot. Listen, I’m going back to the LA haven tomorrow, but I’ll be in touch and start filing paperwork for a hearing on your behalf. We should be able to get before the Council within a few months’ time.”
“Great! Thank you so much,” I said, glancing at both of them in turn.
A voice sounded from the arched entry to the foyer. “Knock, knock.”
Adam was wearing jeans and his signature leather jacket. “Holly, you ready to go?” he asked. “We were thinking McNally’s would be a good choice. They’re having that five-bean stew tonight that you like.”
“Sure,” I replied, smiling at him even as my heartbeat ratcheted into overdrive. “I’ll be right there.”
“Okay, grab your coat.” He glanced at Evangeline, Teddy, and then back at me before turning to go back down the hall.
“I should get going. Is there anything else you need from me?”
Teddy shook his head. “Not right now. Like I said, I’ll get in touch once I’m back at my office.”
“Okay,” I replied, nodding. “I feel bad that you came all this way just for that …”
Teddy smiled over at Evangeline. “Don’t worry about it, Holly. The trip was more than worth it.”
“Right.” I pushed up from the couch, suddenly feeling like an awkward third wheel. As much as I was dreading the dinner that lay ahead, it seemed a better option that watching Teddy and Evangeline go gaga over each other. “Have a safe trip back.”
“Night, Holly!” Evangeline called after me as I slipped from the room.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
McNally’s was unusually busy when we arrived and we ended up waiting a handful of minutes for a table to open up. We awkwardly hung back by the front door, all four of us shifting from one foot to the other and avoiding eye contact. A thick tension loomed over our heads but no one wanted to make the first move. Adam kept glancing at me, as though I was somehow supposed to conjure up something to say. Sorry pal, magic doesn’t work like that.
After what felt like an hour but was probably closer to five minutes, a waitress came to take us to a table in the back. She passed out menus with a smile and sashayed away to get our drinks while we decided what we wanted to eat. I watched her go and wished I could follow. I’d rather be elbow deep in dirty dishes than sitting across from Mort and Bella with nothing to say, pretending that I hadn’t seen the McNally’s menu a thousand and one times before.
“So, Mom, Dad, what were your thoughts for Yule dinner?” Adam asked when the silence became deafening.
Bella lowered her menu and looked at him questioningly. “I thought you and Holly had plans for us already.”
Great. Chalk up one more epic failure. The girlfriend who couldn’t cook her way into a job at a fast food kitchen.
“We had some ideas,” Adam started, pausing to clear his throat. “We thought we could do dinner at the manor. Maybe invite some of our local friends to join in the celebration.”
Oh, thank the stars. Lacey and Evangeline could help me like they had on Thanksgiving. I offered Bella a confident smile. “Any special requests?”
“Mort likes pecan pudding and Adam’s favorite is—” She stopped herself and gave a crafty smile. “Well of course, you already know Adam’s
favorite dish.”
I glanced at Adam. “As far as I know, Adam loves all food equally.”
Adam chuckled but Bella’s lips didn’t so much as twitch. “Actually it’s pumpkin pie. But then, I suppose all we should really ask is for you to stay out of handcuffs for the duration of the celebration.”
“Mom,” Adam hissed.
Bella shrugged one shoulder. “It should go without saying, but as a precautionary bit of advice, I thought I would put it out there.”
My cheeks flamed and I buried myself behind my menu, silently steaming. Adam draped an arm around my chair and I took some comfort in the small gesture of protection, but it couldn’t take away the sting from the verbal slap his mother had just delivered. Who did she think she was? Just because she was the perfect shifter who married a shifter and lived by the haven rules without question, that made her better than everyone else?
“I think what your mother means, is that we’d like to have a calm, peaceful evening,” Mort said after a long moment.
“No,” Adam growled. “I don’t think that’s what she meant. We discussed this, Mother.”
I peeked over my menu as Bella gave a long-suffering sigh. “My apologies.”
“Not to me,” Adam replied tersely. “To Holly.”
Bella swiveled her eyes to me in slow motion and gave a slight nod. “I’m sorry, Holly. That was uncalled for.”
I retreated back behind my menu. “It’s fine, Bella.”
Adam leaned in, his jaw tight. “This is my life. My girlfriend. My future. That’s all you really need to know. If you guys don’t want to be a part of it then you are more than welcome to go back home to your snooty little neighborhood and have Yule dinner with all your snobby friends.”
Mort dropped his menu. “That’s enough, Adam.”
Adam scoffed. “I don’t think so, Dad. I made myself crystal clear on where I stand. Your snide comments and judgments aren’t going to sway me, so save your breath.”
I squirmed in my seat. This was getting stickier than Evangeline’s old soap opera. “I think I’m going to go back to the manor,” I said, pushing my menu aside.
Adam reached for my wrist. “Holly, no. You don’t have to—”
I moved out of his reach and stood from the table. “It’s fine. I’m getting a headache anyway.” I grabbed my coat from the back of my chair and hurried to bundle back into its warmth. “I’ll see you later.”
Adam tried to protest, but didn’t stop me as I left them and made a beeline for the front doors.
Outside, the air was crisp and clear and I decided to take the long way through town to get back home instead of going straight to the manor. I pocketed my hands and strolled down the street, fighting off the hot tears pushing against the backs of my eyes. At the end of the street, I stopped to let a lone car go by. I stared up at the stars, wishing they had the answers to my questions. If only they could untangle all of my dark worries and mixed emotions.
I considered calling one of my friends, but didn’t want to interrupt their evenings. Cassie would tell me something cheery. She’d assure me that it wasn’t as bad as it looked. Nick would clam up and tell me something practical, like to keep my chin up and it would all work out. Evangeline liked to talk about dating but I got the feeling that she had more experience with short-term relationships, so I’m not sure what her advice would be. And Lacey … well Lacey was probably still angry at me for my behavior at Raven. As for Posy, she was still adjusting to the scandal of Adam and I dating while living under the same roof and likely wouldn’t have anything helpful to offer, either.
It was times like this that I missed my mother the most. She’d always been a well of information for me and even if she didn’t have any advice, she could stroke my hair and tell me that it was all going to be okay in the end. And I’d believe her. Tears blurred my vision, making the stars sparkle and shine as they melded together.
My cell phone rang and jerked me from my tangled thoughts. I fished in the deep pockets of my coat, searching for the slim device, and wondered who it was. Surely Adam was still at McNally’s, trying to talk his parents into giving me a second—or was I on my third?—chance. Cassie would be with Chief Lincoln. Evangeline had seemed pretty cozy with Teddy.
I found the phone and tugged it free. I groaned at the display: Harvey Colepepper.
“Great,” I grumbled, sliding my finger across the screen to answer the call. “Hello, Harvey.”
“Holly, have you been able to get any more information?”
“Nice to hear from you too, Harvey,” I quipped as I started across the street.
“This is business, Holly. I need to know what’s going on. You’re my eyes and ears, remember?”
“How could I forget?”
“Holly!”
“Fine, fine.” I sighed. “Let’s see, the woman with the victim was identified. Her name is Naomi Givens. As far as I know, the cops haven’t found her yet. Oh, also, there’s the minor detail that her husband confessed to the murder and the cops have him in custody.”
For a moment I wished we were face to face so that I could see his eyes bug out after I dropped that bomb.
“What?” Harvey bellowed.
I pulled the phone away from my face. “Volume, Harvey. I don’t think a new set of ear drums was included in our original agreement.”
“What in the Otherworld happened?” he asked grumpily.
As I continued up the hill toward the manor, I found myself wishing for a massive mug of tea and my fuzzy slippers. I filled him in on the arrest as well as the information that I’d gleaned from Dread. By the time I reached the front porch, I’d brought Harvey up to speed.
“It’s obvious that this Gus person has been glamoured.”
“Thanks for the tip, Harvey,” I replied with a dash of sarcasm. “I’d already figured that. I just don’t know who glamoured him. If Dread’s information is correct, then we need to be looking at Greyson Molder himself and that seems …”
“Out of your league?” Harvey said, throwing back a bite of sarcasm my way.
I clenched my teeth. “This entire thing is out of my league, Harvey! But that didn’t stop you from shoving me into the deep end. I’m not an SPA agent or anything remotely close to it.”
I didn’t mention the part where my own life was rapidly deteriorating and that I probably shouldn’t be trusted to do much more than mope and wallow for at least the next twenty-four hours. Sure, eating your problems away might not be a good long-term strategy, but I was convinced that half a dozen Lemon Clouds would go quite a way toward solving my immediate problems.
“I need information, Holly. I don’t have time to come back to town. Everything is going crazy here. Every SPA agent available is tracking down the various members of the Vampire Council and it’s going to implode at any moment. Tempers are running high and I fully expect things to turn nasty. If we’re not careful there will be a full on uprising!”
An uprising of vampires? I shuddered at the thought. My academy history books detailed the events of the last vampire uprising and they hadn’t been pretty.
I sighed heavily and squeezed my eyes closed. “What do you want me to do, Harvey? What do you need to know?”
“Go talk to the widow again. If she’s really with Greyson Molder, she knows more than what she’s told you. Use caution though, Holly. She’s still mortal as far as we know.”
“So I can’t blast her with a stunning spell?”
“Holly …”
“Fine! I’ll play nice.”
“See that you do. And call me as soon as you’re done.”
“Aye, aye, captain.”
“Is that supposed to be funny?”
I shrugged. “I thought so.”
Harvey hung up and I sighed.
So much for the fuzzy slippers …
****
As expected, Georgia was just about as thrilled at my appearance on her doorstop as I was to be there. She answered the door with a scowl.
“What are you doing here?” she hissed. “I fired that quack of a PI you work with and he went and conned the cops out of my reward money!” She growled to herself. “It doesn’t matter anymore. This whole nightmare is finally over. They caught the man who murdered my Paul. Now, leave me alone.”
“See, that’s the thing, Georgia, I don’t think they did.”
Her expression twisted. “What are you talking about?”
“The man who confessed to killing your husband is under a powerful spell.”
Georgia scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Right. And my next door neighbor is the Easter Bunny.”
“I’m serious, Georgia.”
She narrowed her eyes at me as she cocked her hips and folded her arms. “Go away, little witch. I’m not interested in your crackpot theory. My husband’s murderer is in jail. That’s all that matters.”
“Even if that’s all a lie and you’re sleeping next to the real murderer?”
Georgia’s blue eyes went wide and her full lips parted.
“Let me inside and I’ll explain.”
She considered me for a moment and then, with a sigh, backed up and waved me inside. I hurried over the threshold and waited for her to close and lock the front door. As she reached for the lock, I noticed the Thraxis medallion was missing from around her neck.
“You have five minutes,” she said, storming ahead of me and leading me back through the house to the kitchen. Apparently that was where she preferred to hold her meetings, although I wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t like she was offering me a cup of tea or a plate of cookies.
I squared off against her, the large granite island separating us. “I received some information that Paul and Greyson were involved in some kind of business dealing. Is that true?”
“Who told you that?”
“It doesn’t matter. Were they doing business together?”
Georgia thought for a moment and then shook her head. “No. They never met one another.”
I considered her, wondering if she was the liar or if Dread was the one toying with me. “Have you ever met Dread? Greyson’s second?”
Georgia nodded. “Once or twice. He takes care of Greyson’s security.”
Witch Slapped: A Beechwood Harbor Magic Mystery (Beechwood Harbor Magic Mysteries Book 3) Page 14
