Charmed Spirits

by Carrie Ann Ryan

  “So, Matt, why are you here?” Other than to annoy me.

  “I figured you could use some help. I’m a carpenter after all.” He smiled, and it brought a little kick to her chest.

  And a carpenter? He could always work with his hands. No. She couldn’t think like that, either.

  He looked around the house from where he stood and shuddered. “Though, maybe I should have brought a bulldozer.”

  She fought back a laugh. He was right, but she wouldn’t give him the benefit of the doubt. Not when she wanted him out of the house so she didn’t have to think about memories better left forgotten.

  “I thought you worked at the hardware store.” At least that was what a few of the old biddies had told her when she’d picked up her dinner from the diner the night before.

  Matt took a sip of his coffee, and she forced herself to not watch the way his throat worked as he swallowed. It was as if she was a teenager again. Though, since the last time she’d seen his blue eyes they’d both been teenagers, she couldn’t really blame herself. Much.

  “I own the hardware store. But I still do carpentry jobs on the side. I like to work with my hands.” He studiously avoided her gaze, and she was grateful.

  Damn hormones.

  “I’m glad you’re doing what you like, Matt.” Her voice sounded too whimsical. Damn, she didn’t know what she wanted in life and yet the man she had left made her want even more things. Well, maybe not everything. Who could really want Stacey? Matt had changed so much if that was his new type.

  “How’s Stacey?” She cringed. Had that sounded jealous? Oh, whatever.

  “Stacey?” He furrowed his brow then a slow, wide smile covered his face.

  Oh, God. It hurt. Jesus, he loved her.

  “Don’t tell me you’re jealous, Jor.”

  She raised her chin and fought back the ridiculous notion, on the verge of tears. She would not cry over the fact she’d lost her chance when she’d never even had one to begin with.

  “Of course not, I’m very happy about your engagement.” Look at that, I didn’t throw up when I said it.

  Matt choked on his coffee, his body folding over himself. Jordan rushed to his side and pounded him on the back.

  “What...what did you say?” Matt asked once he quit coughing long enough to get some words out.

  “I was just saying I was happy you and Stacey are getting married. It’s nice to see you moving on.” She cringed. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say. Now she looked like she was the center of the universe. Great going, Jordan.

  “Where the hell did you hear that?”

  “Uh, from Stacey? Your soon-to-be bride?”

  Matt shook his head and looked a bit sick. “Hell, no, Jor. Stacey and I aren’t engaged, dating, or even close.”

  Relief spread through her even as she thought that it didn’t matter anyway. She’d leave. But he wasn’t with Stacey; she could at least rejoice in that.

  “Oh, well, I might have heard wrong.” Wait, why was she covering for the blonde bimbo?

  Matt shook his head. “Oh, I don’t think you did. That woman is a conniving snake.”

  Jordan threw her head back and laughed with Matt joining her. “Oh, thank God. I was worried it was only me.”

  “Oh, no. I’m pretty sure the entire town is with you on that front, Jor. Dear God, I wish that woman would move away.”

  “Or at least shut up.”

  Jordan drank the last of her coffee, a weight she didn’t know she had lifting off her shoulders as she talked with Matt. She’d almost forgotten how close they’d been as friends before they’d dipped their toes in the more serious relationship pools. She could always count on him, though, as it turned out, the same couldn’t have been said of her.

  “So, you’re here to help with carpentry? Well, I’m going to need tons of it.” She waved her hands around the room and tried not to wince. “But, I think that may take a backseat for now.”

  Matt nodded, his gaze roaming over the place with a frown over his face. “I can’t believe people would do this.” He turned to her, they eyes locking. “I promise you, if me or my brothers had known the extent of the damage, we’d have done something.”

  She could always count on the Coopers. “But in the store, you hinted.” She hadn’t wanted to push, but he’d known something.

  Matt shook his head. “I’d only guessed the place would be in need of repairs since your grandmother hadn’t let anyone in the house for so long. I’d seen it from the outside, so I knew it wasn’t good, but I hadn’t realized the inside was this bad.”

  Pain ricocheted through her. Yet another thing that was her fault.

  Jordan gave a nod but didn’t meet his eyes. How could she?

  “Those asses will get what’s coming to them, Jor. Don’t worry.”

  She smiled. Yep, that was her Matt. The good guy. Wait, not her Matt. Never again, her Matt.

  “It doesn’t matter. I’ll get this place cleaned up, sold, and then it won’t be an eyesore anymore.”

  “You mean we.”

  “Huh?”

  “We’ll get this place cleaned up.”

  Oh, she didn’t know if she could work side-by-side with him for too long. Her already unsteady mood swings might go crazier than a menopausal woman in a heat wave. Something she was not looking forward to experiencing one bit.

  “Why are you helping me?” She had to ask. She’d left him, and yet here he was, being a nice guy.

  “Because we’re friends.” The words looked like they were ripped from him, and she wanted to cry at the situation. “Or at least we were. I’d like to be friends, Jor.”

  His gaze locked with hers, and she wanted to throw her arms around him or cry. Since she was stronger than that, she did neither.

  “I’d like that too.” She was proud of how steady her voice sounded when inside she was a wreck of emotions and memories.

  Matt smiled and walked farther inside the house. “Okay, where do we start?”

  “Start?” How about kissing? That seemed like a good start…No!

  He raised a brow and gave her a knowing look. Jerk. “In your house?”

  “Oh, right. Sorry, the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.” She looked at the mess surrounding them and held back a cringe. “I think we need to work on at least cleaning up a bit first then fixing what we need to.”

  Matt nodded, his gaze studying the room as she tried to pull hers from his jawline. Yum.

  “Okay, then. I heard from Mrs. Chambers that you already bought some cleaning supplies at the general store.” He grinned, and she shook her head.

  “Damn small town.”

  “Come on, you missed us some.”

  “Not even a little.” She shook her head as he laughed. No, she hadn’t missed the town. She missed Matt and his brothers and maybe a few others, but not the town. The busybodies and sharp-tongued residents were the reason she’d left in the first place. Well, at least most of the reason.

  Matt held his hand over his heart and staggered back. “I’m hurt.”

  “Shut it. I don’t have time for your pains.” Though to soothe them… Geez, this was going to be even harder than she’d thought.

  “I like it when you’re feisty.”

  She leveled a look at him and walked toward the mound of cleaning supplies and trash bags she’d bought the day before.

  “That’s enough of that. We said we wanted to be friends for as long as I’m here, and you talking like that isn’t helping anything.” She had to get it out there because, if he kept being his normal charming self, she wouldn’t make it.

  Matt put down the box of trash bags he held and crossed his arms over his chest. “Okay, there are a few things wrong with that statement. First off, yes, I want to be your friend. We were best friends once, and I’d like to have you back. Second, what the hell is with that ‘as long as I’m here’ crap? If you leave this time—”

  “Not if, when.”

  He rolled his eyes. “F
ine, when you leave this time, you don’t get to do it without a goodbye and a phone number. We’re going to talk once you leave and do what friends do—connect.”

  Guilt ate at her from the memory of her leaving before, but she buried it. It had been a long time ago.

  “And third, I’m being myself with you, Jor. I’m not groping you or kissing you like I’d do if we were more than friends. I was teasing and playing around. That’s what friends do. I know this is awkward, and we’re not talking about the elephant the size of Montana in the room, but we’re going to get through this.”

  “I don’t think it’s possible for an elephant the size of Montana to actually fit in this room.”

  He let out a breath. “It could, and it will, considering our history. Awkwardness doesn’t follow the rules of physics; it’s one of the commandments or something.”

  She raised a brow. “Really? God said ‘Thou shalt not follow the rules of physics when awkward’?”

  “Something like that.”

  They broke out in laugher, and just like that, the tension eased a bit. They picked up the cleaning supplies and started to work as a team. With each trash bag of junk collected, they reminisced about the times they’d spent in her grandmother’s house. She had thought she’d have felt sad in the place where she’d grown up and ultimately rejected, sitting with the man she’d left, but with Matt’s smile and laughter, she couldn’t quite feel too depressed. As always, Matt made her feel whole again.

  Too bad she was going to leave him again once when she figured out what she was going to do with her life.

  “Do you still practice?” Matt asked as they sat on her porch and gulped down the ice water she had in her cooler.

  “Practice what?”

  “Witchcraft.”

  She froze, surprised he’d broach the taboo subject with such ease. “Sometimes.”

  “Sometimes? That’s it? What does that mean?” He took a long drink then leveled his gaze at her.

  She shrugged, not comfortable with the topic. He’d always been her protector when she wasn’t protecting herself. But he hadn’t been there for all if it and hadn’t seen what had happened when others found out about her talent. If she could even call it that.

  “Jordan?”

  With him sitting there with that honest look on his face, she couldn’t hold back. He made her feel transparent, so she told him the truth. “I don’t practice as much as I’d like. But I’m always using my powers. I mean I can’t not be a witch. It runs through me; it’s in my blood. I just don’t do everything that I want to with it.”

  He rested his hand on hers, and she gripped it tightly, his warmth seeping into her bones. “What do you want to do with it?”

  “Like working with potions again or trying out new spells. Anything, really.”

  “Why don’t you?”

  “I don’t know.” No, that was a lie. She did know. But she’d been hiding from herself for so long it was hard to find who she was.

  He nodded, but she could tell he didn’t believe her. It was just one more reason she liked him; he let her be when she wanted it.

  “I hope you have the proper permits for this monstrosity,” Prescott said from the edge of the walkway, startling her.

  She and Matt stood quickly, her stomach heaving at the thought of having to be in the same space as Prescott. And, oh God, what if he told Matt about what had happened that night?

  Matt crossed his arms in front of his chest and shifted so he blocked her from view. She took a deep breath and moved closer to his side. She was a freaking adult. She could handle this. Maybe.

  “Jordan owns the place, Mr. Mayor,” he growled. “It’s not a public place, so she doesn’t need a permit to clean it up.”

  “We’ll see.” Prescott lifted his head so far Jordan thought she could see directly up his nose and walked away, anger in his stride.

  As soon as his car sped away, Jordan relaxed, they’d been too into each other even to notice him pull up in the first place. She needed to hurry up and get the house sold so she could leave. She might be a strong woman in some respects, but Prescott made her want to crawl in a hole and hide. That, by far, wasn’t his worse offense. She hated being weak, but for some reason, she couldn’t grow a backbone around him.

  “I hate that guy,” Matt grumbled.

  Jordan gave a small smile. “Me, too.”

  “Hey, you two, I hear you could use some help.” Justin, Matt’s very cute brother, walked toward them.

  “I think I got it, Justin,” Matt growled, and Jordan raised a brow.

  Interesting. Was Matt jealous of his big brother? Should she even care that he was? After all, they weren’t together, and Jordan thought of the Coopers like her family, just a very sexy one. Matt was the only one who had ever made her want to dream of more. Not in terms of success, but to have him be her family.

  “I could use all the help I can get, actually.” She wouldn’t have to be alone in a room with Matt and her traitorous thoughts, and she’d get out of here quicker. That’s what she wanted after all, right?

  “Sounds good to me,” Justin said. “Where do you want me?” He wiggled his brows, and she laughed while Matt growled again.

  “You want to take the bathrooms?” she teased.

  His face fell. “Seriously?”

  “Hey, you’re late; it seems only fair.” She looked over at Matt and winked.

  “Late? You didn’t even know I was coming!”

  She shrugged. “Not my problem. So what do you say?”

  He let out a breath, and Jordan bit back her laughter.

  “Fine, whatever.” He stomped inside, and she and Matt broke down.

  Tears slid down her cheeks and her side ached, but that moment was one of the best she’d had in forever. It was all because of the Coopers. How on earth was she supposed to leave again?

  Chapter 4

  Jordan closed her eyes and focused inward, her body swaying back and forth in rhythm with the wind music she’d put on her iPod. She sat cross-legged on her grandmother’s living room floor; she couldn’t think of it as her place. It’d been a month since she’d been in town, and yet, it still didn’t feel like home, though Matt and his brothers helped.

  They were making it that much harder for her to leave again; that seemed to be their goal. If she were honest with herself, she didn’t mind as much as she should.

  She shook her head. Damn, she needed to stop thinking about the Coopers, more specifically Matt. They drove her to distraction, and she needed to focus on her meditation. She took a deep breath, her body slowly returning to that slow motion that ebbed with the minuscule vibrations of the earth.

  This is why she loved being a witch. She didn’t dance naked in the moonlight—though she remembered that Matt has always wanted her to try it. She didn’t paint her face green and cackle at passing schoolchildren—even though it was tempting. No, she was a witch in the true sense of the word. She belonged to Mother Nature, and she could feel the connection to her surroundings sprouting like youngling seeds waiting for the sun.

  She stretched her arms above her head, her palms cupped, bringing the energy to her. It wrapped itself around her arms, trailing down her body like tendrils of light. She hummed as the intensity of the light soaked into her skin and dissolved.

  Yes, this was why she loved being a witch.

  Peace.

  She lowered her arms, took a deep breath, and opened her eyes. God, that felt better. She rolled her shoulders and stood in one fluid motion. She’d needed that. The tension in the past month had depleted her resources. Though some people opened their arms to her, some people in town had welcomed her with cool smiles while others openly turned their backs on her. Though she shouldn’t have expected anything else. These were the same people who had ridiculed her as a small child and had sided with the enemy…

  She shook her head. It wasn’t time to think about that. In fact, it was never time to think about that.

  It wasn�
�t all that bad. She had the Coopers, though she really only saw Tyler, Justin, and Matt. Bray was always busy in the mechanic shop, which he owned, since it was the only one around for five counties and also serviced the ranching and farming equipment. And Jackson… Well, Jackson was Jackson, distant, cool, and a little—no, a lot—intimidating. But he’d held her close when she’d seen him on the street and whispered welcome back before he’d walked away as if it hadn’t happened. He’d been the big brother she’d always wished she’d had.

  Oh, and there was Abigail, a new friend that she’d clung to. She’d babysat the woman in high school and now she was a stunning, if not alarmingly shy, twenty-two-year-old school teacher. Jordan had always liked her, though they were too different in age when they were younger to really hang out. Now, that seven-year age gap wasn’t so much of a problem, and Abby seemed to have adopted her.

  Jordan laughed to herself as she walked to her makeshift office. The little, curvy woman was a force to be reckoned with, though no one realized it behind her quiet demeanor. Well, quiet to everyone else. As soon as Abby lost her shield, she was a little chatterbox, and Jordan loved her to death.

  Jordan sank into her grandmother’s leather chair, which had survived the vandalism, and unlocked the bottom desk drawer with a key that had been around her neck since she could remember. She lifted the ancient book from its hiding place and set it carefully on the desk before returning the key to her necklace. Each family member wore a similar necklace, though now she was the last Cross. No matter how many keys though, there was just one book.

  Her magic book.

  Magic floated off the cover in an array of colored swirls and sparkles. She knew no one else could see the colors unless they were magically inclined, though she didn’t quite know what else was out there. For all she knew, she was the only true witch out there. Except for the occasional ghost, she’d never seen anything else. That didn’t mean they didn’t exist though. Jordan always hoped they did. It would be nice to not be so alone.