“I’m not the one you have to hide from,” I reminded him.
“I’m not hiding from Thistle either,” he said hurriedly. “I’m just not sure how I should approach her.”
“I wasn’t actually talking about Thistle either,” I said. “I was talking about Aunt Tillie. She’s the one you should be afraid of. It’s not like you’re one of her favorite people. She tortures the people she loves, so what do you think she’s going to do to you?”
Ted visibly blanched. I could tell that thought hadn’t occurred to him during his meticulous planning. “She can’t still possibly be mad?”
“You’ve met her, when isn’t she mad? Your timing is great, by the way. She was in a right snit this morning because she’s losing her wine closet. Your arrival will just be icing on her . . . witchy cake.”
Ted swallowed hard, the meaning of my words wasn’t lost on him. “What do you suggest?”
“Why should I suggest anything?”
“Because you love Thistle,” he said pointedly. “You want to make this as easy on her as possible.”
That was true. If I could go back in time and not answer my phone when Brian called, I would gladly do it.
“I suggest you go down to Hypnotic and see her now,” I said harshly.
Ted didn’t look like that was the scenario he had in mind. “I’m going to ask you to do something, Bay, something you’re probably not going to like.”
“Well, that sounds great,” I said sarcastically.
“I need you to let me approach Thistle,” he continued. “I don’t want you to tell her before I have a chance to.”
I opened my mouth to argue and then snapped it shut, mulling the thought over in my mind. I shook my head as I considered it. “I can’t lie to her.”
“Not lie, just avoid her until I have a chance to talk to her.”
“I live with her.”
“Well, just don’t bring it up,” Ted begged.
Crap.
“I can’t promise anything,” I said bitingly. “You had better handle this – and you’d better handle this today.”
Ted pursed his lips, clearly resigned to the situation. “I’ll think about it.”
“You do that,” I said angrily. I swung around on Brian. “How could you keep this from me?”
He held up his hands to ward off my anger. “To be fair, I had no idea you would be this upset about it.”
“I’m not upset,” I snapped. “I’m . . . confused.”
“That’s understandable,” Ted said in his most placating voice.
“I don’t understand,” Brian said blankly.
“I would expect nothing less,” I seethed. Then, for lack of something better to do, I stormed back out of the office. The last thing I wanted to do was continue this conversation. I slammed the door behind me for good effort.
Well, this day had gone to crap pretty quickly.
Seven
When I left Brian’s office, I felt myself inundated with a nervous energy that I couldn’t quite contain. Normally, when I was this keyed up, I would go to Hypnotic to vent. That wasn’t really an option in this particular case.
“What’s wrong?” Edith was curiously watching me pace my small office.
“You know that guy you didn’t recognize in Brian’s office?”
Edith nodded, concern etched on her ethereal face.
“It’s Thistle’s father.”
Something clicked in Edith’s mind. “Twila’s ex-husband. Of course, now I remember.”
“How do you know him?”
“I saw them together when they came into the paper to place their wedding announcement,” Edith said thoughtfully. “And Thistle’s birth announcement. I remember that they seemed so happy. I was a ghost, so they didn’t see me. I just remember thinking how grand it was for them to be so young and in love. I wondered what it would be like to be that happy.”
“Yeah? Well he happily disappeared from her life, for all intents and purposes, when she was a kid. Now he’s slunk back into town and he’s asked me not to tell her until he gets a chance to.”
“And you don’t think you can do that?”
“I can’t lie to her.”
“Don’t lie to her,” Edith suggested. “Just don’t tell her the truth.”
“No, you don’t understand,” I said angrily. “I really can’t lie to her. She always knows. She’s going to make me eat a pound of yellow snow if she finds out.”
“What are you going to do?” Edith asked, ignoring my yellow snow comment.
“I’m going to go for a walk and clear my mind,” I said. “I need you to keep an eye on them and see what they’re doing.”
I expected Edith to remind me that she wasn’t my slave. Instead, she nodded perfunctorily and winked out of my office. I was hoping she had gone to Brian’s office to eavesdrop on him and Ted – or maybe haunt them into leaving town. I could live with either option.
“Crap!” I slammed my fist down on my desk.
Once I was out on the street, the frustration that had been welling inside of me didn’t dissipate. As an earth witch, the outdoors is supposed to clear my channels and open my mind. Instead, I felt the prospect of lying to Thistle closing in on me like a shrinking coffin.
I had no clear direction as I walked. Before I realized what was happening, I noticed I was in front of the Wellington stables. I stood outside the fence to watch the horses play in the snow for a few minutes, hoping that would calm me. I didn’t notice the two figures walking out of the barn, though, until it was too late.
“What are you doing?”
I recognized Thistle’s voice before my eyes took in her slight frame. She was still a decent ways away, though, her fingers entwined with Marcus’ as she watched me curiously. I couldn’t let her get too close to me, I realized. The minute she did, she would know I was hiding something.
I took a step away from the fence uncertainly. “I’m just going to see Chief Terry about the boat,” I yelled across the paddock. “The horses distracted me.”
“Come help us feed them before you go,” Thistle offered. She knew I loved feeding the horses even more than I loved riding them.
“Maybe on my way back,” I said, turning to walk down the street and away from the stables. I didn’t look back. I didn’t have to. I could feel Thistle’s suspicious brown eyes boring a hole in my back as I trudged down the street.
I didn’t really have anything to talk to Chief Terry about, but the police station was only a block down the road. I knew Thistle was still watching me, so I had no choice but to go inside the building.
Once I entered, I greeted Chief Terry’s secretary at the front desk and wandered down the hallway without waiting for her to announce me. I had been doing this long enough to know that Chief Terry would always welcome me.
When I got to his office, I found the door wide open and voices emanating from inside. He wasn’t alone. Unfortunately, I recognized the other voice. Landon was there, too.
“There’s no need to eavesdrop,” Landon said with a small laugh. “We’re not talking about anything that you can’t hear.”
I wandered into the office, offering Chief Terry a wan smile as I slid into the open chair next to Landon. I could feel his eyes on me as I studied my shoes intently.
“What’s going on,” Landon asked worriedly.
“Nothing,” I said blandly. “Why do you think something is wrong?”
“Because you look like someone killed your favorite cousin,” Chief Terry answered for him. He looked as concerned as Landon.
“I’m fine,” I lied. “I just wanted to see if you found out anything about the boat.”
Chief Terry didn’t look like he believed me. “We’ve ran the registration,” he said quietly. “It belongs to a Canadian couple out of Vancouver named Byron and Lillian Hobbes.”
“What were they doing down here?”
“We don’t know. We haven’t been able to get that far yet.”
“
Has anyone reported them missing?”
“We have a call in to the authorities in Canada,” Landon said. His eyes never left my drawn face. “We haven’t heard back yet.”
“Is there any reason to believe that someone would want them dead?”
“All we know is that they were in their late sixties and they bought the boat a little over a year ago,” Chief Terry said. “We don’t know if they had any enemies. We don’t know anything about their financial situation. We don’t really know anything except that the boat was empty and that there was blood on the deck.”
“We just got the case an hour ago,” Landon reminded me.
“I know,” I said testily. “I was just checking.”
Chief Terry leaned back in his chair and regarded me doubtfully. “I think something else is going on.”
“Why do you think that?”
“Because you have that same guilty look on your face that you had when you got caught shoplifting lipstick when you were twelve.”
Landon tried to hide his smile. I didn’t find the situation amusing.
“I didn’t shoplift it,” I said. “It fell in my bag.” Actually, Thistle had dropped it in there, but I had no intention of dragging her down, too.
“I didn’t believe it then and I don’t believe that nothing is going on now,” Chief Terry said gently.
I looked up at him forlornly. “Brian Kelly called me into his office for a meeting,” I started.
“Did he do something to you?” Landon looked incensed. He and Brian had gone toe to toe several times when Landon hadn’t liked Brian’s interest in me.
“He wasn’t alone,” I continued. “He had a new advertiser there. The thing is, I know the advertiser.”
“Who is it?” Chief Terry looked concerned.
“Ted Proctor.” I blurted out the name before I fully considered the ramifications of my actions. I trusted Chief Terry, but my mom and aunts could sweet talk just about anything out of him with just the promise of cookies and homemade pot roast.
“Ted Proctor?” Chief Terry looked confused.
“Who is Ted Proctor?” Landon looked like he was ready to jump into action, although he had no idea why.
Realization dawned on Chief Terry’s face. “Teddy Proctor?”
“Yeah,” I nodded miserably.
“Thistle’s father?”
I nodded again.
“I don’t understand,” Landon started. “Why is everyone so worked up about Thistle’s father coming to town? Is he a bad guy or something?”
“He’s not a good guy,” I said.
Chief Terry sighed. “He’s Twila’s ex-husband.”
“Is that supposed to mean something to me?”
Chief Terry regarded me warily. “Teddy Proctor left town, abandoning Twila and Thistle when she was still a little girl. As far as I know, he hasn’t been back since.”
“Abandon is a strong word,” I said.
“What would you call it?” Chief Terry asked bleakly.
“He left town and . . . yeah, he abandoned them.”
“So why are you so upset?” Landon asked curiously.
“He asked me to let him approach Thistle.”
“So, that seems like a reasonable request.”
I had to remind myself that Landon wasn’t being purposely obtuse. “He doesn’t want me to tell her that I’ve seen him.”
The fog cleared from Landon’s face. “And you don’t want to lie to her?”
“I can’t lie to her,” I admitted. “She always knows.”
“Maybe you’re just a bad liar,” he said pointedly.
“I’m a terrible liar,” I said, ignoring the pointed barb. “Especially when it comes to Thistle and Clove. When I was thirteen I broke Thistle’s favorite doll and tried to blame it on Clove.”
“What did she do?”
“She burned down my tree house.”
Landon looked stunned, while Chief Terry chuckled to himself. “I remember that. You were crying like someone had died.”
“I loved that tree house,” I said.
“I know,” Chief Terry said. “Every time you ran away as a kid and your mom would call me all panicked that was the first place I looked.”
“And you always found me there,” I said. “And you never told them where I was hiding.”
“I figured you had your reasons to run away,” Chief Terry said fondly.
“I’m guessing that reason usually had something to do with Aunt Tillie,” Landon said.
“I can’t lie to Thistle,” I said.
“Then tell her the truth,” Chief Terry said gently.
“Uncle Teddy asked me not to.”
“Are you loyal to him or Thistle?”
I met Chief Terry’s gaze evenly. “Thistle, of course. That’s why I’m so torn, though.”
“What do you mean?”
“Thistle brought up her dad this morning,” I explained. “She’s clearly been thinking about him. I don’t want to ruin their reunion by forcing a confrontation before either of them is ready.”
“Then I would suggest booking a room at another inn,” Chief Terry said honestly. “Because one look at your face and she’s going to know something is up.”
I knew he was right, even if I didn’t want to acknowledge it.
“You can stay with me,” Landon said brightly.
I could hear Chief Terry grunt from across the table. “Don’t even think about it.”
“Excuse me,” Landon met Chief Terry’s consternation with a flash of his dimples.
“Don’t make me beat you, boy,” Chief Terry said.
“She’s a grown woman,” Landon pointed out.
“Not to me,” Chief Terry smiled. “To me she’ll always be the little girl that bribed me with apple fritters in a tree house.”
Eight
I excused myself from Chief Terry’s office a few minutes later. I still wasn’t sure what to do. On one hand, I could try to avoid Thistle – which would undoubtedly end with one of us pulling a clump of the other’s hair out of her head. On the other hand, I could tell her I saw her father and that he had been hiding from her – which would undoubtedly end with her trying to scratch his eyes out.
It was a tough choice.
Landon followed me out of Chief Terry’s office. He didn’t invade my personal space, but he didn’t walk away either.
“You probably think I’m a whiny baby,” I said finally, glancing out the front window of the police station when we got to the front vestibule.
“No,” Landon smiled. “I think that the loyalty you share with your cousins is fairly impressive. It reminds me of me and my brothers.”
“You have brothers?” I realized I didn’t know very much about him.
“Two,” Landon said. “Both younger.”
“And where are they?”
“One of them lives in Traverse City,” Landon said. “I see him every couple of weeks. We get together for a football game and beers.”
I could picture him hanging out with his brother and watching football. It was a nice image.
“And your other brother?”
“He lives in Saginaw,” Landon said. “He’s a Baptist minister.”
Well, that was surprising. “Really?”
“Yeah, every time I see him he tells me I’m going to go to hell because I’m plagued by impure thoughts.”
The statement was pointed, and I could feel myself blush under his sudden scrutiny. “So, what would you do in my situation?”
“I don’t know,” Landon said honestly. “My mom and dad are still married so I don’t know what I would do in your situation. Something tells me, though, you’re worried about more than Thistle’s reaction to seeing her dad.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean that you’re also worried about Twila. And if you’re worried about Twila and Thistle, that means the rest of your family will be worried about Twila and Thistle. And if the rest of your family gets worked up, tha
t means that everyone in town should be worried about Twila and Thistle.”
I think Landon was going for levity, but his words carried a trace of truth that I couldn’t deny.
“Aunt Tillie is a concern,” I said carefully. “She didn’t like Uncle Teddy when he was married to Twila. She downright hates him now.”
“And we don’t want her getting mad,” Landon said seriously. I could see he was really concerned.
“She wouldn’t kill him or anything,” I said hurriedly.
“Then what would she do?” Landon asked curiously.
I pictured Ted’s face full of boils for a second and then shook my head. “Nothing that would have permanent ramifications.”
“I guess that’s something to be happy about,” Landon said dubiously.
“This is such a mess,” I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose to ward off the migraine that was threatening to overtake me.
Landon took a careful step towards me and then pulled me towards him, wrapping his strong arms around me to comfort me. I considered pulling away, but it felt so good to be in his protective circle – even if it couldn’t last – that I willingly stayed there and rested my head on his shoulder for a minute.
When I finally broke away, I looked up into Landon’s clear eyes and saw the comfort I so desperately wanted. I could tell he wanted to kiss me, but one look at the curious secretary at the front desk told him that he didn’t want to do it here. I wanted him to kiss me, too, but I didn’t exactly want an audience.
“I’ll walk you back to the paper,” Landon said finally, shooting an irritated look in the secretary’s direction.
“That sounds nice,” I said with a warm smile. I meant it, too. It did sound nice.
Unfortunately that sentiment didn’t last long. When I exited the police station, Landon close on my heels, I found Thistle standing in the middle of the sidewalk with her hands on her hips. She was waiting for me.
I inadvertently pulled back when I saw her, slamming backwards into Landon as I did so. He wrapped an arm around my chest to steady me. “Hey, Thistle,” he greeted her with faux enthusiasm.
Thistle ignored Landon’s greeting. “Why did you walk away from me when I was talking to you at the stable?”
Witching You Were Here (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 3) Page 5
