My heart clenched into a tight ball and pounded in my chest. It went without saying that a generous check wasn’t going to fix the situation. I’d never seen her this way before. She’d always been the brave one, ever since we were kids. She was the one who jumped off the roof to see if the charmed fairy wings she’d talked our father into buying her actually worked. The one who soaked up the spotlight in dance recitals and school plays. Whereas I’d always been the cautious—i.e. responsible—one. Everyone chalked it up to me being so much older than Harmony, but I’d always known it wasn’t just my age. We were different, from our very foundations.
Reaching for her hand, I offered her the ghost of a smile. “I’m here for you, Harmony. I always am. You know that, right?”
She nodded and sniffled loudly. “I’m so tired of being the screw-up. The mess. I only have a week left at the hostel before they’ll start suggesting I move on, but I don’t have anywhere to go. I want a place of my own. No more sleepy boyfriends or cobbled together part-time jobs. I just want to be normal!” She dissolved into sniffles and began sobbing again.
I patted her back and shushed her soothingly. “Tell you what,” I started, a new idea coming to me. “Tomorrow—” I paused, remembering the time. “Make that today, I have a rehearsal dinner at Luna. It’s an upscale restaurant downtown. The manager owes me a favor. I’ll cash it in and get you a job. You can stay with me until you get your feet back underneath you. Apartments here in the Seattle Haven aren’t cheap, but you’ll have some time to look and maybe get a roommate or two lined up.”
“Are you sure?” she asked, a hopeful lilt to her voice. “I won’t be in the way?”
“Considering this place only has one bathroom, I’m sure we’ll get in each other’s way sometimes, but we’ll make it work.” I smiled. “Besides, at least if you’re here, I know you won’t be off getting yourself into trouble.”
Using the back of her hand, she wiped away the makeup smudges on her cheeks. “I’ll try not to.”
I gave her hand a squeeze and got up from the couch. “We need to be up in less than four hours,” I told her, smiling at the horrified look that flashed across her face. “So, get some sleep. The rehearsal tomorrow is for one of my biggest accounts. I can’t have anything going wrong, okay?”
“Got it,” she replied, mocking a salute.
“The bathroom is down the hall. Take whatever you need. We can go shopping tomorrow after the rehearsal.”
“Thank you, Stace. I promise I’ll make it up to you, somehow.”
“No need, baby sis.” I snapped my fingers and the lights in the living room dimmed to a faint, blue light. “Night, Harmony.”
“Night, Stace.”
I went back to my bed and exhaled slowly as I climbed in beside my fluffy Persian. “Looks like we have a new roomie, Peaches.” The cat lifted her head so I could scratch her chin. “Let’s just hope we don’t get carried away in Tornado Harmony.”
Rolling to my side, I reached out for my alarm clock and set it back half an hour. If I was going to have any chance of getting through arguably one of the most important days of my career, I needed to allow some time for a supercharged elixir from the local potions shop before going to the office.
Maybe two.
Chapter Two
Weddings, human or otherwise, have always been magical to me, but they are a lot more fun with a handful of charms and enchantments thrown into the details. Who could resist sprays of color-changing flowers, glowing lanterns suspended in midair without fishing line, or songbirds that regale the crowd with custom songs fit for the bride and groom alongside a musician-less string quartet? And the food! Light-as-a-feather pastries and decadent entrees, all served by golden trays that swooped through a reception hall on whisper-soft wings.
Luckily for me, I’d recently landed a promotion that put me smack dab in the middle of the magical madness, working as a wedding planner for A Touch of Magic Events, a hybrid event planning company that catered to both the supernatural and human residents of Seattle. Up until a few months ago, I’d been working out of the Seattle office and planning non-magic weddings. It was a fine job, but since my first day with the company, I’d had my sights set on a position in the magic division. At last, I’d landed my dream job and spent my days lost in a wonderland of charmed wedding cakes, bespelled chocolate fountains, and self-carving ice sculptures.
I sighed happily just thinking about it.
“So, what kind of job am I going to get?” Harmony asked, interrupting my musings.
“It’s a restaurant, Harmony. So, unless you have some mad cooking skills you’ve been keeping under wraps, I think it’s safe to say you’ll end up as a hostess or server.”
“As long as they don’t expect me to scrub toilets,” she muttered under her breath.
I drew in a deep breath and then buttoned my lips.
The morning was off to a rough start and tensions were high. It took me three tries—and finally a cup of ice water—to get Harmony off the couch and into the shower, leaving no time to stop at the potions shop on the corner to get an elixir or even an enhanced cup of coffee. On top of all that, I’d noticed after leaving the condo that she was wearing a pair of my favorite heels.
We were on the Shimmer Bus, speeding through the streets of the Seattle Haven, the magical community tucked behind a powerful layer of magic within the city of Seattle itself. Only supernatural beings could access the handful of portals to and from the magic realms contained by the largest human cities across the globe. Harmony and I had both grown up in the Seattle Haven. She left after her seventeenth birthday while I remained behind to care for our ailing father. In hindsight, I couldn’t fault her. She was like our mother, a free spirit who wanted nothing more than to see the world and have adventures. I looked after our father until he was too sick to be on his own, and then moved him into a healing center where he got daily treatments and had a horde of healing witches looking after him.
With our father in a care facility, I’d finally struck out on my own and moved into a cramped apartment until my name popped up on the waitlist for the exclusive condo building I now called home. At twenty-nine, I was coming into my own … just in time for Harmony to boomerang back into the picture.
“I don’t see why I had to get up so early in the first place. I could have met you at this fancy-pants restaurant tonight. You said it was a rehearsal dinner,” she grumbled beside me. “Last time I checked, no one eats dinner at six in the morning.”
I closed my eyes and gathered as much patience as I could muster before answering, “Harmony, I told you, if you want to stay with me, you’ll do what I say.”
“Yes, mom.”
I opened my mouth, ready to fire off an angry retort, but just as quickly, I closed it again. There was no point in hashing it out with her on the bus of all places. She turned to look out her window and I looked out my own.
The Shimmer Bus wasn’t like normal, non-supernatural buses. It was more like a submarine on wheels. While stationary, the seating area was spacious, with a wide aisle down the middle, but when it started moving, it compacted itself, essentially removing the aisle to allow it to charge down its designated track at full speed. Then, when it reached the next stop, it would expand out like an accordion to allow passengers off and on. It could cover the entire haven in under an hour, but even with its speed, I knew we’d be pushing it to get to my office on time for the morning staff meeting.
Great.
My eyes slid toward Harmony; I considered her with a scowl still etched on my face. The truth was, I hadn’t trusted her enough to stay at my condo alone. I had no way of knowing who she’d invite over or what damage she might cause if left to her own devices. The last time she’d been over, to my other apartment, she’d lit the kitchen on fire when she forgot she was warming up lunch and went out with a friend at the last minute. I hated that I didn’t trust her, but my new condo had a textbook-sized tenants agreement and a pack of old biddies with not
hing better to do than patrol the halls, looking for any minor infraction.
I’d told her how important today was, and she’d overslept anyway. Maybe I should have let her sleep, put a check on her purse, with a note saying good luck out there, and called it a day. Guilt bit into me as I dwelled on the thought.
Flicking my gaze back out my own window, I sighed and released my jaw. I had no point of reference for how she must be feeling. I’d always had a clear-cut plan for my future and knew exactly what I wanted out of life, at least, as far as a career went. Harmony floated through from one gig to the next, changing her mind and plans as often as she changed her hair color. Part of her willy-nilly, come-what-may attitude infuriated me, but there was a tiny part of me that wondered what it must be like to live without the confines of a schedule or expectations.
Then again, she was currently living on my sofa and had a bank account that, for all I knew, was empty. A scenario that sent chills up my spine.
“Luna is one of the chicest restaurants in the entire haven,” I told her, as we neared our stop. “Regardless of what you end up doing, you should make good money in tips and be able to save up a little cushion for yourself while you sort out what you want to do long term.”
I reached up and pulled the red velvet sash above our seats and gave it a tug. Sparks flew down the center aisle and within a second, the bus pulled to a smooth stop. It expanded out and a door opened at the front. I hurried Harmony along as we exited the crowded bus. It was a Friday morning and from the surly looks on our fellow passenger’s faces, no one was in the mood for dawdling.
No sooner than our feet landed on the pavement, the bus popped, cinched back tight, and jolted away from the sidewalk, hurtling back along the path marked explicitly for its use. The Seattle Haven was considerably smaller than the actual city of Seattle, and while some haven residents owned their own vehicles, it was a rarity and somewhat discouraged—mostly in a passive-aggressive way through absurdly expensive parking fees.
“My office is just ahead,” I told Harmony, picking up the pace as we neared a mid-rise building. “Today is going to be a busy day, so I’ll need you to keep up and not ask a lot of questions.”
“Got it,” Harmony replied, her tone still edgy.
My fingers curled into tight balls and then released. All I needed was for her to stay out of my way, let me work without complaining, and make a good impression when we arrived at Luna. With any luck, we’d leave the upscale eatery with a successful rehearsal dinner and a job offer under our belts.
With a determined nod, I tugged open one of the frosted-glass doors to the building and led Harmony to the third floor where A Touch of Magic’s suite of office spaces resided.
Harmony’s irritation seemed to fade as I gave her a brief tour of the lush workspace. Her scowl was replaced by a look of wonder, her eyes wide as she took it all in. I couldn’t blame her. I’d felt the same way when I’d had my first interview six years ago. In fact, I’d probably been even more giddy, as being a wedding planner had been my dream since childhood.
Harmony didn’t usually care for fussy ceremony or extravagant parties, but even she couldn’t help but get sucked into the sheer luxe of the setting. From the gleaming marble floors to the rich fabrics and crystal chandeliers, no expense had been spared in decorating the four-thousand square foot office space.
“And this is me,” I said, finishing the tour at my own office. An antique white desk took up most of the space, with matching bookshelves on the other side of the room that framed a crushed-velvet chaise in a deep merlot hue. The bookshelves held very few books. Instead, most of the space was occupied with framed photos from the events that held particular significance to me: the charity carnival I’d organized last fall for the Society of Lost Familiars, the fabulous baby shower I’d done for one of the Los Angeles Haven’s most famous actors and his wife, and of course, the first wedding I’d ever planned on my own.
“This place is something else,” Harmony said, sidling up to the shelves to study the photographs. “It suits you, Stace.”
“Thank you,” I replied, sitting down at my desk. I stowed my purse in one of the drawers and then smiled at her. “It’s taken a lot of work to get to having my own office, but it’s been well worth it.”
She set aside the framed photograph in her hands and stuffed them into the pockets of her black bomber jacket. “So, what am I supposed to do while you’re busy?”
Before I could answer, a barrage of twinkling sounds filled the space. The basket on the edge of my desk started to fill with paperwork, each one deposited by a tiny fairy. They worked the mailroom, a system that was woefully understaffed, considering the average fairy could barely manage a single envelope at a time.
“Morning, ladies,” I said as they flittered to and from my office.
Harmony smiled at the stack of paperwork piling up on my desk, a virtual blizzard of work to do. “Looks like you’ll be busy. I could go get us some breakfast?”
The last fairy blitzed from the office and I sighed. “I could use a little pick-me-up.”
“Okay. Tell me where and I’ll go.”
I was midway through rattling off my order when there was a sharp knock on the open door. “New coffee girl?”
I glanced up and frowned at the blonde woman standing in my doorway. “No, actually this is my sister. Harmony, this is Kait Gerrick. Kait is an associate here.”
“Charmed, I’m sure,” Kait sneered. “I didn’t realize it was bring-your-kid-sister-to-work day.”
I clenched my teeth but managed to keep my smile in place. “She’s helping me with the Swan rehearsal dinner tonight at Luna.”
Kait’s expression tensed, as if she’d swallowed a whole lemon, and I smiled. The barb landed on exactly the right target. We’d fought for the Swan account since the initial consultation nearly nine months ago. It was a brutal battle—in the most passive-aggressive and petty way imaginable—but in the end I wound up on top and won the account.
“I didn’t realize tonight was the rehearsal,” Kait replied, her jaw tight. “I do hope it all works out. It would be a shame if something were to go wrong so close to the big day.”
With that, she turned and sashayed away, no doubt off to gossip about me with the clique of girls she reined over. Most days, she made the ringleader from Mean Girls look like Merry Poppins.
“What was that all about?” Harmony whispered, closing the door softly.
“Nothing,” I scoffed and went back to writing my coffee order on a small pink notecard. “At least, nothing important. Kait started working for the firm around the same time as me and we’ve been in something of a rivalry since the beginning. She got passed over for this last promotion and is a little … upset that it went to me.”
“A little upset?” Harmony repeated, lifting her brows. “She looked about ready to breathe fire at you.”
“It’s really not that bad. She’s more bark than bite.” I flapped a hand and then passed over the notecard with my coffee order scrawled across it. She took the card and waited while I dug some money from my purse. “Here you go. Now, I have some phone calls to make. Gotta make sure the dragon lady doesn’t get a leg up on me.”
“Luck!” Harmony grinned and slipped from the office.
The rest of the morning went without a hitch, and at two o’clock, we headed across the haven to the Juniper Gardens, a coveted wedding venue, two hours ahead of the happy couple’s arrival. I put Harmony to work with the small army of florists who were covering every available space with a literal truck load of flowers. To my surprise, she didn’t complain, and whenever my gaze circled back to her, she was busy placing flowers with knitted concentration.
My clients, Belle and Eduard, arrived right on schedule and all of my energy went toward finalizing the details of their ceremony. Overall, they’d been easygoing clients. Belle had her moments of panic and tended to run a little on the high-strung side of things, but that was better than 90 percent of my often
-snooty clientele. The plump witch who would be serving as the official master of the ceremony took over the rehearsal and I made the rounds, checking the work of the florists before sliding into the back row to sit beside Harmony.
“I don’t know how you keep it all straight,” she whispered as I took my seat. At the front, the bride and groom were laughing together and an unexpected, sharp pang echoed through my stomach. My eyes darted away and I concentrated on my younger sister as she watched it all unfold, evidently through a completely different filter. “How do you remember all the details? Where to stand, what to say, when the music starts … seems like a headache to me.”
“Practice, I suppose,” I replied with a shrug. “Now listen, we’ll be leaving in a few minutes to go to Luna. I’ll need to get things underway, and then I’ll find the right time to introduce you to Marco. All you have to do is smile, nod, and agree to whatever he says. He’s a very nice wizard, but also has high standards.” I glanced down at her outfit and chewed on the corner of my lip, wishing I’d asked her what else she had packed in her bag before we left the house. Her skirt was a little too short and the tights she wore had a small run in the knee.
Harmony was frowning when I met her eyes again. “They snagged on a rose thorn.”
I started to protest that I wasn’t actually worried about the state of her tights, but it was no use. She raised a hand and stopped me short. “If I’m not good enough for this snobby restaurant guy, then I’ll find something else on my own. I don’t need your charity, Stace.”
I cocked my head, my temper flaring back to life. “You came to me and asked for help and that’s what I’m trying to do!”
She sighed and stared up at the sky. “I just mean with the job. I can find a job! Done it half a dozen times.”
I pursed my lips. “We’ve played this game before, Harmony. I’m not going to foot your bills for three months while you haphazardly pick up waitressing and bartending gigs to cobble together a paycheck. Marco is particular, but he pays well and you’ll have an opportunity to move up in the world. He can introduce you to powerful people.”
Witchy Weddings: A Magic Witch Mystery Series: The complete Touch of Magic series Page 2
