Chapter 6
Chapter
Six
I spent the rest of the night hiding in my room, hating myself for allowing the demon to take over my house. I didn’t know how to get rid of it. I’d called and asked Fern if I could try an exorcism, but Jax said that would probably only make him itchy and very mad.
I flipped through the book of spells we’d used to see if there was anything in there, but I already knew there wasn’t. There was not a single mention of a demon of any kind in the book. It made me wonder for the millionth time how and why we’d been entangled in this mess with Asmodeus. It really did not make sense.
The next morning, I woke alone. I changed quickly and snuck out of the house without looking for the demon werewolf. There were still hours until I was supposed to be taking the little girl I was nannying for the summer to a birthday party at the local skating rink, so I went to a local coffee shop for a hit of caffeine and a breakfast sandwich. While I sat there waiting, I used my phone to search for ways to get protection against demons. I had a feeling it was all a bunch of nonsense, but I was totally going to get some salt and try putting some protection symbols on my bedroom door.
Couldn’t hurt, right?
Just before noon, I headed across town to the skating rink. Normally I was firm on not working weekends, but Logan was a full-time single dad and had a work event. His daughter was pretty much impossible to say no to. Which said a lot, because I was a teacher and spent all day every day telling little kids no.
A part of me wished there was any sort of spark with Logan. It could have been so easy to fall in love with someone like him. In fact, he checked so many of the boxes on my man bucket list, including being tall, blond, and good with kids. I had absolutely zero interest in having my own children, but I did love kids. Being a good parent was usually a pretty good indicator of how someone would be with their romantic partner.
I wasn’t halfway down the walk to the door before a high-pitched voice yelled my name. Moments later I was bowled over by a pixie of a girl with lots of straight golden hair and wide, blue eyes. Lily was five, three years younger than the third graders I taught during the school year. She had been in Fern’s class last year, and had introduced me to Logan when he’d asked her about possible summer care options. Fern was teaching summer school, but I had planned to take the summer off. For Fern’s sake, I’d taken the meeting with Logan, fully prepared to let him down easy. But I’d fallen in love with the ball of energy who was Lily.
“Hi there,” I said, kneeling to give the little girl a big hug and throwing a grin to Logan over her shoulder. “Are you excited to go skating?”
“So, so ‘cited!” She said, spinning out of my arms and doing a turn to show off the purple tutu-dress she was wearing. It was very over the top for a roller rink, but Lily was firmly in her princess era. It was next to impossible to get her into anything but a pretty dress. The poofier or glitterier the better.
“Thank you for doing this,” Logan said. When I stood up and tugged on the slightly too short hem of my t-shirt.
I hadn’t been able to do laundry and was running short on clothing. Especially since I had been refusing to replace my wardrobe after gaining thirty-five pounds over the last year. I’d never believed in stress weight, but damn, it came at me with a vengeance.
I smiled up at the man and accepted the backpack and gift bag he was handing out to me. “It’s no problem. I’m happy to be out of the house today. You said you’d be back by three to get her?”
I didn’t have a car seat in my car since everything we wanted to do was within walking distance. If we did want to take an adventure further away, I would get the car seat from Logan before he left for the day.
“Yep. If I can get away sooner, I will. But I made it clear I had to be back here by three. I don’t want to take up any more of your day than we already are.” He ruffled a hand in the hair at the back of his head in a super endearing gesture. Once again, I wished I felt something, anything, for him. But there was nothing.
Just like there hadn’t been any real sparks with anyone for well over a year.
The lack of spark had driven me to cast the spell in the first place. My parents had been harping on me about being single, going into my thirties and wanting grandkids. They kept going on and on about wanting to make sure I settled down and before they died. Which was ridiculous because they were both very healthy, active people in their mid-fifties. But I’d been depressed and lonely and was willing to try anything to get them to back off. Even the occult, apparently.
And that worked out so well for me.
“It’s my pleasure.” I hiked the backpack over the shoulder opposite of my tote bag and looped the gift bag over my wrist. “Are you ready to rock, Lil?”
“Yep!” She threw herself against her dad’s legs. Experienced with her fierce tackle hugs, he already braced for impact. “Bye Dad!”
I took Lily’s hand in mine and we went our separate ways.
“C’mon Violet!” Lily said, pulling on my hand. “I’m so ‘cited! I’ve never been roller skating before.”
“Yep, let’s go skate.” I allowed her to drag me into the building, thankful to finally have something to focus on besides my demon problem.