Chapter 6 #3
Relief flooded through him. Right. Hold on, the teenager from earlier was his daughter? “I’m really sorry about that,” he said. “Is she okay?”
Hayes waved his concern away. “She’s fine. But she did say that you’re a pretty shitty dancer. My words, not hers.”
Yeah, yeah. That was now abundantly clear. “She’s good,” Dane said. “I mean, I think she is.” Deciding that Hayes was the type of guy who’d prefer him being blunt rather than beating around the bush, he asked how old he was when Hadley was born.
“Nineteen,” Hayes replied. “I raised her.”
Dane sipped his beer, expecting Hayes to change the subject, which he did. And of course, the subject was him. “How did you end up in H-Town?”
Dane lifted his shoulder, once again feeling a twinge. “I chose it for the proximity to the mountains, the hiking and bike trails, the lake sports.”
Hayes smiled. “So, town rumor has it that you’ve either been fired, are hanging out in H-Town to heal a broken heart, or you’ve just won the lottery.”
“I’m on vacation,” Dane replied, keeping his voice even. Kinda. Sorta. He wasn’t a guy who opened up easily, and while he liked Hayes, he was still little more than a stranger and he was at his limit of personal talk.
“So, another topic of hot debate is whether you’ll keep your word to Penn and go back to dance class.”
Dane looked at his watch. “Dance class ended at six, it’s now twenty past eight. How the hell does gossip travel that fast?”
“This is H-Town, dude.”
“Why do they even care about a stranger?”
“Well, to be fair, they don’t consider you a stranger, because Luna is determined to get you to take over from Doc Morris.
So, you’re now part of the community. Also, anything that happens that isn’t related to Halloween, ghosts, and the paranormal is always welcome.
Your arrival and Wren’s return for the summer are all anyone is speaking about at the moment. ”
“I. Am. Not. Going. To. Practice. Family. Medicine,” Dane said, through gritted teeth.
“Don’t tell me. Convince Luna.” Hayes laughed. “Getting back to Penn, the consensus is that he is an arrogant prick. And anyone who takes Colt’s side against his dad is a hero in the town’s eyes.”
Hayes mentioning Colt diverted Dane’s attention from Luna’s plans for his future employment.
Hayes sighed. “I’ve watched him grow up—he’s the same age as Hadley—and it’s a miracle he’s as well balanced as he is.
” Hayes drained his beer. “Penn tells everyone he’s a day trader, but we all know he’s a househusband, not that there’s anything wrong with him being a stay-at-home dad.
But it bugs the shit out of him. His wife is a high-flying lawyer who only manages to get back to H-Town once a month.
Penn hates the role reversal, and we think he takes his frustration with the situation and his own inadequacies out on Colt. ”
Dane hauled in a deep breath. “Any violence involved?”
“Not that anyone has noticed. It’s mostly verbal.”
Dane muttered, folded his arms, and tipped his head back to look at the ceiling. “Shit,” he muttered.
Hayes tapped his glass against Dane’s bottle.
“Please try not to step on my daughter’s foot if you go back.
” He lifted his bottle in a mock toast. “But here’s to you…
Thanks for giving us something to talk about.
And welcome to H-Town.” He grinned. “It’ll be nice to have a new doctor in town, someone who works more than a few hours a week. ”
Jesus. “I am not—”
He saw Hayes grin and knew he was winding him up. So he quietly, subtly lifted his middle finger in his direction. Then he looked at Wren, caught her eyes on him and his heart did a slow roll, then dipped and swooped.
This wasn’t a date, this wasn’t a date. But, damn, he wished it was and that it would end the way best dates did … up close, personal.
Naked.
* * *
An invitation to have mid-afternoon coffee at Spirited Grounds with Luna was never just about coffee.
And once again Wren was proved right when the following Monday, she found her godmother sitting at the round table at the back of the café, Madame Calliope to one side of her, and Andrea, the head witch from Luna’s coven, on her other.
The rest of the eight-seater table under the mural was empty, although there were full coffee cups in front of two empty chairs.
Oh, what fresh hell was this?
Wren started to backtrack, but then three sets of witchy eyes lifted, and collectively pinned her feet to the floor. “Don’t you dare leave,” Luna mouthed.
Ugh.
Wren weaved her way through the tables, her hands buried in the pockets of her sunshine-yellow sundress. The three most powerful women in the town were waiting for her…
Nothing good could come of this. What in the name of all that was holy, or unholy, was Luna up to this time?
She reached the table and held on to the back of one of the free chairs.
“Okay, I will continue to teach the kids dance,” she said, hoping her quick capitulation would get her out of the coffee shop sooner.
The incense drifting from the plague-doctor burner above Andrea’s head hit her like a brick—instant headache.
She wanted out.
Like, ten minutes ago.
Andrea, serene and lovely, and dressed in a prosaic pair of denim jeans and a pink tank top, rose from her seat.
She pushed back her chair and walked behind Luna and Madame to hug Wren.
She couldn’t explain it, but whenever Andrea hugged her, she just …
melted—like her whole body exhaled and decided to relax.
Was that something Andrea had learned at witch school?
Then Andrea touched her fingers to Wren’s temple, spoke too softly for her to hear, and as quickly as her headache had appeared, it left.
No words. Genuinely. None.
Luna gestured to the chair Wren was holding and told her to take a seat. “Cedric is also sitting in on this meeting—he’s taking minutes—as well as Effie, as the ghost representative.”
This was her life now, apparently. Meetings with witches, psychics, and ghosts. Fabulous. Andrea caught her eye and sent her a soft, sympathetic smile. Wren wondered whether she believed in spirits; not all witches did. How did she know that? That would be thanks to living with Luna.
Wren sat down, folded her hands, and lifted her eyebrows. “Why am I here, ladies?” She glared at Luna, hoping it was crystal clear the whole lying-again-to-get-her-ass-here issue would be addressed later.
“Honor, our tarot-card reader, is unavailable to do readings at our summer events, and you know how popular tarot-card readings are,” Luna stated.
Wren didn’t actually know that, but okay. If Luna said so.
“She’s gone on an urgent pilgrimage to Sedona to clear her chakras,” Luna continued.
Madame Calliope snorted. “She’s in Atlantic City playing craps, Luna. She met some guy, a high roller, and he invited her to tag along. She’s flinging dice in between ordering room service and getting herself sexually serviced.”
More than Wren needed to know.
Luna leaned forward, her entire body vibrating with curiosity. “What else do you know?”
“Effie says that she’ll be late for her date with the coffee machine if we don’t move it along,” Madame said, bored. “Get on with it, Luna.”
If there was one person in H-Town with more power or bigger balls than Luna, it was Calliope.
“Anyway, we are auditioning tarot-card readers,” Luna continued. “We have a candidate, and she will read you.”
Oh, fuck, no. “I don’t believe in tarot-card readings, Luna, as you well know,” Wren said through gritted teeth.