Chapter 15 #2
“I talked to Trent. He got the call the weekend before your test.” Abigail frowned as she thought about the timing.
“He said he mentioned it to Sarah, and she called the training office to get Tempest in the session with Cerby. She didn’t realize they’d be locked up for six weeks.
At least Tempest didn’t have to go to the camp. Em’s very attached to her puppy.”
Mia wanted to listen more but found herself drifting off, and when she awoke, she was upstairs in her bed with Mr. Darcy curled next to her. She smiled as she rubbed his head. “Some level five witch I’m turning out to be. I can’t even stay up past nine.”
He reached out a paw and rubbed her hand. He knew she’d been through a tough event, and she was being hard on herself. The images he sent her made her smile. Her cat thought she was a warrior.
“I’m not sure that’s true, but I like the way you think.” She glanced at her watch. It was just after three. “Let’s sleep in tomorrow and make a huge breakfast.”
He curled closer, but it took Mia a few minutes to fall asleep. She hoped she was over the worst of the reactions from her memory wipe.
When she got up the next morning, she hadn’t kept her promise to sleep in.
Instead, she was up at six, waiting for the rest of the crew to come to the kitchen.
After she put a batch of muffins in the oven, she sat down with her coffee, her Suzanne Parker notebook, and her newly restored memories and made a time line from the weekend before the test to today.
When Damien had started remodeling, a lot of people were in and out of the academy. She needed to find out more about his contractor, Nathan Boyle. It would probably be an exercise in ruling someone out, but that had to be done in order to find a suspect you couldn’t find an alibi for.
She decided to start there and opened her laptop to see what she could find on Nathan. His website looked normal, but it had one clue. He had a local Magic Springs discount code. Did that mean he was part of the coven? Or just a local?
Mia had just started to look at his Facebook posts when Christina came in.
She held up her hand. “I know, I know, I need to limit my caffeine, but on Sundays I’m doing a mocha first thing, then I’ll switch to fruit tea or water.”
“Your body, your decisions.” Mia stood. “Do you want me to make some fresh hot cocoa to mix with the coffee?”
“Add a dollop of whipped cream and you have a deal.” She sat down and looked at Mia’s laptop. “Why are you looking at Nathan Boyle?”
“He’s one of the people who were in the academy last week.”
Christina shrugged. “Yes, I saw him here. I talked to him several times. He’s a friend of the family.
Or his dad is. He works with my dad, so I met him years ago at some event.
Mom tried to fix us up, but we were always just in the friend zone.
He was dating some girl from Magic Springs, and that’s why he started his business here.
Then they broke up and he stayed for the mountain life. He loves to hunt and fish.”
“Is he human?” Mia stirred the hot cocoa mix into the milk. She was going to have a mocha too.
“That would be an odd question from anyone else but you, but yes, as far as I know, he’s human and comes from a well-off family from Boise.
He got his degree in business management, but building has always been his love.
When he was in college, he refurbished a little house up in the north end.
He took it down to the studs and rebuilt everything.
It’s amazing. I wonder if he sold that or is just renting it. ”
“Looking for a Boise house?” Mia asked as she mixed up two mochas and finished them off with whipped cream.
“No, but I think we’re going to look for a Magic Springs house.
Maybe Nathan can help us remodel it before the babies come.
” Christina smiled as she took the cup. “I called and talked to my boss in Portland last night and told her about the babies, and that I didn’t want to move now.
She’s okay with me working from here with a little bit of traveling.
Not horrible, but when a new hotel opens, she wants me there for a couple of nights to make sure my plans are implemented. ”
“You’re staying in Magic Springs?” Mia set down her cup and hugged her friend. “I’m so happy I could cry.”
“Well, we have support here. If we moved, we’d have to find babysitters who we could trust, a house, and all the stuff.
So you’re stuck with me. Now I just have to break the news to Mom that I’m not moving back home.
” Christina sipped her mocha. “She’s going to stop taking my calls.
First, it was the engagement, then the babies, now the nonmove.
Change is not in Mom’s wheelhouse. She likes steady, dependable, boring—like Isaac is, now that he’s not with you. ”
“I never saw him that way, but he would have hated all this. Trent takes everything in stride. Can you imagine Isaac’s face if I told him his dog had conjured a dragon for a pet?
” Mia laughed as she shut down the laptop.
She could do more sleuthing on Suzanne Parker later.
After a chat with her friend and breakfast.
When everyone had scattered for the day, Mia decided to head to the Lodge to see how the wedding party was doing.
The bride and groom would already be on their way to the airport and their Hawaiian honeymoon.
Mr. and Mrs. Edwards were staying one more night to decompress before returning to Boise and their lives.
Mia knew that empty-nest feeling well after Christina moved out to start her Portland life with Levi.
Now, they were back in town, if not in the academy.
She knocked on Christina’s door. “Do you want to run with me to the Lodge? I want to check in with the happy parents from yesterday’s wedding.”
“I’m here to be your wing man, so the answer’s yes. Is Finn working at the Lodge today? Does she need a ride in?” Christina set down the book and pushed herself up from the bed.
“We can check when we get downstairs.” Mia headed to her bedroom. “Let me change into jeans and a nice shirt. I can’t wear yoga pants to represent the Lodge.”
“You could, but I think you want your job for a while longer,” Christina teased as she grabbed her purse and got out her keys.
As they went downstairs, Finn was already ready for her walk into town. They’d caught her just in time. “Want a lift?” Mia asked. “I need to check on some things from yesterday.”
“That would be awesome. Christina’s car is the bomb. Even when my van is running, it’s not even half as dope as hers.”
“Don’t expect cooking to get you a car like that.
Christina’s family spoils her,” Mia said as she looked at her little compact sitting in the back of the parking lot.
It had chains on the tires so that she could get to work when Christina wasn’t chaperoning.
It was a just-enough car. One that got her where she needed to be. Not a car to enjoy being in.
Finn shrugged. “It’s nice to be able to afford things like that, but I love cooking. If I had wanted money, I would have gone into something like finance or web design. I want to mix flavors and come up with something amazing. Things aren’t as important as experiences.”
“Spoken like a true believer. Let’s go get this party started.” Mia hugged Finn, and they made their way into town. Sunday felt like a new beginning.