CHAPTER NINE #2
“Technically,” I began, “the Latin word means ‘master’ or ‘teacher.’”
“So, which one is it?”
“In this case the word Magistra means a woman in authority, or a High Priestess.”
“Oh.” Taylor’s eyes went wide. “Is that what the other Witches call Lorna?”
“It’s safe to say, you would not normally hear her addressed so in public.”
Taylor thought that over. “I wasn’t trying to be nosey, I simply wondered. Everyone in Five Points South knows that Lorna is like the head of the local Witch community...but I didn’t realize it was so formal.”
“It doesn’t happen often,” I explained. “Lorna is an exceptionally talented Witch. She’s our community’s paranormal troubleshooter and leader all rolled into one, so the title of Magistra is fitting for her.”
“Could a guy be a Magistra too?”
I smiled. “Latin is gender specific. So, if there were any males the same rank or as powerful as our Lorna—which I highly doubt there are—then they would be called a Magister.”
“Magistra for a female and Magister for a male. Got it.” Taylor continued with her sweeping. “Thanks for being honest with me, and before you ask...yes, I will keep this to myself.”
“I appreciate that Taylor,” I said, going back to my closing reports.
***
Alone at my kitchen table, I measured out the ingredients for my bespoke pumpkin pie spice blend. The mulling spices were already finished and tucked in a large box on my counter. At that moment, I had eight ounce containers neatly labeled, lined up, and ready to fill.
When I came home, I had changed into comfortable clothes.
Putting on a soft sports bra, I added a raglan sleeve t-shirt over that, paired with casual leggings.
In addition, I tied a big chef’s apron over my clothes and was wearing food prep gloves and a dust mask as I mixed the pumpkin pie spice in a very large bowl.
The gloves were for obvious reasons, and as to wearing a mask…
well, I’d learned the hard way that I would end up sneezing if I got too big of a whiff of the cloves.
I was moving a bit slower than usual but was still getting the job done.
Once I had the mixture blended well, I began to ladle it out into the containers.
Using a digital scale kept all of the amounts uniform.
In the background the radio played, and I felt my shoulders begin to drop as I finally relaxed for the first time that day.
I had only finished snapping the lids on the last in a row of containers when there was a knock on my door. “Just a minute!” I called out.
Peeling one of my gloves off, I went to check the spy hole. It was Dex.
I opened the door. “Hey,” I said through the mask.
“God you’re cute.” Dex’s lips trembled against a laugh. “Dare I ask what in the hell you’re doing?”
“Mixing up my custom pumpkin pie spice mix for the shop.”
“Can I come in?”
“Sure. I need to keep working on this though.”
He walked in and sent a considering glance over the table and kitchen counters. “It looks like a mad scientist’s lab in here.”
I pulled a fresh glove out of the box and rolled my eyes at his comment. “I think you mean it looks like an apothecary.”
“Would you like a hand?”
“No, that’s okay,” I said, pulling on a new glove. “I’m almost finished with this batch.” Placing the empty container on the scale I added in the mixture and kept an eye on the weight. Once it hit the amount I wanted, I plucked it up and started filling a new row on the table.
We talked casually as I worked about the seasonal sales and the new releases at the bookstore. By the time I finished up the last row of pumpkin pie spice containers, he had helped himself to a pair of gloves and was snapping the lids down on them all.
“You can put them in the box on the counter with the others,” I told him.
With a nod he complied and I began loading up my sink with the bowls, whisks and ladles I’d used. Dex offered to dry for me, and so I told him where the kitchen towels were and he got straight to work.
“You still have the mask on,” he reminded me a few minutes later.
“I know,” I said. “The cloves make me sneeze, and I really don’t want to do that today.”
Dex’s lips twitched. “I don’t blame you.”
“So, I’ll wait until everything is washed and wiped down before I take it off.”
Once I finished the dishes, I wiped down the counters and tabletop, then rinsed out the dish rag. I removed the gloves, washed my hands and finally took the mask off. No sooner had I dropped the mask in the garbage when I felt Dex’s hands on my shoulders.
He turned me around, gently reeled me in, and kissed me.
Dex was careful not to jostle me, and yet his kiss was passionate, and I responded to it. When he lifted his mouth from mine, I blinked up at him.
“Wow, what brought that on?”
“I’ve wanted to kiss you all damn day.” Before I could respond, he kissed the tip of my nose. “And also, because you’re pretty,” he added.
I smirked at that. “I think you may have inhaled too much cinnamon.”
“You may be right.” His voice was cheerful. Deceptively so as he slid his arms around my waist. “It’s supposed to encourage love and lust, isn’t it?”
“Cinnamon is a masculine herb,” I explained. “It’s sacred to the goddess Aphrodite and also encourages, healing, success, psychic abilities…”
He cut me off with another steamy kiss.
“And protection,” I said, once he let me up for air. “As does the cloves.”
He smiled down into my face. “I bet you know the magickal properties for cloves by heart too. Don’t you?”
“Cloves are good for purification, protection and to draw money.” I raised an eyebrow at him. “In fact, the other ingredients in my pumpkin pie spice mixture: nutmeg, allspice and ginger, bring good luck, health, prosperity and success.”
He wiggled his eyebrows playfully at me. “You’re sexy when you talk about magickal herbs.”
“Oh, my gods!” I burst out laughing. “What’s with you tonight? I’ve never seen you act this way before.”
I would have eased back, but he kept me snugged up tight against him. “I figured after the day you’d had you could use something to make you smile.”
“Won’t argue with that,” I said, and wondered if he was about to ask if he could stay for the night.
“Let’s take a walk.”
“Huh?” It was the last thing I would have expected him to say.
“It’s a nice night. We could take a walk over to Storyteller’s Fountain and get some fresh air.”
“I suppose we could.”
He let go and stepped back. “I noticed you haven’t been taking your morning walks lately.”
“No, I haven’t,” I admitted. “Everything’s been a little crazy.”
“Go grab your walking shoes,” he said.
I studied Dex warily. He stood there smiling affably and looking gorgeous. Now he wanted to go take a walk it seemed, after kissing me brainless only a moment ago.
Half of me wanted to dive on him; but my wiser half stoically turned around and got her tennis shoes.
The walk was lovely and it felt good to get out and stretch my legs.
We were walking back from the fountain and had ducked into a drug store to grab a couple of bottles of water.
There were street musicians out and the city had begun putting up their holiday lights and decorations.
We strolled along, simply chatting and enjoying each other’s company—something we should have done before we had ended up in bed together.
As we walked back toward the stores, I spotted a man up on a ladder attaching big decorative bells to the streetlamp on the sidewalk. We were passing him when I heard the man swear. I glanced up and saw him make a grab for one of the bells and then it was falling right towards me.
I didn’t even have time to react. Dex grabbed my shirt and yanked me to one side, but the bell still caught me in the arm. We tumbled down to the sidewalk, and I heard several people shout.
“Kate, are you hurt?” Dex asked.
I felt the burn and looked down at my left arm. My sleeve was torn and I had a big scratch above my elbow. Immediately it began to seep blood. “Ouch,” I said.
A crowd had gathered around us, including the worker who’d been attaching the bells. “I’m so sorry,” he said to me. “The cable tie just snapped. I’ve been hanging up these damn bells all day, that’s never happened before!”
“Would you like me to call an ambulance?” a woman asked.
“No,” I assured her as Dex helped me to my feet.
Dex took my arm and rotated it slightly to better see the cut. “It’s not deep.”
I nodded through gritted teeth. The truth was, falling to the ground made my side that I’d smacked on the stair’s railing hurt like crazy. “Let’s go home,” I said.
The worker wanted to exchange phone numbers, something about filling out an incident report. The crowd started to dwindle down and finally Dex and I were on our way. By the time we arrived at our building, blood was dripping down my arm and over my hand.
Once we got indoors, Dex went into first aid mode. I sat at the kitchen table resting my injured arm on the tabletop while he cleaned the scrape, applied antibiotic ointment and then bandaged it for me.
“You’re good at this,” I said as he taped the whole business in place.
“When I worked construction, I had plenty of opportunities to practice bandaging myself up,” Dex said as he closed the lid on my first aid kit. “I cut myself or mashed one of my fingers more times than I care to remember. Eventually I got the hang of it though, so my injuries were less often.”
“Today was a hell of a day.” Carefully I sat back in the chair and exhaled. “I’m trying to psych myself up to go change into my pajamas, but the thought of pulling my shirt over my head doesn’t sound good right about now.”
“I could help you.” Dex made the offer quietly.
I didn’t respond, because I felt like something the cat had dragged in. Instead, I simply sat there and considered him.
“You shouldn’t be alone tonight anyway,” he said as he threw away the wrappers from the gauze pads.
My eyebrows raised.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” he said. “But I’m not leaving you alone after you’ve had two close calls today.”