Chapter 5
Chapter Five
She’s My What?
Declan
“I’m just calling to let you know I’ve signed you up for the Sip and Stretch for Thursday,” Hazel said.
“You did what?”
I had the call on speaker as Elwood drove us to Ivan’s place, so he snickered at my squawk of surprise. Of course, he thought my outburst was because of Hazel, not from his driving. But the way he’d taken that last turn had me wondering if the microbus was going to tip.
“Sip and Stretch,” she repeated. “Do I need to hang up and call again? I swear these phones just don’t connect properly.”
“No. I heard you.” I rubbed my forehead. Maybe my hangover wasn’t completely cured because my head was starting to ache. I didn’t remember a Sip and Stretch event. When had that been added, and why hadn’t anyone told me? “What is it?”
“Yoga and beer drinking. I’m not overly fussed about drinking alcohol myself.
My mister gets anxious when I get tipsy for some reason.
I suppose it’s because I feel amorous and I want to lose control.
” She giggled. “But my friend Kim is organizing it, and I think yoga would be good for you. You need to relax, dear.”
I’d never met Hazel’s husband, but I could easily understand his concern.
She was a spider lady, literally. And she was part of the Misfit Monsters’ group because she’d decided she didn’t want to kill her husband in order to have babies.
I didn’t understand the biology behind that, and I was never, ever going to ask.
But I wouldn’t want an impaired, amorous spider in bed with me either.
“And don’t worry about getting out to the yoga studio, Avery will drive us,” Hazel continued.
As owner of the Midnight Blooms flower shop, Avery O’Neil was on the festival committee, but she hadn’t been too involved with this particular event.
Beer and flowers weren’t typically paired together, so I supposed that made sense.
I’d seen her scribbling in her notebook at the pub earlier, though, so maybe she was taking the opportunity to people-watch and gather ideas for the book she was rumored to be writing.
“That’s nice of her to offer,” I said, bracing myself so my head didn’t hit the window as Elwood sent us careening around another corner.
Since I was moving here, I probably needed to think about getting my own vehicle soon.
I couldn’t rely on someone else driving me around all the time–especially not Elwood.
“So how are you doing this morning?” Hazel asked. I could hear her knitting needles clacking in the background. “I heard all about your ‘cheers and spread cheer’ drinking spree last night. It’s the talk of the town.”
I knew by the fourth tent we visited that I should’ve stopped saying that when I ordered, but I was already committed by that point.
“Why are people talking about me?” I groaned.
“I heard Gideon was a darling with you,” she said. “Such a good mate.”
Mate. I’d heard a few of the others say that word since I’d moved to town, too. I got the sense it was similar to a boyfriend.
“I heard from Tulip before I rang you,” she continued. “She mentioned something about an investigation. Do you need us to join you?”
Elwood shook his head.
“We’re okay for now,” I said. “We’re just going to take a look at something. I should probably go, actually. We’re almost there. I’ll pay you for the Sip and Stretch thing when I see you.” I hoped this event wasn’t too expensive. I was currently living off my savings.
“There’s no hurry, dear. And keep us posted about the investigation. Toodles.” She ended the call.
“Why would anyone want to do yoga and drink beer at the same time?” I asked.
Elwood smiled and glanced at me like he was waiting for me to say something else. It felt like an invitation, so I opened my mouth and words fell out. “I wanted to talk to you about Gideon.”
“Oh?” He sounded pleased.
“Do you think we’re moving too fast? I just got out of a relationship and…”
Elwood shook his head. “You weren’t in a relationship with that ass in the city. You were roommates who had sex sometimes.”
I couldn’t argue with his definition, although I hadn’t known that’s what we were to one another until I’d found him cheating on me.
I picked at a thread on my jeans. “I guess, but I haven’t really known Gideon long, and sometimes I feel like people think I should already be living with him. And that’s confusing me…” I shrugged.
“Is Gideon pressuring you?”
“No. Not him. Although I get the sense he wishes I’d stay over more often than I do. But I’ve also been thinking about the bakery. If I do open one, I could get one with an apartment attached.”
Elwood rolled his bottom lip between his teeth. I could tell that’s what he was doing based on the way his beard was moving. He only did that when he was choosing his words carefully.
Something about his hesitation made me anxious. I wiped my damp palms on my pants as Elwood stomped on the brakes, making the microbus sputter to a stop outside a house on the outskirts of town.
“Is that what you want?”
I wanted to tell him I wanted to move in with Gideon, but it was too soon, wasn’t it?
“No relationship has the same timeline,” he said, as if reading my mind. “There’s nothing that says you have to date for a particular amount of time before taking your relationship to the next stage. You need to do what feels right to you. Deep inside.”
I swallowed. My parents’ advice on dating was completely different.
I knew because they’d been very vocal about it when I was a teenager.
They had lists about what was to happen on first, second, and third dates.
They also had detailed expectations about when people should get engaged and how long the engagement should last. I’d been working my way through those expectations with Josh before everything imploded.
But something about Elwood’s words resonated with me.
“You think it’s that easy?”
“For some, yes, I do.” Elwood nodded. “Is that why you haven’t made a decision about the bakery yet?”
I stared out the window. Was that the reason? Huh. Maybe it was. “I’m not sure.”
“Trust yourself. You’ll figure it out,” he said, sounding way more sure about that than I felt. “Now then, we need to get to work.” He nodded toward the house we were parked in front of.
The house wasn’t particularly interesting with its plain beige siding and brown shingles. And the yard was a bleak stretch of sun-scorched grass bisected by a narrow concrete sidewalk stretching from the road to the front step. Despite its boring appearance, just seeing the place made me sweat.
When I’d told Gideon I was going to investigate with Elwood, I’d been fine. But now that we were at Ivan’s, the reality of the situation was hitting me. At least I wasn’t hungover anymore. If I had been, my stomach would be churning even more than it was.
But how on earth was I supposed to help with a magical investigation? I didn’t know anything. Nothing. Zilch. Any of the other misfit monsters would be able to help more than me. I was such a fraud. I swallowed hard.
“Ready?” Elwood asked. He looked ready to charge into Ivan’s place and eradicate any wayward magic. With his long gray hair and beard, all he needed was a large staff and a cloak to look like he’d stepped out of the pages of Lord of the Rings. “That hex isn’t going to find itself.”
“You bet,” I lied.
Before we’d driven over here, he explained how he suspected a witch had hexed Ivan, and that we should be looking for a hex bag.
I’d looked that up on my phone because I had no idea what one of those would look like.
A small satchel or bit of cloth bound up with a rope.
It contained whatever materials the witch had used to construct the hex—usually herbs, stones, and animal bones or teeth.
It sounded like something the witches in Macbeth would make, and I wanted nothing to do with it.
Was it too late to tell Elwood I needed to go back to the apartment and make some chocolate chip cookies? Because I got the feeling this day was going to need some feel-good magic before it was done.
He reached for his door handle, then paused to look at me. “And remember, Ivan is a coyote shifter who’s extremely agitated at the moment. Be respectful of his territory.”
“Of course.” I was a little offended that Elwood thought I’d need a reminder like that.
Elwood hopped out of the driver’s seat and marched to the back of the vehicle. I reluctantly joined him. A raven—my raven, maybe—landed on the roof rack on the chartreuse microbus and fluttered its wings.
A weird sort of jealousy pulled at me when Elwood reached up and scratched the bird’s head. I forced myself to ignore the strange feeling, but I couldn’t deny how relieved I was when Elwood pulled his hand away from the bird to open a hatch at the back of the bus.
I hadn’t paid much attention to the back end of the vehicle before. I’d just assumed it held the engine and not much else, so I was surprised to see a couple of small toolboxes stashed back there.
“What are those for?” I asked.
“To help us,” he said, like it was obvious.
“Uh… right…” I nodded as I eyed the toolboxes again. “How exactly? I mean, wrenches and hammers don’t seem like magical tools.”
“I forget how much you don’t know.” Elwood shook his head. He popped open the toolboxes, revealing they did not, in fact, hold tools. At least not the kind you’d buy at a hardware store.
He plucked up a couple of clear quartz pieces and passed one to me before putting the other in his pocket with his mouse—because, yes, he’d brought George. I hoped Ivan was okay with a mouse being escorted into his house. “This’ll amplify our power and clear any mental fog.”
I put the stone in the pocket of my jeans.
“We can come back for the rest, once we know what we’re dealing with.” Never one to pass up a teaching moment, though, he gestured to a black stone. “For example, obsidian helps expose secrets.” He pointed at a metallic cube-like stone next. “Pyrite might help us reveal the truth.”