Chapter 5 #2
Kizzy was hard at work, and it was one of those days when business was steady—not fits and starts. She was on her way to give a patient discharge instructions when her phone rang.
She peeked at the number and was surprised to see it was Noah. Maybe her sister was wrong. Perhaps he understood “not now” meant “probably later.” She hoped so. She diverted her course and found a quiet corner as she answered it.
“Noah?”
“Hi, Kizzy. I just wanted to ask you one thing, then I’ll leave you alone.”
“Leave? No need to do that. Please ask your question.” Maybe he did misunderstand.
“I was hoping you were sincerely busy and not just blowing me off. If it’s the first one, I’ll keep calling until we settle on a date. If not, I’ll slink away sucking my thumb, but I won’t call again.”
She laughed. “Thumb-sucking isn’t good for your teeth—and please keep asking. I wasn’t blowing you off.”
“Good!”
He sounded surprised.
“Did you think I just gave you an excuse and wouldn’t want you to call again?”
“Kind of, yeah.”
“I’m glad you checked. My sister said you’d think that. I really didn’t mean it that way.”
He let out an audible exhale. “I’m glad I talked to my sister-in-law then. She said that checking would be the only way to know.”
“You spoke to your sister-in-law about me?”
“I—well, Dante couldn’t keep his stupid mouth shut. He brought up the situation at Sunday dinner.”
“Sunday dinner? I was the subject of discussion at your family’s dinner table?”
“Sorry. Like I said, it wasn’t my intention.”
“No. It’s okay. How many people hate me for turning you down?”
He laughed. “Nobody hates you. It was me they were talking about. I was thinking I must have done something wrong. I decided to ask my sister-in-law about it privately. Dante opened his big mouth before I could do that. It probably wouldn’t have been a topic at all, except that my mother wants all of us to settle down.
Be happy. Now that the older ones have, she’s pressuring us younger guys.
Nothing to worry about. We’re used to dealing with pressure. ”
Kizzy chuckled. “I guess I know what you mean—sort of. I’ve had that kind of pressure in reverse. ‘There’s plenty of time for that, Kizzy. Concentrate on your career, Kizzy.’” She did her best to imitate her father, but her low, gruff voice just sounded comical to her ears.
He laughed. “We might be able to get them both off our backs if we date infrequently.”
She smiled, knowing he couldn’t see it. “I suppose so. But don’t worry about that. I’m not letting other people run my life.”
“I’m not either.”
That was dumb, Kizz. Why don’t you just call him a mama’s boy? “I didn’t think you were.”
Fortunately, he cleared his throat and changed the subject. “I’m playing in a charity basketball game called the Battle of the Badges to benefit the children’s hospital. I know I’ll be on the court, but I’d like to take you out afterward.”
“Won’t you be expected to go out for beer and celebration with your teammates—provided you win, of course?”
“I can do that if you’re not interested. I’d rather take a quick shower and go out with you though. Or if you don’t feel like watching a basketball game, we can just—”
“No!” She wasn’t about to make that mistake again. “I’d love to go to the game and watch you play, then see you after, as long as I don’t have to work… When is it?”
“This Saturday.”
“Great! Yeah, I can go Saturday. What time?”
“One o’clock. I have to be there early. Would it be okay if I have Dante drop me off and then pick you up at noon? If you want me to come and get you, I’ll pick you up, but it would be early, and I’d have to borrow his car anyway—and then he’d have to be in it, because he wants to come…”
She laughed. “It’s perfectly okay to have him drop you off and then come get me. Or I can meet you there.”
They chatted a few more minutes to pin down the plan, and when she hung up, she was happy. As a parting joke, he’d said “Have a crappy day” and chuckled. She giggled and wished him a crappy day as well.
He was a little younger than she was. He didn’t have his own car. He lived with a roommate. But all that didn’t matter. It was Noah she was interested in, not his age, car, or apartment.
There were plenty of guys at the hospital with larger salaries and more possessions, and as much as her father would probably like to point that out, she didn’t think he’d be that rude.
He might not like her dating a mere firefighter, but he’d have to suck it up.
This was her life. Or at least her love life.
Her destiny may have been decided before she was born.
That in itself presented a dating challenge.
“Hi, my name is Kizzy. I’m an ER doc. Oh, and by the way, my family is rather unique.
We’re witches. I hope that doesn’t bother you… ”
She had a sixth sense about Noah. She didn’t know for sure, but she thought she recognized a like-minded soul—or at least a trustworthy one. If she were a betting woman, she’d bet he had a secret too. It would be nice to have that level of trust with someone, eventually.
She returned to the patient who’d been waiting for their instructions and found she was able to deliver them with a smile on her face and a spring in her step.
Her sister was right. She needed this.
* * *
Dante had cleaned up the spare room, filled out his landlord’s paperwork for insurance, and done all he could do to take care of his own stupid mistake.
Noah was staring at the book, comparing it to a translator app on his computer, because Dante had refused to translate any more Latin from this book.
Not that he didn’t care about what had gone wrong, but if there was nothing to be done about it, why not just let it go?
They had always been different in that way.
Noah needed to understand things, and Dante could just take an outcome at face value—even if the answer was one he didn’t like.
He could say, “Yup. That didn’t work,” and move on.
Noah had to know why it didn’t work, and he wouldn’t give up until he was sure he was beat.
It would have concerned Dante more, but Noah had promised he wouldn’t try another experiment without someone around for safety reasons, and if researching kept Noah occupied, Dante could spend more quality time with Mallory.
Lately, she had been excited about a new project. He was happy to hear the optimism in her voice when they spoke on the phone. But he wasn’t about to let her forget about the hypnotherapist either.
Checking his watch, he saw that if he left now, they could stop for coffee on the way and maybe spend a little more time together.
Staring at his brother, who was zoning out on the couch with his iPad, he asked, “Hey Noah, Joanna and I are going out. Do you need anything?”
“Hmmm… Nah.”
Noah’s preoccupied answer was what he’d hoped to hear. “I’ll be gone all afternoon. Try not to get into trouble without me.”
Noah just nodded.
The weather had been getting steadily warmer and sunnier. But even so, May in New England was unpredictable. Dante grabbed a light jacket and jogged down two sets of stairs to his Camaro. He tossed the jacket into the back seat and roared off to Mallory’s town house.
When he got there, her front door was open, but the screen was closed.
He would have panicked if both doors were standing wide open.
Apparently, she had been watching for him.
As soon as he pulled into her driveway and shut off the engine, she appeared on her doorstep.
She had on a pair of skinny jeans and a pretty green sweater that made her eyes even brighter.
With her purse hanging from her shoulder, she locked the front door and walked confidently to his car. “Hey, handsome,” she called out.
She made him smile whenever he saw her. Not just because she was beautiful, but because she genuinely seemed to like him and think he was plenty good enough for her.
He wondered why he’d ever felt inferior to her before.
She wasn’t the “perfect” girl he had thought she was in high school.
They were just two people, now adults, with a bit of shared history and at least one oddity in common.
That was enough for a start. More than what a lot of people started with.
She fell into the seat beside him and leaned over to give him a peck on the lips.
“You seem cheerful today,” he commented.
“I am. I’m a little nervous about this appointment, but I get to see you, so it won’t be a total waste.”
“A waste? Is that what you expect hypnosis will be?”
“Well, no. I’m just trying not to get my hopes up. If he can cure me, that would be fantastic, but it seems like a long shot—to both of us.”
He frowned as he backed out of her driveway.
“I guess we won’t know unless we try,” she continued.
The word we pleased him and made him nervous at the same time.
He was involving himself in her treatment.
It wasn’t as if that had happened by accident.
He had deliberately inserted himself into her life against advice to the contrary.
Had he done the right thing? What if the hypnotherapist uncovered the fact that she was actually half monkey on her father’s side or something… His suggestion could backfire.
But she hadn’t even talked about using hypnotherapy to get to the root of the shape-shifting. She just wanted to know why she was seeing dead people and if she could make it stop. A totally human therapist could wrap his mind around that much. Probably not shape-shifting.
“So, how is the project coming?” he asked, hoping to change the subject in his own mind to something more pleasant.
“I’m not sure. I cruised past the gallery, thinking she’d only sell stuff she herself liked, but our tastes must be wildly different. There was nothing I liked at all.”