9. Adrian
Adrian
A drian stepped out of the storm over the threshold of the farmhouse where he was immediately greeted with the sound of roaring laughter.
Turning the corner into the family room, his father was hovering over an irate version of his brother. Ariel was also there, trying to catch her breath, laughing with such vigor that steam was bellowing out of her head like a chimney.
“What kind of father has this reaction when their eldest son nearly gets killed?” Seth asked indignantly.
David whooped a laugh. “Killed!” he bellowed. “That’s one way to describe it, I guess.” He spotted Adrian’s form in the doorway. “Care to enlighten your brother?” David asked, his eyebrows arched in amusement.
“Please, have a seat. You’re going to need it,” Ariel explained, out of breath.
Adrian sat heavily on the couch next to her.
“I was almost run over by a freaking boat, Adrian. Are you happy now? That’s what happened. The only thing that matters is—I nearly died. I could have drowned after the impact,” he said darkly.
This really made David lose it. He started laughing so hard, he could barely speak. “Seth, I swear to God. If you—of all people— die by drowning, I’ll pretend you were adopted. I’ll ask the coroner to omit me from your death certificate. The newspaper won’t print my name in your obituary.”
“There has to be more to the story than that,” Adrian prodded him. “You didn’t see Jess on the dock again and rev the boat motor, did you?” At this, David and Ariel nearly fell on the floor.
“Wait, stop it!” Ariel laughed. “Has he done this before? I can’t breathe. What an idiot!”
“I didn’t see the other guy coming, OK? I was simply picking up speed. Yes, I saw her and that might have been why, but I was distracted. Damn, you make it sound like you’ve never been distracted before.” Seth sulked, tenderly placing a bag of frozen peas on his head.
“Sure, I’ve been distracted before. But I’ve never been so distracted that my belt loop got caught in Auggie Stewart’s hook, causing my body to be flung into the ocean between two colliding boats,” David reasoned in between laughs.
Adrian’s mouth dropped open. “You crashed into Auggie? Holy shit. Did he beat you to a pulp?” He couldn’t help but laugh now at the image.
Auggie Stewart was sixty-seven years old, but in his youth, he was a marine and one of the best semiprofessional boxers in Maine. The guy looked like he was made of leather and smelled of tobacco and dried blood. Adrian recalled one time he had accidentally loaded one of Auggie’s crates onto their boat at the dock. The look he had received in response could have turned a man to stone. The thought of it still sent shivers down his spine.
“We were trying to beat the storm after pulling in traps. Yes, I collided with him, but then I fell in the water and got pulled under the boat. I’m lucky I have control over the water, or the propeller would have juiced me to death. Like I said, I almost died, so I think he took pity on me. I scratched his gunwale, so I have to go over there tomorrow and fix it. I think he might murder me, so I’m bringing you along as an eyewitness.”
Seth gave his brother a pleading look, and Adrian rolled his eyes. He ran his hand through his hair. “Please tell me you didn’t damage our rig?” The thought of coming up with that kind of money made his stomach turn sour.
“Nothing a coat of paint won’t fix,” David said, his tone hardening. “Another close call.”
A close call. Is that what they were calling their financial setbacks now? Adrian could think of about a hundred things he would rather do on his day off than get stared down by Auggie at the marina.
He had planned to balance the books in the morning, and he slumped into the chair when he realized he would end up staying up late tomorrow night, all because his brother had been distracted by a woman.
A pang of sympathy cut through his chest. To be completely fair, he had also been distracted by a woman this morning. Adrian ran his hand through his rain-dampened hair again. “I met the new witch in town on my run,” he said, snapping everyone’s attention away from Seth.
“In town?” David asked. “That’s odd. Usually people pass through, but none of the locals have ever brought around witches before.”
“Well, I ran into her on the beach.” He left out the part about saving her from being swallowed by the high tide. And the part about how she might have been the most beautiful thing he had ever seen in his life. And how she had looked at him like he was a serial killer. “Looks like she’s taking a job at the marina,” he explained. He saw a sudden worry flash in his dad’s eyes. “Charms witch, science-type person,” he quickly continued.
David breathed out a ragged sigh of relief. “We’ve never had another one of our kind around here before,” he mused. “I guess if she’s hanging out with the scientist crowd, we probably won’t see much of her anyway,” he reasoned, “But it might be nice to have a Charms witch around. I hear they’re good at fixing all sorts of odd problems.”
Adrian groaned. He could see David now, asking for a net mending spell for a pound of fresh lobster .
“Dad, are you delusional?” Ariel asked. “In this town, you see everyone all the time no matter what crowd they associate with. For Goddess’s sake, there are maybe ten people who live here that are even worth talking to. Are you telling me that another witch moved close by, and you don’t want to get to know her?”
She stood from her chair with a shake of her head. “I’m going to find Mom,” she continued. Adrian heard her mumbling as she walked toward the front door. “Men. Another witch moves to town, and they don’t even have the decency to invite her over for dinner.”