Chapter Thirty-Three #2
‘I don’t think Mom knew. Great-Grandma, or GG as I used to call her, was the only family we ever visited when I was a kid.
She lived in a seniors’ apartment not far from here.
Mom would leave me alone with her all the time, and GG would teach me these songs that she said were from her childhood.
I always thought they were in some Celtic language, even though I knew she’d lived her whole life in this area. ’
‘It’s not a Celtic language,’ Blair said. ‘We call it First Language. The universal language that most witches use for spells.’
Luke shook his head, amazed. ‘The spell we used today, GG used to make me repeat it over and over, making sure my pronunciation was perfect. She said I would need it one day.’
Blair shook her head, amazed. ‘She was probably a soothsayer. That means she could see the future and receive prophecies. Belinda’s a soothsayer.’
‘Do all witches have specific powers?’
‘Most,’ Blair said. ‘Mine’s potions. And I can see a person’s past, but it’s not a very strong power. Bianca’s gift is with plants. Kass’s talent is transmutation.’
‘Kass, as in your cat?’
Blair nodded.
Luke huffed a laugh. ‘What’s my power?’
Blair frowned. She had no idea what his strongest gift was. She put her finger on her lip as if she was deep in thought. ‘Hmmm . . . you’re really good in bed?’
Luke laughed, leaning forward to whisper close. ‘Only with you.’
A shiver ran down Blair’s spine. When she looked at Luke, his grin was downright feral. Ugh, she would never stop wanting this man. ‘We can run some experiments. See what you’re good at,’ Blair said. She took a big bite of ice cream.
Luke grinned. ‘That’s going to be so much fun. I bet I’m going to be better than you at potion-making one day.’
Blair exaggeratedly rolled her eyes. ‘Of course you would turn this into a competition.’ In reality, she loved how eager he was, like a kid excited to learn new tricks on his bike.
This was such a Luke reaction to finding out he was a witch.
He saw potential for joy in everything. He was responsible, successful, smart and incredibly loyal to his family, but he was fun.
Light-hearted in a way that Blair had never figured out how to be.
She was going to have so much fun learning from him, too.
‘So, what happens now?’ Blair asked. ‘You’re definitely staying in Moonbeam Hollow?’
‘Absolutely. I . . .’ He paused, squeezing his lips together. ‘Can I tell you something, Blair?’
Blair frowned. Was he finally going to tell her the secret that he’d been keeping from her? ‘Okay.’
‘I was always planning to stay. I told you I was here temporarily because I thought you’d freak out if you knew the truth – first because you hated me, and then because you were so insistent on keeping things casual between us. I actually resigned from my architect job before I came.’
‘Why? I thought you loved designing buildings.’
He shrugged. ‘The corporate life wasn’t for me.
I was restless and was never really happy in the city.
A friend of mine from school has a small firm; she does mostly residential and small commercial projects.
She said I can join her, working remotely from wherever.
I can also help Mom out – take shifts at the bakery.
Keep an eye on her health.’ He paused. ‘You asked me before why we chose to open the bakery here. It was because of you. No other reason but you, Blair.’
Blair blinked. That was his big secret? ‘We hadn’t seen each other in twelve years! You moved to be close to me?’ Blair didn’t know if that was creepy or charming.
‘But I thought about you every day. I missed you. I missed who I was when we were together. And maybe it was wrong for me to come back . . . but I told myself that I was just going to see what happened if we were in the same town again. I wasn’t going to stalk you or push for anything, just let the cards fall where they fall.
And then you literally fell on top of me. ’
‘Okay, but it’s still weird that you’re opening a bakery right next door,’ Blair deadpanned.
‘That was not planned. It really was the only empty space in town.’ He paused.
‘Maybe it was fate because the building once belonged to my ancestors. By the way, our espresso maker was badly damaged in yesterday’s storm.
I’ve added it to my insurance claim, but until we get a new one, maybe we could make some sort of arrangement?
People can get their drinks from you, and you can let your customers bring our baked goods into your café?
If it goes well, we can make it permanent – since there’s no way the bakery’s drinks will be able to compete with a literal potions specialist next door. ’
Blair laughed. ‘That’s actually a brilliant idea.’ Why hadn’t she thought of this solution?
Luke grinned, which made Blair wonder if he’d been the one to damage the espresso machine, not Hecate’s storm. ‘You know what else we can do? We can knock down part of the wall between the bakery and the café so customers can move between them freely.’
‘Luke, you’re nuts.’
Luke ran a finger down Blair’s nose, finally planting a kiss on the tip. ‘It’s a perfect way for me to watch my favourite witch brewing potions.’
Blair chuckled. ‘This isn’t weirding you out at all? I mean, aren’t you wondering if I used witchcraft to beat you all those times in high school? I used a potion on you in the café when you first got here. Remember that book club?’
Luke’s forehead furrowed a minute, then he laughed.
‘Okay, that explains a lot. It’s just like Blair Briarwood to cheat to get your way.
I can’t wait until I can use spells on you, too.
And no, I’m not weirded out. I get to be a superhero with the love of my life in the cutest town in the world. What more could I want from life?’
Blair leaned forward and kissed him, letting all the love, gratitude and everything else pour into him. She was the luckiest witch in the world, because now she could be herself with the love of her life, too.
‘I can’t wait to see what kind of magic we can make together,’ Blair said, smiling.
Luke grinned. ‘I am so, so glad I came back to Moonbeam Hollow.’