Chapter 7 Another Unexpected Invitation #3
The night before, they had peppered Crystal with questions about The Grand Coven, about the women there, very obviously, because of them. And Crystal had answered, barely. The woman was keeping as much to herself as she could, and it had been the first time that their group felt a tension within.
It felt odd, out of place. They had each left without their usual ease, without the casual tokens of friendly love and 'see you soons.
' Crystal, on the other hand, was a study in keeping a poker face.
She was cautious with her words, picking them with a particular finesse that spoke of words and truths being held behind doors they'd always known were inside of her.
But what if those truths could hurt them?
No group texts had come or gone. Tilly imagined, much like herself, each woman was trying to find the right next step. Even Jen hadn't launched a brash inquisition, leaving the night before quieter than Tilly had ever seen her friend.
And Tilly herself was greeted with an influx of thoughts, worries. It had felt like having the answer to a question on the tip of your tongue, but just out of reach.
"Did you read this?" Tilly asked Eloise as she was finishing up a drink for a customer.
"What?"She held up the Crescent Courier, which had appeared in the shape of a bird next to her strawberry tart when she came back from using the restroom.
She'd ordered her latte and treat before she ran off to gather herself when Bess said she looked flushed and a little wild.
Her cheeks had been pink, her eyes wide behind her green glasses.
A splash of cold water, and she hoped it would wash away her encounter with the chief.
But she was doubtful.
When she had returned to her velvet mauve seat at the bar, next to her plate had been the Crescent Courier, Salem's more magical newspaper with odd happenings and sometimes premonitions of what was to come.
Which this morning's edition had.
Eloise took the now wrinkle-free paper and read the headline:
Salem to Get A Dark Gust of Powerful Visitors
She frowned, handing it back to Tilly wordlessly, who took a bite of the golden puff pastry and moaned as the tart and bright berry hit her.
"This is divine. What is the icing?"
"It's cream cheese hibiscus."
"I should sell these at the inn."
"That's not a bad idea. I can help you come up with a bakery menu if you'd like."
"Really? We could make it an extension of The Black Cat."
"Orrrrr," Eloise poured an intricate floral foam design, and as she pulled up the silver frothing pitcher, her word cut off, and she looked at Tilly. "You name it something else because it's yours."
"Maybe. But I don't know how to bake. Make wine? Yes. Bake? Negative."
Eloise pointed at her after she called out the drink for someone to pick up. "Your wine is art. And I will make pastries for the inn. We'll work up a business plan together."
Tilly smiled into her latte. The first real smile since their dark, powerful visitors last night.
She liked that. Her mind was already moving around with what to call it, what she could offer.
She liked the idea of redoing the wide front porch and adding tables for people to stop by for a glass of wine on the Crescent Inn property, which was beautiful with its many weeping willows draping dramatically around the grounds and the lush garden.
"Are we going to talk about last night?" Tilly asked, her voice pitched low, and her shoulders hunched around her.
Eloise looked around biting her lip before she hunkered down on the bar in a similar position and replied, "I don't even know how to untangle it. Ursula and I barely even spoke of it. We knew Crystal had secrets and knowledge, but," she shook her head, a line between her pretty amber eyes forming.
"But what exactly are the secrets and knowledge?" Tilly hedged. "Could they hurt us?"
Before Eloise could respond, a voice interrupted their whispering.
"Hey, Til."
Her head swiveled to where Ronnie leaned against the bar. He looked good. Better than good.
She inwardly sighed.
"Hey," she finally responded with a small smile.
"Listen, I'd like to take you to dinner. Even though you're ignoring me, " he joked with that uncommitted smile.
"I'm not," she shook her head. Suddenly, she lost words and couldn't pin down what she wanted to say. "I've been in the middle of a lot."
He had never been that guy-the one who was direct and proactive. He was the, let's-hang-out guy. He was the just-so-happened-to-have-time guy.
He left behind a dented version of her when he so easily picked up and left without a thought for her, and did it in a way she held no illusions that he had looked back. She had cried and pulled into herself until Jen got her out of it.
Do you think he's ashamed of me? she'd asked Jen.
No. And I don't think he's ashamed of himself, her friend had replied gently but honestly.
And now here he was, running into her and asking her to dinner.
"You want to take me to dinner?"
He half smiled. "Yeah, was thinking you know, whatever sounds good. We can catch up, and it'd just be good to hang out with you."
She looked at him; he seemed sincere, another odd character trait that wasn't typical for Ronnie.
"I miss you," he said, taking a step forward and laying a hand over where hers rested on the bar top.
She suddenly felt a burst of something dark inside of her, causing her to jerk and Ronnie to pull back his hand with an astonished look on his face.
"Sorry," he laughed. "It doesn't have to be that intense. I just.." he shrugged. "You know, catch up as friends. If nothing else, I miss our friendship."
If nothing else, he misses their friendship.
When she had been reading too much into his actions and his time, dreaming up something more colorful than friendship, he had somehow once again made sure she knew that's where he was.
That darkness inside of her bubbled, overflowing, and she couldn't name what it was, but it was strange and she knew she'd never felt it before.
Eloise was watching them covertly as she cleaned.
"Yeah?" he pressed, a confidence in him that she recalled clearly.
"Oh," Tilly shook her head, hoping she wasn't coming down with something, though this thing inside of her was less physical and more of a feeling.
"Okay. Dinner as friends. I can do that.
" They made vague plans that she didn't remember as she thought of Jen's face when she'd told her he was back in town.
As he walked away, she felt the dark bubbling inside of her subside and she let out a slow breath.
"So, who was that?"
Eloise was propping her chin in both hands staring at Tilly with a smirk. Tess joined her, a tray of hot, clean mugs she started putting away.
"That was Ronnie. He used to live here, and then he moved for work. He and I dated. Ish. We...hung out." She thought of the evenings spent together, hours in front of the television, getting takeout, moments of deep conversation. "I don't know what we were."
Eloise nodded slowly, the understanding clear in her amber eyes. "He hurt you."
Her sad smile felt bigger than it should. "Yeah, he did."
"Guys can suck," Tess mumbled. Tilly and Eloise nodded.
"And he's back," Eloise said.
"And he's back."
Tess leaned forward with a curious look on her cute face. "I thought you liked hottie chief."
Bess wandered over, sipping from a mug of something steaming. When she saw Tilly and Eloise giving her accusatory looks, her eyebrows rose. "What?"
"Her and the chief," Tess said.
"Oh, right," Bess said sheepishly. "I might have told Tess about Chief Fang."
Eloise snorted, then dropped the smile when Tilly threw her a glare.
"Well, since everyone seems to be talking about it, I can't like," she looked around then lowered her voice to a near-whisper, "a vampire."
Everyone leaned in and Tess said, "Ooo, why not? Is it the teeth?" She gestured to her teeth. "Are you scared of needles?"
Tilly's face took on a look of horror as she replied, "Yes. I hadn't even thought of that!"
"Oh," Tess replied. "Sorry. But, then why can't you be into a vampire? I'd think a witch and vamp make sense."
"Because he sees her and it's scary." Jen sat next to Tilly, reaching across the bar to take Bess's mug for a sip before handing it back. "God, I'm tired."
"On it," Bess said, moving to the espresso machine.
"What do you mean he sees me and it's scary?"
"You're used to idiots who don't know how to handle a woman with any ounce of care or intention. This tall hunk of fang finds you in every room. He sees you. And I've watched you. You either hide from his Tom Selleck dark-eyed attention or your hackles rise and you go toe-to-toe."
"Ohmygod he does look like young Tom Selleck," Eloise exclaimed.
"Who is that?" Bess asked as she put a mug in front of Jen, who inhaled sharply.
"Pain. I feel pain that you do not know who that is."Bess rolled her eyes. "He gives me a Heathcliff who got therapy vibe."
Tess and Jen hummed thoughtfully.
"He does not scare me," Tilly argued with a scoff.
Jen shifted her shoulders. "Ok, give us a reason then. A good one."
"Tess made an excellent point. Needles. I'm terrified of them." At Jen's dubious look, she pointed with raised eyebrows, "You had to hold my hand the last time I got a flu shot."
Jen nodded. "That's true. I did. But I'm willing to bet he has control of his needle teeth by now. You're scared because you're used to settling for minimum attention from guys who barely made it past puberty, like Ronnie, and Theo Landry is no idiot, high-fiving puberty. The man sees you."
"Well, I do not know what to do with that," she conceded. "And I need a distraction from all of this," she announced, looking at her friends.
Tess waved as she left to help a customer, and Eloise pushed up off the bartop throwing a white rag over her shoulder. "I say we have a cozy movie and cookie night tonight."
"I could use a cozy movie cookie night."
"Can I come?" Bess leaned over the counter, her light pink beanie stark against her long, wavy black hair.
"Of course," Eloise replied.
"Cool. Can Tess come?"
"You and Tess have become close," Tilly observed. "I'm glad. She needed a friend like you."
Bess shrugged the compliment off her pink short-sleeved flannel shirt casually. "I was kind of an ass to her at first."
"I can attest to that," Eloise agreed.
"Thanks," she said flatly with an eye roll at Eloise, who gave her a shrug back.
"Can't tonight. Have a date with Isla," Jen said, her lack of enthusiasm noted.
"Bring her," Eloise offered.
She waved the offer off. "She's not really a women friend kind of person."
Bess's scowl was prominent when she told Jen that was lame, and Jen shrugged. Tilly happened to agree with Bess but held it in.
"Okay, I need to go over to the inn.""Oh, kind of like your first day, right?" Eloise asked with excitement.
"Yeah. No idea what I'm doing. Like, this is kind of crazy, right?"
"No. No one knows what they're doing when they start something until they learn it."
The women looked at Bess.
"That was incredibly astute," Eloise said with praise.
"And true," Jen added.
"Just because-"Eloise rolled her eyes this time, cutting her off.
"Just because you're young doesn't mean you're not intelligent, blah blah blah.
But girl? There's a big difference between intelligence and wisdom, and the latter is learned often later in life- if at all- so take the compliment without your teenage angst for the love of all things holy or you're not getting a cookie tonight. "
Bess's face took on a moment of shock, then back was the flat teenage look. "Withholding cookies is mean."
Tilly smiled at their back and forth and waved as she hopped down from the stool. "See you witches later!"
A woman frowned at Tilly and made a wide berth for her, nearly jumping over a cafe table as she exited.
Still they found it not to be uncommon to be stared at, whispered about, or treated with outright disdain.
They had gotten into the habit of looking away and ignoring it all, which is exactly what she did now.
But since their dark visitors, perhaps throwing around the word witch was not the wisest.