Chapter 8
FELIX
The hand locked onto my lapel said that this was my moment. Maddie looked up at me with those green eyes, and I leaned in. Everything was hazy and magical.
Maddie pushed me. Hard. She hit me just as she shoved her purse into the air, hitting the water-heavy awning over her head.
I stumbled sideways out onto the sidewalk, blinking in shock, and there was a harsh yell of surprise.
I turned and saw Stanhope Wallace standing like a statue, his closed umbrella raised in frozen horror.
He was drenched from head to toe as the water Maddie had sent down the awning with her purse tipped over the edge like a waterfall, showering Stanhope in icy rainwater and sodden leaves.
As I watched, the natural puddle in the awning sluiced back and splashed over the edge, hitting the spot where I had been standing just moments before.
Maddie pulled her purse down and clutched it to her chest, staring straight ahead, watching the cascade of water in front of her.
“How unfortunate, Stanhope,” she said without turning around to look at him. “You really ought to be more careful.”
There was no way she could have seen him approaching. She had been looking at me.
“You did that on purpose!” spluttered Stanhope. “You hit the awning!”
“Before you could do it, you mean?” she asked, finally turning around to glare at him.
“Me?” Stanhope gasped, trying to look innocent. Maddie looked pointedly at his still-raised umbrella, and he lowered it hastily. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I’m talking about the fact that you are a mean, pompous jerk who only feels big when you’re making someone else feel small.”
Stanhope opened his mouth like he was going to argue, but Maddie held up her hand. “I suggest you go dry off and think about why you can’t be a nice person.”
She pointed for him to go, and Stanhope gaped like a fish and then turned around and walked off like a scolded puppy. Maddie was giving full boss babe energy, and I was so here for it, but I couldn’t help but notice that Maddie had also predicted the entire event before it happened.
Just like the pistachio bar. Just like the homeless guy. Had there been anything else? Mrs. Landry and her cookies?
I thought Maddie was magical, but was she. . . actually magical?
“I’m never going to be able to go back to those networking events again,” said Maddie. “I can’t believe I just said that to his face.”
“It was brilliant,” I said. “If you’d given me a second more warning, I could have gotten it on video.”
“Heh.” Maddie looked amused. “Seeing Stanhope get doused in awning water would have been pretty good.”
“How much warning do you get?” I asked.
“What?”
“Before the future happens. How far ahead can you see?”
Maddie went pale. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Maddie, it’s OK.”
She was backing up. This was not good.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I don’t see the future.”
I might not be psychic, but I could see she was panicking.
“I’m just happy not to end up covered in water,” I said. “It’s fine.”
“I have to go now,” said Maddie.
“Maddie, wait.” I followed her, but she hurried toward her car, which was parked a few steps away.
“Really need to finish my ordering,” she said, flinging open her car door so that I nearly ran into it.
“Maddie, please, just wait.”
“No time. Sorry. OK, bye.”
She slammed the car door, and I was forced to back up as she peeled away from the curb.
MADDIE
“Romeo said there was a best friend emergency,” said Shayla, and I pulled my head up off my desk. I’d driven in a panic back to the place I felt the safest – Deja Brew – and had been hiding in my office for an hour.
“A little bit,” I agreed.
“Eeee,” said Shayla, grimacing at my tear-stained face. “OK, so first of all. . .” Shayla dropped her oversized purse onto my desk and fumbled inside until she came out with makeup wipes. “First, we fix the mess, and then you tell me whose nose I’m punching.”
“No one’s,” I said with a sniff.
“It was that Felix guy, wasn’t it?” She grabbed my chin and began to aggressively groom my face. Now I knew how kittens felt.
“Sort of. Not really. It was my own fault. I couldn’t let Stanhope win. But Felix is too smart. He figured it out.”
“I should bite you,” said Shayla, leaning back to look me in the eye. “For telling stories all back to front like my Uncle Fred. Back up, try again.”
I sighed and tried to go back to the beginning.
“And then I just panicked,” I said as I wrapped up the story. “Maybe I was wrong. Maybe he wasn’t going to kiss me.”
“He was totally going to kiss you,” said Shayla.
“And then I ruined it,” I said sadly. “Well, but maybe he won’t think I’m crazy like Tyler did when I told him I was psychic. Maybe he won’t tell everyone that I’m a certified crystal woo-woo nut.”
“I still say you should have let me punch that guy.”
“I didn’t even meet you until two years after I broke up with Tyler.”
“And I still say you should have let me hunt him down and punch him in the face.”
“I got new friends,” I said. “Eventually. I really feel like the statute of limitations has run out.”
“Nobody lets me choose violence,” said Shayla, shaking her head.
“Maybe it would be OK,” I said wistfully. “Maybe Felix wouldn’t freak out. Maybe it would be fine. He said it was fine.”
“Why don’t you give me twenty-four hours to do a little digging and find out more about him?” said Shayla. “I’ll go full stalker on his socials and whatever, and then we’ll know if he’s a nut job, and you can make a more informed decision.”
“Mail!” said Romeo, opening the door and shoving the mail into the basket that I kept there for the massive pile of junk that we seemed to get. “I’m not here!” The door shut again at vampire speed.
I sighed and got up. There was no sense in moping. Deja Brew still needed me to do work.
“Informed decisions. Yeah. Sensible,” I said, going to the basket. I sorted through the mail, tossing the junk into the recycling bin.
“You don’t want sensible?” asked Shayla.
“I wanted romantic and hunky,” I complained.
“I know,” said Shayla. “But Maddie. . .” Shayla sighed.
“Sweetie, even in the Supernatural community, gifts like yours are rare. People try to take advantage of them. You need to be careful. It’s worth taking a little extra time to check someone out.
Not everyone who likes the same coffee as you can be trusted. ”
I knew she was right, but I wanted her to be wrong. At least about Felix. Depressed, I flipped through the rest of the mail and was about to discard the entire pile when one letter caught my eye.
“Oh, fart nuggets, not again!” I ripped open the envelope and then waved the letter inside in fury.
“What is it?” asked Shayla, taking the letter out of my hand.
“Cometcents is trying it again!”
“They want to buy Deja Brew?” asked Shayla, puzzling through the letter. “Why does it sound like they’re threatening you?”
“Because that’s how they do it. They sound intimidating, so I’ll take the lowest possible amount.
They just want to take over the shop and dismantle it so they can put one of their crappy cookie-cutter locations in my spot.
I turned them down last time, and I’ll turn them down again, but why are they back now? Like I don’t have enough to deal with!”
“We’ll get it sorted out,” said Shayla confidently.
“No, we won’t,” I said, taking the letter out of her hand. “I’m ignoring them. And if they send an actual person, I’ll let you drop-kick him out the door.”
“Yay!” exclaimed Shayla, clapping her hands. “Violence!”
I laughed reluctantly. My love life might be a disaster, but at least I had friends I could count on.