Chapter 2 #2
Mrs. Abernathy lifted her drink. “Well, I need to run. I have things to do before tomorrow.”
“Good luck,” Ronin said.
“We don’t need luck,” Mrs. Abernathy said. “We have experience.”
She headed down Tide Street, calling out hello to anyone who caught her eye. Ronin held the door open again for Tempi. “I think those three women might just give this town a run for their money tomorrow.”
“I think you’re right.”
The coffee shop was packed, which was no surprise for a Friday mid-morning. Emory was behind the counter, juggling orders and floating a tray of drinks over the heads of two customers with her fairy magic.
“Hey, you two!” she called. “Give me five minutes!”
“Take your time,” Ronin called back.
Tempi pointed to an empty table near the window. “Grab us a seat, and I’ll get the drinks. Tell me what you want.”
“I’ll get them.”
She arched an eyebrow at him. “You don’t know what my drink is.”
“Iced lavender espresso with cold foam.”
Tempi’s mouth dropped. “How do you know what I drink?”
“Tempi, we’ve lived in the same small town for three years. You’ve ordered it in front of me forty times.”
“Forty?”
He grinned. “Give or take.”
She shook her head and headed for the empty table. He waited in line behind Herschel, an elderly leprechaun who always wore a tweed vest. He was ordering his usual from Emory.
“Black coffee,” he said. “Oh, and put in one of those Soother Scones Adeline brought over to you earlier.”
Emory grinned as she grabbed a to-go cup. “You had a Soother Scone from Adeline’s side twenty minutes ago, Herschel.”
“That was twenty minutes ago,” he said. “My bones have already forgotten.”
Princess Muffin Top strolled through the archway from the bakery side, her huge tail swishing back and forth. “Your bones forget nothing, Herschel. You eat those scones because you enjoy the attention.”
Herschel pointed a gnarled finger at the cat. “Nobody asked you.”
“Nobody ever does, and yet here I am, giving back to the community.” Princess Muffin Top glanced at Ronin. “Hello, Merman. I see you’ve brought your co-chair to a coffee shop on a busy Friday morning where everyone can see. How very not-a-date of you.”
“It’s not a date,” Ronin insisted. “We’re checking on business donations.”
“Hmmm.” Princess Muffin Top cocked her feline head and studied him. “And yet I heard you repeat her drink order back to her. You expect me to believe nothing is going on when you just happen to know her drink of choice...from memory.”
Herschel cackled as he grabbed his coffee and soother scone and shuffled toward the front door.
“Can I please just order?” Ronin asked.
“By all means,” Princess Muffin Top said as she glanced over at Emory. “One iced lavender espresso with cold foam for the woman Ronin isn’t crushing on.”
Emory grinned as she took the rest of his order, promising to have it up soon. Ronin was happy to see Princess Muffin Top sashay back over to Adeline’s bakery and leave him alone. A few minutes later, he carried their drinks to the table and handed Tempi hers.
“Thank you,” she said. “I was beginning to drag and needed a pick-me-up.”
They’d barely taken a few sips when his phone pinged. He pulled it from his pocket and read the screen. Dax. Ronin scanned the text, sighed, and flipped the phone facedown on the table.
“Everything okay?” she asked.
“It’s my brother.”
Tempi looked at the phone, then back at him. “Do you need to talk to him?”
“No. It’ll keep.”
He picked up his coffee and told himself to worry about Dax later. “We should probably keep moving. Since we’re done talking with shop owners, I thought we could take a ride out to Crystal Cove and see how things are going out there. My golf cart is just up the street.”
Tempi glanced at her watch. “Fine. But I can’t stay long.”
They’d just stepped outside when Herschel bumped into them. The elderly leprechaun was still eating on his second Soother Scone.
“Hey, Herschel,” Ronin said. “Where are you going in such a hurry?”
The leprechaun laughed. “Now, young Ronin, you know my bones don’t hurry anywhere. That’s why I have to have a Soother Scone from Adeline’s bakery every day. Helps to get me moving.”
“I was just behind you in line at the coffee shop,” he said. “I know that’s your second one.”
Herschel laughed. “Oh, yeah. I forgot.”
“Are you going to participate in the treasure hunt tomorrow?” he asked.
Herschel grinned so wide, Ronin was sure he saw every tooth in the leprechaun’s mouth. “Sure am, Sonny. Me and a couple of the boys I play midnight poker with are teaming up.”
“Midnight poker?” Tempi said.
“Oh, yeah. There’s a group of five of us. All around a century old. We’ve been playing for years.” He tipped an invisible hat. “Well, gotta run.”
Ronin’s golf cart was parked along the curb—a gray six-seater with the Seaside-Seascape Rentals logo stretched across the side. He noticed Tempi’s grimace when she climbed into the passenger seat, but he decided not to question her about it.
They sat in comfortable silence for most of the drive, and by the time they reached Crystal Cove, he thought she looked more relaxed. Her jaw wasn’t clenched as tightly as it usually was when she had to deal with him, and she almost looked like she was enjoying herself.
Ronin parked near the overlook, and they climbed out. This was one of his favorite places to swim. Below them, the turquoise water filled the cove, lapping against the limestone walls. And at the far end, the waterfall spilled over the cliff, hiding the cave behind it.
He pointed toward the waterfall. “For safety reasons, we didn’t want to put anything inside the cave behind the waterfall, so the last clue will be in this cove’s first cave.
I know for a fact Lucinda has two mermaids putting dozens of small treasure chests in place right now.
There’s a huge pool of water about twenty feet inside the cave, so they’re going to bury the chests down there. ”
Tempi moved closer to the overlook, and they stood quietly for a moment, watching the waterfall cascade onto the crashing water below.
“It’s pretty, isn’t it?” he mused. “The way the sun hits the waterfall, sending tiny prisms of light across the rocks. It’s almost as magical as when I swim at night and see the bioluminescents.”
“It is beautiful. When I was younger, me and the girls would come out here and swim. We were never brave enough to explore the caves. Well, Cassie was, but Adeline, Emory, and I weren’t.
” She turned to look at him. “I know it’s an odd thing for an air elemental to say, but the water has always called to me.
Growing up here had something to do with that, I guess.
I couldn’t imagine living anywhere else. ”
“That’s why I chose to move here three years ago. Something about the town and the geography called to me.”
A few seconds passed before she spoke. “Why didn’t you tell the others last night that you gave me the suggestion for the underwater spell?”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Tempi scoffed. “You know what I mean, Ronin. It was your idea for me to spell seashells and have non-aquatic supernaturals wear them like masks so the spell would allow them to breathe under water for about an hour.”
“I made a suggestion. You’re the one who figured out how to do it.”
“Still, you could have taken some credit.” She cocked her head. “How did you come up with the seashell idea anyway?”
Ronin looked back out toward the water. “Let’s just say I know a mermaid who uses something similar to help her breathe both in and out of water.”
“Really?”
He nodded but didn’t elaborate. His sister’s medical condition wasn’t something he talked about with others. His phone buzzed in his pocket...the ringtone he’d assigned to Dax. He sighed. “We should probably head back. I need to call my brother and see what’s going on.”
“I’m going back to the park tonight to help decorate for the birthday celebration,” Tempi said as they turned toward the golf cart. “Something tells me Adeline and Emory are going to keep me busy.”
Ronin chuckled. “And don’t forget Princess Muffin Top. I’m sure she’ll put her two cents in.”
Tempi groaned. “When doesn’t she?”
“Life must have been boring before she drank that potion and started talking.”
Tempi laughed as she sat down next to him. “You have no idea.”
Ronin felt like he’d been punched in the gut. But then, her smile and laugh always did that to him. “You may hate me for saying this, Tempi, but I think we make a good team.”
She grabbed hold of the bar overhead as he drove down the rocky path. “The jury is still out, Seawald. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.”