Chapter 3
“Okay, girls, you’ve got two hours before closing time. Enjoy the pools, but keep it down. We still have clients getting treatments, understand?” Faith said, standing in the woman’s dressing room at her spa, A Touch of Magic, with Zoey and her two cousins, Olive and Daisy.
“Got it!” Zoey said, beaming at her.
Olive nodded. “I really just want to soak in the hot tub anyway.”
“Really? It’s so hot,” Daisy said. “I’m all in on the cold plunge pool. Then maybe a few minutes in the steam room.”
“The steam room?” Olive scoffed and then mimicked her voice, “Really? It’s so hot.”
Zoey rolled her eyes at both of them.
Faith just shook her head at them and chuckled softly. “Have fun. Be ready to go by six.”
It was late in the afternoon on Saturday.
Zoey and her cousins had been asking ever since school had let out for the summer for a day that they could use the spa pools.
Since it was a slow weekend, Faith had blocked off the last two hours for them to enjoy themselves without bothering any clients.
It was a nice treat for the girls to pamper themselves away from their younger siblings and cousins.
Faith headed into the restroom for a quick stop.
Once she was done and was washing her hands, she spotted a small canvas bag sitting on the counter.
After peeking inside, she noted it contained jewelry.
Frowning, she sifted through it for a moment to see if she could tell who it belonged to.
A necklace, a couple pairs of earrings, a friendship bracelet, and at the very bottom, she found the charm bracelet she’d given Zoey.
With the bag clutched in her hand, she walked back into the dressing room just as the girls were walking out.
“Faith,” Zoey said, surprised. “What is it?”
She held up the canvas bag. “Missing something?”
“Oh! That’s mine. Did I leave it in the restroom?” Daisy asked as she took it.
“Is that the bag of our jewelry?” Zoey asked, looking concerned.
“Yes.” Daisy took it, peered into the bag, and let out a sigh of relief. “It’s all there.”
“Listen, girls, I know Keating Hollow is a safe place, but you have to be more careful about keeping track of your stuff. Even the most wholesome of towns have people who’ll steal things if the opportunity arises. Put that in one of your lockers, okay?”
“Yes, Aunt Faith,” Daisy said. “I can’t believe I left it in there.”
“Things happen. Just be glad I found it and not someone else.” Faith hurried out of the dressing room and up to the front waiting room area.
“Faith, your 4:15 is here. He’s ready for you in room two,” Lena, the spa’s receptionist, said. She handed Faith the client intake form and then leaned in and said, “He’s a hottie.”
“Lena!” Faith said in a hushed whisper as she glanced around to make sure no one had heard her. When she realized the lobby was empty, she added, “You know we don’t talk about clients like that.”
Her receptionist laughed. “Today we do.” Then she winked and went back to her desk.
Faith eyed the other woman, looked inside the folder in her hand, and then frowned. “There’s no name on this file.”
“I know.” Lena chuckled.
“Why?”
Lena just shrugged. “He didn’t put one down.”
“Why?” Faith asked again.
“I don’t know.” Lena threw her head back and laughed. When she sobered, she said, “Why don’t you go ask him yourself?”
Grumbling to herself about lack of follow-through, Faith tucked the folder under her arm and went to meet her mystery client.
Standing outside the massage room, Faith knocked on the door. “Hello? Are you ready for me?” Normally she’d call her client by their name, but she was flying blind.
There was a muffled yes.
“Great. I’m coming in now.” Faith opened the door, spotted a bare butt on her massage table, and let out a small gasp. Immediately she started to close the door, but then she stopped as her brain caught up with her eyes. “Hunter?”
Her husband was lying on the massage table on his stomach, completely nude, the cover sheet still folded at the end of the table. He turned his head and gave her a slow, lazy smile. “Hey. Want to close the door before I moon someone who isn’t my wife?”
“Goddess above,” she muttered as she stepped into the room and closed the door. “What are you doing here?”
He blinked at her and laughed. “I’m here for a massage. Why else would I be here?”
“Where are the girls?” she asked, referring to Amy, Meg, and Jo. It was Saturday, his day to watch them while she was at work.
“With Clair and your dad. They’re working on a Lego project.”
“Whose idea was that?” she asked as she grabbed a rolling chair and sat next to him.
“Your dad’s, actually. He called and said he got a new Lego kit and wanted to know if they had plans. So I called Lena to see if you had a free hour.”
Grinning, Faith brushed a lock of his dark hair out of his eyes and leaned in, giving him a slow, lingering kiss. When she pulled away, she whispered, “You have the best ideas.”
Hunter’s eyes glinted with amusement. “If you do that again, this table is going to be used for a lot more than a massage.”
She raised one eyebrow. “Considering you’re lying here buck naked, I thought that was the plan.”
“During work hours?” he asked in fake outrage.
“A mother of four has to be flexible if she wants alone time with her husband,” Faith said.
“I do love a flexible woman.”
“I just bet you do,” she said with a laugh as she stood and reached for her massage oil.
“But while you’re here, let’s see if I can work that kink out of your shoulder.
” He’d come home the night before, his shoulder practically frozen from the contortion of being wedged under Summer Thomas’s sink.
She’d tried to get the muscle to release the night before and had some success, but this morning it had been tight again.
“This is why I married you,” he said with a contented sigh as she ran her hands over his back.
“I know.” She leaned down and pressed a kiss between his shoulder blades and then got to work, rubbing the oil over his back, trying her best to get him to relax before she started working out the kinks.
“You’re a tease,” Hunter said.
“You’re impatient,” she shot back. “Now just relax, so I can get to work.”
He grumbled something unintelligible but slowly let out a breath, and then some of the tension he carried with him started to disappear.
Hunter had his own construction business in Keating Hollow.
They did everything from home improvements to new constructions.
Plumbing work was usually subbed out, but in emergency cases, he’d never been one who could say no. And now he was paying for it.
Faith gently probed at the tight muscles around his right shoulder blade, making him let out a low groan. “This is worse than last night,” she said, though she wasn’t surprised.
He grunted again when she increased the pressure.
Running her fingers along the muscles in long, gentle strokes, she repeated the motion over and over, until finally she paused on the tight knot and put some real weight behind it.
“Holy hell!” Hunter cried just as thunder boomed so loud it sounded like a bomb had gone off in the room with them. The lights flickered and the soft music playing turned to static. The thunder boomed again, and Faith heard screaming from down the hall.
“Faith! Faith! There’s an electrical fire!” Lena called as she banged on the door. “Hurry!”
“Oh my gods!” Faith threw a robe at Hunter and then bolted from the room.