The next morning, I’d finally accepted the request for me to take a few days away from the outside world. I told Angie the truth because, first of all, I don’t lie to Angie. But also, she knew what was happening already. She texted me back saying that if I could call the main office and let them know where everything was for the conference starting that day, then they’d be able to take care of that. And not to worry about any of it. She’d do it herself, but she was dying. And now she was going back to sleep.

So that’s where I was at ten AM, sitting at the kitchen table on the phone with Debbie at the general manager’s office. “I’ve got written copies at my desk if you need them,” I said to her as I wrote down another thing I needed to remember to figure out for tomorrow’s wedding block booking. Oh, and to postpone the next wedding meeting. Though they wanted an October booking, so maybe I should let them book, then we could sit and talk logistics after my evil wizard situation was resolved. Because October wasn’t going to stay open for very long, even with what control I had over the events schedule at The Landmark.

“Hang on, I think I found it,” Debbie said.

We were trying to navigate the cloud storage system that the Landmark used, which might have actually been an old prototype for cloud storage systems. I was on my laptop, where I had some access, but not enough to be useful. And Debbie was on the same page, in theory, at her desk.

Gretel came into the kitchen and I smiled and gave her a little wave. “Wh-ah, no, sorry, Dar,” Debbie said. “I think I’m on the wrong page.”

“You want to be in the folder marked Gregory and Co. Do you see that one?”

“Oh, I’m in Little Rock.”

She might as well have actually been in Little Rock for all the connection we were making. “Go one over,” I said as Gretel put a coffee in front of me. I blew her a kiss, then went back to my laptop. “Go back into the Accounts folder, then look for Gregory and Co.”

“Got it.”

I walked her through a few more steps and finally, everything we needed was downloaded to her computer. Probably. She said it was. 

“Thank you so much, Dar,” Debbie said as we finally wrapped things up. “You’re so good at this stuff.”

I laughed. “I’m just organized.”

“I hope you feel better tomorrow. Angie, too.”

“Thanks, me too. Call me if anything else comes up.”

I hung up the phone and set it on the table. Gretel was leaning comfortably against the kitchen counter. “You’re hot when you’re in work mode,” she said.

“I’m even sexier at my desk,” I replied.

“Come on, Dar,” Gretel said with a sigh. “I know you’re mad. I’m sorry, but you know it isn’t safe.”

“I do,” I admitted, mind back on Ezra’s attack last night. “I just wish it wasn’t happening.”

“I’m off today,” Gretel said. “So maybe I can go get us some lunch and we’ll watch some movies? Do an afternoon movie night?”

She looked hopeful and, honestly, movies on the couch with Gretel sounded perfect. Though we probably couldn’t have our movie night exactly how usually went, but only because Joel was in the house and wouldn’t appreciate that happening right in the living room. 

My aunt might have another opinion on that, though. Speaking of, I should call and update her later.

“I’d love that,” I said, smiling at Gretel. 

I stood up and walked over, pulling her coffee cup out of her hand and setting it gently on the counter. Then I wrapped my arms around her and leaned in, pressing my mouth against hers. Her hand reached for my hair and my hand might have slipped into her bathrobe. See, we were alright. We just needed to make it through this transition period and we’d be fine. Me and Gretel were strong.

I had her backed against the counter, leaning almost uncomfortably far back. If I had to be stuck in the house, then maybe we could make the most of it.

“We could postpone that movie,” I whispered in her ear, moving my hand a little lower as she shuddered, her body moving against mine. “Maybe-”

Footsteps on the stairs made us both freeze, then quickly pull apart, Gretel readjusting her robe. I winked at her, but Joel entered the kitchen before I could say anything.

“Good morning!” he chirped, heading toward the coffeepot. “I just talked to Ezra again, he feels fine.”

“Good, that’s great,” I said, sincerely meaning it but also sure that my voice sounded like I was about to explode.

“So I convinced him not to go to work today. He’s going to come over here. Dar, mind if I borrow your car so I can go pick him up at his mom’s?”

Could Joel drive? Did he even have his license? Magic wouldn’t save him in Salem traffic. But on the other hand…

“I’ll just go there and back, we won’t go anywhere else,” Joel promised.

I reached around Gretel, intentionally pressing our bodies together in a way that made my breath catch, and grabbed my car keys off of the counter. I tossed them over to Joel. “Thanks!” he said, sounding surprised. “I’ll be back in half an hour. Give or take.”

He gave us both a sunny wave, then made his way out the door. As soon as I heard it close and lock behind him, I grabbed Gretel’s hand. “Upstairs.”

***

I wasn’t sure if it had been half an hour or not as I lay with Gretel’s head on my chest a little while later. It was too warm under the covers, but she was so soft against me and I didn’t want to move to change anything about where we were right now. It just felt right. Her hand was tracing patterns on my chest and I was half asleep with the movement of it as my own hand moved up and down her back. 

We’d needed this and I think we both knew it. We were drifting, no matter what declarations we’d made to each other only a few nights earlier. I remembered how awful it felt to stay in that hotel room alone last week, and the fear I’d felt toward both Gretel and Joel that night. But we were getting past that. We badly, badly needed to get past it.

And morning sex on a sick day was clearly step one to getting past it.

Gretel sighed finally. “I guess we should get up,” she said.

“I have nowhere to be,” I replied, still half-drifting.

That was true, for reasons beyond my control. But whatever, if my whole impromptu safety vacation went like this I’d be just fine with it. 

She got up and I groaned, half-heartedly trying to pull her back down. Gretel laughed, then kissed my forehead. “You can stay,” she said. “I just need to go to the store.”

I’d been planning the same thing earlier, last night before all of this. “I’ll come with you,” I said sleepily, not making any move to do so.

She got a towel out of a clean laundry basket, then walked toward the bathroom as I kept my eyes open just long enough to check out her ass as she walked. “No, you stay here,” she said. “Text me and I can grab what you need.”

My good mood faltered a little. Of course she didn’t want me to come. But I was getting past that. She was right, I was in danger. So I might as well suck it up for a little while. So I snuggled back down into the sheets and tried to reclaim that peacefulness I’d had just moments earlier.

I woke up a couple hours later. I was alone in the room, but I’d put myself here this time. And had a very nice time doing so, so I wasn’t concerned. Instead, I got up and took my time taking a shower, washing and conditioning my hair, shaving slowly, and doing everything I normally saved for the weekend. By the time I got out of the shower, I was feeling better than I had in days.

I got dressed in something cute and comfortable, then made my way downstairs. I could hear voices in the living room. Ezra was there by now. Of course he was, he must have been there at least an hour by this point.

“Hey, good morning!”

Joel was grinning at me from where he was on the couch, sitting close to Ezra with an arm casually slung over the top of the cushions in a way that looked totally obvious from where I was standing. Ezra smiled up at me, then leaned back against the couch, his blue spikes brushing Joel’s arm. He looked much better than he had when he’d gotten out of the car last night.

Gretel was on the other couch and I was about to go join her when my phone rang. It was Debbie again.

“Sorry, I’ll be right back.”

I walked out of the room, through the kitchen, and into the garden as I answered. It was a quick thing, I didn’t even need to go restart my laptop to help her. I knew exactly which file was missing. As I talked her through the journey, I did a brief inventory of the garden. It needed a weeding, that was for sure. And there were some patches that could use some more color. 

“No problem,” I said as Debbie thanked me again. “Let me know if you need anything else.”

I hung up and turned around, nearly jumping out of my skin as I saw Ezra standing in the doorway. “Sorry!” he said, “I thought you heard me.”

“No, it’s fine,” I said. “I’m just jumpy. What’s up?”

“I have to ask you something.”

He came out into the garden, closing the door behind him. That was a little concerning. Not that I hadn’t ever been out here with Ezra. He’d been the one to check on me the night Gretel revealed her magic after Joel had been beaten up.

“Are you alright?”

“Can Joel do that?” Ezra asked.

“Do what?”

He looked back toward the door, like super hearing might be one of Joel’s abilities. And who knew? Maybe it was. But then he turned back to me. “Force you to tell the truth.”

I shuddered, hoping he didn’t see it. “He can,” I said. “Or at least he could. But he hates it.”

That was true. Poor Joel had been horrified, he’d barely looked at me for days even as he tried to do everything he could to make me feel better. Which I had, fairly quickly. Once I’d had about seventeen hours of sleep, I felt much better. But it took another few days to figure out why Joel was acting so weird and convince him everything was okay.

I told Ezra about the experiment and how it had affected both of us. “It was how I recognized that feeling,” I said after laying everything out for him.

Ezra nodded. “And he doesn’t do it?”

“I mean, I can’t say for sure. But I’d be stunned if he ever did. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“I am,” Ezra said. “It just really rattled me last night. My mom too. She’s worried about me being out right now. Though the fact that the nice boy who brought me home last night, to the door even, was the one picking me up was enough to convince her. His magic might even have been part of it. A small part.”

I laughed. It was true, Joel was extremely charming when he wasn’t being fucking annoying. “He’s not a bad guy,” I said, remembering how I said the exact same words to him shortly after forcing Joel to buy me the world’s most expensive, nasty coffee. “If you’re interested in him, I wouldn’t say definitely don’t.”

“That’s encouraging.” Ezra said with a laugh.

I shrugged. “We have a long history,” I said. “And I spent a very long time hating him for how it ended. But we’ve grown up, I guess. Or he’s just having a great week.”

“Do you think I’m stupid? Considering it, I mean.”

“No,” I said. “I’d just… He has his flaws. But I guess we all do.”

“Wow, that’s not at all what I would have expected to hear after you made him buy you the Kingdom Come brew with four pumps of white chocolate.”

I laughed, sitting down on the side of the flower box. The furniture was stacked against the wall, to be thrown out or sold, I didn’t care. After Corman had been here, I never wanted to have anything to do with it again. But my garden was still beautiful, even if it needed some work. “I’m not going to say he’s an easy person,” I said, “But honestly, neither am I. He hurt me badly. I’m still hurting from it, but he’s not a monster. And the past week has shown me that even Joel can grow up.”

Ezra smiled, looking thoughtful. “I’m going to go back in,” he said. “Thanks, Dar.”

“Any time.”

He went in and I stayed where I was for a moment. It was tempting to get my target out and practice some pitches, especially since I wasn’t going to be able to go to practice for at least a couple days. And that would help me to work out some of the frustration I still felt at the prospect. But isolating myself would probably just make matters worse, so I followed Ezra back inside.

---

Continue to Chapter 12