A Taste of Magic (17 page)

“Lizzie?”

“Hi, Grandma. What’s up?”

“Why did you ask if I’d spoken with Miranda? Where did that question come from?”

Great. Because I hadn’t heard the voice again, I sort of thought I’d imagined it. You know, the power of the moment and all that jazz. “Oh, I was just curious.”

“Spill it. Why were you curious?”

“Seriously, Grandma, no real reason. I’m still trying to get my mind wrapped around the whole idea, and I wanted to know if she … well, communicated with you in any way.”

Silence. Grandma Verda wasn’t stupid, so I doubted she believed me, but hopefully she wouldn’t push. Yeah, if it happened again, I’d probably tell her. But at that point I was keeping my mouth shut.

“Is that the truth, Lizzie?”

My buzzer went off. Perfect timing. “Hey, Grandma, my date’s here, so I gotta go. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Are you going out with Nate?”

“No. His name is Kevin, and if I don’t go now he’ll think I stood him up.”

“Go. Have fun. But you should think about Nate.”

“Trust me, Grandma, I have.”
All the time
. After hanging up, I went to put my coat on. As I left my apartment, I tried to reclaim my excitement.

I’d looked forward to this for most of the week, but now that it was here, I kinda wanted to stay home. Probably because I was worried about Maddie. Not to mention Alice and Jon.

All thoughts vacated my brain when I saw Kevin. Maddie was right. He was completely hot. Mouthwateringly, sinfully, wickedly hot. Suddenly, the evening ahead brightened.

I pretended I didn’t hear the tiny voice in the back of my mind. The one that insisted I’d have a much brighter evening if it involved Nate. But settling down with one guy wasn’t what I wanted. I did that once already. No need to go that route again.

This was what I’d wished for, what I’d blamed Marc for taking away from me. Choices. Adventure. Freedom.

My date was with Kevin; therefore, I intended to have an amazing time with Kevin.

Simple as that.

Walking out of the Briar Street Theatre, Kevin took hold of my hand, his strong fingers closing around mine. “That show was awesome. Did you like it?”

“It was great. I loved the music. I can’t believe I’ve never gone to see it before. Thanks for taking me.” The warmth of his clasp felt solid and real. I liked it, more than I’d expected.

“Feel like stopping and grabbing some dessert?”

I laughed. “You, the water-drinking, salad-eating, only-good-things-go-in-my-body, trainer of all trainers, want to buy me dessert?”

“Treats are good for you. You just don’t want to eat that stuff all the time.”

I stifled a yawn. “Actually, Kevin, I’ve had a really long day, and I have to work in the morning. I’m kind of tired. Do you mind if we call it?”

“Sure, let’s get you home so you can get some sleep.”

Wow, I loved that. He didn’t try to change my mind. He just agreed. Not able to hold it back any longer, I yawned as I slid into the seat of his car.

Bluesy jazz spilled from the radio. I leaned my head back against the cushion of his car and closed my eyes. Contentedness seeped into me as the sound of the engine and the hum of the road lulled me to sleep.

I don’t know how much time passed, but I woke to Kevin’s lips at my ear.

“Hey, sleepyhead, we’re home.”

Reaching up, I touched his cheek, felt the prickly roughness of his not-so-smooth shave, and murmured, “Okay.”

He walked me in and we stopped in the hallway, in front of my door. “I’d invite you in for some wine, but I really am beat.”

“That would be sweet, but I’m the water guy, remember?”

“Oh yeah, that’s right,” I teased.

“Hey, Elizabeth, I had an amazing time tonight. I’d love to take you out again. Maybe dancing. You’re so incredibly easy to be around, and I really enjoyed myself.” He smiled shyly. “I hope you did, too.”

“I had fun, Kevin.” This surprised me a little. But hey, part of what I wanted was to date different men, to regain what I never had when I was younger. Not such a hard choice. “I’d like to go out again. Dancing sounds great.”

“We’ll do it then.” He eased toward me, so my back was against the wall. When he kissed me, it was different than kissing Marc, which made sense. But more pointedly, it was different than kissing Nate. My belly warmed, but I didn’t have the tingles and the sparks shooting out all over the place. Not necessarily a bad thing. Just a different thing.

Kevin’s body pushed me tighter against the wall as he deepened the kiss. Not quite the instantaneous combustion I’d gotten used to with Nate, but my body slowly came alive under his touch. While it wasn’t mind-blowing, it was definitely nice, and more than I’d expected.

With a sigh, he stepped back. His dark chocolate eyes heated with desire, telling me what he really wanted. “I better go.” His husky voice rode over me smoothly. “You’re far too tempting, Elizabeth.”

“I’ll, um, see you in a few days. At the gym,” I murmured, the effects of the kiss, the strength of it, still surprising me.

“Let’s plan something for next weekend, if you want. We can talk about it during training.”

I nodded and pulled my keys out of my purse. Kevin watched me unlock the door before he turned away. As he did, I happened to glance down the hallway and my heart stopped. And then it floated upward, until it got stuck in my throat and I choked on it.

Nate stood at the door from the outside, police uniform on, so I assumed he’d been called into work. His gaze was on me, but he didn’t say anything, just stepped out of the way to let Kevin pass, and then continued down the hall toward me.

“Hi, Nate. Did you have to work tonight?” I asked, trying to keep my voice casual. Maybe he hadn’t seen the kiss. Not that I’d done anything wrong, but still. The thought he may have seen the lip-lock really bothered me.

“Yeah, they needed an extra body, and I didn’t have anything going on.” He stopped in front of me, his eyes definitely on my lips.

I bet they were red, swollen from the kiss.

I held my head high. I felt guilty. Maybe there wasn’t a reason, but I did. That was dumb, because Nate and I hadn’t even been on a proper date. We barely knew each other.

Yep. Rationalizing. Again.

“I didn’t know you were dating someone,” he finally said.

“I’m not. Well, I wasn’t. First date.” Brilliant, Elizabeth— just brilliant.

“Ah. Have fun?”

“Saw Blue Man Group, and yeah it was great. Have you seen it?”

His gaze kept darting to my mouth. I envisioned my lips as nearly bursting, giant red water balloons, marking me easily as a woman just kissed. I rolled my bottom lip into my mouth and scraped it with my teeth. It felt normal enough.

“A couple of years ago. It’s a fun show. Will you be around tomorrow?”

“Should be. I have plans with Maddie.” Then, I realized he probably didn’t know her. “Hey, have you met Maddie? She lives upstairs.”

“Nope. She’s a friend of yours, right?”

I nodded. “Why don’t you stop by? She’s coming down in the afternoon. It’d be good for her to meet the law enforcement around these parts,” I teased, hoping to ease the moment.

His gaze settled on my face. What felt like forever passed, but it was probably only a few seconds. “I’ll see you then. Sleep well, Elizabeth.”

Unlike the previous day, he didn’t lean over and give me a kiss as a good-bye. Just walked to his apartment and let himself in without a backward glance. Selfish of me, because I’d just been thoroughly kissed, but it bugged me.

Yeah, he’d definitely seen the kiss. Now I had to decide how I felt about that. In my bedroom, I slipped out of my clothes and pulled my nightgown on, and thought about it. I really liked Nate. A lot. I’d also had had a great time with Kevin. And, while I’d certainly been more intimate with Nate, I knew a little more about Kevin.

Of course, I had a sneaking suspicion that Kevin was younger than me. I wasn’t sure by how much, but I seriously doubted he was over thirty. Kind of cool, dating a younger man. Also a little nerve-wracking. What did he see in me?

“Why do you do that to yourself, Elizabeth?”

The voice hit me straight on. Jumping slightly, I turned my gaze toward the direction of the voice, but I didn’t see anyone. And yeah, it was the same voice from before. I took in one long, slow breath and tried to relax. “Miranda?”

A bodiless giggle echoed in the room. “Who else?”

Every hair stood up on end with the answer, and I shivered automatically. I hadn’t expected a response. Not really. “I don’t know. You were my first guess.”

I waited breathlessly to hear her again. Fear mingled with excitement. When a few minutes passed with nothing forthcoming, I slid beneath my sheets and closed my eyes. Ghostly Grandma or not, I needed to get some sleep. Besides, somehow I knew if I allowed myself to think too much about it, I’d let the fear seep in, and then I’d be up all night.

When I was a little girl, on nights I couldn’t sleep, my mother used to tell me to pretend I was floating on a cloud. That my cloud bed would whisk me anywhere I wanted to go, so it was best to sleep on the journey so I would be prepared when I arrived. Silly, but I still used this image to help me fall asleep. So, huddled in my bed, I willed my pulse to slow to a reasonable level and envisioned a white fluffy cloud. Curling up on the cloud, I breathed deeply. It took longer than normal, but I did relax. A few minutes later, I began to fall away.

I hovered, not quite descending off the precipice into deep sleep, and enjoyed the moment. My body seemed weightless; my mind was empty. I sighed, snuggled in, and then, something pushed at me, pulled at me. It was like I’d become a ball, bouncing from one hard edge to another.

Bam. Bam. Bam.

Wide awake, I snapped my eyes open. A blinding light pulsated throughout the room. Chills coated my skin. Sitting up, I exhaled and peered into the light. In the middle of it, the hazy shape of a figure stood, but I couldn’t quite make it out.

“Can you see me, Elizabeth?” I heard Miranda say. Squinting, I tried to focus past the haze, but couldn’t, it hurt my eyes too much. Blinking, they watered and the wetness decreased my vision even more. “Hello?”

Another second passed, and my room returned to its normal quiet darkness. No light. No form. No voice.

Cuckoo land … twilight zone … what ever I wanted to call it was gone. I sat up and stared at the room. I wrapped my arms around myself to chase the chill away.

“Miranda? Are you still here?”

While I didn’t hear a reply, my room filled with the scent of roses. Ah. I was pretty sure that meant she was still there.

Knowing sleep was now out of the question, at least for a little while, I grabbed my pillow and quilt and went to the living room.

“I don’t think I like this,” I whispered. Well, duh, who would? And, it wouldn’t do me any good to move out, because it wasn’t like it was my apartment that was haunted.

Nope, it was me.

Chapter Twelve

“Why are you so jumpy?” Maddie asked over a bite of her brownie. While she didn’t look as tired today, she still lacked her usual glow. Hopefully, this new magic would be as strong as the Troy magic, just in reverse.

“I’m not.” At her disbelieving look, I said, “Nate is supposed to join us. That’s all. I’m wondering what’s taking him so long.” Not the full truth, but close enough. Besides, I didn’t think mentioning Miranda would help me in the sanity department.

“You’re not trying to fix me up with this cop, are you?”

“Absolutely not. In fact, if you so much as blink an eye at him I’ll have to take you down.”

Her startled expression quickly gave way to humor. “It’s like that, is it? Well, good for you. I’m happy to see you’re playing the field a little.” Another bite of chocolate disappeared into her mouth. “Dangerous, though.”

“Dangerous how?”

“Dating two men at once when one of them lives right down the hallway. Most men, no matter what they say, don’t like to share.”

Leave it to Maddie. With virtually no knowledge of my experience the prior evening, she’d hit it right on the head.

“That’s why I’m nervous. He saw me coming in with Kevin last night. Plus, he saw me with Jon on Friday night. I wouldn’t have thought anything of it, but Jon seems to think Nate will take it the wrong way.”

“He probably will.” Her eyes flickered over me curiously. “Why haven’t you mentioned Nate before?”

“There wasn’t much to mention. We haven’t dated yet. There’s just this … I don’t know,
thing
, between us.”

“
Things
are good. Maybe he’s uncomfortable about coming over after seeing you with two different men on the weekend. Go get him. I’ll help you clean things up. At least as far as Jon goes.” Clearing off her plate, she pushed it aside. “That was terrific, thanks for making it.”

She’d hardly eaten any. I wanted her to eat more. Just to be sure. Not that long ago, she’d told me she missed the old Elizabeth. I missed the old Maddie. I wanted her back. “Have another slice and I’ll go grab Nate.”

“You talked me into it. Heck, it’s Sunday. If I can’t pig out on the weekend, when can I?”

“Exactly. Be right back.” In less than a minute, I was rapping on Nate’s door. When it swung open, I had my smile ready to go.

Only, it wasn’t Nate on the other side. It wasn’t Sam, either. Instead, a red-haired woman with large, bottle-green eyes stared at me. “Yes?” she asked.

“Hi. I’m Nate’s neighbor. Is he here?”

“Yes. Wait one minute, please.” The door closed in my face, only to be opened by Nate a scant few seconds later.

“Elizabeth, what’s going on?” Exasperation colored his tone. Something I hadn’t heard from him since the window night. I stepped backward before replying.

“Is this a bad time? I just wanted to see if you were still planning on coming over.” At his blank expression, I continued, “To meet Maddie?”

“That’s right. Sorry. I can’t now. Something unexpected came up, so I’ll have to take a rain check.”

“Is anything wrong?” I scooted to the side, trying to see in past him. I wanted to know who the red-haired beauty was, but I couldn’t come right out and ask, now could I?

“I’m fine. Sorry about today. We’ll get together soon.”

“Oh. Sure.” Now I wanted to ask when he had in mind, but I couldn’t do that, either.

“Have fun with your friend,” Nate said before closing the door. I felt as if I’d been dismissed. It reminded me of Marc, and that made me feel worse.

I stared at the closed door for a few seconds, wondering what was going on behind it. Wishing that Miranda’s magic came with a few of Superman’s abilities, I turned on my heel and went back to my apartment.

“Well?” Maddie asked, wiping the chocolate away from her lips. I was pleased to see a much larger chunk of the brownie had disappeared from the pan.

“He’s busy, I guess.” Who knew I’d be this disappointed? Not me, that’s for sure.

“You guess?”

“I don’t know. Let’s not talk about it. Tell me about your parents. Did they get off to Hawaii okay?”

I pretended to be involved in small talk with Maddie, but my focus remained firmly on Nate. And the mystery woman. And what was happening between them in Nate’s apartment. To think I’d felt bad about his seeing me with Kevin. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid!

“Are you listening to me at all?”

“What? Oh. Of course I am.”

“You’re off in another world. Want to share why?”

“A woman answered the door at Nate’s. I’ve never seen him around another woman, so it’s bugging me,” I blurted. “I don’t know why.”

Maddie’s mouth split in a grin. “You’re kidding, right? You know damn well why it’s bothering you. The same exact reason it bothered Nate to see you with Jon and Kevin.”

“Which is why it shouldn’t mean anything to me. I’m not sitting here pining over him or anything.”

Maddie snorted. “Baby, you most certainly are pining.”

I opened my mouth in denial, saw her pointed look, and sighed. “Maybe a little. I didn’t know he was seeing anyone else. It was weird, that’s all.”

“Was she dressed?”

“What?”

“This woman. Did she have clothes on?”

“She didn’t answer the door naked, if that’s what you’re asking.”

“What about her hair?”

“It was perfect.” Long, red, and beautiful. Maybe I should dye my hair red?

“Makeup? Did she have lipstick on?”

“What’s with all these questions?”

Maddie stood and shook her head, amusement glittering in her voice. “Answer. Did she have lipstick on?”

“Yes.”

“Was it smudged?”

“No. Everything about her was perfect. She could have stepped off the cover of a magazine. If this is your way of helping me feel better, you’re failing. Miserably.”

“Dork,” she said, laughing.

“What is so funny?”

“If she was dressed, if her lipstick and hair were perfect, then it stands to reason that no hanky-panky was going on behind closed doors.”

“You can’t know that.”

“For sure? No. But think about it. If mystery woman and Nate were rolling around in bed together, you’d have seen the signs of it. Smudged lipstick, mussed hair, shirt unbuttoned.”

“Good point, but it doesn’t prove anything.” It made me feel better, though.

“Nope, but it gives you something to hang on to.” Using her fork, Maddie cut off a chunk of brownie. “Here,” she said, lifting it to my mouth. “You need this more than I do.”

Tasting the explosion of sweet chocolate on my tongue, I nodded. I certainly did. Unfortunately, the spell wasn’t going to affect me.

But hey, the sugar couldn’t hurt.

Jon’s face creased in a grin. “We just got the Henderson gig. The entire thing! Shower, rehearsal, and wedding.”

I looked up from the next month’s planning calendar. “Really? No way.” The Henderson wedding was huge. They were Chicago’s own version of the Kennedys, and if I’d understood Jon correctly, they’d just chosen A Taste of Magic for their nuptial baking needs. All my worries about paying off Marc evaporated. With a client like that, we’d be the hit of Chicago as soon as word got out. Business would be booming.

“Seriously, Liz. I just got the call from the consultant team. We’re it. Mrs. Henderson and her daughter are coming next week to meet with us.”

“You know what this means to us, Jon?”

He grabbed my hands and twirled me toward him. “It means we’ve made it. We can pay Marc off, and then, after we pull this off, we’ll be the elite bakery in Chicago. Bigger store, higher-paying clientele, and the ability to create spectacular cakes without the worry of cost. You can be the artist you’ve always dreamed about! This is it!”

Pulling out of the dance, I smiled, but at the same time focused on the realities. I didn’t want to burst his bubble, but this was not the time to get overexcited. “Yeah, and if we screw it up, we’ll probably be out of business.”

“Hush, you. Don’t ruin this moment. We haven’t screwed up one job yet. This will be no different. This is it! This is what we’ve been working toward.”

“Jon, stop. What did the consultant say, exactly? Has Mrs. Henderson already hired us, or is this an interview?”

“Interview. But it’s as good as in the bag.”

I shook my head. “This is why I’m the practical one. It’s not in the bag. Not yet. I know you’re excited, and it’s great news, but we have a lot to do.”

“Aw, Lizzie, don’t ruin this,” he implored.

His tone got to me, just like a little boy pouting when his favorite toy was taken away would get to me. “I’m not. I’m going to do everything possible to ensure they do hire us. But you need to calm down.”

Crossing his arms, Jon inhaled deeply. “You’re absolutely right. This is why we’re the perfect team. What do you need from me?”

I felt like crap, deflating his enthusiasm. “Can you finish up on the Walker cake? I’ll start on some research so we can decide what we want to show Mrs. Henderson and her daughter. What day are they coming?”

“Next week. Wednesday, ten in the morning.”

“Good. Plenty of time to work this out then. Do you mind dealing with the Walker cake?”

“No. Work your magic, and I’ll handle the kitchen.”

Work my magic
. Bless Jon. What an absolutely tremendous idea. The excitement I’d dampened out earlier began building. And for the first time, I realized how perfectly named our bakery was, considering the circumstances of my heritage. “You’re such a smart guy, Jon.”

“That’s a definite, but you’re only now noticing?” he teased.

“What consultant are they using?” My mind was already sifting through the possibilities.

“Social Niceties.”

“Doesn’t surprise me. Do you know who’s in charge?”

“Boss lady herself. You planning on calling her?”

“Yeah. I’ll try to get some inside info on Mrs. Henderson and her daughter, and then I’ll plan what we want to showcase.”

“
We’ll
plan on what we want to showcase.”

“That’s what I meant. We’re a team.”

“You’re my perfect partner. In more ways than one.”

“Have you talked to Andy? How’s he doing?” I asked, knowing full well Jon didn’t want to discuss Andy.

Jon frowned, but I saw the quick light of sadness hit his eyes. “I’m going to get started on the Walker cake. Let me know if you need anything.”

“Wait. I didn’t mean to upset you. I just don’t want you to forget that what you and Andy have is unique.”

“I used to think so. Now, I think it’s over. Don’t worry, you didn’t upset me.”

Jon closed his eyes. When he opened them, the sadness was gone or at least hidden well. I expected him to say something else, but he didn’t. He gave me a halfhearted smile and left the office.

I’d seen him eat the damn cake I made for him. Why did my magic work on some of the people but not all of the people? And why did the brownie spell seem to affect Jon, which was an accident, but the one meant for him hadn’t taken hold?

Not to mention Marc. What was going on with him? No apology yet.

It distressed me. Something else I’d have to discuss with Grandma Verda. Or maybe Miranda, if she talked to me again. Actually, Miranda would probably be best. Could I make her talk to me, or was I stuck waiting for her?

Hmm. I’d pretty much decided I was going to confide in Maddie. After she was back to normal, that is. I needed some help with all of this. And I missed confiding in her. Hopefully, I’d see a change in her soon.

On a whim, I went to the Google search page on my computer and typed in
Miranda Ayres
. I wanted to know more about her, because I couldn’t figure out why she was paying me visits. Sure, I was her great-great-great granddaughter, but there had to be another reason. It was obvious, thankfully, that she wasn’t trying to scare me. But what she wanted with me was a complete mystery.

Of course, there were no listings for her on Google. Chewing on my lip, I tried,
Gypsy Magic
. This garnered a couple of hits. Well, more like two million, so I scrolled through the first few. Unfortunately, nothing apropos to my situation popped up. A couple of stores, a website, and a psychic troupe for corporate entertaining (which might prove interesting, but was fairly useless to me) were the top three hits.

Clicking the X, I closed the Google page and flipped open my contact folder instead, as I might as well start the research for the Henderson job. Picking up the phone, I dialed the number for the Henderson wedding consultant. Time to get busy. The sooner we nabbed this client, the better.

Two hours later, I stretched the muscles in my shoulders. After speaking with Destiny of Social Niceties, I thought I had a handle on Mrs. Henderson and her daughter. It might not prove overly beneficial, as Destiny had said they were complete opposites and were butting heads on every step of the process.