Page 3 of Fresh Old Bounties

I rounded the counter and grabbed the haunted stool, pulling it away from the counter.

“Child? What are you doing? No—don’t sit on me,” she said, all outrage. “Don’t you dare!”

I plopped my butt down on the comfy top and squirmed to make sure I was seated properly.

Grandma would probably not have approved of this specific brand of revenge, but a girl had to make her own rules.

“You wretched, ungrateful excuse for a witch!” came from under me. “Have some respec?—”

The front door flew open and Dru burst into the shop.

TWO

“Hope,” Dru exclaimed, her eyes zeroing in on me. She was uncharacteristically disheveled, with her tight black curls flying everywhere and a distinct lack of accessorizing.

“You missed the photo shoot,” I said. My lower lip stuck out in a pout all on its own. I’d wanted to get a shot with her to frame in remembrance once she found a better paying job and abandoned me.

“Whatever.” She stomped up to me and gave me such an intense glare I wondered if my bank had bounced her paycheck.

“Okay?” I managed.

“I need your help.”

“My help?”

She let out a frustrated noise and went around me and the corner to pour herself a coffee. She drank it in four gulps.

“What’s going on?” Dru was usually so cool and collected that seeing her so agitated was like the rules of the universe had been upended.

She turned and planted her hands on the counter, a ferocious scowl furrowing her brow as she glared at the opposite wall.

“Someone’s trying to buy the Corner Rose.”

That explained the bad mood. “I was wondering. I saw two men come out of it earlier.”

“You did?” she asked sharply. “Who were they? What did they look like? Did you talk to them? What did they say? Did they give you a business card?”

I instinctively retreated from the barrage of questions, almost falling off the stool. “They looked like businessmen. I didn’t talk to them. They got into a car and drove off.”

She slammed her hand on the counter, making me jump. “Hope!” Her eyes narrowed. “Are you sure they didn’t talk to you?”

“Completely sure. One of them nodded at me, but that was it.”

“Nodded? How? Describe it. No, wait. Show me.”

I bobbed my head up and down in a jerky motion.

“Was he about this tall?” She lifted a hand above her head. “Lean, dark and handsome, cropped black hair? Like he just came out of a magazine cover?”

“Ye—”

“Argh!” She threw up her hands, then took a few deep breaths.

“And old enemy?” I guessed cautiously.

“My ex-boyfriend!”

Ooh. “Oh.”

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