Page 17 of My Blind Date is a Warlock

“I just am!” I exploded, whirling to face him. He didn’t expect me to stop so suddenly and would have bumped into me if, in my anger, I didn’t shove at his chest. “I can be sure, Jacob, because I’ve been down that road more times than I’d like to count. I’ve been to mystics, witch doctors, shamans, and friggin’ monks, hoping, hoping to the blessed goddess that they’d find out what’s wrong with me. That they could help me find my magic. Help me be whole.” My voice broke as the tears I tried so desperately to hold back blurred my vision.

Sucking in a stuttering breath, I continued on. “And you want to know what they told me? They had no friggin’ clue what’s wrong with me. I don’t have a single drop of magic in my blood. I can’t manipulate the life force emitted by the ley lines. I am one hundred percent human! It makes sense if you think about it. My father’s human, so it was a fifty-fifty chance that I would take after him, right?”

“You are not broken, Sophia,” Jacob insisted, taking the watering can from my hands and placing them both on the ground. “You’re not,” he repeated when I shook my head and tried to shirk off his touch when he grabbed my hands. “I won’t try to give you false hope, but I won’t let you think less of yourself either. You think I don’t know you told me about all of this because you believe me to be like those jackasses you went to school with? Sorry to break it to you, honey, but I am made of better stock than that—despite the convoluted values my father tried to drill into my head,” he argued, the last bit said in a wry tone.

My tears would not stop falling. He diligently wiped them away with his calloused hands, but his touch was more soothing than the softest tissue out there.

“I told you about my lack of magic because of the way you look at me,” I sniffed, stepping closer to him.

“And what way is that?” He lowered his head, brushing back stray wisps of my hair, pushing the bangs away from my eyes.

“Like you want to devour me whole. Like you want to own me. You look at me the way my dad and Dave look at Mom and Piper and that scares me. Because how can you look at me like that when we only just met? I needed to know if me being who I am would make that look die out.”

“Well, I am standing before you right now, looking you straight in the eye. So, you tell me, Sophia—whatever your middle name is—Barnes, what do you see?”

I don’t remember us getting any closer, but we were practically sharing the same breath, his nose brushing against mine, and I might have gone cross-eyed trying to look at him.

“It’s Cleo,” I told him with a wet laugh, swallowing down the lump in my throat. “And I don’t think kissing you right now is a great idea. I have a three-date rule.”

CHAPTER 16

My family and Catherine Hawthorne all descended on my tiny cottage the next evening after I spent the entire day dodging them.

“Maybe you should get a bigger house, sweetheart. Somewhere in town, not so secluded?” my mother suggested over a glass of iced tea. Everyone else had opted for wine except Piper, who’d helped herself to my stash of scotch after coming off another long shift at the hospital.

“Oh, hush your mouth, Belinda. I’m right down the road, and so are the twins. The girl’s as snug as a bug in a rug out here. Where’s she going to find a big enough property to accommodate her workshop and that gorgeous greenhouse in town?” Gran said in my defense. The battle was won with that. Mom knew how much time I spent in both buildings, how much pride I took in brewing my potions and creating homemade cosmetics. What I lacked in magic I made up for with the magic I created out back. But still, she refused to let it go.

“I know, I know.” She sighed. “But this living room is so tiny. Look at us cramped on these couches like sardines in a can. At least think about renovating and adding more space or rooms to the cottage. This house is not big enough to raise a family.”

Piper choked on her drink and wine spurted out of my nose. My sister cackled like the witch she is, nibbling gleefully on the gingersnap cookies I’d brought out for her.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Who said anything about raising a family?” I screeched, jumping to my feet and heading into the kitchen to grab a cloth.

Mom waited until I came back to the living room before speaking again. “Now that you’ve found your mate—”

“Let me stop you right there, Mother. It is way too soon in this relationship for me to even think of having Jacob’s babies.”

“So, there is a relationship?” She jumped on that like a starving wolf. I made a strangled sound in my throat knowing that no matter what I said, she was going to twist my words to hear what she wanted. Okay, maybe I wasn’t being fair to my mother. In her defense, I did use the “r” word first.

“Please don’t tell me you came all the way out here to talk about my non-relationship with Jacob because I’m exhausted. I’d rather be soaking in a bath and catching up on Cobra Kai episodes.”

“You can say that again,” Piper quipped, but her expression did not match the lighthearted comment.

Catherine surprised me by being the one to speak up. “Unfortunately, we are not here for something so trivial, joyful even, dear. But never you worry, for the day will come when us old nosy biddies will come to harangue you about your new beau.” She placed her wine glass on the coaster. “We are here about what happened yesterday at the coven circle. Let me say my piece first, and then you can say whatever it is you want to say.” She cut me off when I would have protested, her voice gentle but no less firm. “We all heard the things Jerome said to you, and we learned more of his beliefs in a conversation afterward, and I must admit that never in my years of being the leader of the Mystic Cove coven have I ever been so appalled by the garbage I heard yesterday.” She sighed.

Piper cleared her throat and leaned forward in her seat. “I know you never wanted Mom and Dad to know, but I had to tell them about what you went through at Redwood.”

“Piper!”

“Do not be mad at your sister, Sophia. You should have told us that you were getting bullied a long time ago. Your father and I always suspected, but you always denied it when we asked and so did Headmaster Pritchard,” Mom explained.

“You talked to him about all this?” I was slack-jawed.

“Did you really think we did not notice? You are my baby, Fia. Every time you came home for vacation, it was as if your inner light was snuffed out. My little firecracker coming home a shadow of herself. Your father and I would watch you bloom to life again, only for your vivacity to diminish when it was time to go back. Why did you not tell us?”

“Because!” I snapped. “I didn’t want to disappoint you, Mom. I knew how much it meant for you to have both your daughters graduate from the academy just like every other witch in our family. I didn’t want to disappoint you or have you think I was weak just because I wasn’t like any of you. I didn’t want any of you looking down on me.”

Mother teared up at that and got up from her seat to crouch in front of me. Taking my hands in hers, she squeezed them and peered into my eyes. “We are family, Fia, and we love you. We would have never, ever thought you were less, never!” She cried, the sight of her tears ripping my heart to shreds.

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