Page 20 of My Blind Date is a Warlock

“Just let me feed him and get changed, and then we’ll be on our way.”

He hummed in agreement, turning away from me and rearranging his pants—and dang if that did not turn me on.

CHAPTER 18

The mayor’s dinner with his mystery investors got pushed back a week, so I’d been holding onto my gift packages all that time. An entire week where Jacob was practically glued to my hip, much to the glee of everyone in town. I got wind of a betting pot that was going around about whether I would be joining him when he left for Boston.

That made me hesitate to give one hundred percent of myself to this relationship—unlike Jacob, who was so gung-ho I was wondering if there was something I was missing. I mean, we’d only just met. It didn’t help that he was being cagey about when he was going to leave; anytime I brought up his cousin, he’d either change the subject or kiss me silly until I’d forgotten what I was talking about. We’d been on two more dates after the first one, during one of which I’d taken him surfing in the dead of night when there were little to no tourists lurking around to ruin the fun. That night, I’d almost given in and let him have me right there on the beach with the moon shining down on us. But I’d managed to pull back at the very last second. To his credit, Jacob was being a good sport about not pushing me into committing fully or being more intimate. There was a lot to like about him—but the fact that he was a warlock from an old-fashioned, conservative, purist family wasn’t something I was ready to overlook. It wasn’t something I was sure I could ever overlook. Did I want to spend my whole life worrying that something could change? That his family could wear him down? That his family could even be a danger to me? And what about our kids? What if they were like me, totally powerless? Would Jacob’s family really allow such a slight against them to stand?

On Friday evening we were due for another date. Jacob insisted on checking out the local skating rink and watching the roller derby when I’d told him my grandmother was on the team. She, Catherine, Dawn, Destiny, and even Rachel were on the same team with a few other women from competed with teams from Mystic Cove, Beckford, and other nearby towns. It was violent and loud and if Gran weren’t a seasoned skater and witch, I’d be worried for her safety—not that they ever used magic to win their matches. Against my better judgment, I’d agreed to make it a double-date with Piper and Dave while the girls stayed at their grandparents’ place for the weekend.

The universe must have felt my unease about this whole double-date thing. Friday morning I was attacked with another lethargic episode. I would have chalked it up to the summer heat, but it felt more serious than that. With how heavy my head felt, I half expected to collapse to the ground and just lay there until someone found me. But I was responsible for opening up Midas Touch that day and had to deliver the gift bags before heading out to the skating rink. My body was malfunctioning; glitching, more like. For five minutes after waking up, I couldn’t get it together, as if my motor functions were degraded or my brain had forgotten how to operate my limbs. It took me too long to get up off the bed and hit the shower, my movements jerky and twitchy like a rusted automaton. My blood was aflame, or at least something close to it. It hummed with a frenetic and volatile energy in my veins, roaring past my ears so that it drowned out every other sound. Breathing was a chore that left me more exhausted with each inhale. And yet, I pulled myself together somehow, getting behind the wheel of my car—even though it probably wasn’t the best idea—and drove to the beachfront mall where the boutique was located, promising myself I would go to the hospital around lunchtime. By twelve-thirty, the store was still teeming with customers. Our busiest day yet this season, with stock flying off the shelves.

“I’ll be with you in a minute!” I called out absently when I saw a customer approach the counter from the corner of my eye while I kneeled down to pick up a tray of rings I’d dropped. If the twins were here today, my ears would have been burning—maybe even literally—from the dressing down for all my clumsiness. Already I’d jotted down five things I would need to pay for, including an insanely expensive dreamcatcher Dawn made herself. Not to mention I kept giving customers the wrong change and I messed up quite a few orders in our online store.

“Looks like you’re having a rough day. Need some help?” a familiar timbre asked above my head. A bout of nausea came over me when I stood up too fast and dropped the tray of rings again. The teenagers whom I was trying to help swore up a storm for everyone to hear.

“Lady, if you're too hungover or drunk to help us, why don’t you get someone more competent to man the counter, hmm?” the black-haired Barbie with a caked-on layer of makeup snarled at me, popping her gum like it was going out of fashion. I couldn’t tell whether the dull throb at my temple was out of irritation from serving a bunch of self-absorbed teenagers who thought my lot in life was to wait on them hand on foot, or from the headache I pretended I didn’t have.

“Jeez, how do you work in a cosmetics boutique and come to work looking like Frankenstein's long-lost sister?” her friend, a petite strawberry blonde whose foundation was not doing a great job of obscuring the acne she was so obviously trying to hide, snickered.

With my nerves frayed to the point of being non-existent, I opened my mouth to tell them off. In fact, I was ready to boot everyone out, lock the door, close the blinds, and take a nap in the office, away from the blinding sunlight that reflected off almost every surface in the shop. Before I could say anything, however, Jacob stepped in. At first, I thought he’d snap at the girls, based on the small tick of his jaw. He surprised me when he walked behind the counter and gave the girls a brilliant smile that left them a little starry-eyed and open-mouthed. Black-haired Barbie might have even drooled a little.

“Now, now, ladies, there’s no need to be rude. It’s pretty packed in here, and as you can see, there is only one Sophie and she’s trying her best to help each and every one of you.” He stepped in front of me and the girls leaning on the glass display case where we kept the more expensive jewelry pieces. I wanted to tell him that we didn’t allow anyone to lean on or touch the glass, but he had the girls under his spell without lifting his pinky finger. While he helped the brats, I replaced the rings on the tray and handed it over to Jacob for the girls to choose from while I went to assist customers who wanted to pay for their purchases.

I was sure that Jacob had come to the boutique to say hello and touch base, but he ended up helping me for the rest of the day, the two of us barely exchanging any words unless he needed me to explain something about our inventory or anything that had to do with the store. My plans of stopping by the hospital went right out the window, the two of us falling into a seamless working pattern well into the late afternoon. The entire time, I was aware of the odd looks Jacob would throw my way, possibly noticing the way I was dragging the whole day, no matter how much I tried to hide it. By the time the rush of customers dwindled down, I was afraid to raise my hands and show everyone the sweat stains on the armpits of my blouse. Despite blasting the air conditioning, the inside of the shop might as well have been a blast furnace.

“Soph, you’re as pale as a sheet.” Jacob walked up to me and placed the back of his hand against my forehead and sucked in a breath when he felt my temperature, shaking his hand. “You’re running a fever. How are you still standing right now?”

“It’s only two more hours ‘til closing time. I’ve made it this far. Might as well go all the way.” I waved away his concern even as I pulled a stool from under the counter and plopped down gracelessly like a puppet that had its strings cut without warning. He shook his head, reaching into the pockets of his light blazer and producing a monogrammed handkerchief. I was oddly charmed that he carried one; it was so old school of him—and dabbed away at the light sheen of sweat glistening on my forehead.

“I’m sure your business partners would not mind you closing early for a medical emergency.”

“I’m just coming down with a summer cold. It hardly counts as a medical emergency.” I tried to laugh it off, the dry and brittle sound trailing off when I noted the pinched expression Jacob wore. His jaw was clamped up tighter than my mother’s cookie jar when she wanted to keep her granddaughters from getting to them before lunch. He tried to hide it, and for the most part he succeeded but for the eyes. There was no way to mask the depth of worry darkening his eyes. Sighing, I capitulated and agreed to shut down for the day.

“I’ll drive you home,” he offered—actually, more like ordered. Not that I would have said no, my head was spinning so badly. Something other than puke was roiling in my gut, searching for a way out. Some primitive, instinctual corner of my brain had an inkling of what was happening to me, the answer floating to the surface only to be snatched away before I could get a full picture of where this sudden cold came from. All I knew was that my nerves were screaming in pain and this restless thing in me wanted—no, needed a release to blow off some steam, take the pressure off, and then I would feel better. I wanted to tell all of this to Jacob, but as the thoughts fired off in my head, they were gone before I could grasp them, and I struggled to find the words to describe what was happening. Instead, I asked him to drive past the mayor’s house so that I could drop off the packages before he took me home.

“I need to call Piper and cancel the date for tonight.” I fumbled with my phone after being buffeted into Jacob's car like a helpless baby. He leaned over me, buckling my seatbelt for me and giving me a whiff of his woodsy pine forest scent. As sick and aching as my body was, it still had the audacity to react to the proximity of his body.

“Ask her to come check in on you too.” He pulled back, his searching gaze looking over every inch of me, at least what he could see. He chewed on his tongue, a habit of his I’d picked up on that he did when he was not sure if he should say or do something.

“Out with it,” I urged him, swallowing down the bile creeping up my throat, wincing at the slight burn. I hadn’t eaten anything all day, certainly not something that would cause heartburn.

Pushing my sweat-slicked bangs away from my forehead, he peered into my eyes, all authoritative and commanding, the teacher and leader in him coming out. “I know you don’t want to believe me, and you hate even considering this, but I can feel it flowing within you… I don’t know how to explain this. It feels wrong, somehow, and I think that’s what’s making you sick.”

“Feel what?” I whispered, shaking my head and feigning ignorance. I’d rather be a blissfully unaware idiot than a hopeful one. At least I would not have to glue my shattered edges back together in the aftermath when it turned out that this was just a normal cold and nothing more. Jacob was… I didn’t know why he kept insisting on this. I was dry as the Sahara was when it came to the amount of magic in my blood. I was human, and that was it. A human with a really bad cold because I went to bed with the air-con on full blast last night, not because after twenty-four years of being a powerless witch I suddenly had a power boost. Things like that happened only in fairy tales, not real life.

“You’re imagining things,” I interrupted him before he could tell me he was talking about magic. “Why would I suddenly get magic after all this time? That doesn’t make sense. If anything, I’d wager that someone hexed me and that’s why whatever magic you’re sensing feels wrong.”

“I don’t think that’s what it is,” he argued, but I held my hand up. I’d had enough of this conversation.

“Really? Because Jerome and his wife have been ex-communicated from the coven. That sounds like motive enough to curse me. My very existence is motive enough for them to curse me. Maybe this sudden illness is supposed to kill me. Whatever it is, it’s not what you’re thinking, so just stop! If you’re so desperate for me to have magic, then maybe we should end things right here so that you can find a witch more suited to your tastes,” I snapped sharply.

“That’s not what this is about, Sophia, and you know it. I am just worried about you.”

“Yeah? Well, it feels like you’re trying to convince me to find ways to… I don’t know. Jumpstart my magic? Start seeking out more witch doctors to pick and probe at me? I already told you that I am not a witch in the one way that matters, and you assured me you were fine with that. Maybe that was all lip service just to get in my pants.” I regretted the words the moment I saw his eyes shatter and the fire within them go out. His expression went scarily blank and I knew he must have been hiding some serious emotions for him to go that cold.

“Make that call to your sister,” he instructed and shut the car door in my face.

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