Page 27 of My Blind Date is a Warlock

So what if he’d been in love with her? That was in the past, and I wasn’t so petty and insecure as to begrudge him of his past. Our pasts shaped us into the people we become. I was Jacob’s present and future. Even as I assured myself that I had nothing to worry about, that Jacob was not faking his feelings all for some elaborate plot to bring his dead lover back to life, I did not get up from my seat and look for him until the sun had long disappeared past the horizon and the moon hung heavily in the sky.

* * *

I had a dozen missed calls and twice as many messages from Jacob. Each message was more frantic than the last, demanding to know where I was and if I was okay. I spent a few minutes in my car, still parked at the beachfront, reading through the messages before I bucked up and called him. He answered instantaneously, sounding frantic.

“Fia? Sweetheart, where are you? Are you safe?” He rattled off a series of questions, not letting me get a word in edgewise until I shouted over the phone to be heard.

“Jacob! I’m fine, I’m fine. He didn’t do anything to me. He just came into the bookstore, said a bunch of nonsense, and left.”

“Then how come you haven’t been answering any of my calls or texts? No one’s seen you since you closed up shop. And that girl, Lucy? She said she saw you get in your car and drive off.”

“Yeah, I, uh… I just needed some time by myself. To clear my head and think.” I sighed, inserting the car keys into the ignition.

“Why? What did my cousin say to you?”

I debated brushing it off, but I needed to know. Hand on my throat, I closed my eyes and asked, “Who’s Rosalind and what is she to you?”

Shocked silence from Jacob’s end, and then, “She was my and Daniel’s best friend. She died when we were sixteen.” His voice was subdued.

“Is that all she was to you, your best friend?”

“Why? What did Daniel tell you?”

“That she was your true mate and that you want to use Tiberius’s journal to bring her back to life. Sacrifice my life for hers,” I replied on a shaky exhale.

Jacob swore. “So that was his end goal all along. He’s lying, Fia. You can’t believe a word he says. Look, I’m at your place right now. Come home and I’ll explain everything you need to know about Rosie and put your mind at ease.”

CHAPTER 25

He was waiting for me on the front porch, scratching Chairman Meow behind the ear while the spoiled cat napped on his lap. He stood up the second I exited the car, earning a displeased meow from the cat before he trotted into the house through the pet door.

“Hey,” I greeted weakly, not moving from behind the car door. Jacob ate up the distance between us in a few strides and dragged me into a tight hug followed by a swift kiss.

“Don’t ever scare me like that again. I thought that he had done something to you.” His voice was a ragged whisper, the depth of fear and love evident in his eyes, in his reverent little touches, spearing me with guilt for ever doubting him.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to cause alarm. He didn’t come to you?”

Jacob shook his head, his hands on my face, in my hair, running down my arms. He didn’t stop touching me, maybe to reassure himself that I was there, I was real, and I was safe.

“He’s smoke in the wind. I tried using a locator spell, but he’s avoiding detection. He didn’t check into the Scarlet Season or the ski resort. I’m not entirely sure where to look, but as long as you’re fine…” He exhaled and pulled me into another hug. I swallowed the apology on the tip of my tongue. I’d said sorry too many times already.

“He wanted to turn me against you and I almost let him. I should not have let his words get to me like that,” I confessed, pulling away from him and tilting my head up to look at him.

“Daniel can sound pretty convincing when he wants to. The best lies are sprinkled with truth. Come, I’ll tell you everything you need to know about Rosalind.”

We didn’t go into the house, but continued sitting out on the porch. Jacob pulled out his tablet from a messenger bag I hadn’t noticed by the front door and brought up some pictures.

“This is Rosie.” He pointed to a beautiful redhead with a sunny smile standing between two boys. Daniel was on the right, his and Rosie’s hands intertwined, and Jacob on the left, a wide smile on his face and his arm thrown around Rosie’s shoulders.

“That’s the library at Redwood.” I recognized the monolith of a building in the backdrop and the uniforms they wore.

“Yes. Once upon a time, the three of us were inseparable. She was my best friend, as I said, but she and Daniel were in love—beyond reason, I often thought. Had Rosie grown into adulthood, I have no doubt they would have found that they were mates.”

“What happened?” I squeezed his knee, sensing that this was something he hated talking about. He’d never even hinted at losing someone this important to him before now. His Adam’s apple bobbed up and down as he gulped audibly and ran a hand through his hair.

“She drowned while on vacation with her parents. A freak accident, one you’d never expect to befall someone who could have probably used magic to get herself to safety. We refused to believe that something as mundane as drowning killed Rosie. She was top of the class in our year. But, apparently, a sudden storm caught their family as they were yachting off the coast of Italy. Her parents told us that she fell overboard and that the medical examiner stated that there were signs of blunt force trauma to the back of her head.”

“She was knocked unconscious and couldn’t fight her way from under the waves,” I surmised. Jacob nodded, curling his arm around my shoulder and pulling me close.

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