Page 43 of Upside Down Magic

“Yes?”

“Thereis no need to panic yet.I’mvery pleased you reported this right away.”

Iexhaled with relief.Shewas right. “Thankyou,”Itold her from the bottom of my heart.

Bythe timeIancame to a screeching halt in front of the shop,Ihad gathered the dogs and was waiting outside, ready to go.Iupdated him on my conversation withDoyle, and he agreed that it was a good plan and there was no need to panic.

“Butwhat ifShaneis stuck forever?”Iasked, daring to voice my deepest fear.

“That’snot going to happen.”

“Butwhat if it does?”

“Whatdo your affirmations say about situations like this?”

Idug deep into my repertoire. “Allstorms eventually pass.Nothingin life remains static for long.”

“Goodgirl.”

Fluffyyipped happily from the back seat, andIlet out a watery laugh.Reachingover,Iscratched her favorite spot between her ears. “That’sright,Fluffy.You’rea good girl.”

Rufusbarked and shoved his face in my hand for his round of petting, and between all three of themIfelt a hundred pounds lighter.

“Concentrateon what you can do now, not the things you can’t reach.”

“Ilike that one,”Iansaid.

“GoodthingIcan reach you.”Ipressed against his arm.

“Rightback at you.”

Isat up straight. “Oh, no.”

“What?”

“Iforgot to getBagley.”

Ianbarked out a laugh. “Don’tworry.Ifthere’s a magical apocalypse, that witch will live to cackle about it.”

Dorseystudied us suspiciously from behind the counter as we entered the bed and breakfast.Wehad made a detour to drop the dogs at the cemetery and foundKeywas already there, trying to cheerShaneup by watching reality shows together on her laptop.Fromthe woeful looksShanesent my way andAlex’ssilent amusement,Ididn’t think it was working.

Buthe was with his tiny pack, and that was all that mattered.

“You’reback,”Dorseycroaked.

“Twicein one day,”Iagreed. “SoonImight need a room here.”

“You’renot using my establishment for your trysts, young lady.”

“My…”Ichoked on the word.“Trysts?”

Shewagged her finger at us. “Iknow what you young people get up to nowadays.Thisis not a house of ill-repute.”

“That’snot whatLucysaid last week,”Liliansaid from the stairwell.

Dorseygiggled like a schoolgirl. “Oh, shush, you.”

Igaped atDorsey, then snapped my mouth shut.Iwouldnotask.Somethings, once learned, couldn’t be unlearned.AndIhad a strong suspicion this was one of those occasions.

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