Page 70 of Upside Down Magic

“Hello,Sonia,”Isaid warmly because my second goal in life after having a successful witch shop was to make her like me. “Wantsomething to drink?Eat?”

Sheopened her mouth to say something (scathing, probably), butBoskowalked around her and stood between us.

“Witch, we need to talk,” he said in an angry tone.

Didwe?Imentally reviewed everythingI’ddone related to him or his shop in the last few weeks but nothing worth making him mad came to mind. “Sure.Comeinto the back.”

Hewas striding toward the bead curtain beforeIfinished my sentence.Henodded once atIan, then shoved the bead strings aside before going through.Theyclattered noisily as they fell back into place.

Nobodyelse seemed to mind or pay any attention.

Iexchanged glances withIan; he simply shrugged.Apparently, he didn’t know what this was about either.

Imumbled an excuse and followedBoskointo the back.Ratherthan going into the kitchen or the storage room, he had chosen to stand by the back door.Hegestured sharply for me to come closer.

“Whatis?—”

“Iheard you invitedDorseyto theChristmasevent.”

Oh, for the love of everything good and green. “Notexactly.”

“Butshe’s part of it now, yes?”

“Yes.”

“Whydidn’t you invite me?” he demanded.

Thenerve of this man! “Idid!Yourefused to join.”Infact, his exact words had been:Lady, does it look likeIhave space on my counter for some crappy freeChristmasevent cards?

“Whatever.Iwant in.”

Icrossed my arms and lifted my chin. “Maybeit was a one-time offer, and you’re too late now.”

Hesnorted. “I’venever been late a day in my life, lady.Whenare you distributing the… what was it?Charms?Keychains?”

Iwouldnotstamp my foot like a kid. “Stickers.Peopleget stickers with your shop’s logo on them to attach to the tree on the card.”

“Thatdoesn’t sound all that fun.”

Probablybecause years of selling cheap apparel with bad dad jokes on them had done away with his soul. “It’sfun.Especiallyfor the kids.”

Heshook his head. “Keychainssell better than stickers, trust me.”

“You’renot supposed to sell them!Theevent lures people to everyone’s shops so they buy the stuff we normally sell, not the stickers.”

Thelook on his face told me he had his doubts. “Areyou sure?Maybewe should do badges instead.Theydon’t do as well as the keychains but they have a decent success rate.Peoplelike to put them on their backpacks.”

Theman…did have a point there.Peopledid love to do that.Butno, badges were expensive and not everyone used backpacks and they took too much space in purses and pockets.Easilygotten, easily forgotten.Unlikesticker collections. “Nobadges.Stickersonly.”

“Youshould think about it.What’sthe point in inviting me if you’re not going to listen to the voice of reason?”

Sincehe had literally invited himself, his reasoning was thin. “Theevent is set.Stayin or get out.”

Anod of begrudging respect entered his voice. “Yourevent, your rules.”

Iinhaled sharply.Wasthis what would finally earn me some respect among the other paranormal business owners?Iwould’ve preferred if it had been the grilled ham-and-cheese sandwichesItook to thePBOAmeetings, butI’dtake this too. “That’sright.”

“Youshouldn’t inviteWyattthough.”

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