Page 15 of Bewitched By the Headless Horseman
“Erik.”
“I’ll see you later, Erik.”
“If we could officially shake hands I would.” He held up his translucent palms. “However, ghost and all.”
She laughed just as a bell chimed throughout the store. Gideon came in, carrying two large boxes, and his gaze met Stevie’s. “I know I needed you for something, but I can’t even remember.”
“Cauldron’s teeth, Gideon!”
He set the boxes on the counter and ruffled her hair. “Nah, I remember, baby sister.” Stepping behind the counter beside Georgie, he pulled out an envelope from the drawer. “Your stamps are here, so it looks like we’re even-steven.”
“You’re the best. By the way, I found out your resident ghost’s name. It’s Erik.” Stevie grinned. She opened the envelope to take a sneak peek as she headed toward the apothecary. Perfect condition.
As she entered Lucia’s shop, a mixture of spicy scents enveloped her. Lucia was organizing herbs on a back shelf, no other customers around at the moment.
“The town is seriously gearing up for the next Eye opening. You missed the crowd that was just here. Off subject though, look what Don next door got for us.” Her sister-in-law pointed to an object wrapped in bubble wrap sitting beside a large cardboard box. “He cleaned out his mother’s things.Antiques. Including thathead vase.” She drew out the last two words.
“Oh! One to cut my losses from yesterday.” Stevie unraveled the bubble wrap from the ceramic. No chips. Perfect blonde hair. Yellow lacy hat. “How much?”
“Free. Of course.”
“Before I get sucked in to what else is inside that box,” Stevie started. “The salt is a no-go. Ants were eating it up like it was the greatest delicacy in existence, and the Horseman was in my car earlier.”
One of Lucia’s dark eyebrows rose. “He wanted you to drive him somewhere?”
“No, he was just being vague. No threats or anything though.”
Her sister-in-law shrugged. “I say, just see what he wants, and then I can go from there. What’s the harm in that? I think Sleepy Hollow has been wrong about him all along. It wouldn’t be the first time in history an accused was a victim.”
His vagueness didn’t make Stevie want to sympathize with him just yet. “Kit said tonight we’ll meet, but he’ll have to wait until my date is gone.” She set the vase on the counter. “I better deliver the rest of the orders so I can get ready for Reese. There is one ghost I need to help on the way though.”
Stevie had finished delivering the packages around town and the rest she mailed out. Before coming home, she’d stopped by the seafood restaurant and lured the ghost she’d seen a few nights ago to the grocery store. Unfinished business complete—the woman had officially moved on.
As Stevie wiped away the last speck of dust around the TV, the doorbell rang. There wasn’t time to vacuum, so a couple of crumbs here and there would have to do. On the thumbs-up side, Roxy never left behind any ghost fur.
She opened the door to find Reese standing on the porch with a bottle of red wine in one hand and a sack of food in the other. He wore a blue button-up, short-sleeved shirt and loose jeans that didn’t hug his thighs as well as Kit’s.Cauldron’s teeth. She wasn’t going to that oddity of a place and shoved that thought into the furnace inside her mind where it could incinerate.
“Your favorite color is blue,” Stevie said.
“It is. I shouldn’t have made it so obvious.”
With a smile, Stevie took the sack from Reese and motioned him inside. “Are you going to drink that whole bottle of wine yourself?”
Reese furrowed his brow, then sighed, seeming to remember her drink of choice. “Damn, I forgot you don’t do wine.”
“No, it’s fine. That night was a bit hectic. We can eat in the kitchen.” She led him to the table that was big enough to seat six people. The owner had left almost all of the kitchen things when Stevie moved in, which saved her from buying a rinky-dink table that would barely fit two people.
Reese sank into one of the chairs at the end, and she set down the bag in front of him before grabbing two glasses.
“Looks like the town is seriously getting ready for the second Eye to open, huh?” he said, taking out the two plastic containers from the bag.
“The cemetery will be the hot place to venture to that night. Are you going?” she asked, filling her glass with milk.
“Nah, I don’t have the desire to. I don’t see the point, you know?”
Oh… Something about his words took her back to her ex, remembering how he’d once said something similar. They both ate their burgers quietly, and she wasn’t sure what to really talk about. Finally she chopped through the quiet with an invisible blade. “So, do you prefer Marvel or DC?”
“Marvel. You?” Reese leaned forward.
