“Very well,” Beast said and he turned and walked into the forest.
Maia swiveled to face Tess and my apprentice nodded and took down her own saddlebags. Maia followed Beast into the woods. Both of them remained in sight for some distance as the undergrowth had been cleared over most of the immediate area and the blooming azaleas were short enough to see over.
“Well, come inside,” Cris said. “I’ll open a bottle of wine and set out some snacks.”
“Thank you. We didn’t get a chance to eat, yet,” Tess said.
“I haven’t had a chance to plan a dinner, but we could always order a pizza. Otherwise, I’ll have to go to the store. Everything large enough for three people would have to be thawed out.”
“Pizza would be fine,” I said and noticed Tess nodding in agreement.
“Excellent,” Cris said.
As we walked toward the screen porch that covered the back of her house, she leaned her head into my shoulder and squeezed my hand. Then her fingers caressed the skin of my palm. I glanced toward Tess and saw she was watching us carefully.
I realized I might should have thought this out before deciding to bring Tess to Cris. What was my apprentice thinking about Cris? She knew we’d been close, if only for a few days. I’d been straight with her about my relationship with Cris, but that had all been before I’d acquired an apprentice who had spent nearly every night in bed beside me since we’d teamed up. I hadn’t mentioned anything about the sleeping arrangements, but I knew Cris was thinking I’d be in her bed tonight. Wiccans were a little easier than most people about that sort of thing and Cris had implied that she would have been happy to jump into the bed with Cynthia and I when that was still possible. I was even game for a threesome with Tess and Cris, but then I’m a guy and both women were very dear to me. While I was adventurous, I had no idea if Tess was as open-minded. She said that she understood that our relationship was purely physical, at least as far as the sex went, but tonight was going to be awkward, no matter what the sleeping arrangements turned out to be.
I decided that when it doubt, a gentleman leaves it up to the ladies to decide, and I tried to put sex out of my thoughts. Then Cris’s fingertips caressed my palm again and the thoughts jumped right back into my mind. At least this was taking my mind off my troubles, but I knew that wouldn’t last.
Cris opened the screen door to her porch. It was a nice porch, about fourteen feet square with a cathedral ceiling that peaked about twelve feet above the floor. The ceiling was a beadboard, tongue in groove pine, which matched what looked like a stained wood floor, but upon closer examination, I decided the floor was some form of tile designed to look like wood. Four chairs and a wide bench were all some kind of artificial material with thick cushions. The seats were arranged beneath a large ceiling fan and formed an arc in front of a brick fireplace that took up a good share of the right hand wall.
“Nice place you have here,” Tess said as the screen door snapped shut behind her.
“Thank you,” Cris said. “I got a good deal on it when the interest rates were low so I could afford a lot more than I needed. The property has a couple acres of forest, but the state park borders it on three sides. There are a few trails that people use along the edge of my property, but it hasn’t been an issue. I just hope I can keep the place if I decide on taking a hiatus from work.”
I tensed a little at her mention of a hiatus. We’d talked about her taking Alex as an apprentice and teaching him the Wiccan form of magic. She’d wanted to take a few months off to get him started and had mentioned a hiatus from her therapy practice. Things had certainly changed.
Cris opened the right side of the French doors that led into the house. She released my hand and motion for Tess and me to precede her.
The doors led to a great room that was considerably larger than the porch. It was open to the kitchen and to a dining area on our left. Another brick fireplace graced the right wall. It was bordered by bookshelves that ran from the hardwood floor to another tongue and groove ceiling, at least a dozen feet high. Besides books, the shelves had lots of bric-a-brac, most following the Wiccan style of images and statuettes. A couch and love seat of matching, naturally colored, leather faced the fireplace, and several wing chairs were spaced strategically around the room, some with small tables formed seating arrangements while others seemed to be just filling space.
From what I could see of the kitchen, Cris liked stainless steel appliances and large range tops that would have been more in place in a commercial kitchen.
Tess whistled and then said, “Wow, you must be a damn good therapist.”
Cris laughed lightly. “No, Tess, being a good therapist and making money don’t necessarily go hand in hand. I do okay, but I was able to make a large down payment on this place from my parent’s estate.”
“Oh, that’s right. Rafe mentioned that you had lived with your cousin growing up. I’m sorry about your parents.”
“Thanks, Tess. Yeah, they died before I finished grade school. They were both well insured and the tour company was also well insured.”
“Tour company?” I asked. “I don’t remember you mentioning how they died.”
