“I’m not some breathless twenty year old who’ll fall at your feet.” I reminded him. “Not anymore.” I tossed the handkerchief in his general direction.
He caught it neatly. “I haven’t got the patience for twenty year olds. I’d rather have you.”
So it’s all about sex, I thought and felt my heart crack. Deliberately I set the mirrored tray down before I gave in to the urge to throw it at his head. “Well, now that you’ve satisfied your curiosity, I’d like you to leave. I have a business to run.”
“We need to talk.” His voice was brisk.
I hesitated at the change in the tone. “About what?”
“There are things I need to explain to you. I would have the other day, but...” he trailed off.
“Is this about Charlie and her heritage?”
“Charlotte,” he corrected. “Yes, it is. But there’s more.” He wiped my lipstick from his mouth.
The intimate gesture went straight to my gut. I told myself to ignore it and scowled at him instead. “Matthew, what’s really going on here?”
“It would be best to discuss the situation in private,” he continued. “Can you come to the house tonight? Say around nine?”
“I’m not interested in a booty call, Matthew.”
“No, that wasn’t my intention at all,” he said perfectly composed.
“So says the guy who just wiped my lipstick off his mouth.”
Matthew’s lips twitched, but he managed to stop the grin. “I’m serious, Violet. I owe you the truth, and we do need to clear the air—” he was cut off from saying more by Ivy, my brother, and Charlie’s return to the shop.
“I got gingerbread men, Daddy!” Charlie announced, holding up a small bakery box.
“Wonderful.” Matthew smiled at his daughter, and accepted the box. He sniffed it dramatically, making the girl giggle. “Smells good.”
“Ivy says I should eat the feet first so they can’t run away,” Charlie said solemnly.
“Or the head,” Eddie chimed in. “That way they can’t see how to escape.”
“Gross!” Charlie laughed at my brother.
“That may be a little intense for a five year old.” Matthew frowned at them.
Ivy slid her own bakery box on the counter. “The days leading up to Yuletide are the darkest ones of year.” She patted Charlie on the head and lowered her voice dramatically. “The Wild Hunt fills the air, the frost faeries are up to mischief, and ghosts roam the earthly plane...”
Charlie clutched Ivy’s hand. “Have you ever seen ghosts, Ivy?”
“Yes,” Ivy answered simply.
“Were they scary and mean?” Charlie wanted to know.
“One was,” Ivy said to the girl. “But the other was kind and she helped me and my friend.”
“Really?” Charlie’s eyes were huge.
“Really,” Ivy replied.
“On that note,” Matthew reached out and tugged his daughter to his side. “Charlotte and I should be leaving.” He handed her the box of cookies. “We need to go get a tree.”
“Christmas tree!” Charlie shouted happily.
It was already mid-December. They were getting an awfully late start on decorating, I thought. “There’s a farm on the outside of town, they sell fresh cut trees,” I suggested. “McBriar Farms.” Internally, I congratulated myself on how calm and professional I’d sounded.
Matthew nodded and picked up the poinsettia from the counter. “I know where that is, we bought pumpkins from them on Halloween.”
“Thanks for stopping by,” Eddie said to the Bells.
“Happy Holidays.” Matthew nodded to everyone and ushered his daughter out the door.
***
Mother Nature seemed to have gotten in the spirit of the season, and we had light snow showers for the rest of the afternoon. Foot traffic on Main Street had dwindled down to zero by closing time. Debating with myself over Matthew’s invitation, I went back upstairs to my apartment and stripped out of the Sugarplum Fairy outfit.
“He must have spoken to his mother and had his family’s magickal heritage confirmed.” I wiped the rose vine off the side of my face with makeup remover and a cotton ball. “What else could it be?” I asked my reflection.
“Meow?” Tank jumped to the bathroom counter and nosed around in the basket that held my cosmetics.
“He admitted this was about Charlie’s heritage, Tank. But why all the secrecy?” I frowned at my face in the mirror and laughed at the elaborate eyes, with no makeup at all from the eyes down. I shook myself off and redid my foundation, blush and powder. The dramatic eye makeup I left as it was.
Somewhere in the middle of redoing my face I realized that I was going to Matthew’s house tonight—only to talk. I was simply too curious not to. I brushed out the hair style and tossed a knit ivory sweater over a pair of jeans. The ivory sweater was slouchy, worn off the shoulder, and it complimented my pale blonde hair, making the lavender streaks pop. As a final touch, I tied a choker around my neck. The ribbon was a deep indigo, and a little crescent moon charm dangled from it.
After dinner, I schlepped around the apartment and tried to relax. When I caught myself checking the clock for the fourth time, I tossed up my hands. Eventually I settled on the couch and watched the falling snow. I told myself it was like meditating, watching the snowflakes drift down until it was time for me to leave.
Felling a little more mellow, I bundled myself in a coat and a scarf and found that while the light snow was sticking to the grass and tree branches, the streets were too warm for the snow to cause too much trouble. I carefully went down the back steps, scraped the soft snow off my windshield and enjoyed the magick of a wintery night.
I arrived at the old brick house on time and parked at the curb. I stood beside my car, gazing up and down the street. Decorated trees twinkled in windows and white icicle lights, or vintage style multicolored larger bulbs accented the lines of the roofs. I rotated in a slow circle, noting pine roping with tiny white lights on neighboring porches, lit wreaths that hung on windows...all of the typical
