Sheshook her head, taking me seriously. "You have a glorious ass, Lady."
Josiewas dying on the loveseat, using every ounce of power she had not to bust outlaughing.
"It'snice that you think Josie is glorious." I ruffled her hair again. All ofus couldn't help but grin when Candace unleashed her musical giggles.
Youhave the key, find your map… Thewords whispered in my ears as warmth flared inside me that had nothing to dowith the ball of sunshine in my lap. When the goddess spoke through Candace, itwas creepy. When her voice echoed in my head it was worse.
Chapter 20
It was kind of comical. The momentmy hand touched the brass handle of First Moon Books, my stomach growled andtwisted into a knot before it began chewing on my backbone. While I wanted tocheck on things at the store, the smell wafting from the diner was tooirresistible. Jason had been successful on his own thus far, he could livewithout me for another hour while I fueled up. Plus, if I drank another coffeeat the bookstore, Marge might put me up for adoption.
Sighing,I looked both ways before crossing the street and headed to get some breakfast.
Thedoor chimed and Marge smiled at me from the table closest to the door. She setdown the older couple's plates of eggs, toast, and bacon. "Coffee?"She asked me, not them.
"Youbet."
"Decaf,"the elderly gentleman answered, too.
Ichuckled and sat in my spot, glancing at my watch and trying to decide if I wascloser to lunch or a late breakfast. With as much as my stomach was twisting inhunger, I probably would have to settle with both. A hamburger and an omelet did sound quite delicious…
"Hey,Darlin'. Know what you want?" She set a cup of steaming brew in front ofme and put her hand on her hip.
"Hamburger,rare."
"Rare?"She cocked an eyebrow, not that I could blame her. I usually liked my steakrare and my burgers burnt.
"Andan omelet. With ham."
Herother eye widened in response. "Somebody joining you?"
"Nope.Just me."
"You'reeating a burger and an omelet?"
"Youthink Herb could make it a steak and omelet instead of plain eggs?"
"I'msure he could. So, you want a steak and eggs, but omelet instead of eggs andskip the burger?"
"Theburger, too."
"Oh,honey!" She grinned, set the pot of coffee on the table, squealed,practically knelt on the floor beside me, and grabbed my hands, shaking themexcitedly. "Congratulations!"
"Huh?"
Sheleaned in closer. "Which one?"
"Whichone what?"
"Isthe father?"
Anicy shard of fear slithered down my veins. "I'm not pregnant!"
"What?"
"Whatdo you mean what? I'm not pregnant?"
"You'renot?" She got up off the floor.
"No?"
"Yousure?"
Sincewitches couldn't get pregnant unless they wantedto, I was pretty fucking sure. "Hell no."
"Oh.You're hungry?"
"Very?"
"Steak,omelet, and hamburger hungry?"
"Yes?"
"Andyou're sure you're not pregnant?"
"Positive!"I held out my hands in exasperation.
"Positive?"
"Yes!"
Sheeyed me dubiously one more time. "Kay. I'll have your order out shortly."
"Hey,Marge?"
"Yeah?"
"Extrarare on the steak, please. Sear it."
"Yousure you're sure?"
Ijust sighed and pinched the bridge of my nose between my fingers, praying tothe goddess the headache that had come out of nowhere would leave just asquickly. Tomorrow I was getting a fluffy coffee and a Danish.
"Herb!Steak sushi and an eggroll and a burger still mooin'"
"Roger."
Isought solace in my mug of coffee, ignoring everyone and everything around me.It was probably the reason I missed the chime of the door and the warm hand onmy shoulder. His aftershave broke me out of my reverie. "Mornin', Chiefy."
"Chiefy?"
"Shutup. It's cute."
"Okay,Dotty." He slid into the booth across from me.
"Youdidn't stay over last night."
"Younoticed." He chuckled and waved at Marge.
"Yep.I'm super observant like that. You went home?" I raised an eyebrow,curious to how that went.
"No.I was busy getting the good doctor admitted and getting Judge Reinhold to signoff on it."
"JudgeReinhold?"
"Yes?"
"You'refucking kidding me, right?"
"No?"
"Nevermind." The day was getting weirder by the minute and I wanted nothing todo with it. If I ignored it, it might just go away.
Margeset a cup of coffee down in front of Chief and then settled the three plates offood she'd managed to balance on one arm in front of me. She looked to Chief. "Youhungry?"
"Uh.Too early for lunch, I just came for the…show." He was staring at themountain of food in front of me.
"Wegot a pool going in the back. You want in?"
"Onwhether or not she finishes?"
"Boyor girl." Marge giggled and walked away. I stared at Chief with ahorrified expression on my face.
"I'mnot fucking pregnant."
Helooked at Mount Saint Burgersteak and raised his eyes, cocking a disbelievingeyebrow at me.
"Notanother word."
"Wouldn'tdream of it."
"Smartboy. So, if you weren't at my place and you didn't go home…"
"Slepton a cot in cell seven."
"Ouch.Not the most comfortable accommodations."
Hejust stared deadpan, not having the courage to mention that I would knowbecause he had made me spend the night in one of them when he arrested me. Hewas truly getting wiser in his old age. "Nope." Marge saved thesituation by depositing a piece of pie in front of him. "This for me orher?"
"You.She'll probably want one with ice cream. And by one, I mean one whole pie."
Ipicked up my empty burger plate, snagging one more French fry, and handed it toher. "Nope. No pie for me. Gotta watch my figure." I grinned and cuta piece off my omelet with my fork.
"Watchit do what?" Marge rolled her eyes and walked away.
"Well,I was going to offer to pay, but I think I might have to wait until payday."Chief grinned.
"Okay,you can stop picking on me now. I was actually going to skip brunch, but mystomach was gnawing on my backbone. Think I've been using too much juice latelyand my body is having trouble keeping up. Kind of like when I go all vampy andhave to feed off Yuki."
"Ew."
"Shutup." I tore off a piece of steak, not having realized I'd picked it upwith my fingers instead of using my fork and knife.
Theshockwave hit first, blasting out the front windows out of the diner. The painof shards piercing the skin of my neck and back registered before I heard thesound of the explosion.
