“Oh, I know all about the hormones.” Boone’s gaze was dark as he sat next to her. “All I’ve had to hear about for weeks is how hot Cooper is.”
“I am hot,” Cooper noted as he sat next to Hannah. He made sure to give Jinx a wide berth. For his part, the dog planted himself between Boone and Hannah and fixed the security guru with a defiant stare, as if daring him to pick a fight.
“You shouldn’t be hot to my teenaged daughter,” Boone insisted. “She’s a child.”
“She’s not a child,” Hannah countered. “I mean ... she is, and she’ll always be your child. She’s growing into a woman, though. She has feelings and emotions—”
“I know all about the feelings and emotions,” Boone snapped. “She tells me about her feelings every single night. Trust me. I know what she’s feeling.”
Hannah had to purse her lips to keep from laughing. “I take it you’re not a fan of the feelings.”
“Not even a little.”
“You’ll grow to appreciate them.”
“When?”
“When she’s older and has her own family.”
“Oh, yeah?” Boone didn’t look convinced. “Does your father appreciate your feelings? I mean ... you were engaged to a guy. You were living with him. Was your father okay with that setup?”
Hannah hesitated. If it was one thing she hated talking about, it was her relationship with her ex fiancé. He’d been a cheater, an emotional abuser of the highest order, and the sort of man who made himself feel bigger by making her feel smaller. “Um ....”
“I’m sorry.” Boone was instantly contrite. “I shouldn’t have asked you that. It wasn’t fair. I know that situation was ... rough.”
“No, it’s okay.” Hannah licked her lips and darted her eyes to Cooper. He looked uncomfortable on her behalf. “It’s not a big deal or anything. I’m over it ... other than I hate him and wish a nest of fire ants would take up residence in his pants.”
His shoes forgotten, Cooper reached over and patted her hand. “As a witch, you might be able to make that happen. Once things settle down, you should ask Jackie about it.”
“I’m pretty sure that goes against the karma thing she’s always preaching about.”
“That’s true. It can’t hurt to ask, though.”
Because she happened to agree, Hannah filed the idea away to think about later and focused on Boone. “You know Lindsey’s not being dramatic just to be dramatic, right? She’s processing her own mortality. Angel being taken knocked her for a loop and made her wonder what would’ve happen if their roles would’ve been reversed.”
Boone slid her a thoughtful look. “I didn’t consider it from that perspective before, but it sort of makes sense. I still think it’s best for her to be at the library today.”
“I happen to agree. She needs a distraction.”
“And we need to focus on Angel,” Cooper added. “She’s still out there. I refuse to believe she’s not. I think we have to keep searching even though it’s unlikely that we’ll find her just hanging around Casper Creek.”
“I agree.” Boone bobbed his head and grabbed a container of biscuits and gravy. “I have search teams that will be here within the hour. I know that’s probably not what you want to hear, but I have no choice but to go by the book on this.”
“Why would that bother us?” Hannah asked, genuinely curious.
“Because there’s a magical dome hanging over the town and we’re likely dealing with some sort of paranormal monster.”
“Ah, that.” Hannah mustered a rueful smile, although it was pure torture. “Well, we’ll just have to make sure we don’t do anything weird while they’re here.”
“That would be nice,” Boone agreed. “You guys need to go about your business as if nothing has happened. My understanding is that you’re not open today.”
Hannah shook her head. “We had planned two days off for cleaning and stocking. I guess it came at a good time. We are supposed to be open tomorrow, though. I guess we can postpone another day if we have to, but I’m really not keen on it.”
“Let’s hold off, at last for a few hours,” Boone suggested. “We might have a better feel for things.”
“I was thinking I would head down to the caves to take a look,” Hannah supplied. “I’ll leave Jinx with Tyler just to be on the safe side. Those hills over there are treacherous and I don’t want him getting hurt.”
Cooper balked. “I don’t know that it’s safe to be wandering around those caves.”
“I don’t see where we have much choice.” Hannah was matter-of-fact. “We know that supernatural creatures have hidden out there before. We’re operating under the supposition that we’re working with some sort of magically-charged being. We have to look inside the caves.”
Boone cleared his throat to cut off whatever Cooper was going to say. “I know you don’t want to hear it, but I think she’s right. We have to check the caves.”
“Then I’m going with you.” Cooper’s tone told Hannah she didn’t have any choice in the matter. “You can’t go alone in case something happens.”
“I would love your company.” She flashed a smile for his benefit. “There’s little I love better than tromping through caves with you.”
The sarcasm was enough to have Cooper grinning. “Am I going to have to call you Ms. Hickok again?”
“Ugh. Do I even want to know what the two of you are talking about?”
“Probably not,” Cooper replied. “Suffice it to say she was annoyed with me last night and we played a little game.”
“Gross.” Boone lightly cuffed the back of Cooper’s head. “That’s not proper breakfast conversation. Tell me something else.”
“Actually, we do have some information,” Hannah offered, brightening. “We learned a story about warring sister witches last night and I think it might have some bearing on what’s happening now ... although I still haven’t figured out how.”
“Tell him the story,” Cooper prodded. “We’ll
