“What did you say?” I mumbled, wiping the corners of my mouth.
“I think you should go to bed.” Tanner shifted his weight and moved his hand off my body.
“But I didn’t get any cake.”
“I saved you a slice.”
I groaned and sat up, shifting to rest on my other hip.
Tanner handed over a dessert plate. “I thought dinner went well.”
I popped a bite cake into my mouth and murmured agreement. I was about to say more when the full effect of Leilani’s inner workings hit my tongue. “Wow, there is a lot of lemon in this.” The cake was dense, delicious, and intensely tart. I chewed another bite, poppy seeds crunching between my teeth. “Either she wasn’t paying attention when she was measuring or she’s having a strong reaction to our dinner conversation. Or to something else.”
Tanner murmured his agreement.
“Who’s here?” I asked, placing the dessert plate on the side table. “I thought I heard both cars leave.”
“You did. Kaz is off to woo his witch, Wes and Thatcher are playing a video game upstairs, and Harper took Leilani home.”
“Is she okay?”
“I think she’ll be fine,” he said, pressing the tines of his fork onto the last of the cake crumbs.
“What did Kaz and Wes have to say about the bat?”
“We put a tracker on it. Harper’s disappointed we let it go, but he understands. And I don’t think that’s the last we’ll see of the creature.”
“You released it?”
“We try to do what’s best for the animal in these situations. Didn’t seem to be in a hurry, though. Either that or it was groggy from the twenty-four-hour spell, but yes, there is no longer a bat in your shed.” He leaned forward and glanced around the periphery of the treeline. “But I don’t think it’s left your property.”
“Did Pokey make an appearance?”
Tanner chuckled. “Thatcher was hoping the raccoon would stop by so he could impress the guys, but he needn’t worry. They’re already impressed. With both of your sons.”
I popped another bite of cake into my mouth, ready this time for the heavy dose of tart lemon. “Did you learn anything new after I left the office?”
“Clifford and Abigail are doing better. Rose and River brought them out of the catatonia spell, and now they’re recovering. They’re willing to sit for interviews around lunchtime tomorrow.”
A comfortable silence settled between us. I wrapped my fingers around the sensation of being in the immediate vicinity of a man I was attracted to and let go of the sharper edges accompanying said man. “I’ve gotten backed up on a couple other complaints I need to follow up with. Nothing that appears related to the Pearmains. But I’ll give you a set of spare keys to the house and the office. Kerry knows to expect some combination of the three of you for as long as this takes.”
“Wes will head off the island tomorrow and go straight to the other orchards. He and Kaz will probably go for a paddle first thing in the morning. They like to check on local otter populations whenever they travel.”
I listened to Tanner’s voice, zeroing in on its texture and rhythm more than the words coming out of his mouth. He’d stepped into my life a little too fast, a little too neat and had a little too much baggage. Ancient baggage. And we hadn’t touched upon the blood wards or the Apple Witch at all.
“I’ve got other cases to update too,” he said. “Go to bed. I’ll see to whatever needs doing.”
Chapter 8
Thursday morning, delivering fresh-squeezed orange juice seemed as good an excuse as any to grab a private moment with my boys. Inside the tent, Thatcher was still asleep, but Harper was awake and chafing to talk.
“Mom.” He swirled the juice with one finger and kept his voice low. “I can’t believe you never told us you were a witch. All these years of you saying to me and Thatch that you’d support us no matter who we loved or what we did and you didn’t even tell us what you really are.”
“Doug asked me to keep quiet,” I said, my stomach going sour. My son made a good point, and I was grasping at straws. Never a good place to be with a teenager.
“But is Dad a witch? Or a druid like these guys?”
There had been whiffs of magic in the shadowed corners of the Flechettes’ palatial estate. But Doug’s parents weren’t the warm and fuzzy type, and they made it clear I wasn’t going to be the daughter-in-law representing the family on the various boards they cycled through. When Doug’s mother put him in charge of all the realty offices on the Gulf Islands, I was relieved to be out of their daily orbit. Until the move began to feel like an isolation tactic.
“I don’t recall ever seeing Doug call on magic,” I admitted. “Only denigrate mine. And the little bit my aunt used when you two were babies.”
Oh, this was so much for my child to process. And the more Harper was feeling, the more his face went blank. “Why would Dad do that?”
“I assumed his parents had been the same way.”
“But why didn’t you insist, Mom? Did you even try?”
I could only shake my head and try to not cry. Of course I had tried, until trying and failing dried up my self-esteem. Years ago, I’d stopped asking myself why I wasn’t more insistent, and eventually the pain of staying silent dulled until it was small enough I could wrap it up and pack it away.
“Letting go of my magic seemed less important than keeping our household running smoothly and keeping your dad happy. We were young when we got together. We both changed after we were
