4 Witching On A Star (18 page)

Landon and I spent the afternoon in bed – and only part of it was spent sleeping. After the bacon smell energized him – again – I finally managed to drift off into a sound sleep. I had no idea if it was the feeling of his arms wrapped around me – or the way our heartbeats slipped into the same rhythm when they were close – but I was finally relaxed enough to just let go so sleep could claim me.

When we woke up, the light filtering in through the window was starting to wane.

“What time is it?” Landon mumbled.

I glanced at the clock. “Time to get up.”

“Why?”

“We have to go up to the inn for dinner.”

“Why?” Landon sounded a little whiny this time.

“They’re cooking a special dinner. The contractor and his family are going to be there. I invited them, so I have to be there.” I glanced over at him, his hair spread out on the pillow – kind of like a halo – and sighed. “You don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

Landon made a lazy trail with his hand down my bare back. “No, I’m coming.”

“Are you sure?” I cocked an eyebrow as I looked down at him. “You could stay here naked and I could just climb back in bed with you in a couple of hours?”

Landon looked intrigued by the suggestion but shook his head. “I need sustenance. That half of a sandwich I ate earlier isn’t keeping my energy level up. And, as long as you smell like bacon, I’m going to want to keep my energy level up.”

“I’m starting to get a complex about the bacon,” I admitted.

“Let’s just hope they’re not serving pork, huh?”

Isn’t that the truth?

An hour later we had both showered and dressed. Landon had balked at the shower until I told him that my mother would know we had spent the afternoon having sex if he didn’t.

“Won’t she know anyway?” He asked as we walked up to the inn.

“Probably,” I said. “We don’t need to give her reasons to know, though.”

“I guess,” Landon shrugged. “They always seem to know, though.”

“They’re weird that way,” I agreed.

“Weird being the optimum word,” Landon said, linking his fingers with mine and pulling me close. “Still, it was a good afternoon, so I don’t care if they find out or not.”

“Are you staying all weekend?” I asked hopefully.

“Are you going to smell like bacon all weekend?” Landon winked at me.

“I have no idea,” I replied honestly. “I wouldn’t count on that if I were you. It could go away at any time.”

“Well, it’s a good thing that I like you for more than the bacon then, isn’t it?” Landon smiled widely before dropping a kiss on my forehead.

We let ourselves in the back door, taking care not to be too loud in case Aunt Tillie was watching
Jeopardy
– which she was. She didn’t bother to look up when we entered. “I see you two made up.”

“How did you know that?” I asked.

“I told you, I know . . .”

“All and see all, yeah, I heard you the first three thousand times you said it,” I finished for her.

“I told you that he would be back,” Aunt Tillie said. “So there was no reason for you to be all mopey this morning.”

Landon smirked in my direction. “You were mopey?”

“I was not,” I lied.

“She was all depressed and sad,” Aunt Tillie countered. “I felt so bad for her I almost lifted the curse early.”

“Don’t do that,” Landon said hurriedly. “Make her suffer.”

Aunt Tillie finally tore her gaze from the television. “Why don’t you want me to lift it?” She looked suspicious.

“I don’t think she’s learned her lesson yet,” Landon replied smugly.

“He likes the smell,” I interjected. “It turns him on.”

I was actually hoping that little tidbit would be enough to have Aunt Tillie rethinking the curse.

“Men are odd,” Aunt Tillie said finally. “You smell like frying swine and you can’t keep them off you. Why do you think I always made your Uncle Calvin cook?”

Landon’s smile widened to encompass his entire face. “See. It’s not just me.”

“No,” I agreed. “It’s all men. I heard Marcus and Thistle going at it like rabbits last night.”

Aunt Tillie pursed her lips. “I should have picked a different smell.”

“Well, hindsight,” I said breezily, grabbing Landon’s wrist and pulling him into the kitchen behind me. “Don’t encourage her,” I hissed.

“What?” He asked innocently. “I was just making conversation.”

I rolled my eyes but couldn’t hide my small grin. Maybe I was going to miss the bacon smell, too? Just a little.

“Well, there you are,” my mom said when she caught sight of me. “I was wondering if you would bother coming to dinner tonight.”

“We’re not even late,” I protested.

“I was talking about last night,” my mom said pointedly.

“Oh.”

“What happened last night?” Landon asked, showing more interest in the food that was being dished onto plates than anything else. “What is that?”

“It’s braised pork chops,” Marnie said. “We’ve been brining all day.”

Landon’s eyes lit up. “Pork.”

“And potatoes and vegetables and fresh bread,” Twila added.

“It looks delicious.”

“It is,” my mom said, smiling at him warmly. When she turned back to me, though, her smile vanished. “And why didn’t you bother to show up for dinner last night? Or at least call to say why you weren’t coming?”

“I was just tired,” I said lamely. “I went to bed early.”

“Oh, really?” My mom looked nonplussed. “Because your aunt said it was because you and Landon were in a fight and you were pouting. When I saw you this morning, it looked like you hadn’t slept in days. You look more . . . rested now.”

“You were in a fight?” Twila asked Landon pointedly.

“We had a disagreement,” Landon clarified. “It’s fine now.”

“Well,” Twila patted Landon on the arm. “As long as you apologized.”

“How do you know it was my fault?” Landon asked curiously.

“It’s always your fault,” Thistle offered helpfully from her spot next to the sink.

“Good to know.”

We helped carry all the dishes out to the table. Brian and Sam were already seated – and Chief Terry and Dean were there, too. At the center of the table, Dirk Langstrom was already sitting next to a pretty woman in her thirties, who I assumed was his wife. He also had an elderly man sitting on the other side of him.

“I’m glad you could make it,” I greeted Dirk warmly.

“Thank you for inviting us,” Dirk said, getting to his feet. “This is my wife, Kate. And this is my grandfather, Kenneth. He was visiting for the weekend. I hope that’s okay.”

“It’s fine,” I said quickly.

“Welcome,” Twila said brightly. “We made a special dinner, just for you.”

“Are those what I think they are?” Chief Terry asked, his eyes practically bulging out of his head.

“Yes, it’s the braised pork chops,” Marnie said. “We know how you love them. I suggested we make them just for you.”

“You suggested?” My mom cocked an eyebrow.

Marnie ignored her.

Chief Terry smiled happily. “You folks are in for a real treat,” he said. “This will be the best meal of your lives.”

My mom and aunts preened under the compliment. I couldn’t help but notice that they were all suddenly jostling for the open spot next to Chief Terry. To no one’s surprise – at least not mine – my mom ultimately won the spot. “I’m glad you could make it,” my mom said warmly.

“It’s been a quiet week,” Chief Terry said. “I wouldn’t have missed this for anything.”

Landon exchanged an amused glance with me, pulling my chair out and waiting for me to get settled before he sat down in the one next to me. Aunt Tillie slid through the door from the dining room and climbed into the chair at the head of the table – between my mom and Landon – and looked around expectantly. “Let’s eat.”

“And who are you?”

Everyone at the table turned to see that Kenneth Langstrom, all white hair and pronounced wrinkles, was suddenly staring at Aunt Tillie like she was on the dinner menu.

“I’m Tillie,” Aunt Tillie said, suddenly flustered by the attention. “Who are you?”

“I’m Kenneth Langstrom.”

“Is that supposed to mean something to me?” Aunt Tillie regained her verbal footing pretty quickly.

“He’s my grandfather,” Dirk interjected quickly.

Aunt Tillie fixed her gaze on him. “And who are you?”

“He’s the contractor,” I reminded her suspiciously.

“Oh, I didn’t recognize him without the hat,” Aunt Tillie said. “Why are they here?”

“Because I invited him,” I said stonily. “Don’t be rude.”

“Why did you invite them?”

“Because I thought they deserved a nice meal after all the work they’d been doing,” I said.

“Oh,” Aunt Tillie replied blithely. “I guess that’s okay.”

“Good,” I replied, sliding her a disappointed look.

Everyone took the opportunity to dig into their food. The only sounds at the table for the next few minutes were exclamations of joy and sloppy chewing noises. After everyone had settled down a little bit, Brian finally broke the silence at the table.

“Ladies, this could be the finest meal I’ve ever eaten.”

“Could be?” Chief Terry looked incensed. “What have you eaten that’s better?”

“Yeah,” Aunt Tillie asked pointedly. “What?”

“She’s feisty,” Kenneth cackled from his spot next to me. “I like her.”

“Be careful, Kenneth,” Thistle said sagely. “She bites.”

“She can bite me any time.”

Dirk looked embarrassed by his grandfather’s utterance. “Gramps.”

“What?” He asked, his blue eyes twinkling. “We’re all adults here. Am I right?” He turned to me expectantly.

Who was I to argue? “You’re right.”

“Never tell a man he’s right,” Aunt Tillie ordered. “It goes to their head. Both heads.”

“Aunt Tillie!” My mom looked scandalized.

“Oh, pipe down and eat your dinner,” Aunt Tillie grumbled.

I glanced over at Landon, who was busy shoveling food into his mouth and watching this evening’s dinner show. He didn’t seem bothered by the conversation at all. “You don’t find this odd?” I whispered.

“For this house? No odder than usual.”

I shrugged and went back to eating.

“So, what did you girls do today?” My mom asked.

“More inventory and ordering,” Clove said. “We’re almost done.”

“Well, that’s a big job,” Twila said. “It’s good you’re almost done.”

“It’s taken them a week,” Aunt Tillie argued. “I could have done it in a day.”

“You could have done it in a day?” Thistle challenged. “When was the last time you did inventory?”

“That doesn’t matter,” Aunt Tillie sniffed. “It just wouldn’t have taken me a week. You guys just get distracted by stupid stuff and it takes you longer than it should.”

“Beauty and brains,” Kenneth said, winking at Aunt Tillie. “A devastating combination.”

Aunt Tillie blushed suddenly. No, really.

“Gramps,” Dirk said angrily and shook his head. “That’s not appropriate.”

“Where’s the bacon?” Brian asked suddenly.

“What bacon?” My mom asked. “There’s no bacon.”

“No, I smell bacon.”

Thistle scowled. “There’s no bacon.”

“Am I the only one that smells the bacon?”

“No,” Sam wrinkled his nose. “I smell it, too.”

I kicked Landon under the table. “See.”

Landon sighed. “It’s probably just the pork,” he said.

“It’s not the pork,” my mom said. “What is it?”

“It’s just the pork,” Aunt Tillie said succinctly. “Will you people just eat your food and shut up?”

Kenneth turned to me, a wide smile plastered on his face. “I like them bossy.”

I could feel Landon shaking with silent laughter on the chair next to me. “I think your Aunt Tillie has an admirer?”

Aunt Tillie pointed at Landon menacingly. “You eat your dinner.”

“Yes ma’am.”

Still, though, I didn’t miss Aunt Tillie straightening at the head of the table and watching Kenneth with a mixture of curiosity and guile.

Uh-oh.

“That was my favorite family dinner ever, I think,” Landon said when we were walking back to the guesthouse.

“How do you figure?” Thistle asked bitterly. “We still smell like bacon. If this lasts much longer, I’m not going to be able to walk.”

“Why?” Landon asked curiously. When realization dawned on him, though, he quickly changed the subject. “I think your Aunt Tillie likes old Kenneth.”

“Yeah, that was interesting,” I agreed. “I’ve never seen her show any interest in a man before.”

“What about your uncle?”

“He died before I was born.”

“Huh,” Landon mused. “Maybe this will be just the distraction she needs.”

“That might be a nice change of pace,” Thistle said. “I hadn’t thought of that.”

Landon wrapped his arm around my waist. “Ready for bed?” He asked suggestively.

“Really? You just ate a pound of pork and the bacon still turns you on?”

“Actually, no,” Landon said. “Well, maybe. I was actually just ready for bed, though. That pound of pork is making me sleepy. I didn’t sleep well last night. Remember? And that nap was nice this afternoon, but a whole night of sleep sounds great about now.”

I couldn’t argue with that.

The next morning, I woke up to Landon cursing from his side of the bed. “What’s wrong?” I sat up, looking around the room in a panic. “Who’s here?”

“No one is here,” Landon said quietly. “It’s gone.”

“What’s gone?”

“The bacon,” Landon complained. “The bacon is gone.”

I lifted up my arm and sniffed myself. I blew out a sigh of relief when I did. “Thank God!”

Landon threw himself down on the bed next to me dejectedly. “I’m going to miss it.”

“You’ll live.”

We showered together – which involved a little fooling around – and were sitting in the living room deciding what to do with our day when Thistle ran out into the living room. “It’s gone,” she said excitedly.

“Don’t remind me,” Landon grumbled.

“Yeah, Marcus is pouting in there, too,” Thistle said. “Why don’t you two go throw a pity party together while we celebrate?”

“You want me to go get in bed with Marcus?” Landon didn’t look pleased with the suggestion.

For her part, Thistle looked intrigued. “I don’t know. Why don’t you go in there and try it and I’ll tell you if it works for me or not,” she suggested.

Landon fixed her with a hard glare. “That’s sick.”

“No sicker than someone jumping me every five minutes because I smell like bacon,” Thistle shot back.

Landon merely rolled his eyes.

Clove’s bedroom door opened and she practically danced out. “I don’t smell like bacon anymore,” she announced.

“We know,” Thistle said. “We were just talking about how we were going to celebrate.”

“We’re not going to celebrate,” Clove countered. “You and I are finishing inventory.”

“That can wait until Monday,” Thistle said.

“No,” Clove shook her head. “We have to have our ordering ready to go on Monday to make sure we get everything in time.”

“Oh, well,” Thistle sighed. “A business woman’s work is never done.”

Once they were both gone, Landon turned to me. “What do you want to do today?”

“I have to stop by the paper and pick up my laptop,” I said. “I left it there yesterday and I never went back to the office after lunch.”

“Do you have to work this weekend?”

“Not really,” I said. “I just need the laptop in case.”

“Okay,” Landon agreed. “Why don’t we go into town together? I’ll drop you off at the paper and I’ll check in with Chief Terry and then we’ll do something together this afternoon?”

“Like what?”

“I have a few ideas,” Landon said, running his hand up and down my arm suggestively.

“I don’t smell like bacon anymore,” I said.

“So?”

“Well, I thought that was what was turning you on?”

“The bacon was just an added bonus,” Landon said. “Trust me, I don’t need it.”

For some reason, I did trust him.

When we got to town, Landon parked in front of the police station. “Are you going to come here and get me when you’re done?”

“No,” I shook my head. “Why don’t you come to Hypnotic when you’re done. I’ll help Thistle and Clove while you’re there.”

“It could take me a few hours,” Landon warned.

“That’s fine.”

We exchanged a quick kiss before parting and then I headed straight for The Whistler. I had already decided that I was going to ignore Edith if she appeared. Maybe she sensed that, because she didn’t make her presence known.

I packed up my laptop and left The Whistler, taking the time to enjoy the warming day and the clear blue skies overhead. That’s one of the things you miss about the country when you’re in the city – clear skies and clean air. I was enjoying my five-block walk when something caught my attention out of the corner of my eye. It was Sam and he was coming out of Mrs. Little’s pewter unicorn shop.

Crap.

I glanced around, furtively moving under the awning of Mrs. White’s bakery shop to disguise my presence as quickly as possible. The last thing I wanted to do was run into Sam.

I took the opportunity to give him a long, hard look from my hiding place. He really was attractive. Not in the same way as Landon or Marcus, who were both ruggedly handsome and impressively built. It was more like he was handsome in a slick way, like Brian was. It was no wonder Clove was attracted to him.

Sam was talking to someone, although I couldn’t see exactly whom it was. He kept turning back and looking through the open door of the shop while chattering away. I watched with interest as a woman finally stepped through the door, letting it swing shut behind her. My breath caught in my throat when I recognized the woman. It was Karen.

The two of them were gesturing wildly to one another, although I couldn’t hear what they were talking about. I tried to calm my nerves. This was probably just a coincidence. She was a designer and he was a . . . whatever the hell he was. They were probably just talking nonsense about the town.

The problem was, they seemed to know each other. There was a level of intimacy to their conversation that could only be observed from far away. For some reason, and I don’t know why, watching them converse was sending a chill down my spine.

I remained where I was until they parted ways, both going in separate directions. Once I was sure they were gone, I picked up my pace and headed straight for Hypnotic. By the time I got there, I was out of breath.

Thistle sensed something about my mood the minute I walked through the door. “What’s wrong?”

I bent over at the waist, struggling to catch my breath. “I just saw something,” I gasped.

“What?”

“Karen and Sam were talking to each other down by the unicorn store,” I said.

“So?” Thistle didn’t look half as intrigued as I was feeling.

“You don’t think that’s weird?”

“That Sam and Karen were talking to each other on the street? No,” Thistle shook her head. “Why should I? They were probably just talking about the weather or something.”

“What if they weren’t?”

“Okay,” Thistle said carefully. “What would they have been talking about that should worry us?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know,” I admitted. “They seemed to know each other, though. Like they were friends or something.”

“Maybe they’ve crossed business paths before,” Clove suggested. “That’s not out of the realm of possibility.”

“No,” I agreed. “I just . . . it gave me a weird feeling.”

“Do you think they’re having an affair?” Clove asked hopefully. “Maybe the wedding won’t happen after all?”

“I don’t know if that’s it,” I said, biting my lower lip.

“Then what?” Thistle looked exasperated.

“I don’t know,” I snapped. “There’s just something about it that bugged me.”

Thistle cocked her head. “Okay,” she said finally. “We need to find out how they know each other.”

“Why?” Clove asked.

“Because it’s important to Bay,” Thistle replied simply.

“So how do we do it?” Clove asked. “How do we find out how they know each other?”

“We ask your dad,” Thistle said grimly.

“No,” Clove shook her head vehemently. “No way.”

“We have to,” I said quietly.

“What am I supposed to ask? Hey, dad, is there any reason why your girlfriend would be talking to the guy we’re not supposed to like even though he’s done nothing to prove to us that he’s untrustworthy?”

“No need to get snippy,” Thistle said. “We’ll just go out to the inn on the pretense of looking around to see how it’s coming along and ask some questions about Karen. It will be no big deal. I promise.”

“Really? Because whenever our family does something, it always turns into a big deal,” Clove countered.

She had a point.

“It won’t this time,” I said. “I promise.”

“See, I know you actually mean that,” Clove replied. “The problem is, I also know that, even with the best intentions, our family always manages to screw things up. And sometimes in a big way.”

She had another point.

“It won’t be like that this time,” Thistle said. “Trust me.”

“Why should I trust you?”

“We’re family.”

“Pick another reason.”

“Because you need to know now just as much as we need to know,” I suggested.

Clove sighed. “Fine,” she ceded. “If either one of you embarrass me, though . . .”

“We won’t.”

“If either one of you makes things worse between my dad and me,” Clove continued, fixing us both with a hard glare. “I’ll never forgive you.”

“It’s going to be fine.”

I mostly meant that, too.