Fur Magic Boxed Set: Talisman, Sage, Fawn, Lola: Paranormal Romantic Comedy (10 page)

Chapter 8

“I can’t believe you blew chunks on Dr. Luke.”

Ami sat in the very same chair the shocked doctor had inhabited when the now infamous event had taken place. The rounds of gossip had made their way around the whole shelter courtesy of Lola. Of course, it wasn’t really gossip when it was true.

Pen covered her face with her hands and didn’t even peek through her closed fingers. “I know. I’m mortified. Mortified! I don’t think I can see him again. I need to find another vet.”

Ami snorted. “Seriously, Pen, quit with the soap opera dramatics. You were sick. You threw up. A natural bodily function. It’s not even nearly as bad as that time that Mathilda Branwen farted during her speech about President Lincoln. Mattie never got over it and her nickname was Backdraft until she went away to college.”

Pen spread her fingers apart a centimeter and peered at Ami. “I forgot about that. I guess this isn’t quite as bad. But … almost.”

“It’s not even close,” Ami argued. “Luke likes you. And he’s a
doctor
. You think he hasn’t seen worse every day in the clinic?”

Pen was about to respond when her phone lit up with an incoming call so she snapped her mouth shut as she held the phone. Like it might sprout fangs and bite her.

“It’s
him
.”

“Of course, it’s him,” Ami said. “He’s worried about you. Answer it.”

“What should I say?”

“Start with hello and go from there,” Ami said as she rolled her eyes.

Pen hit the green button to answer.

“Hello.”

Ami locked eyes with me as Pen had a brief conversation with Dr. Luke that ended with “I’d like that”. Lola still slept peacefully in the kitty bed and hadn’t even lifted her head.

“Well?”

“You were right,” Pen sighed. “He didn’t even mention the incident. Didn’t even seem phased by it at all. He asked me to go to dinner on Friday night.”

“And I heard you agree. Thank God. I’d hate to have to slap you upside your head.”

Pen’s face flamed bright red as a blush traveled up her neck to land on her cheeks.

Bang!

Either Sage’s flight pattern had gone astray and he’d flown head first in to the front door or a rather impatient person was knocking. Rather, pounding. Loudly.

Pen threw both hands up in the air. “I’m not up for visitors right now. It can’t be Dr. Collier because I just hung up with him.”

“Luke.” Ami stood to answer the door. “It better not be Damian or Bianca. Worse yet, Stout.”

Pen groaned. I trotted off after Ami to stand by on alert in case she needed help with whoever or whatever was on the other side of that solid oak door. Ami stepped back and swung the door wide with a grimace on her face. Standing over the threshold were a couple of young adults that I’d never seen before.

“Is this the Fur Motel?” the young man asked as he peeked around Ami to glance inside the house. Usually, visitors read the signs and didn’t wander up to the house. These visitors didn’t pass the smell test and luckily Ami wasn’t as gullible as Pen.

“It’s on the premises but this is the owner’s home,” she said as she stared them down. Probably thinking the same thing I was thinking. That they’d been sent. For what, I didn’t know but it couldn’t be good. “Are you looking to adopt a pet?”

The woman stared, her brown eyes dripping with censure. “I really wanted to talk to the owner, Penelope DeLacroix.”

Ami puffed her chest up even bigger. “She’s indisposed.”

“Who the hell is Penelope DeLacroix?” the man asked.

This situation was getting stranger by the minute. Pen’s voice floated toward us from the living room.

“Who is it, Ami?” she asked.

Ami looked back at the couple standing about three feet apart from each other. “And you are?”

The man made a sweeping gesture as if to say, ‘ladies first’. In that moment, I realized they didn’t know each other. Or, were
pretending
they didn’t know each other.

“Kara Moir,” she said. “I work over at Nifty Nails on Cactus Road. I’m a nail tech. My cat passed away about six months ago and I’ve been missing her.”

She stared to a spot behind me and I turned my head to see Lola wander in to the room to check out the newcomers. Kara Moir’s long, curly blonde hair fell in tight ringlets all over her head as if she’d stuck her finger in a socket and the electric current had fried it. If this strange woman’s brain was going where I suspected, she could just forget it. No Lola for her. No Lola for anyone. But me.

The man extended his large hand to Ami. “I’m Chase Reynolds.”

Ami shook his hand and stepped outside. I barely got my body through the door to stand on the front porch before she shut it behind her. “I haven’t seen you around town and Shadowkeep is pretty small.” Ami’s eyes narrowed as she scanned up and down his six foot frame.

“I’m just in town for a few weeks visiting my aunt. My mom lost her dog a few months ago and I heard so many great things about this place, I had to check it out before I head home to Santa Fe.”

That seemed plausible, but I knew that things were rarely as they seemed. Especially, in a town where witches and warlocks were hidden in amongst the normal folk. Until their evil deeds were exposed to the bright light of day. I backed up a few steps in order to shield Lola. Just in case.

Penelope appeared in the doorway between the living room and the foyer, her raven hair disheveled and her spectacles dangling from a silver chain around her neck. She squinted at the newcomers and then perched the spectacles on the bridge of her nose.

“I’m Penelope DeLacroix,” she said as she strode forward and held her hand out in greeting.

“Chase Reynolds.”

“He’s not from around here.” Ami said, still standing there holding the door open. “And this is Kara Moir from Nifty Nails. I think I had a pedicure there once.”

Penelope shook the young woman’s hand as well. “How can I help you, Kara and Chase?” Pen had made the same mistake that they were a couple.

Kara threw her hands on her curvy hips. “Um … we’re not here together. We just happened to drive up at the same time.”

Pen stepped out on to the front porch and the rest of us followed. “The shelter is actually back here and that’s where the animals for adoption live. So, Chase and Kara, can you tell me a little more about yourselves and why you’re in the market for a new pet?”

On the few hundred yards from the house to the shelter, we found out that Kara’s orange tabby, Swiffer, had died after a long bout with feline diabetes. He’d gotten his name because as a kitten, he’d attacked the broom handle and hung on for dear life while Kara swept the floor. Chase’s mom’s lab, Darla, had passed away of old age.

Pen walked between the two and kept looking back and forth between them. I hurried forward and flung myself at the back of her leg.

“Really, Tali?” she chastised. “What are you doing?”

Trying to keep you from casting another ridiculous love spell on poor unsuspecting citizens. Especially, when one of the victims doesn’t even live in Arizona. My attempt at immediate distraction was successful but I needed to stay right by her leg for this entire visit just to make sure we didn’t end up with another Jessie and Harry debacle. One that Stout would have a hay day with the next time he came sniffing around with his Jimmy Durante snout.

My heart said no and my head said no, but my legs said stay close to Penelope in order to avert spell casting disaster.

“We have a really beautiful cat in the shelter right now, Kara,” Pen said as she swung open the door to the building and turned on the lights. “Her name is Georgia.”

“Georgia … I like that name. Is she as pretty as those two cats.”

Of course, she pointed right at me. And I am a handsome specimen, if I do say so myself. What was up with everyone wanting to adopt either me or Lola? One would think we were the only cats in the world. Just because one of my feline friends didn’t possess long, silky hair and huge blue or green eyes, didn’t mean they weren’t capable of being a loving companion.

Flea catcher, who are these interlopers?

“Whoa!” Kara Moir stopped dead in her tracks which caused Chase Reynolds to run right in to her back. And he took a few seconds before he stepped away. Pen stared.

“What?” he finally said as he extricated his front from her back.

“Look at the gorgeous owl. I’ve never seen one in the wild.”

And she wasn’t seeing one in the wild tonight. Of course, Sage heard the comment and soared through the air with a flap of his giant wingspan and let out a loud hoot to draw even more attention to his arrogant self.

Penelope looked up. “That’s Sage. I rescued him years ago and now he’s so tame, he’s almost like a pet.”

“Cool.” Chase said as he strode forward so he could walk next to the very adorable Kara with her blonde curls and vibrant blue eyes.

The rattle of tin cans behind him caused the tall man to turn around just in time to see Casper mount his dirt pile and jump around like the friend that can’t handle their alcohol.

“What’s that?”

“Casper.”

Kara chuckled before Chase even caught the meaning behind the name. The fact that Casper was white made it even funnier. The only thing he’d come with from his past life was his comical name.

“That’s hilarious.”

Pen nodded. “I know. His former owner had a warped sense of humor. Too bad some patience about destruction of his perennials didn’t go along with that humor. Casper has a huge appetite for blackberries. Leaves and all. He doesn’t get to leave his pen without complete supervision from Mr. Oats.”

Kara kept right on laughing. “Let me guess. Mr. Oats is a horse.”

And the horse in question had just stuck his velvety nose over the split rail fence for Kara to stroke.

“Hi, Mr. Oats,” she murmured as she slid her fingers across his grey muzzle. “You’re such a pretty boy.”

Seeing how good the other woman was with the equine caused Pen’s body to melt and relax in a deep way. If Kara wanted another cat, she’d get one today. Chase on the other hand? His demeanor was a little stiff. Either from shyness or the man was trying to hide something. I aimed to find out what that might be with a little help from my fine feathered friend.

Time for the dive bomb.

I didn’t even need to entertain the thought because by the time it had flittered across my kitty brain, Sage was already soaring ever downward to come within about a foot of Chase Reynold’s head of thick, dark hair. I watched his eyes. Stared at them if the truth be told. He brought his hands up to his head in a defensive posture as if to protect himself, but he didn’t get angry. Okay. He’d just passed the first test. But then Lola chimed in.

What if he’s telling the truth and we’re being mean and rude to him?

Lola. Well … she had a point. But where Penelope was concerned, I was willing to embarrass Chase Reynolds and anyone else.

Pen narrowed her eyes at Sage who had flown back skyward. “I’m so sorry, Chase. I wonder what’s gotten in to Sage tonight. He’s usually not so aggressive.”

“No worries. It just startled me when he got so close to my hair.” Then he grinned. A wide and spontaneous smile that reeked of sincerity. “It takes hours in front of the mirror to get my locks to look this messy.”

Hey, Owlvis. I think this guy’s on the up and up. He’s not a warlock.

Righty.

After showing all the available cats and dogs to Kara and Chase and giving them the grating third degree, Pen must have thought both of them passed the test because she agreed to let them both adopt animals from the shelter. Kara chose the cat originally tagged for Jessie Plunks and Chase chose a lab mix that he said would be perfect for his mom’s large property in Santa Fe.

“Would you like to grab a cup of coffee this weekend before I head back home?” Chase had turned to Kara with a lovesick look in his eye.

Oh, no. Here we go. I’d blown it again.

***

The chocolate lingered before her cherry red lips like a succulent morsel. They parted slightly and a breath escaped before she wrapped their fullness around it and bit. Get your minds out of the gutter people. I’m hardly watching kitty porn. Dr. Luke and Penelope are sitting in the middle of Sugar Rush on their date and feeding each other random chocolates from a grab box.

Are you kidding me? If I ate that much sugar my bowels would be backed up like a ballpark toilet. Then I’d die. Dogs and cats are not supposed to have dark chocolate. It’s toxic. Lola had to stay behind because it took morphing in to my human form to be Pen’s shadow on this date. I’m afraid of Chokecherrys and Shadow Watchers. And evil doers and spirits that still haven’t shown themselves in the bright light of day.

I grabbed an ensemble from a homeless dude outside the candy store and I stink. Worse than the litter box in the shelter before garbage day. I think he might have pissed his pants. Twice. So far, Penelope hasn’t noticed me so I’m going to just sit here in this obscure booth and sip my water until I morph back in to kitty Talisman. Then, I can head back home because Dr. Luke has this one under control.