No Shoes, No Shirt, No Spells Read online

  My voice rose. “Why would you do something like that?”

  “I overheard you.” She paced the length of the room, her heels clicking across the hardwood floor. That had been the sound I’d mistaken for boots clomping. “I want you to whip up some magic and make Rory love me like he used to.”

  “I can’t do—”

  She cut me off. “Listen to me. I tried the magic myself but, after reading the book, I realize you have to have some kind of silly special talent for it.” She snorted. “I’m guessing you possess said talent, since you owned the book. Now get up and make some magic happen for us. I want sparks to fly.” She waved her hands.

  I stared at her, my mouth agape. No words formed, she’d left me speechless.

  “Well, don’t just sit there with that goofy look on your face, get up. I’ll force you if I have to.” She tapped her foot against the floor.

  By the expression on her face and the fact that she broke into my home in the middle of the night, not to mention stealing the book from the café, I kind of believed her about the whole ‘forcing me’ spiel.

  “Why did you break the window at the café?”

  “Duh, how else was I going to get the book? Stupid.” She rolled her eyes.

  “Um, calling me stupid probably won’t get me to perform the magic any faster.”

  She straightened her shoulders and lifted her chin. “If you don’t get up out of that bed and make some f’in magic happen, I’m going to pull every single hair out of your head.”

  “Okay, okay. I’m up.” I held my hands up in surrender.

  Untangling my legs from the sheets, I stood from the bed, clutching my neck and wincing at the pain caused by the lumpy mattress. I made my movements slow so as not to rile her any more. She was acting nuttier than a family-sized bag of Snickers bars at this point, and I didn’t know when she’d completely snap.

  “I’m not sure I can make magic like you want. There are certain rules with this stuff, lots of rules, in fact. If a person doesn’t love you, I can’t make them, no matter how much magic I try.”

  “Bullshit,” she yelled. “It says right here.” She flipped open the cover of the book and fumbled through the pages. “Right here.” She pointed. “Page two-forty-six. Love Spells: Helping Someone Capture The Person Of Their Dreams. I want that.” She crossed her arms in front of her chest.

  An ache formed in my chest knowing she had possession of Mystic Magic. I stared at her for a beat. “That’s the thing, Kim. Don’t you understand? Rory isn’t the person of your dreams.” I watched for a reaction. When she didn’t respond, I continued. “You don’t really love him. You just want him to love you so you can control him. Wouldn’t it be better to have someone love you for who you are, not under false pretenses? You deserve that.”

  She stared back, as if the little wheel in her mind was spinning, mulling over what I’d just said. “How the hell do you know what I want? You work in a diner.” She smirked. “And by the way, I don’t think the food is as good as everyone raves it is.”

  People raved about the café? Even after Grandma Imelda left? I smiled a little on the inside.

  I shrugged. “Okay, but I do know because I can see it when you’re around Rory. Heck, you’ve even said as much.”

  “When did I say such a thing?” she huffed.

  “Um, pretty much every time I’ve ever talked to you.” Frustration crawled up my spine.

  She shook her head. “Uh-huh, nope. You don’t know what you’re talking about. So much for the stalling, huh? Nice try. I know what this is about.” She pointed at me. “You want Rory for yourself. I know the two of you went out. I know he kissed you and I can see the way you look at him. Now get dressed and let’s go. Chop, chop.”

  “Where are we going?” I asked.

  “I’ve heard the magic will work better if we do it outside. I don’t want to take any chances of it not working, so we have to go.” She moved a little closer. “And you can’t go anywhere dressed like that. People will think you’re homeless.”

  I rolled my eyes. My attire was hardly that hideous. The pink sweatpants were cute. “Okay, just let me put on some clothes.” I slipped out of my sweats, shimmied into a pair of jeans, and pulled on a T-shirt.

  “You know, Rory might be a little more interested in you if you bothered to dress up more.” She examined a nail while I pulled my shirt on.

  “I work in a kitchen, not really any reason to get dressed up.” Who was she to tell me how to dress? Fake Barbie had no right. I had to wear skirts and heels enough when I worked the other job and I hadn’t much cared for it then.

  “Whatever. I’m just saying. Rory doesn’t like that.” She wiggled her finger in my direction. “He likes his women put together. Very polished, like me.” She studied her reflection in the full-length mirror.

  “Rory works on a farm. I think that’s probably the opposite of what he likes.”

  “Oh, shut up and let’s go.”

  I slipped on my tennis shoes. There had to be a way to stop her from carrying out this magic nonsense. I needed to get in touch with Tom, pronto. She tapped her foot as I stumbled from the chair and made my way to the bedroom door.

  Kim followed on my heels as I moved into the hallway.

  “Question for you,” I said, traveling toward the front door. “What makes you think that this book isn’t just some gag?”

  “I watched you when you didn’t know it. You really should pay attention to your surroundings more.”

  “So you were stalking me?”

  “Stalking is a harsh word. I prefer to think of it as observing with great interest.”

  The more she talked, the crazier she sounded. How could Rory have loved someone as looney as her? Had she ever been sane? She had to have been sane once, right? She must have recently plunged off the deep end. We made our way over to Kim’s shiny green car.

  “Get in,” she demanded.

  “Are you kidnapping me? Because in case you didn’t know it, that’s illegal and generally frowned upon.”

  She chuckled. “You’re funny, a real comedienne.” She opened the car door. “We’re just going for a ride, you do what I want you to, and you’ll never be bothered by me again. Or Rory.” She smirked. “We’ll be out of your hair and on our way back to the city.”

  As soon as I got the chance, I’d call Tom. I’d slipped my cell phone into my pocket when she hadn’t been looking. I climbed into the passenger seat and fastened my seat belt. I knew the first rule of evading kidnapping was never to get in the car with the perpetrator. Once they get you in their car it’s as good as over, but I didn’t think Kim would really hurt me, would she?

  The worst that could happen was I’d do the magic and she’d go away with Rory. Not something I wanted but, like I said, that was the worst-case scenario. But I wasn’t lying when I told her about the magic. I’d read the spell before the book had disappeared—out of pure curiosity, mind you—and you can’t just be matched with anyone, it has to be someone you want and they have to want you too. Sure, I could do a spell that would work for a little while, but it wouldn’t last. But if I was wrong and they truly wanted to be together, well, this would seal the deal. I wasn’t sure I wanted to be the one who made that happen. If it happened on its own, there was nothing I could do about that, but I didn’t want to be instrumental in helping their disturbing love affair along.

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Kim’s car smelled like vanilla cookies and coffee, but it was spotless on the inside. Her cell phone rested on the dash on one of those sticky pad holders. A prism hung from the rearview mirror. She backed out and onto the highway.

  Music blasted from the speakers. I yelled over Britney Spears singing about holding it against her or something. “Do you mind at least telling me where we’re going? We could have done this magic in my backyard.”

  “You’ll find out soon enough, don’t you worry your pretty little head.”

  She turned down the volume. “So, tel
l me all about your date with Rory,” she said, as if we were best friends chatting about boys.

  “There’s nothing to tell. I don’t consider it a date.”

  “You’re just saying that so I won’t be mad.” She scowled.

  “Somehow I don’t think it would work that way, you’ll be mad at me no matter what I say.” I shifted in the seat.

  “I won’t, I promise.” She steered around a curve.

  “We went to the fair.” I held onto the door handle. She really didn’t know how to drive that car. “Don’t you think you should slow down?”

  “Yeah, don’t tell me how to drive and I won’t tell you how to cook, although you sure could stand some lessons from Paula Deen.”

  I’d like to tell her what she could stand.

  “Did he kiss you?” she asked.

  No way was I being truthful with that one.

  “No,” I said.

  “Liar. I know he did. I saw you two in your tongue tango.” She shot a venom-laced glare at me. “Plus, Rory told me he kissed you, too.”

  “Rory told you he kissed me? Why would he do something like that?” My mouth hung open. She probably forced it out of him.

  “Never mind. Once you work your little hocus pocus, I won’t have to worry about him kissing anyone else, ever. He’ll be mine for eternity.”

  She sounded like she was about to tie him up and keep him in her closet as a pet, only allowing him food and water. Next, she’d hug him, squeeze him, and call him George.

  We moved through Main Street, past the historic part of downtown, and Mystic Café. What I wouldn’t do to be in there making pancakes instead of being trapped in a vehicle with this lunatic.

  “So that’s all you did? The county fair?”

  “We went for a walk after and you came along with your broken-down car. That’s it, and I can’t tell you anything else, because nothing else happened.”

  This was getting old. I needed to change the subject before she really went berserk.

  “So you want to move away, huh?” I asked.

  “Yes, I can’t stand small towns. I want to be where I can see the action. I like to go dancing, to the theater and I have a favorite martini bar right around the corner from my apartment. They make a delicious Appletini. My place is great too, sure it’s a tad small, but Rory will love it.”

  “Uh-huh.”

  After we made it through town, we finally pulled into the local park. The same park where I’d shared that fantastic first kiss with Rory. If Kim had anything to do with it, I’d never get a chance to feel his lips pressed next to mine again.

  “The park? You bring me to the public park to perform magic? I really don’t feel comfortable doing this in public. Not to mention I could get in trouble for doing this in public. There’s a magical organization that oversees this stuff, you know?” Okay, now I sounded like the nutty one.

  “Do I look like I care if you get in trouble?” She shifted the car into park.

  “No, I guess you don’t.”

  Everything was all about her. She had the ‘me, me, me’ mentality down pat.

  “Come on.” She jumped out from the car and motioned for me to do the same.

  I opened the door, but thoughts of driving off went through my mind after she got out. I wouldn’t be able to slip over to the driver's seat fast enough though, so I’d have to devise another plan. The cell phone in my pocket was my only option. I patted my pants pocket to make sure it hadn’t fallen out. It was still safely tucked away. I had to distract her long enough to make a call to Tom.

  She reached through the rolled-down window and hoisted the book from the backseat. “This thing is heavy, why’d they make it so heavy?”

  I shook my head. “I have no idea. It’s not at the top of my list of questions at the moment.” The item at the top of my list was simply how to get the book back.

  “We’ll go over to that picnic bench.” She pointed.

  “Fine.” I followed her. The thought of running crossed my mind, but I wanted the book back, so that was out of the question. I wondered what the organization would do to Kim when they found out she had stolen the book. What kind of punishment does someone get for messing with magic?

  She plopped the book down on the table. She didn’t worry about damaging it. That was the least of her concerns.

  “You’ve got a lot of nerve doing this, you know?”

  A smile stretched tightly across her face. “I call it moxie.”

  “You can call a weed a flower, but it’s still a weed.”

  She scowled and gave me a stern look.

  “You didn’t think of one thing, and this is going to throw a monkey wrench in your little love scheme….”

  “Oh yeah?” She smirked. “What’s that?”

  “I don’t have the spices. I can only perform magic while cooking. What do you want me to do out here? Roast a marshmallow? And remember, Rory has to eat the food.”

  “Do you think I’m that stupid?” She scoffed.

  Did she really want me to answer that?

  She brushed away my words with a flick of her wrist. “I thought of that. I’m not as dumb as I look.”

  She said it not me, but I had thought it.

  “We’re going to have a little picnic. When you’re finished with the magic, you’ll call Rory. He’ll come and we’ll have a picnic.”

  “You need me to call him because he won’t come if you call.” I smirked.

  She frowned.

  “I’m right, aren’t I?” I asked.

  “No, of course he’d come. He loves me.” She looked away.

  “Apparently, he doesn’t or you wouldn’t need me right now.”

  “You think you’re so smart. Why don’t you shut your mouth and get on with the magic before I get really pissed and lay a beat down on you.”

  Hmm. She was probably all talk. I bet I could take her if I had to. But I needed to keep her calm until I had the book and the spices back in my possession. At any minute, she could go off and destroy the book. I’m guessing Tom, not to mention the higher-ups at the organization, would definitely frown upon that.

  “Fine.” I threw my hands up in disgust. “Where’s the rest of the stuff?”

  “It’s in the trunk of my car.”

  “So why don’t you go get it. I’ll start getting ready.”

  “Oh no. I’m not leaving you here with the book. You’ll take off as soon as I get my back turned.”

  Damn. She had me on that one. “I wouldn’t do that to you. You can probably outrun me anyway. Your legs are a lot longer.”

  She looked down at her legs. “That’s true,” she said. “Regardless, I’m not letting you out of my sight for a second. You come with me. I need help carrying the stuff, anyway.”

  I trudged along beside her. Leaving the book back on the picnic table made me nervous. What if someone else came along and took it? Although, as I glanced around, it didn’t appear that anyone was in sight. The swings were devoid of children, the basketball court empty of players and the tennis courts were deserted, too.

  We reached her car and she clicked her key fob with a swift punch from her long finger, unlocking the trunk. Inside there was a wicker picnic basket, along with several other bags.

  “You went all out for this, huh?”

  “Grab that blanket and the other bag,” she ordered.

  I hated being bossed around by Miss Priss. I grabbed the red and white checkered blanket and the bag. She set her bags and basket down and closed the trunk before retrieving her items from the ground.

  “Hurry up, we don’t have all day.”

  If she didn’t stop bossing me around soon, I was going to wring her neck. I fell into step beside her again.

  “You do have very short legs,” she said, glancing over at me. “It’s hard to keep up with someone tall like me. It must suck being so short. How short are you?”

  “I’m five-two. I hardly consider it an impairment.” I rolled my eyes.

 
; I let out a sigh of relief when we reached the park bench again and the book was still there. Kim placed the basket on the ground and reached for the tablecloth. “Here give me that.”

  I let go of the tablecloth and watched as she whipped it out in front of her, letting it cascade across the table, then smoothing it down with her hands. She grabbed the basket and placed it in the middle of the table.

  “What’s in there?” I asked.

  “I’m getting ready to show you, don’t be so impatient.”

  “I’m just curious what I have to work with, that’s all,” I said.

  She opened the lid and pulled out sandwiches with artisan bread, green grapes, various cheeses, chicken, and a bottle of wine. “There are glasses in the bag.” She pointed to the canvas tote bag I still clutched in my hand. “I also put flatware and napkins in there.” She pointed at another bag. “That one has all those spices you use for the spells.”

  The scent of the sandwiches, cheese, and fruit climbed upward, assaulting my nostrils and causing my stomach to churn. Normally, the food wouldn’t have had this effect, but with the current situation, the aroma made me want to heave.

  “Well, there isn’t exactly a lot of cooking for me to do,” I said.

  “Don’t make this any more difficult than it has to be, okay? All you need to do is sprinkle the magic on top of the food I’ve brought. He’ll eat it just the same; what difference does it make?” She snorted.

  A lot. You couldn’t just throw slop at people and expect them to gobble it up. But I wouldn’t tell her that. She didn’t need to know. In order for the magic to work, I needed to prepare the food. That was part of the magical deal. If everything went as planned, I would cast the spell and Kim would think it had worked. And I’d be off the hook. I’d get the book and spices back, and Tom could handle Kim. Whatever punishment they handed down was none of my business as long as I got the café back. What would Rory think if he found out I was playing around with his life like this?

  I prayed I wouldn’t cast a spell that would leave Rory with this awful woman for the rest of his life. He was lucky he got away from her when he did. I placed the bag on the table and removed the contents, setting the napkins and forks next to the food. Kim grabbed the bag with the spices and began pulling them out, one by one. I was never so happy to see little bottles of spices in my whole life.