Page 7 of Grimoires & Glamoury

“It will depend on how busy we are this afternoon,” I replied, giving him the most polite excuse I could come up with.

“I’ll text you the address,” he said as if I’d already agreed. He then walked to the door, pushed it open and stood for a moment silhouetted by the rain. Charles Montgomery’s eyes met and held mine for a long moment...almost as if he were daring me to refuse his invitation.

Then, he popped the collar of his coat against the rain and ducked out into it. A moment later he was gone.

“What the hell was that all about?” Kate asked me.

Dex scowled. “Never could stand that arrogant motherfu—”

“Dex.” I cut him off, before he swore on the sales floor.

Kate crossed her arms over her chest. “Why does he want you to meet him for lunch? It’s not like a date or something, is it?”

That made me chuckle. “Lord, no. I would never date Charles Montgomery.”

“Then why was he here?” Kate wanted to know.

Dex adjusted the crate of books he still held. “As much as I dislike Montgomery and his lodge—he’s texted you twice already, Lorna. And then he followed that up by coming in here in person to see you.”

I didn’t bother asking how Dex knew. Dex was a postcognitive psychic and his abilities specialized in seeing events that happened in the past—which was known as retrocognition. Still, I blew out a long, annoyed breath.

“You know, Dex,” I began, “there are times when your retrocognition comes in very handy. Today, I’m finding it a tad annoying.”

“It’s only annoying when I’m right,” Dex said.

Damn it, I thought. Dex was right. Montgomery coming here to the bookstore to see me was highly unusual… Typically if we had to meet publically, it was somewhere neutral.

Dex patted my shoulder. “Whatever the problem is... I feel that it is important.”

“So you really think I should meet him for lunch?” I asked Dex.

He nodded. “I do.”

“I don’t want to mess up your afternoon off,” I said.

Dex smiled. “And you’re looking for any excuse not to go.”

“Too bad you can’t see the future.” I gave Dex a friendly elbow jab. “It would save me the trouble of finding out what’s going on.”

“We could ask Circe to throw a few Tarot cards for you,” Kate offered. “That way you’re not walking in blind.”

“That’s an excellent idea,” I said to Kate. “I’m terrible at reading for myself.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Kate said, crossing her heart.

“I’ll man the counter,” Dex offered. “Go pop over to Circe’s and have her do a quick reading for you.”

“I think I will,” I said, walking out from around the counter.

“See you later.” Kate blew a kiss to Dex as we left.

I crossed from my bookstore through the connecting door to Kate’s apothecary—which was between my shop and Circe’s. Kate left me to go wait on a customer, and then I passed through a second sliding door into the candle store.

The shop was beautiful, with a sales space that had been color-drenched in a deep rosy-purple hue. All sorts of candles filled the shelves, as well as magickal accessories and supplies.

Circe was unpacking a shipping box as I approached, and she glanced up and waved.

“Sorry to interrupt,” I said.