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Chapter 20

Toni dusted the Edgar Allan Poe section, wondering, for the millionth time, who had first conceived of a Raven-themed lunch box. She had similar thoughts about many of the items in the shop. Who needed a sword-shaped letter opener anyway? Did people actually use them?

More importantly, how did one lose a duster right in the middle of dusting?

Sneezing, Toni located it behind a tub of Ghostly Body Butter, then wandered back to the cash register to wait for the first customer of the day. She’d already checked her phone ten times for messages this morning, which was an improvement on the twenty times she’d checked it last night. He’d left her on her front porch after giving her a passionate kiss that would only frustrate the hell out of her and haunt her dreams.

On principle, she couldn’t contact him first.

Up until now, Lawrence had been so open with her. He’d given her insight into the man she’d admired all summer. The one she’d been attracted to from day one. The handsome, charming man she’d considered breaking up with Tyler for.

How’s that for internal monologue and honesty? At the time the thought seemed traitorous, but now . . . not so much.

She jumped when her cell finally buzzed. She snatched it from the counter, but her shoulders slumped at the sight of her aunt’s picture. Still, she couldn’t ignore Birdie. Accepting the call on speaker, she greeted her aunt.

“Hi, sweetie,” Birdie called out from the counter.

“Morning.”

“I forgot to tell you that we’re out of town for the day. Your uncle and I are heading to that antique shop I love in New Hope.”

When they weren’t working at Curiosities, her aunt and uncle could typically be found scouring antique shops for the finds that made Ye Old Curiosities locally famous. They ordered some things online, such as medieval-style jewelry, but most they discovered the good old-fashioned way.

“You can count on me,” she said, already knowing it was going to be a long day. Typically, she either opened or closed, not both. But she also normally worked weekends at the bar and had asked for the next weekend off. She and Alessandra had planned a girls’ trip months ago to the Elmwood Lodge. Only an hour away, it was one of their favorite quick getaways. Nothing but a quaint woodsy resort and spa for two full days.

But that had been before Kenton and Lawrence. Alessandra hadn’t admitted it, but she knew her friend wished it were a couple’s weekend. She knew because she wished it too.

Every minute she wasn’t with Lawrence, Toni spent thinking of him. How she’d fallen this hard, this fast, she wasn’t sure. But there was no point lying to herself.

“Just wanted you to know in case of an emergency.”

Toni hated to tell her aunt that if there were an emergency at the shop, Birdie would not be the first person she’d call.

Toni would call Lawrence.

She’d already begun to think of him as someone to lean on.

“I also forgot to mention . . .”

Her aunt hesitated.

“What is it?” she asked.

“Maybe nothing. But do you remember when you first told me about the Cheld?”

Toni wondered if her aunt would bring up the whole supernatural thing. She hadn’t said a word about it since their talk, other than to say she probably wouldn’t tell Uncle Jim just yet. A good thing since the fewer the people who knew, the better.

“Of course I remember. We had no idea what to do—”

“And I told you I would talk to an old acquaintance who knew her Scottish folklore?”

Toni remembered it clearly. It wasn’t every day your best friend’s life was being threatened by a supernatural being.

“Yep.”

“It turns out, that young man who broke into the store . . .”

Young man. Leave it to Birdie to call him that. The prick looked like he was in his early forties.