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Although, if the recent incident with Celia had stirred up spirit interest, Night Meadow Island was about to see a slew of meddlesome ghosts pranking residents because they had no desire to leave the present world. Celia sure didn’t. She’d been working at tourist spots for years sharing her acting talents. It made Kay wonder just how educational their show would be.
Water rushed from the tap as she filled the coffee pot, and she pushed Damon out of her mind to think about Tucker instead. When they’d spoken about their date, he said he’d come pick her up. She hoped that this would be a chance for him to relax so they could enjoy their time together. While he was the stable, calm type of guy Kay was looking for, he could also be on the dry side. But she was sure he liked to have fun, and that was the part of him she planned to get to know on their date.
As the coffee pot sputtered, Kay tried to remember what Tucker had been like in school. She’d had a huge crush on him in junior high when she thought he looked like Zac Efron, a celebrity many girls her age had found attractive. But he’d also been shy, and she hadn’t gotten to know him very well. She recalled the way she’d thought his embarrassment whenever she spoke to him had been because he had a crush on her too. She’d been wrong and learned later that he’d been nervous around her because she was a witch. She’d been so mortified by reading Tucker wrong that she’d had avoided him for most of her high school years.
The truth was Kay didn’t know him very well, so she intended to find out more about Tucker Eagan and hopefully begin the kind of relationship they both craved.
8
Damon
The odorof French fries filled Damon’s nose as he searched the crowd at the fairgrounds. The magical radar net he’d put out on Kay pinged a few minutes ago. Using the coffee cup she’d left in his Land Rover the previous week, he’d combined a locator spell with an alert that would tell him when she was in his vicinity. And he’d set the spell in motion earlier that morning when he’d arrived at the fair because he knew she was supposed to show up with Tucker on their date.
Once he spotted the two, all he had to do was monitor their activities without being detected. While Damon was fairly certain Kay and Tucker would not fall in love today, he was still a little concerned the pair might make it to date two. That was something Damon was going to make sure didn’t happen. Not that he knew exactly how to keep a relationship between Kay and Tucker from forming, but he did trust he’d think of something if necessary. He’d always been quick on his feet and doubted that skill would falter now.
A girl squealed and rushed up to him. “Damon! Can I get a selfie?”
“Of course,” Damon leaned in and flashed his well-practiced smile to take a picture with the girl, but he wasn’t happy about it. It occurred to him that following Kay and Tucker undetected wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d assumed. He was running spell options through his mind to cloak himself when he spotted Kay with Tucker by the heavy equipment section of the fairgrounds.
The good officer was glancing around while Kay chatted on about something. Damon watched for a while and was happy to see Tucker was more interested in the big machine they were near instead of whatever Kay had to say or even looked like. And she was looked beautiful. Her hair was down in soft waves again, glowing in the sun and creating a magical aura that instantly bewitched Damon. He chuckled when Tucker stroked the vehicle with admiration he was sure Kay wished was directed toward her.
He decided to slink back a bit and observe more. Moving into a tent full of chainsaws that he figured would attract mostly men who didn’t give two hoots about Damon Hawke, he pretended to be inspecting one while watching Tucker for signs he was remotely interested in Kay. The pair had moved on to a high-end golf cart, and Kay hopped behind the wheel of it. Damon moved to the edge of the tent to get close enough to overhear what she was saying.
Her face glowed with her excitement as she said, “Think about how fun this would be for cruising around the island.”
A guy had walked over to make his sales pitch. “There’s a full-size cooler under the back seat,” he said, and he lifted the thick cushioned bench to show Kay.
Tucker said, “You’d need to make this street legal.”
“Easily done,” the salesman said.
“You can do blinkers?” Tucker asked. “A brake light?”
Damon chuckled as Tucker continued to quiz the man on the upgrades the golf cart would need before Kay would be allowed to legally drive it on island roads. When Tucker began to talk about helmets, Damon happily tuned him out, like Kay appeared to have done also judging by the way she was glancing around. When she started to look his way, Damon quickly turned on his heel to hightail it out of there before she discovered him lurking in the shadows.
Tempted as he was to follow them wherever they went next, Damon knew he needed to be careful. He made his way over to the farm animals thinking that could be where the couple might go next. It would serve him better if Kay and Tucker stumbled upon him.
Damon got what he wished for once he finished browsing through the sheep and wandered toward the specialty food building. As he posed for a selfie with a couple of tweens, he saw Kay and Tucker approaching. Kay smiled at him, and he nodded in return.
“Damon,” Tucker said.
“Hey there,” Damon threw out as casually as he could. “Have you guys been in here yet?” He moved toward the entrance. “The things they do with condiments these days is amazing. There’s no reason for plain grilled meat ever again.”
Kay chuckled at him as Tucker and she followed Damon’s lead. “You don’t say? Do you cook a lot? It must be hard to keep your suit from getting dirty.”
He smiled at her. He knew his attire looked out of place for the fair, but it was part of his public persona and helped people recognize him as a celebrity. “I know this will surprise you, but yes, I do cook regularly. I make dinner for my family at least twice a week.” He nodded at a woman he knew named Sarah as she passed by. “You have to check out Fred’s fiery mustards. Amazing on chicken. And the best part is you get to sample almost everything.”
“You do?” Tucker asked, his eyes lighting up. He stepped inside the building before Kay had a chance to weigh in.
“Looks like you’re taste testing,” Damon said to her.
“Guess so.” Kay rushed to catch up to Tucker.
Damon followed along to watch the fun. Tucker hadn’t gotten far. He was at the first booth and smearing a generous amount of cheese spread on a cracker. He let out a moan before speaking with his mouth full. “You have to try this orange cheese stuff.”
The woman behind the counter said, “It’s orange marmalade goat cheese. Made from our own goats’ milk, of course.” She went on to give her usual speech, but Damon stopped listening. He was more amused by the look of concern Kay had on her face. She grabbed Tucker’s arm and leaned in close. “I don’t think you’re supposed to dive in for seconds unless you plan to buy some.”
“Oh,” he put the cracker he’d grabbed down and stepped back. Apparently he recovered quickly, because he moved on to the next booth and grabbed a pretzel stick to dip in a mustard sample. “Delicious. Kay, taste this one.”
