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Gina Robinson smiled at them. “I can’t wait to see tomorrow’s show. You two are so darling,” she teased.
And even Theo, a boy of six said, “When are you going to have Satan? I want to see you crush the bad guy.”
Damon crouched down to talk to the kid. “I’d love to crush the bad guy too, but I don’t think we’re going to see Satan.”
“Oh. Too bad,” Theo said before walking away as if a discussion about the devil was as trivial as brushing your teeth.
Kay asked. “Should I be worried about that child?”
Damon chuckled. “No. Now if he’d said he wanted Satan to show up and put us in our place, I’d be worried.”
Kay shook her head as the neared the cafe door. The cream-colored cat the coffee shop was named for hopped off the flower box where he had been napping and approached Kay. When Cream’s soft fur tickled her shins from him twisting around her legs, she stooped down to scoop him up, and she held him as they got in line to order their drinks.
“This place is busy,” Damon said.
Delilah Davenport turned around in line to say, “If you hadn’t touted the wonders of this place on your show, we’d all be drinking coffee right now.” The smile on her face told them she was teasing. And for good reason. The woman had been enjoying the increased sales Damon and Kay’s ghost hunting show had given her boutique.
When they got to the front of the line Damon cooed, “Prudence, so lovely to see you today. That shirt is the perfect color on you.”
The girl behind the counter blushed almost as pink as her T-shirt and played with the end of her blonde braid. “Americano?” She asked him.
“Yes, please, and—” He turned to Kay. “What do you think? Pumpkin scone or a cinnamon roll?”
“Like you have to ask.” She looked at Prudence. “We’ll take two of the scones and—”
“A caramel macchiato,” the girl finished. “Got it.”
As they walked over to the end of the counter where they’d pick up their drinks, a shrill voice called out, “DamonHawke, is that you?”
Something about the sound made the hair on the back of Kay’s neck stand on end, and annoyance spiked in her when she realized why.Jessie Green.
“Jessie,” Damon said to the woman who was sitting at a table by the window of the cafe. “My gosh, what are you doing here?”
“Yes,” Kay said, desperately trying to sound casual as she spoke to the closest thing she had to a real enemy. “What are you doing on Night Meadow Island?”
The petite brunette had gone to summer camp with Damon and Kay. She and Kay had been in the same cabin. Jessie’s magic was marginal at best, but the girl had the gift of coercion on her side, and within a day she’d managed to turn most of the girls in the cabin against Kay. As an adult, Kay realized Jessie had likely felt threatened by a Knight witch’s power. But at the time, well, it had been a painful experience for Kay to not have her cabin mates like her. Even worse, Jessie had set her sights on a guy she thought Kay liked.
Jessie lifted her teacup, a rosebud-adorned piece of china from the eclectic collection the shop owner picked up at yard sales to keep available for the tea drinkers in the cafe. “I’m sightseeing. Your podcast has brought this—” she waved her hand erratically as if she was searching for the right word. “placeto my attention and I thought I’d come see it.”
Kay hadn’t thought about Jessie in years, but the feelings of hate for the woman came rushing back. She pushed them below the surface, because surely Jessie wasn’t the same insecure girl she’d been.
Kay took a deep breath and found her kind voice. “It’s a lovely town. Do you have anything in particular you’d like to see? Our beach if a hidden gem and of course, our downtown shops are wonderful to poke through.”
“Yes,” Jessie scanned Kay with her gaze. “I was sure you’d say that.” She turned her attention to Damon. “Join me for a cuppa. I do so want to catch up.”
“I’m sorry. We—” Kay began as Damon grabbed their coffees.
But Damon interrupted her. “We’d love to. I want to hear all about the witchcraft supply business.”
Kay watched in annoyance as Jessie practically sucked him in as he sat next to her. She supposed she was overreacting, though, and she plopped down in a chair at the table. Still, she couldn’t help but wonder if she could spell a zit to appear on the end of Jessie’s nose and get away with it. Because Kay wasn’t sure how, but the woman had managed to make her feel as if she was fourteen years old all over again.
16
Damon
Jessie Green had beenon Damon’s radar for a while now. The woman had taken a small-town Wiccan and witchcraft supply shop and turned it into a franchise that had become very successful. He’d first become aware of Wicked Wares when Jessie had started advertising on his video channel at the start of his career. At the time, she hadn’t become a franchise yet, but Jessie had big plans and paid to use the traffic Damon’s online channel generated for her own gain successfully. It wasn’t long before she began advertising franchise opportunities as well as her wares, and she had become a household name in the witch community.
Damon sipped on his black coffee and nearly burned his mouth, forgetting that he hadn’t let it cool yet. He’d found in the last few weeks that the bloom that had faded on the appeal of his notoriety. He was growing more and more annoyed at being recognized and having to cut into his time with Kay to deal with fans. It had made him more curious about Jessie’s success, and he wondered if there was a way for him to translate his current business model into one that was less public. He hoped to get a few ideas from her, and at the very least, plant a seed or two about his plans to create a product line in conjunction with Wicked Wares.
