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His voice is loud. “You’re friends with my friend Ryan’s mom!”
“I am.” We enter the break room, and I walk over to lift the lid on a small box and take out a deck of playing cards. “I was there when Ryan was born.”
“Really?” His eyes are wide.
“Yeah, now check this out.”
I spend a lot of time elaborately shuffling the small deck, cutting the cards, moving them back and forth. “The preparation I’m doing right now is part of the trick. It makes me look very skilled.”
Owen’s wide eyes never leave my hands, and he nods, fascinated. “I don’t know how to shuffle cards.”
“You need to learn if you’re going to do card tricks.” Holding the deck in front of him, I circle my hands around and take two cards off the top—but it appears I’ve only taken one. Bending them slightly, I show Owen the bottom card. “Remember this card.”
“It’s the three of diamonds.”
“Good.” I split the deck and return the card I’ve palmed to the top, then I split them again, using my thumb to take the top card away and fold them together. “Now… Is this your card?”
The three of diamonds pops up, and Owen’s eyes bug. “It is!”
He’s nearly shouting, and I almost start to laugh…almost. Years of training have taught me never to break character in the middle of a trick.
“You did magic! You are like Mrs. Edna!”
“Not really.” I smile. “Come here, and I’ll show you what I did.”
It only takes a few minutes for me to teach the simple trick to him, cutting the cards, lifting two in your fingers, and bending them. It’s a little more difficult for him, since his hands are small, but he’s a fast learner. After a few tries, he’s doing it like a pro.
“You just need to work on shuffling. The presentation is as much a part of the act as the trick itself.”
“I try, but I kind of throw the cards everywhere.”
“You just need to work up the muscles in your fingers.” Stepping back, I hold out my hands and announce, “Now the Magnificent Owen will demonstrate his skills!”
He’s all ready to take the cards from me when a sharp, male voice interrupts us.
“What’s going on back here?” My heart jumps, and I turn to see Aiden standing over us.
He’s hot as ever in that uniform, but his gray-blue eyes are blazing. If it were possible for steam to rise out of his collar, it would.
“Hi, Sheriff!” My tone is light, but the waver in my voice gives away my nerves. “Where have you been?”
“I rode out to the Jones place. What are you doing with my son?”
“Britt taught me a magic trick, Dad! It’s so cool. She’s better at it than I am, though.” He tugs the sleeve of my jumpsuit. “Do it for him, Britt. Show dad the magic trick!”
I hesitate, chewing my bottom lip. “It wasn’t really amagictrick…”
“I thought you wanted to separate yourself from all that.” His tone is controlled anger, and I do my best not to fidget.
“It wasn’t like that. Owen just asked if I knew any magic, and I didn’t want to let him down.”
“You’re here to deal with facts. Not tricks. Not tarot. Not magic. We work in the real world, Miss Bailey, and if that’s going to be too difficult for you to remember, you need to let me know right now.”
A knot twists in my throat, and the anger burning in his eyes has me on the verge of tears, which issonot happening.
I blink away from his intense gaze. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize I was overstepping.”
“Don’t drag my son into your family’s nonsense.” His tone is painfully sharp, and I nod quickly, backing away.
