Chasing the Witch (Boston Witches) (33 page)

“No one told you to come in here while I was showering,” Jilly shot back as she wrapped her hair up in a towel. “Now, be a lamb and hand me my robe, please.”

He grabbed it off the hook on the door and very dramatically closed his eyes while he handed it to her. “You are such a dork,” she said, as she put her robe on.

“Yeah, I may be a dork, but you love me, anyway,” William said and walked out of the room with the blow dryer. Jilly shook her head with a laugh and went to pick out her clothes.

Caroline was drying her hair when Patrick came in the room.

“What are your plans for the day, my darling?” he asked her as he sat down on the bed.

“I’m going over to my sister’s house in a few minutes to talk. After that, I think just packing. What are you going to do?”

“I have to brief Drew on what’s going to be happening. He’ll need to make his own travel arrangements, as I can assume my brother will not allow him to go on his plane.”

Caroline made a face. “Why is it exactly that we need him? We’ll have Nik and Will; we don’t need Drew as well.”

Patrick frowned. “Why is it that you hate him so much?”

“He just gives me a bad feeling. I don’t trust him and I don’t want him to come,” Caroline all but shouted.

Patrick laughed. “If it means that much to you, I’ll keep him on standby. He doesn’t have to come with us.”

“It does mean that much to me. Thank you for understanding,” she said and kissed him.

“I don’t understand but I’m doing it, anyway. The female mind will always be a mystery to me.”

“What’s wrong with a little mystery in your life, baby?” Caroline asked in a silky smooth voice.

“Keep talking like that and you’re going to need another shower,” Patrick growled as he swept her into his arms.

“No, okay, I give,” Caroline squealed. “I need to go; but I promise you, we’ll pick this up later.” She kissed him, sucking his lip in between her own.

“Go now or you’ll never get out of this house fully clothed,” Patrick said as he shoved her toward the door.

“Okay, I’m leaving now. See you in a bit,” she said as she blew him a kiss. She was laughing as she got into her car.

Jilly and Caroline sat outside on the back porch drinking mugs of hot chocolate.

“So,” Jilly said, unsure of how to start the conversation.

“Yeah,” Caroline said.

“Okay, this is really weird,” Jilly said.

“I know and I really don’t want it to be. Can’t we just go back to how things were?” Caroline asked.

Jilly sighed. “I want nothing more than that, but a lot happened. I felt like you lied to me, Car. You snuck around behind my back. I understand why you’re with him, that’s not the issue anymore. It’s everything that led up to it that bothers me.”

Caroline was quiet for a minute. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know I handled things terribly, but I can’t do anything about that now. This whole thing was so weird and amazing and crazy all at the same time. Do you remember the beginning with William? How you felt that zapping of electricity every time you touched? The excitement you felt when you knew you were going to see him? I remember that because you shared all of it with me. I didn’t have anyone to talk to. I knew you and William would never understand.”

“I do understand.”

“You understand now, yeah, now that everything is out in the open about Hannah. But before that, you thought Patrick was a monster who was controlling my mind. You refused to see that there is a decent person inside of him. You never even tried to see things from my perspective; you were so quick to judge me.”

“I never judged you,” Jilly shot back.

“Didn’t you? You asked me how I could love a man like Patrick. I can love him because he’s not a monster. He’s a loving, caring person with feelings like you and I have,” Caroline trailed off, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry, too, Car. I never meant to make you feel like Patrick wasn’t worth loving. I can see now that he is. There is a side of him that he really only shows to you. I got a glimpse of it a few nights ago; he told me a few things. He loves you and he loves Hannah. That is enough for me. I’ll never question you about him, again.” Jilly wiped the tears from her own eyes.

“Thank you,” Caroline said softly.

“Let’s not talk about it anymore. I’m tired of crying,” Jilly said.

Caroline nodded enthusiastically. “How is Hannah doing with all of this?”

“She’s doing pretty well actually. I think it’s still weird for her to be around Patrick, though. I can see how much he loves her, but I think he scares her a little bit. She hasn’t said anything, but I can just tell by the look on her face.”

Caroline nodded. “It’s hard for him. He loves her so much. Plus, he’s been out of her life for pretty much the whole time and he doesn’t want to miss anything else. I’ve told him he needs to give her time and space, though.”

“That’s good advice. He’ll only push her further away if he moves too fast. She’s been through so much in the past year, she’s very fragile.”

“Where did she and William go, today?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Probably the mall and then to his apartment to pack. One of us needs to go into the shop today to tell the girls we’ll be gone for a while. I’m thinking of putting Tanya in charge while we’re both gone. What do you think?” Jilly asked.

“I think Tanya is your best bet. She knows everything about running the place. I can stop by on my way home today, if you want.”

“Oh, that would be perfect. Tell her she can call me tonight if she’s got any questions. You know, on second thought, I’ll just call her later and talk to her about everything. That way, she can ask me any questions she might have.”

“Are you sure?”

“Totally sure. Now, do you want to help me decide which of my coats to bring with us on the trip?”

“Lead the way,” Caroline said as they went inside.

Jilly was just hanging up with Tanya when William and Hannah came in. “Hey, guys, how was your day?” she asked them. Hannah was beaming and William looked happy, as well.

“We had a very nice day. We went to the mall and bought this one some more shoes and a new coat,” William said.

“That’s great,” Jilly said with a smile. “Hannah, are you all packed up and ready to go?”

“Almost. I’m going to go finish, now,” Hannah replied and went upstairs.

“Thanks for taking her out, today. She looks like she had a lot of fun.” William came around the counter and pulled Jilly in for a kiss. She smiled against his lips. “What was that for?” she asked, still smiling.

“It was because I love you, and your lips looked very kissable.” To prove his point, he kissed her again. She let herself melt into him for a moment. The sound of someone clearing his throat jarred them from their moment.

“Are we interrupting?” Nikolai asked, as he and Katya walked in.

Jilly laughed. “If I said yes, would you leave?”

Katya smiled, “If you guys wanted privacy, the kitchen is hardly the place for it. Are you almost ready to leave?”

“Not really. Well, sort of. I have my bags packed, if that counts for anything,” Jilly said with a sheepish smile. “I can probably be ready in an hour.” She scurried up the stairs to her room. Once there, she grabbed all of her bags and set them by the door. She picked up her laptop and sat on the bed to do the ordering for the salon. This was the part of owning her own business that Jilly hated; she was the one who was responsible for everything. If she didn’t do the ordering, they’d have nothing to sell or use. As she was finishing up, she made a mental note to teach Tanya how to do more on the management side of the shop. She powered down her laptop and put it into its case before heading into the bathroom to retrieve her toiletries bag. When she came out of the bathroom, William was sitting on the bed.

“Are you almost ready?” he asked her.

“Yeah, I think so. Is Hannah all set to go?”

“Yeah, she’s already downstairs. We’re all just waiting on you.” There was a hint of impatience in his voice that Jilly chose to ignore.

“Want to help me with my bags?” Jilly asked sweetly. He nodded and shooed her out the door. Scooping up as many bags as he could carry, he followed her down to the kitchen to meet everyone else.

William opened the door of the SUV for Jilly to get in and was surprised to see Sabine sitting in the back seat.

“Hello cherie, I’m so looking forward to our trip,” she purred. William frowned and let Jilly climb in first before sliding in next to her and shutting the door.

“Why so quiet, William?” Sabine taunted.

Jilly put her hand on his leg to still him and then turned around to face Sabine. “Let’s get one thing straight, here. Just because we have to bring you, does not mean we have to converse with you. So you should just shut your mouth and be thankful no one has put a silencing spell on you.” Jilly turned back around and caught William’s smile before he masked it.

“Well put, darling, I couldn’t have said it better myself,” William said as the SUV took off for the airport. The drive was uneventful and full of unspoken words. They pulled onto the tarmac and everyone hopped out of their cars and began to unload the luggage. They decided to take both Nikolai and William’s planes since they were travelling with such a large group. Nikolai said he would take Sabine with him to avoid any unnecessary problems she might try to cause between William and Jilly. Caroline and Patrick would fly with Jilly and William, and Hannah would as well. Jilly took Hannah on board to get her situated, while they waited for Caroline and Patrick to arrive. They watched from the window as Nikolai’s plane took off for Germany. Finally, twenty minutes later, Patrick and Caroline drove up in a cab.

“Sorry, I know we’re late,” Caroline said, as she climbed out of the car. William helped Patrick with the bags and they all filed on board to get ready for takeoff. They all sat in the rows of chairs that were toward the front of the plane. Jilly and William sat in front and Hannah sat directly behind them. Patrick and Caroline chose seats in the very last row. Everyone buckled up for takeoff and the plane started rolling down the tarmac.

Once they were in the air, everyone went their separate ways. Hannah grabbed her Kindle and snuggled up on the couch to read. Jilly and William went to watch a movie in one of the rooms and Caroline and Patrick went to do the same in another room.