The Professor Woos The Witch (Nocturne Falls Book 4) (8 page)

Marigold laughed. “See you at dinner Saturday?”

“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Pandora said as she headed for the door.

Saturday nights were family dinner night at their mother’s house, which meant Stanhill would be there. He was basically family at this point anyway. Charisma, their other sister, always came too when she was in town. Her job as a life coach meant she traveled a lot, although Nocturne Falls would always be her home. Pandora stopped with her hand on the knob. “Charisma here?”

“Yep.”

“All right, see you then.” Both sisters, her mother
and
Stanhill? Oh boy. Pandora would get some serious grilling this Saturday. No way her new friendship with Cole wasn’t already a main topic of conversation. The Williamses liked to talk. Especially about each other. It was born out of love and caring, but there was no escaping the family scrutiny.

By the time Pandora got home, she was more than ready for her evening glass of wine and a little snuggle with Pumpkin.

Her cat, however, didn’t meet her at the front door. Instead, Pandora found Pumpkin sitting in front of the sliders, staring at the backyard.

“Nice to see you not sleeping for a change.” Pandora decided to pour her wine first and take it with her into the bedroom. She could drink it while she put her comfies on.

Pumpkin meowed pitifully.

Pandora stared at her cat. “Have you lost that much weight that you suddenly want to go out and run around?”

More meowing, this time with longing.

“All right, keep your panties on, I’m coming.” Pandora opened the slider and Pumpkin shot out. Well, maybe not
shot
out. Lumbered with haste was a more apt description.

Pandora took her wine into the bedroom and came back five minutes later, hair up, tank top and shorts replacing her work clothes, and joined Pumpkin in the backyard, wine in hand. There was no chance Pumpkin could escape. There was a gate in the wooden fence around Pandora’s property, but that led out to the front of the house and definitely required opposable thumbs.

She took up her spot on the glider and looked around for Pumpkin. Her Royal Fatness was sitting in front of the shed door, pawing at it with no real effort. Still, just the fact that Pumpkin had put in the work to get to the shed was saying something. “What’s in there, Plumpkin?”

The cat ignored her and kept pawing.

Pandora’s witchy senses kicked in. Even if they hadn’t, she still could have guessed what Pumpkin wanted. She sighed, set her wine down and headed toward the rear of the yard. She opened the shed door. “Out, Kaley. Before Pumpkin has a beef-jerky seizure.”

Kaley heaved out a sigh and looked at Pumpkin. “Traitor.”

“You’re the one with the delicious meat products.”

Kaley trudged out. “Please don’t send me home.”

“I have to. But you can come hang out on the porch for a bit if you want.”

The teenager exhaled another sigh that made it seem like the weight of the world was on her shoulders. “Okay.”

They walked back to the porch, Pumpkin at Kaley’s heels in a last-ditch effort to cute some jerky out of her.

Pandora rolled her eyes. “Give it up, Pumpkin. You’re not getting any people food.” She picked up her wine and sat back in the glider. “What’s up?”

Kaley flopped down on the wicker chair and ottoman, her backpack slumped on the floor. “I love my dad, but he can also be a jerk.”

“Kaley, don’t say that. He works hard to take care of you, and I know you don’t agree with him, but he means well. He’s just trying to protect you.”

She slanted her eyes at Pandora. “Great. You like him now, so you’re siding with him.”

“I don’t
like
him. I mean, I don’t dislike him. Too much. But I’m definitely not romantically interested in him. We’re going to work on the house together. It’s the deal I made with him so you and I can spend more time together. And while I do that, I’m going to work on him too.”

Kaley sat up a little. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I’m going to get him to believe.”

“Really? Does that mean I’m getting a mentor?”

“It means I’m working on it. But I need you to help me out with your dad.”

“Is this the part where you tell me to behave and do what my dad says?”

“Basically, yes.”

Kaley treated Pandora to yet another bodily sigh. “Yeah, all right. But you’re still going to give me witch lessons?”

“Someone will.”

“Why not you?”

“Because I’m…I have a lot on my plate already.”

Kaley squinted. “This has something to do with your aura being all cracked, doesn’t it?”

Rotten child. “I’m going to talk to my mother about where to start, and then at the next coven meeting, I’ll ask about a mentor.”

Kaley’s mouth fell open. “There’s a coven meeting?”

“Yep. Once a month.”

“You guys are so lucky. Can I get in on that?”

“We’ll see.” Pandora wasn’t sure how Cole would react to that. Actually, she had a pretty good idea.

“Hey, you said your mom’s a witch too, right?”

“She is. And my sisters.”

“Can I meet them? Please? It would be so awesome.”

“Sure. I’ll figure something out. But you have to promise me you’re going to be on your best behavior with your dad.”

“I will.” Kaley grinned. “You do like him, though, don’t you?”

“He has his moments. When he’s not hating on witches.”

“I hear that, sister.”

Pandora gave Kaley a raised brow in response.

Kaley just laughed. Then Pumpkin jumped up into Kaley’s lap, and Kaley let out an “oof” as the breath was pressed out of her. “Your cat really needs to lose weight.”

“Why do you think I don’t want her having beef jerky?”

“Yeah, I get it.” She ruffled Pumpkin’s fur. “You too fat, kitty, but you’re very cute and super soft.” Kaley looked at Pandora. “I wish my dad liked cats. I’d love to get one.”

“Not into cats or witches, huh? He gets better by the second.” Pandora went to take another sip of her wine, but thought better of it and put it on the coffee table instead. “I should drive you home. I’m sure your dad is worried about you.”

“Weren’t you supposed to meet us for dinner at that place?”

“How did you know about that?”

“Dad texted me at school to say he’d apologized to you and that we were going to dinner at Hooters.”

“Howler’s. If you knew he apologized, why did you come over here?”

“Because when I got home, he was grumpy and snapped at me when I told him he should put on a nicer shirt.”

“Yeah, well, I think dinner’s off anyway. I’m sorry he was grumpy, that’s probably my fault too.”

“Why? What happened?”

“I…” Pandora wasn’t sure how to explain, but Kaley was a sister witch. Young, maybe, but Pandora decided to use what had happened as a teaching moment. Isn’t that what they called it? “I sort of zapped your dad with some magic this afternoon. I got mad and I wasn’t thinking. It was wrong, but—”

“Cool!”

“No, not cool. You should never use magic to harm another person. We take an oath about that and everything.”

Kaley’s eyes got big. “Harm? What did you do to him?”

“I didn’t hurt him. I just…sealed his mouth shut so he couldn’t speak.”

Kaley went blank for a split-second, then burst into laughter. Pumpkin ran for it.

“It’s not funny,” Pandora said.

“No wonder he was so mad,” Kaley choked out. “That’s epic.”

“No, it is not.” Pandora stood up and grabbed her wine to take it inside. “Let’s go. I’m driving you home.”

“Aw, c’mon, it is a little funny.” But Kaley got up, hauling her backpack over her shoulder.

“Okay, maybe a little. It wasn’t at the time, though.” Pandora led Kaley and Pumpkin inside, locked the slider behind them and headed for her purse by the door.

“Are you mad at me for coming over?”

Pandora opened the front door and shooed Kaley out, car keys in hand. “No. I’m glad you think of this as a safe place, but you still need to work on cutting your dad some slack.”

“I will.”

“Good.” Pandora probably needed to take some of that advice herself. “Get in the car.”

Cole stood in the attic, staring at the shelves of books and bottles and other random junk. Everything he believed was suddenly in question. It wasn’t just what Pandora had done to him, but the moment of contact between them that had blown his sense of reality to smithereens.

Worse, he couldn’t stop thinking about her. Especially about how he wanted to touch her again.

Which was why he was up here. He was going to pick up the mirror again and pray that’s what had caused his weird vision.
Not
touching her.

Because he’d already convinced himself that the temporary muteness had been nothing more than the worst possible case of a frog in the throat.
Not
magic.

The mirror was right where he’d left it. There was nothing unusual about it. Just a small brass hand mirror with a few flowers and ornaments engraved on the handle. Ordinary. He flexed his hand. There was nothing to think about. Just pick it up.

He grabbed the handle. Nothing happened. He let out the breath he’d been holding and put the mirror back. “See? You idiot. All worked up over—”

A dull thump interrupted him. He turned to see a puff of dust curling through the air. A book had fallen off one of the shelves. That wasn’t weird at all. “Houses shift. Stuff moves. Totally explainable.”

He walked slowly to the book and picked it up. The heat from the attic made the back of his neck prickle. The book was a slim volume, bound in dark blue leather. Here and there on the spine and cover, gold decorations had worn away, leaving only the imprint of the embossing visible. The title on the front read
Concerning Familiars
.

It meant nothing to him. He reshelved it and headed for the stairs.

A dull thump sounded the moment his back was turned.

He twisted around. The book was on the floor again. He hesitated. Then got angry. He picked up the book and jammed it onto the shelf. “Stay,” he muttered.

He went for the stairs again, and this time there was no more noise behind him. He shut the attic door firmly and started down the steps. He swung by Kaley’s room to apologize to her for snapping earlier.

This whole thing with Pandora was setting him on edge, but that was not Kaley’s fault. Plus, she’d been right. He really should put on a nicer shirt. He tapped his knuckles on the door. “Sweetheart, can I talk to you?”

Nothing. That kid and her earbuds. She was going to ruin her hearing. He knocked louder. “Kaley, turn your music off a sec.”

Still nothing. He opened the door. She wasn’t in her room.

He jogged downstairs. “Kaley? You down here?”

A car pulled into the driveway. He recognized the well-maintained late-model Mercedes. Pandora. With Kaley in the passenger seat.

He opened the front door and leaned against the frame while his daughter got out. This running away business was getting old.

She climbed the porch steps and glanced at him sheepishly. “I went to Pandora’s.”

“Miss Williams’.”

“I went to Miss Williams’.”

There were worse places she could go. “Because I snapped?”

“Yes. You mad?”

“Not really.” He was. At himself for having another argument with her. “But I would like you to go to your room and do your homework.”

“Okay.” She trudged past him.

“I love you, Kaley.”

“Love you, too, Dad.”

He stepped onto the porch and peered into Pandora’s car. Didn’t seem like she was getting out. He walked down to the driver’s side.

She unrolled the window as he approached but didn’t say anything.

“She cause any trouble?”

“No.” Pandora eyed him warily.

“You don’t look like you’re dressed for dinner.” Not that he disapproved. Her love for tank tops was fast becoming one of his favorite things about her.