Charming Blend (A Paramour Bay Cozy Paranormal Mystery Book 5) Read online

  Do you think Beetle will take me, too? I bet the diner has some fresh cod on the menu.

  I was rather pleased that I’d come up with such an idea, because that would have Beetle leaving a bit earlier than planned. There had to be some magical spell I was missing to help Beetle with the learning curve of retail. After all, it wasn’t so much different than working with taxes and money all day, was it?

  “Had I known you were looking for part-time help, Wilma and I could have pitched in,” Elsie whispered, sending my heart racing at the thought of having the two elderly women on my staff. I’d already admitted to my mother that I’d made a huge mistake in hiring Beetle, but I couldn’t bring myself to fire him. These two ladies would have sent me to an early grave. “Beetle likes coffee, you know. He doesn’t know one wit about tea.”

  His knowledge for premium organic catnip is all that matters.

  My stress that had previously evaporated suddenly returned with a vengeance.

  Full disclosure—Beetle wasn’t the only one who drank coffee instead of tea.

  I lived for the rich delicious beverage, and feigned my love for tea…which technically wasn’t good for business. These two kindhearted old ladies wouldn’t understand my need for secrecy, so it was best to keep my betrayal under wraps. Soon, I hoped to include gourmet blends of coffee beans and the implements to prepare heaven’s perfect beverage among the shop’s offerings. Until that time, my preference for coffee was my little secret.

  “Beetle certainly makes things interesting around here,” I said with a forced laugh, not knowing how else to sum up my new part-time employee. He was currently holding up the heart shaped glass container with the herbal tea I’d made for Dee, staring at it like he’d never seen anything so beautiful. He really was a sweet man. Guilt flooded my system for thinking it would be best to fire him. I just needed to strive for more patience. “Elsie, what is Wilma doing?”

  Why are her cheeks that color? I don’t think that shade of red is healthy.

  “I’m not quite sure what Wilma’s doing.” Elsie studied her best friend in confusion. “Is she…blushing?”

  The lighthearted flirtatious laugh that escaped Wilma’s thin lips was something I’d never heard from her before, but it was the way she’d laid her hand on Beetle’s wool sleeve that had me and Elsie gasping in surprise.

  Oh, this wasn’t good.

  I don’t ever want to hear that sound again! Raven, these people are ruining what’s left of my morning. This falls entirely on your shoulders. Look at what you’ve gone and done!

  “Oh, my,” Elsie exclaimed in disbelief, clutching her purse and the bag of teas to her chest as if she’d just witnessed a scene out of an R-rated movie. I was still attempting to rationalize what was taking place in front of us, but I was definitely in a losing battle. “Wilma!”

  The thing was, Wilma wasn’t paying any attention to Elsie.

  It was clear the other woman only had eyes for Beetle.

  Had this been a normal occurrence, no one would have been shocked to the point of silence. As it stood, there could only be one reason why Wilma was acting in such an amorous way.

  It could only be one thing.

  Are you proud of yourself now?

  Leo was right. This implausible situation was completely my fault, and I had no idea on how to fix it. It was obvious that the love spell I’d cast for Dee had spilled over onto the heart shaped container instead of being imbued into the tea leaves.

  I tried to quell my panic.

  Good luck with that. Look at those two lovebirds! Beetle just offered to take Wilma for a ride, and I’m not so sure he was talking entirely about using his red VW.

  I needed to take that heart shaped container out of their hands before things went from bad to worse. Once it was put into a safe place, I’d have time to go over my options.

  I’m not sure how you think things could get worse. This is a low point, even for you.

  Leo should have known by now that tempting fate was the worst thing we could do in situations like these. Hadn’t we just discussed this? I didn’t even have a chance to take a step forward when the smell of smoke wafted from what could only be the storage room.

  Hmphf. I thought my vision was cloudy from all the catnip. I guess it’s a little late to point out that there’s smoke coming from somewhere back in the storage room, huh?

  Chapter Two

  “ARE YOU OKAY?” Liam asked in concern, pulling me off to the side when one of the firemen came through the opening I’d created in the ivory-colored fairy beads hanging from the doorframe that separated the main shop from the storage room. I didn’t want them damaged any more than they already had been by the smoke, so I’d pulled them to one side and tied them off. “I was over at Newt’s garage getting an oil change on the truck when your 911 call came through. Chief Mason said the loss was minimal. Mostly smoke damage and some product contamination.”

  “Yes, I’m fine,” I replied softly, though my response was rather automatic. I’m pretty sure I was still numb over what had taken place these past twenty minutes. “I think. I just can’t believe something like this has happened.”

  “It’s a good thing you caught the blaze early.” Liam nodded to someone else walking through my shop, leaving the floor in dire need of a cleaning. Between the snow and soot, the trail from the front door to the back room was more than evident. “Who knows how far the fire could have spread with the way these shops are connected one after another?”

  I’d thought the same thing when I was dialing 911. All I could envision was the entire line of shops on River Bay going up in flames. Thankfully, Liam’s trusty dispatcher had answered the phone right away and sent help almost immediately. Between that and the fire extinguisher, I think Beetle and I managed to keep trouble from spreading.

  “Eileen had the volunteer fire department here in under three minutes,” I said, very grateful that no one had been hurt. Living in a small town certainly had its benefits. “Liam, I don’t know how the fire got started. It’s not like I have anything in the back that could have generated a spark or gotten too hot. There were no candles and nothing plugged in back there that shouldn’t have been. No one was even in the back room, and that’s when Beetle and I noticed that the majority of the smoke was coming from the alley. It’s a good thing, too, because his briefcase was back there with some important papers for his clients.”

  Beetle had done me a huge favor and escorted Elsie and Wilma over to the diner after the excitement had died down, though he hadn’t balked much considering he fancied himself in love. I still had that mess to clean up, but I was hoping nothing too bad happened while I was dealing with the fire department and this mess.

  Technically, an adoration spell didn’t work unless there were already underlying feelings between the two people. One couldn’t long for what wasn’t there to have. It was hard to believe that Wilma had those kinds of feeling for a man twenty years her junior. Then again, I’d seen bigger age differences while living in New York City.

  You’re assuming that you got that part of the spell right, which at this point is highly doubtful. You really managed to outdo yourself this time, Schleprock.

  Drat.

  Leo had returned from wherever he’d gone, hopefully to give Ted a list of ingredients like I’d requested. I was going to need to dispel the magic of my own love spell I’d somehow put on the heart shaped dish instead of the tea leaves. In effect, I had inadvertently created a magical item…a Valentine heart of love.

  About that…

  “Chief Mason did mention that the fire didn’t actually start in your storage room,” Liam shared, rubbing his hands up and down my arms. “I had a chance to speak with him after he finished his investigation.”

  His comforting touch was most welcome. I currently had on a deep burgundy turtleneck that went beautifully with my black skirt and matching knee-high boots, but the ribbed material prevented me from feeling the heat of his hands. He had given me a sense o
f relief to know that I wasn’t responsible for the fire.

  Like you’re not responsible for the fact that Beetle and Wilma might have run off and gotten married? Who knows what they’ll do in that VW if Beetle has a chance to take her for a ride. She’s got to be at least twenty years older than that man. She may not survive. Not that there’s anything wrong with Wilma robbing the cradle, but she doesn’t strike me as the cougar type, if you know what I mean. Listen, getting back to Ted…

  “Apparently, the fire started out back of the shop,” Liam continued, not knowing he was talking over Leo. I snuck a glance over at Leo’s pillow, wondering what he’d been trying to convey about Ted. I really couldn’t take any more bad news today. “A lot of smoke leaked through the doorframe and made its way into your shop. Chief is leaning toward someone smoking out back, given that the cold temperatures wouldn’t have had anything to do with the fire. It’s possible that someone dropped a cigarette in a garbage can and it didn’t become engulfed in flames until minutes after the individual had taken his or her leave.”

  My tea shop was next to the malt shop, but I was relatively sure that Cora and Desmond Barnes didn’t smoke. The married couple were the owners and hardly ever onsite, so that left one of their employees. I’d never seen or caught anyone smoking in the alleyway out back, but the only time I ever used that door was to throw trash into the dumpster. Otherwise, that exit was normally locked up.

  Could we get back to Ted?

  Yes, I really wanted to know what Leo had to say about Ted. Our conversation would have to wait just a moment longer, at least until I got through convincing Liam that I was emotionally okay and that I could manage this small emergency.

  “I’ll have a look at the back door to assess the damage myself, but you might get away with just a scrub brush to take the soot off the surface. You might want to go through the open products you have back there, too. Smoke has a way of leaving its smell on everything.” Liam released his hold on me, much to my disappointment, and took a step back to speak with one of the firemen. “Can Ms. Marigold reopen her shop?”

  There was something quite attractive about a man who took charge, and Liam always stepped up to the plate. While the two men continued to talk, I couldn’t help but notice one of the other firemen staring at me who been standing next to the cash register. I glanced away, but not before I saw the reason for his interest.

  Please tell me that you dealt with the heart-shaped glass container. You know, the root of all of our problems?

  I wish I could tell Leo that I’d been smart enough to stash the enchanted glass underneath the counter, but I’d been a little bit busy dialing 911 to make sure my tea shop didn’t burn to the ground.

  It was becoming essential that Leo get a message to Ted that I was in dire need of those ingredients to dispel the spell. Only witches could hear familiars, so Leo was going to have to get creative in passing along the intended information. If he could manage to figure out how to order organic catnip online, he could certainly get Ted to understand what I needed.

  I would if I could, but Ted is currently too busy hugging the mannequin in Mindy’s store to pay a lick of attention to my screeching meows. He has an odd problem with her, you know.

  A distant memory of Ted carrying the box into the store first thing this morning floated through my mind, but the glass container had been inside the box. He hadn’t touched it, so maybe Ted was just paying his daily visit to Mindy’s boutique.

  Oh, yeah. It’s coming back to me. Ted opened the box to check that nothing had been broken on the ride over. You were hanging up your winter dress coat in the back, so…yeah.

  The first thing Ted must have set eyes on was the mannequin he fancied through the boutique’s window, but golems were usually extremely resistant to magic spells. Remember, he was made of wax. He shouldn’t have been affected. He was also six feet, six inches tall, had chipped teeth, whitish blond hair, and resembled Lurch from The Addams Family.

  Seriously.

  Before Ted was Ted, he’d been a wax figure of Lurch.

  I know, I know.

  My life is rather hard to comprehend.

  As for Leo forgetting to tell me that itsy bitsy fact, that had to do with his short-term memory loss.

  I thought we established that the necromancy spell your grandmother used on me messed with my memory as a whole. It’s not my fault.

  Yes. Why yes, we did establish that little detail. And Leo reminding me of that small aspect wasn’t helping the situation. I did see the irony here, but I was caught off guard by Liam’s defensive reaction.

  “Richard, is there a problem?” Liam asked the fireman currently staring at me in a somewhat annoyed tone. He’d noticed the other man’s unusual interest in me. I can’t say that it wasn’t nice to know that Liam had a bit of a jealous streak, but it was definitely wasted on the fireman. His infatuation was nothing short of magic. “Maybe you and I should take a walk outside while Ms. Marigold cleans up so she can reopen her shop.”

  You’ve caused an entire town to go insane. I didn’t give you enough credit. You are the gift that keeps on giving.

  “Raven, I’ll be back,” Liam murmured, touching my elbow as he passed by. He also whispered something that made me realize I didn’t want to spend Valentine’s Day with anyone else. “I’ll even sneak you a coffee from the diner. Give me fifteen minutes.”

  The mere mention of hot coffee had lifted my spirits. My smile was genuine as Liam escorted Richard outside, who was currently looking over his shoulder at me as if he wanted to ask for my hand in marriage.

  He’s in deep, too. Look at that smile.

  Oh, boy.

  This dire situation needed to be contained fast before someone did something he or she would regret.

  And how would you presume to fix something that three random people and a lump of wax have reacted to in the span of three short hours?

  “Not everyone has touched the glass container,” I whispered to Leo harshly, not sure if anyone else with the fire department was still in the back room or alleyway. I began to make my way across the shop. “I just need to remove the item from the shop, find a spell in the grimoire to reverse the effects, and then everything goes back to normal.”

  There might be a slight problem with that plan, and she’s entering the store in three, two, one…

  “Raven, are you okay?” Candy exclaimed, rushing through the glass door so fast that the bell was still ringing after she’d made her way over to me. I glanced longingly at the heart-shaped glass container. “I heard the fire truck sirens, but I was finishing up an appointment and couldn’t leave the salon. What on earth happened? I heard something about a fire.”

  Go ahead. Tell the Easter egg about your evil design to bring the town to its knees using a love concoction. This should be entertaining to say the very least.

  I was beginning to understand Beetle’s reasoning on giving Leo catnip every morning.

  Hey, don’t change the subject. This is all about you and your misguided Cupid’s arrow, Miss Dating Game.

  Just for the record, Candy Hamilton did not resemble an Easter egg. Her hair was just a reddish orange, with a bit heavy on the orange. Upon second glance, I realized that she’d added a pink stripe to the mix.

  Like an Easter egg.

  “I’m fine, Candy. Really. Nothing was really damaged, and the fire department got here in time to prevent the fire from spreading to the building. The actual blaze was in the trashcan out back.”

  Too bad they hadn’t been able to put out the flames between Beetle and Wilma.

  “Miss Marigold?”

  I’d just been about to grab the heart-shaped glass container when Chief Mason came walking through the ivory-colored fairy beads. His yellow hat was a bit askew, but he reminded me of a young Tom Selleck with his thick mustache. All that mattered was that Liam trusted this man’s opinion, so I would take him at his word on what he had to say about the fire.

  “You can reopen for busi
ness, ma’am,” Chief Mason said, stepping between me and the cash register. As long as he didn’t touch the item that had gotten me into this mess, I stood the chance of limiting its power. “As I told the sheriff, we believe it was simply someone who was careless with their smoking habit.”

  Some people have no respect for others. At least I keep my special pipe for smoking catnip at the house. I stick with edibles here at the office.

  “I appreciate you and your men getting here so fast.”

  “We’re all on a volunteer basis, but we do the best we can.” There was a squawk coming from a black radio that was attached to Chief Mason’s utility belt. “Excuse me.”

  I’d spoken with Eileen enough to recognize her voice. I couldn’t believe that she was reporting another fire. At least, that’s what it sounded like. She and the chief were speaking in code words, but the address given over the little black walkie-talkie was none other than Monty’s hardware store.

  I hope that Monty remembered the stop, drop, and roll mantra. I tried that during the necromancy spell, you know. It didn’t work out for me so well. I’m pretty sure that’s how I bent my tail.

  Chief Mason didn’t even finish our conversation, not that I would have expected him to. He was already jogging through my shop before he ever replied back to Eileen that he and his men were en route.

  “I never thought of Chief Mason as being so…charismatic,” Candy hummed in an odd manner, tilting her head to the side as she watched the Tom Selleck lookalike through the display window. He’d been in the process of hoisting himself up into the driver’s seat when she fanned herself. “Oh, my.”

  You’ve broken her poor Easter noggin. As a matter of fact, it’s like you gave Cupid a quiver full of little magical arrows and gave him free reign over the town. Good going, Raven. I wonder if we’ll make the seven o’clock news.

  I didn’t have to ask Candy if she’d touched the heart-shaped glass container. The dreamy expression on her face told me everything I needed to know, so Leo’s commentary was unnecessary. It was a darn good thing that he’d taught me early on to guard myself against any such spells backfiring. That protection afforded me the liberty to quickly snatch the item in question and store it in a wooden cubicle underneath the cash register where no one could touch it by mistake.