Part 11 (1/2)
”WHAT? A l.u.s.t SPELL?” THAT WAS SO APPALLING, ON SO many levels, she didn't even know where to begin.
”Oh, now that's an awesome idea,” Abby said, sitting up straighter and tossing her hair over her shoulder.
Who was this child? Charlotte glared at her baby sister. ”No, it's not. I'm not a witch, and even if I was, why would I want to force Will into feeling l.u.s.t for me? That's just...yucky.” Humiliating. Desperate. Pathetic.
”Will wants you, Charlotte. Trust me. He just needs a push.”
Did they have to keep making this harder for her? Every day she questioned, wondered, wished that Will could feel more for her than friends.h.i.+p, but he didn't, and at the end of every day she counseled herself to be content with what she had. She really didn't need them encouraging her futile dreams.
”He loves you. I can feel it.”
”Stop it!” Charlotte was tempted to cover her ears. Bree's words seared into her heart, inciting the dull ache there to a painful throb.
”How long have you felt this way about him?” Bree asked, her voice gentle, hand sliding across the table to touch hers.
Even though she didn't want to do this, even though she wanted to keep all her feelings neat and tidy locked away, even though she was embarra.s.sed to realize how long she'd suffered in unrequited love, she also wanted the comfort her sister was offering. She wanted someone else to know how hard it had been, how unsure it had made her feel about herself, her future, wondering when she would ever give it up and move on.
”Remember when my dog died?”
”Trixie?” Abby's eyes went wide. ”That was a long time ago.”
”Yeah. Six years ago. And Will came over, and he said all the right things, and he took Trixie and buried her in the yard for me.” Charlotte swallowed hard against the lump in her throat. ”And I knew right then, that Will Thornton was a good guy, through and through, and that I loved him.”
c.r.a.p, she was going to cry. She wanted him so bad she could just about taste him. It was pitiful.
”Then all the more reason to do the l.u.s.t spell. Don't you want to know, once and for all, if there's a chance for you as a couple?”
”You guys really would be a good couple, now that I think about it,” Abby said, dipping her finger into her tea and licking it. ”You're both like really nice and into hard work and justice and all that.”
Charlotte blinked. ”Thanks, Abby. I think that was meant to be a compliment.” Then she sighed. ”But yeah, I guess I do want to know once and for all. I mean, I already know he doesn't feel that way about me, but I think I really need to see it in a totally obvious way. Maybe then I can figure out a way to move on, get over him. Because at this rate, I'm going to be ninety and still l.u.s.ting after him.”
”Gross,” was Abby's a.s.sessment.
”Seriously gross,” Charlotte agreed. For over five years she'd been holding her breath that someday Will would get married and start a family, and she needed to prepare herself for that inevitability.
Since she wasn't a witch, a l.u.s.t spell wasn't going to work, and Will wasn't going to respond to any s.e.xual overtures without a spell. But if, for some strange reason, the zipper thing wasn't a weird, crazy coincidence, and she did actually have some kind of magical talent, and a l.u.s.t spell did work, she wasn't sure she could resist the opportunity to just once see what s.e.x with Will would be like. Think of it as her gift to herself as she entered a lifetime of celibacy. A girl needed something to hold on to. s.e.x with Will would be a memory definitely worth clinging to for the next fifty years.
”So, how exactly do I create a l.u.s.t spell?” She wasn't chanting naked in the woods in the snow. Her twin set stayed on, thank you very much. At least for the spell creation portion of the evening's activities. After the spell went into affect on Will, well, she could only hope.
”It's very simple, actually.” Bree leaned back in her chair, eyes narrowed. ”I need to collect a few things. What are you doing tonight?”
”I have to work, then I'm going over to Will's to help him put up his Christmas decorations. You know, his decorating is just pitiful. He doesn't even have a full-size tree. It's a tabletop tree.” It was probably a bachelor thing, but it made Charlotte nuts. How could he survive without a wreath on his door? A person needed priorities.
”That's perfect. Okay, I'll meet you at the coffee shop at nine. We'll do the spell in the back room, then you can head over to his apartment.”
Charlotte felt a niggling of doubt about this whole plan. She was either going to get lucky or make a total a.s.s out of herself. She'd never been much of a risk taker. ”And if I do this, you're going to let me do Christmas my way? And you'll cooperate?”
”Absolutely.”
She was so not rea.s.sured.
BREE STEPPED INTO CARIBOU CARRYING THREE GIANT SHOPPING bags, her nose running from the cold, as she searched the room for Charlotte. Abby was grumbling behind her, equally burdened.
”You know, it seems to me like we shouldn't even be doing this,” Abby said, trying to shake her hair off her face without using her hands, since they were out of commission at the moment, busy holding all their purchases.
”Why not?”
”Because you're not supposed to do magic against someone's free will.”
But that was the beauty of Bree's plan. ”But Will consented, remember? He said he loved Charlotte, said he would respond if she gave him a clear sign. Magic should be used for the purpose of good, and this is definitely a good thing.” She was quite proud of the way the whole thing was coming together. She was going to hook Will and Charlotte up if it killed her, because they truly were the perfect couple. If anyone should be married and popping out babies, it was those two. They were like Ward and June Cleaver for the twenty-first century.
”You're an evil genius,” Abby told her.
”Thanks.” Bree noticed several people she knew, including one of her coworkers at the library, and Abby's friend Brady Stritmeyer, who was sitting with the Tuckers-Danny; his wife, Amanda; and their daughter, Piper. There was another man with them, a stranger to Bree, and she didn't like the look of him as she waved to the group on pa.s.sing by their table.
The new guy looked pretentious and boring, wearing a pink dress s.h.i.+rt-Lord, what man wore a pink s.h.i.+rt in Cuttersville-and wire-rimmed gla.s.ses. An expensive-looking watch was on his wrist, and he had cuff links in his s.h.i.+rt, of all things. At Caribou on a Sat.u.r.day night. Everything about him looked expensive and insufferable, and there were papers spread out in front of him, like he'd been working. He was the only one at the table who didn't laugh or at least smile when Brady reached out and s.n.a.t.c.hed Abby by the arm and pulled her down onto his lap.
Bree kept going, leaving Abby to chat for a minute. She found Charlotte behind the counter so she deposited her bags in the back room and came back to her sister. ”Whenever you've got a minute, we're ready.”
”Okay.” Charlotte looked nervous as h.e.l.l. ”Give me five minutes.”
”Sure.” Bree didn't have any plans for the night. Since she'd broken up with her last boyfriend six months earlier, she'd been enjoying just doing a whole lot of nothing. The relations.h.i.+p had been emotionally and physically exhausting, constantly trying to keep up with Kevin's mood swings and PMS-like behavior, and she was still recovering. She leaned against the counter, inhaling the coffee bean aroma. The place smelled good, she had to admit. She glanced over at Abby, who was twirling her fingers in Brady's s.h.a.ggy hair. ”Hey, who's that guy with Danny and Amanda? The uptight-looking one?”
Charlotte looked over at their table, her hands busy wiping the back counter down. ”Oh, that's their financial advisor...or is it he's their lawyer? I don't know, something like that, and he's in town from Chicago.”
Figured. ”Let me get the other bags from Abby and I'll meet you in the back room.”
Her sister didn't really answer, just bit her lip. Bree was going to have to hurry before Charlotte wimped out on her. She was not going to tolerate Charlotte s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g up her own personal happiness out of plain old fear.
After a quick h.e.l.lo to everyone at the table, Bree told Abby, ”Come on, bring that stuff in the back.” She flashed a smile at Piper. ”We bought Christmas decorations. Big, blinky ones.”
”Cool,” was Piper's a.s.sessment. She was a gawky kid, all legs and elbows, her hair an unflattering little bob, but she was a real peach. Bree saw her almost every weekend at the library, perusing for new reading material.
”Here, you take it,” Abby said. ”I'm going to the movies with Brady.”
Annoyed, Bree took the bags Abby was shoving at her. ”Is that you asking permission? Because it sounded more like you telling me, which isn't how it works.” She and Charlotte were responsible for Abby while her parents were gone, and sometimes her little sister thought she was all grown up and then some.
Abby looked defiant, but she just said, ”Can I go? Brady will drop me off.”
”Can you?” Bree asked him, not really liking the way his hand was resting on her sister's thigh, but figuring she had no right to say anything.
”Yes, ma'am,” Brady said, with more sarcasm than deference.
”Fine. Be home by midnight.” She turned to go and accidentally looked straight into the eyes of the financial advisor/lawyer. A s.h.i.+ver raced through her when she realized she could sense his feelings. There was disapproval radiating from him. Toward her.
”Bree, have you met Ian Carrington?” Danny said. ”He's our lawyer and a friend of Amanda's. Ian, this is Bree Murphy, the children's librarian over at the Cuttersville branch.”