Page 13 of Charmed, I’m Sure (Witches of Bellevue #1)
Buck up, Buttercup
Magnolia
“I can’t believe you’re actually doing this,” Jae laughed from the office doorway as I tossed my hair into a bun, took it down, and tried again. “You’re even primping! Damn, girl. You are so screwed.”
“I am not!” I shot her a glare through the mirror while wrestling my hair into something remotely presentable.
Of course, today was the day my strands decided to rebel.
No amount of hair ties or bobby pins could tame the mane that seemed determined to look like I’d stuck my finger in an outlet.
Okay, maybe I was primping a little, but that didn’t mean I had to admit it.
“You are. It’s okay; he’s cute,” she shrugged.
“He’s an ass.” Sometimes.
“He does have a nice ass.”
“Jae!” I admonished playfully. She wasn’t wrong, though, and I couldn’t fault her for stating the obvious.
“Have you touched it yet?”
“Jaelyn Marie!”
“Ooooo, full name. I’m in trouble now.” She raised her hands in mock surrender, her lips pursed as she bobbed her head from side to side.
“You’re ridiculous.” I couldn’t suppress the laugh that escaped me as I watched her make faces in the mirror, imitating my struggle to fix my hair.
“And you’re in denial.”
“I’m just trying not to look like a trash panda who has been in the kitchen and people-ing all day.”
“You’re the cutest trash panda I ever did see,” she replied in the thickest Southern accent she could muster before rolling her eyes.
“Here, let me.” Striding up behind me, she gently pushed me into my office chair and began twisting my hair into something that resembled an actual style.
“There, all better,” she said, satisfaction lighting up her face.
“You’re a lifesaver. Thank you.”
“One more thing: that’s not what you’re wearing, right?”
I glanced down at myself, noting the flour and icing that had splattered across my jeans and caked parts of my shirt.
Did I own countless aprons? Yes, yes, I did.
I had an entire rack of them in the kitchen, both branded and nonsensical.
But by the time I remembered to put one on, it was always too late, and I ended up wearing the ingredients instead.
No one ever accused me of being a neat chef.
“Yes?” I said hesitantly, scrunching my nose as her eyes widened.
“Oh, hell no.”
“It’s not a date, Jae.”
“Date or not, you’re not going out in public like that.”
Quirking a brow, I replied, “I do literally every day.”
“No, you go home like that every day. Not out and about town.”
I sagged into the chair, resting my head against the back support.
I should not be this stressed over a non-date.
After all, I was just helping him look at houses so he could move out of his parents’ place.
It wasn’t a big deal. It wasn’t a date. Sure, he flirted with me whenever he was around and had asked me out once.
And yes, I’d danced with him at The Firefly.
But this surely wasn’t a date… was it? The memory of him pressing me against a wall, his hands digging into my hips, and the desire swirling in his eyes as his fingers coasted along my…
oh fuck, this might be a date. A weird date, but it could still be construed as one, and I looked like I’d run headfirst into a cake. Groaning, I ran my hands down my face.
“Did you bring anything to change into? Do you have clothes stashed here?”
“Oh, yeah. Let me just whip out my walk-in closet that I have stashed at the back of the freezer,” I grumbled into my palms.
“Trash panda? More like a pissy panda if you ask me.”
When I parted my fingers, Jae was giving me a sardonic stare, hands on her hips.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, my face morphing into something resembling that weird little emoji with the toothy grin.
“Uh-huh. When’s tall, dark, and persistent getting here?”
Just then, the bell over the door chimed as if on cue, and I groaned into my palms again. “I can’t do this. Why did I agree to this?”
“I’d say it was because he had his hand on your kitty meow-meow, and you wanted to take him for a test drive—”
“Mother, save me,” I grumbled.
“But,” she continued, ignoring my pleading stare, “you didn’t find that out until after you’d agreed, so I’ve got nothing. Sorry, babe.”
“Hello?” Taylor’s smooth timbre filtered through the shop and into the office, making my eyes grow comically wide.
“What do I do?” I whispered, jumping out of the chair as my lungs forgot how to function. Why in the hell had I agreed to this? Why did I confirm the plans after finding out it was him in that dark hallway?
A sharp slap on my ass jolted me from my panic spiral, and I squeaked in response.
“Girl, get your shit together. Tell him you need to change first, and then y’all can get started. And for the love of all things holy, breathe. He’s just a guy, and you’re a badass bitch who don’t need no man.”
“Mags?” Taylor called out, his voice growing closer.
“We’re in here,” Jae yelled over her shoulder before focusing back on me. “Buck up, buttercup, and remember: no glove, no love.”
“Sweet baby cheeses,” I breathed, pinching the bridge of my nose.
Not a moment too soon, Taylor poked his head into my office, his megawatt smile cranked up to ten. “Hey. You ready?”
“I—uh.”
“She needs to head home to change first; work was a little nuts this morning. You mind?” Jae asked on my behalf when my tongue apparently decided to glue itself to the roof of my mouth.
When Taylor stepped fully into the doorway, my mouth felt like a desert.
My heart lodged itself somewhere between my stomach and my throat, just not where it belonged.
Dark navy slacks hugged his legs in tailored perfection, and his button-down shirt was whiter than my namesake.
Crisp, clean, and entirely put together—unlike the bridge troll standing across from him, gawking like an idiot.
“Not at all,” he replied with a slight shrug. “I’ll be out front whenever you’re ready.”
“Thank you!” Jae hollered as he turned back down the hall, and my cotton-dry mouth felt heavy.
“Ouch!” I hissed when she slapped my shoulder. “What the hell was that for?”
“Have you lost your damn mind? Or just the ability to speak?”
“Ya’ know, it’s quite possible that it’s both.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. Magnolia Lynn, if you do not get your sexy ass out there, I’m going to kick it.”
“Why are you pushing this so hard?”
With a heavy sigh, Jae grabbed my shoulders. “Because despite what you keep insisting, I know you, and you seem interested. Intrigued, at the very least, and I think you should take a chance. Take him for a spin. Try on the shoes. YOLO. You know, all that cliché crap.”
“Jae.” My exasperation came out more like a groan than a word, and she narrowed her eyes at me.
“High school was a long time ago, Mags. You’re both adults now. You’ve changed. Why’s it so hard for you to believe he might have? But so help me, if he pulls some bullshit, I’ve watched enough crime TV to know how to hide a body.”
“You’re crazy, but I love you,” I said with a laugh, pulling her into a tight embrace before grabbing my purse from the hook by the door.
Big girl panties on, I took a deep breath and headed out into the shop to meet Taylor.
“All set?” he asked when I came into view.
“Yeah. I’m parked out back, though, so I’ll just meet you at the manor, okay?”
“Sure thing,” he said with a smile.
Turning, I hurried through the kitchen and out the back door, my heart racing as I mentally cataloged everything in my closet.
What the hell does someone wear on a date-not-date?!
As soon as I closed my door, I fired off a text to Maddie.
Magnolia
Are you home?
Madison
Aren’t I always? *crying face emoji* What’s up?
Magnolia
Code red: I have a thing and need an outfit stat.
Madison
A thing?
Magnolia
Yes, a thing. I’ll explain when I get home, but please help me find something to wear!
Madison
*saluting emoji*
“You’re doing what?” Maddie practically screeched, disbelief radiating from every pore as I explained where I was going and with whom.
“Yep,” I replied, popping the p with more force than was probably necessary.
“I—I don’t even know where to begin with that one, Mags. Taylor Hallows? Really?”
“Yeah… do you remember what I told you happened on Halloween?”
“Uh-huh,” she said, narrowing her eyes skeptically at me before rifling through my closet.
“Well… uh… I found out who it was.”
“You gonna tell me, or are you gonna drag this out?”
“It was Taylor.”
“Shut the front door!”
“Ya’ know, I think this is one time ‘shut the fuck up’ would trump that statement, sis.”
Yanking something from a hanger, Maddie chucked it at my face, a saccharine smile pulling across her lips. “Wear this. Oh, and, sis? You are so screwed.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that?!”
“Awe, Mags. My sweet, sweet sister.” Maddie perched beside me on my bed, a smile on her face and ‘you’re an idiot’ in her eyes. “Because you like him.”
“I do not,” I scoffed, examining the sweater in my hands far more closely than was necessary.
Yes, Taylor Hallows was good-looking. Yes, he’d kissed me until my bones turned to liquid.
But he was still one of the reasons I wouldn’t relive high school for all the money in the world.
Sure, he seemed to have changed—I certainly had—but was that enough?
“Mags, honey. I don’t know if this is a date or not, but promise me you’ll put your best foot forward? Try not to judge him too harshly for something that happened over ten years ago. At least give him a chance to show you he’s changed.”
I didn’t understand why everyone was pushing this.
First, Aunt Evie insisted he liked me after the festival, and now both my best friend and sister seemed determined to convince me to push one of the worst years of my life aside.
Some part of me wanted to. Wanted to see if there was indeed more than history had established, but there would always be that girl in the back of my mind reminding me of everything he hadn’t done.