Page 29 of Demon Loved (The Witches of Mingus Mountain #5)

Thank the Goddess for busywork. Chelle had left a bunch of invoices for Brianna to organize — a task she guessed wasn’t strictly necessary, considering the gallery’s books were all digital — but she didn’t mind.

Not when making sure each invoice went in the right file folder helped somewhat to keep her mind off Bill Garrett.

All right, she was totally fooling herself. No matter what she did, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from thinking about how his mouth had felt pressed against hers…how she still got flutters all through her body at the mere memory of that kiss, or the ones that had followed.

Always the gentleman, he hadn’t asked to come inside when he walked her to her apartment door. He’d kissed her again, of course, but then said he’d be in touch about dinner, that he wasn’t sure when he’d be able to call, but he’d make contact well before six.

From some men, that might have sounded like a total brush-off, although she had a feeling a lot of them wouldn’t have tried to ghost her until after they got her in bed.

Joke was on them, though — she might have been fooled like that when she was young and stupid and in her first year of college, but now that she was the ripe old age of almost twenty-four, no way was she doing anything with a guy until at least the fourth or fifth date, just to be safe.

Although she supposed that if you counted up all her various dinners and outings with Bill and wanted to be technical about it, then they’d already reached that milestone.

However, it seemed clear he wasn’t going to push things. And because she somehow knew with the same certainty as the sun rising in the morning that he’d call her right when he promised, she wasn’t going to let herself worry about that part of the equation.

No, she should really be worrying about what was going to happen on Monday, the day he’d said he was going back to Los Angeles.

True, he’d switched his travel dates before, so there was no reason in the world why he couldn’t switch them again, but she assumed at some point the rubber would meet the road and he’d have to go home, if only to handle any business he couldn’t take care of online or over the phone.

She didn’t think she could bear that.

Maybe she could go with him? L.A. was in Santiago clan territory, but they’d been neutrally friendly with the McAllisters ever since the Escobars had been ousted, so maybe it wasn’t outside the bounds of possibility that she might be able to tag along for a visit.

Assuming, of course, that Bill even wanted her there.

She had to believe he did. Maybe she’d dated a couple of scumbags over the years, but none of their kisses had felt anything like Bill’s, and she wanted to believe he cared about her just as much as she cared about him.

If he was faking the connection between them, then someone needed to give that man an Oscar.

A few customers came and went. Not many, because it was a Tuesday and even when the weather was as lovely as it was today, you just didn’t get as many visitors to Jerome as you did on a weekend or holiday.

But then the bells on the shop door jingled, and Bree was surprised to see her mother walk in.

“Hi, Mom,” she said, and began to stuff the unsorted invoices back into their original manila envelope. There was no way she would have been able to sort them all in one day, anyway.

Her mother looked beautiful and breezy as always, her long blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail and tied with a scarf in happy shades of green and yellow and blue. “Hi, Bree,” she said. “I was just down at a meeting at Helen’s, so I thought I’d drop by and see how you were doing.”

How her mom managed to stay in the same room with Helen Doyle for longer than ten minutes and not want to pull her hair out, Brianna had no idea.

But Hayley McAllister was passionate about preserving Jerome’s history — maybe even more passionate than some of those who’d been born there — and Bree supposed her mother simply bit her tongue when necessary and reminded herself that she was working for the greater good.

“Didn’t you just have a meeting last week?” she asked. After all, that was the whole reason why Helen had insisted on having her new painting hung right away — so it would be in place when the historical preservation society showed up for tea that afternoon.

“We did,” Hayley replied, looking unperturbed. “But that was just our usual monthly meeting. This time we were getting together to discuss the rummage sale.”

Right. Time had been slipping by so quickly that Bree had almost forgotten that the society’s famous rummage sale would be happening in less than two weeks.

Jerome’s residents unearthed an astonishing collection of treasures from the attics and basements of their vintage homes, and people came from all over the region to shop for that one special antique they needed to complete their collections.

“That’s a lot of Helen in a short amount of time,” Bree said with a grin.

Her mother only shrugged. “It’s fine. And this year’s sale is going to be even bigger and better, so we’re all willing to put up with a little pain to make it happen.” She paused there, head tilted to one side as she regarded her daughter. “But that’s not really why I stopped by.”

“It isn’t?” Brianna responded. She kept her tone light…but she also had a feeling she already knew the reason for her mother’s visit.

“You know we’d never tell you not to date a civilian — ” Hayley began, but Bree didn’t let her get any further than that.

“I do know,” she cut in. “Because I’ve already done it several times.”

“Yes,” her mother said. “I can’t help thinking this situation is different, though. I’ve heard this Bill Garrett isn’t even from Arizona?”

She made the comment on a slightly upward inflection, but Bree had no doubt that her mother already knew a whole lot about Bill.

Small town living, she thought, and held back a sigh. It was hardly worth wondering who’d been blabbing, although she did it anyway. Tally, down at Bocce? Lila, who worked part-time at the Grand Hotel?

Word always got around, no matter how careful you were.

“He seems very nice,” Hayley continued.

“But?” Bree ventured. Since Bill had already told her that he’d bumped into her parents at the folk festival, she couldn’t be surprised to hear from her mother that they’d met. “I mean, I assume there must be a ‘but.’”

“Just that long-distance relationships can be difficult,” her mother said.

“How would you know?”

All right, that question sounded more than a little hostile.

Still, Brianna thought it was fair enough.

Her mother had met her father right here in Jerome, and they’d never been separated since — not for more than a few hours at a time, anyway.

The only things Hayley McAllister could have possibly known about being in a long-distance relationship would have been whatever she gleaned from books and movies and maybe online magazine articles or blogs.

It seemed her mother must have been thinking about the same thing, because she didn’t look angry at her daughter’s confrontational tone, only worried.

“I don’t have any personal experience with it, true,” she said.

“But still, it complicates things. And that’s not even taking into account the whole witch/civilian thing. ”

“Maybe I’m just amusing myself,” Bree suggested, but her mother only gave her a smile that was somehow sad and knowing at the same time.

“You know you don’t do that,” Hayley said. “Most of us don’t. It’s just not in our natures. We want to be with the person who’s our other half, and we don’t waste time on anyone who isn’t a real possibility of being ‘the one.’”

Since her mother was only speaking the truth, Brianna knew there weren’t many arguments she could present that would make a lot of sense.

Sure, here and there you’d find the odd witch or warlock who seemed okay with casual dating and hook-ups and wasn’t looking to settle down, but they were few and far between.

And she’d never been like that. She hadn’t been as set on being with civilians as her brother, but she’d gone out with a couple when it seemed as if the pool of Wilcoxes or safely distant McAllister cousins was starting to feel a little shallow.

Although she knew she would have bristled at being called romantic, she knew she was, deep down.

She wanted to believe she would have the kind of happily ever after that her parents had enjoyed…the same thing that most of the witches and warlocks of her acquaintance shared.

Was it possible to have that with Bill, despite his being a civilian and from somewhere far away?

During their last talk, he’d almost made it sound as if he was all right with picking up stakes and leaving L.A.

behind. Not in so many words, true, but she couldn’t blame him for being the slightest bit cagey, considering how new their relationship was.

At least she thought it was all right to think of their connection in those terms now that they’d shared several kisses.

“I suppose I’m just seeing where it all goes,” she said, which was about all she could tell her mother at this point. “Maybe we’ll enjoy each other’s company for a bit and then go our separate ways. The only thing I know for sure is that he’s a good guy.”

Hayley tilted her head, and one end of the scarf tied around her ponytail slipped over one shoulder. “You tried looking into his mind?”

“No,” Bree said a little more severely than she needed to. The sharpness in her tone probably arose from the realization that she actually had considered doing that very thing and then had decided against it. It just hadn’t felt right.

Also, there was the very real possibility that she wouldn’t have been able to manage it at all. She might have possessed a baker’s dozen of talents, but getting any one of them to cooperate at a given time was problematic at best.

“I just know he’s a good person,” she went on. “He’s shown it to me in dozens of little ways. We might not have known each other for very long, but we’ve spent a lot of time together. If he was playing me, I have to believe I would feel it.”

For a long moment, her mother didn’t say anything. Then she raised her shoulders ever so slightly, not in a shrug but in a sort of acknowledgment that Bree most likely knew better than she what was going on with Bill Garrett.

“Are you seeing him again soon?” Hayley asked, apparently deciding that she needed to go with the flow on this one for now…and also realizing that she’d provide a shoulder to cry on if necessary.

Bree doubted that was going to happen. Even if she and Bill came to nothing in the end, she just wasn’t the sort to indulge in histrionics when a relationship fell apart.

Then again, if any person had the ability to crush her soul when he walked away, she had a feeling Bill Garrett was that man.

She didn’t want to think about that, however.

“Tonight, I think,” Bree said. “He was going to call me after I was done with my students late this afternoon.”

“Then I suppose we shouldn’t expect you for dinner this evening,” Hayley said.

Bree wouldn’t let herself feel too guilty about that, not when she’d been there just this past week. Although her parents would have liked to have both their kids at the house for Tuesday dinner as often as possible, they all knew that wasn’t feasible a lot of the time.

“So, what’s Dad up to today?” she asked, thinking it was high time they changed the subject.

“A little of this, a little of that,” her mother replied. “He mentioned he was going to meet with Angela and Connor and the other elders today, but he didn’t say why.”

That bit of information wasn’t too unusual.

The elders and the prima and her consort got together to talk at least once or twice a week when Connor and Angela were in Jerome, and Bree had noticed that those meetings had only increased in frequency after the Collector came on the scene and they had to make doubly sure that the artifacts in their possession were well warded.

She had a feeling no one was too thrilled about the extra security measures, especially after the McAllisters had thought the episode with the Escobars was now safely behind them and they could breathe a little easier.

Apparently not.

But since she was just a peon in the greater scheme of things, no one had found the need to discuss such matters with her in depth.

It wasn’t as if she had a great talent for creating warding spells or could pop off a quick fireball in case Angela and Connor’s house was physically threatened.

The only thing she could do — the same as the rest of the McAllisters — was to keep her guard up and make sure she reported anything out of the ordinary.

There hadn’t been much out of the ordinary in Jerome lately, that was for sure.

Well, except Bill, she supposed, but he was an ordinary sort of extraordinary. He was just a guy, after all. Yes, one who made her heart do a funny little dance and who was the most amazing person she’d ever met, but still, he was a civilian, and the world was full of those.

“I guess let me know if the meeting was about anything important,” Brianna said, and her mother nodded.

“I will.” She went over to her daughter and gave her a quick hug. “You two have fun tonight.”

“Absolutely.”

A smile, and then Hayley let herself out the door.

The whole time, they hadn’t been interrupted by any customers…

it was a very slow day…but almost as soon as she left, an older couple came in and began inspecting the paintings that hung in the main part of the gallery.

They had the air of those who didn’t want to be disturbed while they browsed, and Bree was just fine with that.

She hated pushy salespeople.

Holding back a sigh, she reached under the counter and brought out the box of invoices to be filed.