Page 17 of Dragon’s Midlife Secret Baby (Shifter Nation: Enchanted Over Forty #1)
“Welcome to The Crystal Cauldron! Oh. Hi, Chelsea.” Colette gave Chelsea a smile and a wave from behind the counter.
“Hey, there.” Chelsea stepped up to the counter to greet Tina’s newest employee and squinted at the numerous little gold hoops in her ears. “Did you get a new piercing?”
“Yeah, this one.” She pointed to a curved bar hanging through the fold of her ear.
“Ooh, did it hurt?”
“No, not really. My mom takes me to a really good piercer, though.” Colette’s glittery eyeshadow sparkled as she continued arranging the jewelry display on the counter. She always had full makeup on, usually with some dramatic eyeliner or bold colors.
“Tell your mom I said she’s very cool for letting you do that. I think my mom is cool, but I don’t think she would’ve ever let me do that when I was your age.” Chelsea knew Colette was still in high school.
The girl shrugged. “Her mom never let her, either, but I think that’s why she lets me. She says this is the one time in my life that I’ll be able to express myself without having to worry about what everyone else thinks.”
“She’s right, and fortunately, your boss is pretty cool, too.”
“I heard that!”
Chelsea laughed. “Nope! I didn’t say it! I never said it!”
With a grunt, Tina got up off her knees and came out of one of the aisles. “I’m always happy when inventory comes in until I remember I have to actually put it out. My knees aren’t happy with me.”
“I’d call you old, but then I’d be calling myself old. I’ve already done that recently.”
Tina adjusted her ebony-framed glasses and brushed back the neat curls of her dark auburn hair.
“I’m surprised to see you, considering everything you have going on.
I’ve had quite a few customers asking about your services, though.
” She bobbed her head toward the curtained-off area toward the back of the store where Chelsea did her astrology work.
There was another one next to it where Kristy read tarot cards, but she was home at the moment with Corbin.
“They’ll have to wait,” Chelsea sighed. “I need to work, but I don’t think I could concentrate on it right now if I wanted to.”
“Come stock shelves with me, and we can talk about it,” Tina offered, leading the way back into the aisle she’d come out of.
Following her past incense, candles, and wall tapestries, they reached a display of essential oils. “I’m not even sure what to say.”
“Whatever’s on your mind.” Tina grunted again as she returned to the floor with the box. She handed Chelsea a little dropper bottle of lavender. “That one goes up there, if you wouldn’t mind saving me from hearing that gross grinding sound in my knees again.”
“Maybe you should have Amanda look at that.” Chelsea found the right slot for the lavender and put it in the back.
Tina shrugged. “I will when I get around to it. I’ve been busy with training, sales, and trying to find new suppliers now that a few of the ones I’ve worked with don’t want to give me the same kinds of discounts anymore. But if you’re not here to work, you probably don’t need to hear all that.”
“I don’t mind,” Chelsea countered.
Tina sighed and looked up at her over her glasses. “I’m trying to get you to spill. You obviously want to. It’s practically oozing out of your aura, so just get it off your chest. And put this one up there, too.”
As she placed the tiny bottle of tea tree in its spot, Chelsea tried to get her thoughts together. “It’s Beck.”
“Right. Shit! That was close.” Tina had nearly dropped a bottle, but she’d saved it with her other hand. “Go on.”
“We have the fated bond all of us have been hearing about since we were kids. When he and I met, I just felt that spark between us. It was like the movies or something, and it wasn’t just that I thought he was hot.
It was this palpable connection, and I’ve never felt anything like it before or since. ”
Tina cleared her throat. Chelsea had spaced off, but now realized that Tina was passing her another bottle.
“Sorry. Anyway, even though I feel that, it’s impossible to just pick up where we left off. I mean, I eventually chalked him up as dead. I had to force myself to move on, even though it wasn’t like I was moving on to another man.”
“Although that might’ve been a possibility, eventually,” her sister noted as she took the last bottle from the box and reached her hand up. “Help an old woman up, will you?”
“You need to get a little rolling stool or something,” Chelsea suggested. “It’s not like you’re that old.”
“No, just creaky.” Tina flashed her a grin and headed for the stockroom. “I don’t think anyone expects you to just pick it all right back up, Chels. Not Mom or the rest of us, and probably not even Beck. You’re putting unnecessary pressure on yourself.”
They slipped through the black curtain that separated the main store from the stock room. Several more boxes were stacked near the back door, and Tina fetched a knife to cut the top one open.
“I just feel like something needs to happen. I can’t sit around and wait. I’ve already done that for long enough. And now we have some unseen enemy out there, someone who at least wants to make life harder for Beck.” Chelsea curled one hand into a fist. “You know, I’m kind of pissed at him.”
“At Beck? Or this unknown person? Or maybe whoever sent me these awful shirts! Look at this!” Tina held up a boxy white t-shirt.
Witch, please! was written along the bottom in blocky letters.
That wasn’t all that different from some of the other tees Chelsea had seen in The Crystal Cauldron, but the clipart style witch’s face above it was another matter.
It came complete with a crooked nose, a wart, and a hat that’d been poorly pasted on.
Chelsea took a step back. “You ordered that?”
“Hell, no!” Tina chucked it back in the box and set that carton aside.
“I can abide a bit of cheesy witch humor. That’s just part of running a business.
I have to give people what they want, and it’s not my place to judge them.
But those? I’m judging those! Anyway, continue. Who are you pissed at again?”
“Oh, right.” She’d gotten so distracted by the corny t-shirt that she’d nearly forgotten, but that was exactly what she needed.
Chelsea knew she could always count on her sisters.
“I’m pissed at Beck for leaving. He thinks he has to stay away from Corbin and me until he figures out who’s after him, but I didn’t want him to leave.
” Chelsea sounded like she was whining, but she didn’t care.
Neither did Tina. “It sucks, but I’ll bet if the circumstances were different, you’d do the same thing.”
“Yeah,” Chelsea admitted. “And, of course, I want to keep Corbin safe. I don’t want him to get caught up in the middle if someone actively wants to hurt Beck. But then, how can I trade off love for safety? That doesn’t seem very fair. I just wait in the wings while he goes out to fight a battle?”
“You’re not,” Tina pointed out. She took the most recently opened box from the top of the stack and slid it into an empty spot on a nearby shelf. “You and Mom went to that guy to see if he can help you find whoever put the spell on Beck. You’re not just sitting on your hands, Chelsea.”
“But there’s got to be more I can do,” Chelsea insisted. “I hate this. I’ve never been one to stand idly by and let the world happen.”
“No, you haven’t.” Tina folded the knife and put it in her pocket.
She turned calm eyes to Chelsea and put her hands solidly on her sister’s shoulders.
“You’ve always taken responsibility even when you didn’t need to.
You were always trying to fix my problems or Kristy’s, even when we didn’t want you to.
When Corbin came along, you worked hard to make sure you did right by him, and you have.
You’re good at stepping up, but sometimes, there’s only so much you can do. Stop beating yourself up for it.”
Pulling in a deep breath, Chelsea let it out slowly through her nose. “I’ll try. That’s all I can promise.”
“Then I’ll take it. Now, if you’re really desperate for something to do, you can rearrange the display of athames to accommodate my new stock.” She pulled a short, silver dagger out of the latest box she’d opened and slid it out of its sheath so that it gleamed in the light.
“As tempting as that is, I should get back to Corbin. I think he’s been a little confused to have Beck show up in his life and then leave again. I know he’s too young to really understand the significance of all this, but—”
“But children are far more perceptive than we give them credit for,” Tina replied quickly.
Chelsea nodded. “Yes. Exactly.”
With the final opened box in her hands, Tina gave her sister a smile.
“Corbin is a special boy. We all know that, and lately, he’s proven to be even more special than we’d realized.
I know you’re worried about him, and that’s your job.
But I’m confident that he’s going to be just fine. Just be patient.”
“You know, I really shouldn’t be taking advice from someone who doesn’t have children,” Chelsea remarked.
Tina shifted the box in her hands to fan her fingers across her collarbone in dismay. “It’s not my fault that I’m so wise and knowledgeable! I’ll try to hold myself back.”
“Yeah, right. Come here.” Chelsea wrapped her sister in a hug, holding on tightly to one of the few things in the world that she knew was permanent.
Everything felt like it was changing around her, but she’d always been able to rely on her family.
Her sisters—both biological and those who had joined the coven—meant the world to her. “I’d better get back home.”
“That’s right. Get some rest so you can come back and start making some money for me,” Tina cracked. “I’ve got a lot of competition, you know. There’s a witch shop on every corner these days.”