Page 20 of Rise of the Witch (Witches of Keating Hollow #17)

Melissa practically floated into her house. Her date with Briggs had been nothing short of perfect. A good meal, great sex under the stars, and then they’d made their relationship official. She knew Briggs had baggage, but who didn’t? And he was working on it. What more could she ask for?

If she had her way, she wouldn’t be going out of town for the weekend.

Unfortunately, that’s when most of the vineyards she needed to visit were open, so she worked around their schedules.

Traveling had never bothered her before.

In fact, she quite liked it. Or at least she had liked it.

In that moment, all Melissa wanted to do was change her clothes and then head right over to Briggs’s place.

Instead, she hurried upstairs and jumped into the shower.

Once she was dressed and finished packing, Melissa headed back downstairs to grab a quick breakfast. But when she stepped into her kitchen, she froze. There were dishes everywhere, and flour was all over one of the counters.

She ground her teeth and scanned the mess. It looked as if Kassie had made—and burned—a batch of cookies. Plus, she’d cooked something in a frying pan that now had a crusty layer of black debris stuck to the bottom.

If there was one thing she couldn’t stand in her house, it was a messy kitchen. Melissa had half a mind to barge into Kassie’s room and demand she clean up her mess immediately, but she didn’t have any faith that the younger woman even had the skills to clean anything.

With a scowl on her face, she put a kitchen apron on and got to work. By the time she wiped up the last of the flour that covered her counter, she had worked up a slight sweat and was more than ready to evict her house guest.

“Oh my gosh!” Kassie said as she appeared in the kitchen, wearing the shortest sleep shorts and a tiny formfitting camisole. “You didn’t need to clean this up. I was going to do it this morning.”

“Too late now,” Melissa snapped. “I couldn’t just leave it like that, much less find even an inch of counter space to prepare my breakfast.”

Kassie winced. “I’m sorry. I honestly didn’t think you’d be back until later.”

Melissa turned around to stare at the woman. “Listen, Kassie.” She blew out a breath. “Just clean up as you go in the kitchen, okay? I can’t stand to even have dishes just sitting in the sink.”

“Right. Sorry.” She walked over to the counter and pulled out a plastic container. “I made these for you… as a thank you.”

“What?” Melissa asked as she stared at the plastic bowl.

“They’re peanut butter cookies. I thought you could take them for the road. But if you don’t like peanut butter then?—”

“No, I do,” Melissa said, feeling a little bit like a jerk. “Thank you. That was very kind.”

“It was nothing. Baking helps me relax. So does the wine I had last night, which is why I didn’t get the kitchen cleaned. I am sorry.” Kassie chewed on her bottom lip and then started to retreat back down the hall.

“Kassie!” Melissa called.

“Yeah?” She turned back, meeting Melissa’s gaze.

“I’m sorry I snapped at you. Mornings aren’t always my best time of day.”

“Don’t worry about it. I am a messy cook. Have a good trip.” She offered a tentative smile and then disappeared into the guest room.

Feeling like a heel, Melissa tucked the cookies into her bag, grabbed a bagel and a to-go cup of coffee, and then headed out. She only prayed that her house was still livable when she returned.

Briggs woke from a nap on his couch to a loud knock on his door. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and smiled to himself, hoping it was a surprise visit from his gorgeous girlfriend.

“Briggs!” an all-too-familiar voice called through the door. “Are you in there? Your truck is here. Open up.”

He groaned. Kassie Kinny was at his door. How did she even get there? Did she find a way to rent another car? Get a ride from someone? He wiped the sleep from his eyes and rolled off the couch.

“Kassie, what are you doing here?” he asked when he opened his front door.

“Hi.” She wore a shy smile as her cheeks flushed pink. “Sorry to just show up without calling. I just… needed to talk to you.”

He swallowed a sigh, noted a blue bike that was leaning against his porch railing, and opened the door wider to let her in. “Do you need something to drink? It’s a pretty long ride from Melissa’s house.”

“Yes, please.” She followed him into his kitchen and sat on one of the barstools as she waited for her water.

“Are you hungry? There’s fruit in the basket.”

“No thanks,” she said. “Water’s fine.”

Briggs handed her the glass and then just stood there in his kitchen watching her.

It was the weekend, and while they usually didn’t keep normal business hours for recording, Austin had told them to take both days off and they’d start fresh on Monday.

Briggs had been looking forward to a break from her.

To reset and put her out of his mind for a few days.

But here she was, sitting in his kitchen, taking up space he’d wanted to reclaim as his own.

She sipped the water and stared past him out his back window.

“I don’t mean to be rude,” Briggs said, “but what brings you all the way over here, Kassie?”

She put the glass down. “I came to apologize.”

He raised both eyebrows, shocked. Had he ever heard her say she was sorry?

As far as he could recall, those words had only ever been muttered when she was being sarcastic or passive aggressive.

“You are? For what exactly, barging into my life? Posting lies about me and King? Being a general pain in the ass?”

She winced. “All of the above, I guess.” She finally met his gaze. “I know I shouldn’t have just assumed you’d let me stay here. The truth is that I’m dead broke.”

“Yeah, you said that.” He crossed his arms over his chest and waited for her to continue.

“It’s my mom. She got behind on rent and is in debt to some pretty bad people. I ended up helping her out, and now I’m struggling to stay afloat. The tour money wasn’t as good as I thought it was going to be. The expenses… Well, I wasn’t as careful as I should have been, and now I’m in a bind.”

“Did you come here to ask me for money?” he asked, narrowing his eyes at her. Was that the reason she was telling him all of this?

“Money?” she parroted, looking surprised and a little hurt. “Gods, no. I’m not that crass.”

He wasn’t so sure about that, but he was relieved he wasn’t going to have to shut her down.

“I’m just explaining why I barged my way into your life.

I told myself that you wouldn’t mind if I stayed with you.

We spent so much time together while we worked on the last album, and you were so easygoing I guess I thought we’d just go back to that.

Then when I found out about Melissa, I was jealous and panicked because I didn’t know what I was going to do. ”

“Okay,” he said, not sure what else to say.

“I just wanted to tell you that I appreciate your help. And Melissa’s, too. I like her. She’s good for you.”

“She is,” he agreed.

“I’ve just been worried about paying bills. And now my mom is calling all the time, asking for more, and I just need this album to work.” She fingered the hem of her sparkly T-shirt. “I suppose I just wanted to make sure we can put all of that behind us and knock this record out.”

“Sure, I can do that,” Briggs said, hoping that she was being sincere.

He wasn’t one for holding onto petty grievances.

He was never going to be besties with Kassie Kinny, but he could be civil.

Maybe even friendly if she returned to acting like the woman he’d known back in LA.

He just didn’t care for the fame-hungry version of her.

“Good.” She let out a sigh of relief. After a beat, she asked, “How do you think the album is going?”

“Pretty good,” he said honestly. “That song with King is a banger. I’ll be shocked if it doesn’t get massive airplay.”

“What about the rest?” She stared at him intently as if she really cared what he thought.

So far, he’d kept most of his opinions to himself. He hadn’t wanted to engage with Kassie any more than he had to. But since she seemed sincere, he said, “I prefer the songs that are packed with soul-baring honesty.”

She looked a little pale but nodded. “I’m guessing your favorite is ‘Stripped.’”

“Yes.” He nodded. “It gets right to the heart of how vulnerable one has to be to bare their soul to another person. And how painful that can be if one is rejected. The song is haunting and beautiful. And raw. It’s the kind of song that wins awards.”

“It’s the hardest one for me to sing,” she said, her eyes glinting with unshed tears.

“That’s how you know it’s honest,” he said softly.

“I suppose.” She closed her eyes for a moment, appearing to collect herself. “But I can’t have an entire album of songs like that. I’d have to be committed by the time I was done.”

“Of course not, but you can still be honest and raw in the most upbeat pop songs. That’s what makes them interesting.”

“I suppose.” She pursed her lips and then pulled her phone out of her back pocket. “Will you listen to something for me?”

“Of course.” He sat down next to her and waited.

Kassie scrolled through her phone until she found the right voice note.

The snippet she played was a rough cut of just her voice and a piano.

It was an up-tempo number, and the lyrics were about flying.

Only she didn’t mean on a plane. The song was about emotional highs and lows and how she lived to fly, even if she had to lie to herself to do it.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Briggs’s brain had immediately snapped into production mode. He stood. “Come on. Let’s get to the studio. I have a few ideas.”

“But Austin said to take the weekend to regroup,” she said, looking both hopeful and a little apprehensive.

“This is regrouping. Let’s go.” He grabbed his keys and strode out the door. On his way, he grabbed the bike and threw it in the back of his truck. “When we’re done, I’ll drop you off back at Melissa’s.”

Kassie’s grin lit up her entire face as she climbed into his truck. Then she said, “This is what I envisioned when I decided to come to Keating Hollow to record my album.”

He glanced at her as he started the truck. “Collaborating?”

She nodded. “You always did get me and my song writing.”

He let out a humorless snort. “You should have just said that in the beginning. We could have avoided a lot of this drama.”

“Even after all those texts I sent while I was on the road?” she asked.

He had to admit that he was surprised she acknowledged that faux pas. Chuckling, he said, “Maybe not. But let’s just put that behind us and make the best record we can, okay?”

“Okay.” She held out her fist to him. Briggs laughed as he touched his fist to hers just like he would with King.

And for just a moment, he decided that maybe they could find a way back to being friends.