Many Blessings

Chapter Eighteen

Brad was back in jeans and a T-shirt by early afternoon. Mandaline felt more than a subtle pang of disappointment over that. She rather enjoyed getting a good look at his hunky body, although the sight of the scars on his back made her want to cradle him in her arms and heal him in ways she knew she couldn’t.

She came out from doing a reading for a customer to find Sachi training him on how to make the different drinks they sold.

“You don’t have to do this,” she told him.

He shrugged. “I want to. Besides, I can’t do anything else right now. All my art stuff is back at the house. I like helping.”

“Aw, come on, boss,” Sachi teasingly whined. “Let Tarzan help.”

Mandaline realized Sachi had already settled on nicknames for the guys. Meaning the irascible woman had come to accept them as part of her inner circle.

She wasn’t sure if that comforted or worried her. Yes, she loved them, and yes, she wanted them, but she also didn’t want to make her decision to take things further, when she finally got off her ass and made it, influenced by those around her.

“Okay, fine. Just don’t wear yourself out,” she warned him.

He grinned. “I’m feeling fine. Lots better than I was.”

“I think you should run over and see Doc Smith.”

“I’m sure Ellis will have me at the VA soon enough. Don’t worry about me.”

As the afternoon wore on, Mandaline paid close attention to his interaction with the customers. People seemed drawn to him and everyone who dealt with him left with a smile.

Mandaline was in the office doing paperwork when Sachi leaned in the doorway. “Can we keep him, boss? Huh, huh? Can we?”

Mandaline leaned back in her chair. “He does have a job, you know.”

“Well, yeah, sure, if you want to call it that.” She grinned. “Set him up in the front window. We’ll have every het woman and gay man in Brooksville drooling over him.”

Mandaline felt a tiny, dark stirring in her gut. She didn’t like that idea.

She also didn’t like feeling jealous.

“No. I’m going to take a look at the warehouse and see if we can make a place for him there.”

“Aw, you’re no fun.” But she grinned. “And FYI, the warehouse is even more above my pay grade than laundry.”

“Don’t worry. That’s my albatross, not yours.”

The warehouse was what they called the rest of the upstairs not taken up by the apartment. Julie had used it for storage both personal and business.

Mandaline was looking even less forward to going through it because of the sheer volume of stuff there. Records from past investigations, old family furniture, miscellaneous crap from the store…

Goddess only knew how long it would take her to go through it.

“Hey, are you doing anything tonight?” she asked Sachi.

An eyebrow slowly slid skyward. “Nooo. Whyyyy?”

Mandaline sighed. “I need to go through Julie’s clothes. You and I are about her size. I was putting it off, but now with Ellis and Brad here for the duration, I’m running out of room. I’ll provide the dinner if you’ll provide the water-absorbent shoulder.”

Sachi stepped into the office and closed the door behind her. “Of course I will,” she said, back to serious friend mode. “You all right?”

“I will be once I get through Thursday.”

“You don’t have to go Thursday. I can go do it.”

“No, it’s a sort of closure for me.” She took a deep breath. “I want to see where she died. And there’s one other thing I have to do.”

Mandaline had a client for a Tarot reading that afternoon. Fortunately, the customer was one of her regulars and in a good frame of mind to start with.

She hadn’t been able to bring herself to read for any of Julie’s former clients yet. Sachi or Mina or Makenzie had taken some of them. The ones who specifically asked for Mandaline were being postponed another week.

She hoped when the time came that she’d be able to deal with them. When she finished with that client at two o’clock, Sachi was involved with a client of her own. Mandaline walked out to the front and found Brad talking with a man.

An immediate dark vibe washed over her as she struggled to remember where she’d seen the guy before. Then it hit her.

Brad turned, smiling when he saw Mandaline. “Ah, there she is. Mandaline, this is Peter—”

“Please, you need to leave,” she told the guy. “We’ve already told you all we’re going to say about Julie.”

The reporter, who worked for a Hollywood tabloid website, scowled. “Now, Mandaline, I’m sure we can come to some sort of understanding. This could mean a lot of good press for your business.”

“The only understanding seems to be your inability to grasp the simple concept of ‘no.’”

Brad silently watched, a frown on his face.

“Look, all I want is a few minutes of your time and a statement.”

She felt her hands curling into fists. Where’s Sachi and her gun when I really need her? “We made it abundantly clear to you last week, several times, that we have no comment about what happened. You want any comments, you’ll have to talk to Steven Corey’s family representative. I refuse to discuss this with the media.”

The man closed his notepad. Mandaline felt the shift in his energy to an even darker tone. “Well, if you won’t talk to us, we’ll have to talk to people who will. Which means you lose a chance to give us the accurate story of what happened.”

Mandaline stepped close, letting her anger well up. “All you need to know,” she dangerously muttered, “is that my best friend was killed. She was a good, loving woman. And nothing will change either of those two facts.” She let her angry energy freely pour from her toward the reporter.

He actually took a step back.

“Now get out of my store before I call the sheriff’s department to have a trespass warrant issued against you.”

The man looked from her to Brad, who’d stayed behind her, then back to her. “Fine. Have it your way.” He turned on his heel and left.

Brad tried to say something to Mandaline, but she wheeled around and headed for the stairs. He finally caught up with her at the top of the stairs.

“I’m sorry, Mandaline. I didn’t realize he was a problem.”

“What did you say to him?”

He shook his head. “Nothing. He just got here right before you came out. Maybe two minutes, that’s it. I told him you were busy and he’d have to talk to you.”

“He didn’t ask who you were or anything about Julie?”

“He said he wanted to talk to someone about Julie, but I told him he’d have to wait to talk to you.”

She felt her anger draining and slumped against the wall. All of the other employees had already agreed not to talk to the tabloids about what had happened to Julie. She’d forgotten to warn Brad and Ellis. “I’m sorry I snapped at you. I should have told you. I didn’t think any others would come sniffing around.”

“Hey, it’s okay.” When he pulled her in for a hug, she didn’t resist. “You about ready for a break for the day?”

She glanced at the door that led to the warehouse. “Maybe I shouldn’t be around people right now. I’m not exactly in the best mood.” She headed over to it and opened the door. Swiping her hand around inside the doorway, she found the main switch and the overhead lights came to life.

He stepped into the doorway behind her. “Wow. What is all that?”

She let out a sigh. “My albatross. I’m going to have to start sorting through this, I guess. I know there aren’t any windows over here, but if it’ll work for you, we can clear you out a space. Set up extra lights or something.”

He edged past a pile of furniture covered by a tarp to see around it. “Holy cow. You can’t do all this alone. I’ll help.”

“Fair warning, Sachi is going to stay behind with me tonight and help me go through Julie’s clothes.”

“Will the Mistress of Snark be staying for dinner?”

Mandaline smiled. “Yes. But you know, you feed her once, we’ll never get her to go home.”

He laughed. “We need to find her a guy of her own.”

“From your lips to the Goddess’ ears. I doubt we’ll ever find one guy who can handle her.”

He laughed. “Well, I’ll wish for two, then.”

She loved that she could have conversations like this with him without feeling the slightest bit self-conscious or silly in the bad way. “So mote it be.”

He made his way back to her. “I could use this space. I’ll set up some extra lights. If I really need natural light, I’ll just go outside to the square. It’s a little stuffy, though. If you don’t mind, I could put in a window shaker AC unit up here. Make a hole in the back wall.”

“I don’t mind.”

His eyes met hers. She was once again struck by the duality of his nature. Today, all day, the “more there” Brad had been in residence.

No denying he made her panties damp.

“Well,” she said, “I am going to spend some time up here. In her will, Julie specifically said I was free to do whatever I wanted with the stuff in here. If I find anything I like, I might keep it…” Her face heated as she realized she was going to say “for the house,” as if she was already a fully vested partner.

He held her hands and brought them to his lips, a twinkle in his eye. “I think some of these pieces would look wonderful in our house,” he quietly said.

“How’d you know what I was going to say?”

He playfully smirked. “Because all morning I’ve been thinking things like, ‘I need to sit down with Mandaline about a color scheme for the master bedroom,’ and, ‘We need to start furniture shopping with Mandaline for our bedroom.’”

The heat that flared in her cheeks this time started somewhere in the vicinity of her pussy. She’d already put in a call to Dr. Smith that morning. He was busy today, but penciled her in for an appointment tomorrow at ten.

“What about Ellis?” she asked. “Doesn’t he get a say in it?”

He shrugged. “He tells me it’s my decision. I know what he doesn’t like. He cares more for function than form.”

Why am I waiting?

“Maybe tonight after Sachi leaves we can all snuggle in front of the TV,” she quietly suggested. “I probably won’t be in much of a romantic mood, though.”

“I’ll make sure we add popcorn to the shopping list.”

“Thanks.”

He left her alone as she turned back to all the stuff to sort through.

Ellis sandwiched calls to contractors between his appointments. He wanted the roofer out there ASAP to fix the damn leak, for starters. He’d have to go through his paperwork on the house to see who was responsible for the chicken-or-egg mess caused by the leak. He didn’t know if that vent stack was already there or something the plumbers put in when they updated the system. Some of the house’s plumbing was original, some was already modernized. If the plumbers put that vent stack in after the roofers, it was their fault.

And he’d damn well make whoever was responsible fix it and pay for the cleanup expenses. Especially after the scare they went through with Brad’s health.

What if I hadn’t given in to him to let Julie check out the house in the first place? God only knows how long it might have taken to figure out what was wrong. Or what Brad might have been put through as a result.

He didn’t want to wander down that path of what-ifs. He knew it wasn’t productive.

Yet deep in his gut, he realized what a close call it had been. No telling how long it might have taken to get to the bottom of the problem if not for Mandaline’s insight.

He definitely wanted to make her a nice dinner, at the very least, to show his appreciation.

Once she finally dropped her walls with them, however, he’d spend the rest of their lives together showing her how much he loved her.

Around four o’clock his last appointment of the day left, and he decided he’d had enough of his office. When he returned to Many Blessings, he was surprised to see Brad working behind the counter and wearing one of the neon-green-and-pink aprons the employees wore.

Brad grinned. “Hey, you’re early.”

Ellis let out a snort and pointed at the apron. “That’s…quite a fashion statement.”

“Aw, screw you, chief,” Sachi said. “He’s making killer cappuccino. You’re just a lawyer.” She smiled.

“How are you feeling?” he asked Brad.

He nodded. “A hell of a lot better than I was.” He stepped closer and leaned in. “I almost screwed up royally, though”

“Why?”

Brad told him about the reporter. Ellis felt anger flare deep within him on Mandaline’s behalf. “Maybe I should look into getting a court order against the asshole to stop him from harassing her.”

“Chill, chief,” Sachi said. “Mandaline held her own. Not even that jerk would mess with a pissed-off witch. She ran him out of here.”

The witch herself chose that moment to emerge from the stairwell. Ellis wasn’t sure, but thought her cheeks turned pinker when she met his gaze. “Hi, Ellis. I thought I heard you down here.”

He struggled and managed to contain his excitement that she rose up on her toes to give him a kiss.

“Oh, shit,” Sachi muttered.

“What?” Mandaline asked.

“Why don’t you go back upstairs,” Sachi said, “and let me handle this?”

“Handle wha—oh, you gotta be shitting me!”

The men turned as the front doorbell tinkled and a man walked in.

“What?” Ellis asked. “Another reporter?”

“Worse,” Sachi snarked. “Her ex-husband.”

Ellis turned to follow her progress across the store to greet the man. Barely taller than Mandaline, the portly man was growing perilously close to losing a goodly chunk of the curly brown hair on the top of his head, except that he’d attempted to master the art of the stealthy comb-over with unsettling results.

Brad crossed his arms over his chest and scowled. “I think we can take him,” he muttered to Ellis.

“Hell, I can take him,” Sachi snarked. “I won’t even need my skeet gun. He’s such a spineless ass the fucker will blow over in a stiff breeze.”

“Hello, Carl,” Mandaline said. Ellis didn’t know how Mandaline managed to keep the venom out of her voice. “What are you doing here?” She stopped in front of him, blocking his further progress into the store with her hands firmly planted on her hips.

Ellis, with Brad and Sachi in step, moved closer.

“I heard about Julie. Horrible news. Wanted to come pay my respects.”

“Why? You never paid her any respect when she was alive. Why start now?”

The man’s face reddened slightly. “I know I wasn’t always the nicest to her—”

“Ha!” Sachi snorted.

Mandaline briefly glanced over her shoulder at them but didn’t quiet Sachi down. “Just tell me what you really want. Why are you here?”

Now he wrung his hands together. Ellis didn’t know men still did that in this day and age. “I know we didn’t part on the best of terms—”

“‘Best of terms?’” Mandaline let out a shrill laugh that made the other six customers in the store turn and look. “Best of terms? Is that what you call using your mommy and daddy’s money to screw me over just because my spiritual beliefs didn’t align with theirs?”

Before he could say anything else, she stepped closer and jammed her finger in his face, not quite touching, but enough to make him step back. “Listen, mister. You basically left me penniless and homeless and having to start over from scratch. If it hadn’t been for Julie, I wouldn’t have had a roof over my head until I got my feet back under me. You have a lot of nerve showing up here out of the blue like this.”

“I just wanted to apologize.”

The silence in the store was deafening. Ellis took another few steps forward, shadowed by Brad and Sachi.

“Go ahead.” Mandaline crossed her arms. “I’m listening.”

“Yes, my parents didn’t like you. I’m sorry I listened to my mother. Okay? It was a shitty thing to do to you.”

Sachi spoke up. “Boss, I can go get my—”

“No,” Mandaline shot back.

Sachi pouted. “Okay.”

Mandaline cocked her head and looked at Carl. “That’s it?”

He looked confused. “What do you mean?” He glanced around and tried to lower his voice a little. “I’d like to talk with you. Alone.”

“This is as alone as you’re going to get with me, Carl.”

Ellis took yet another step forward, as did Brad, until they both stood flanking Mandaline.

He looked up at Ellis and Brad, then back to Mandaline. “Who are these guys?”

“They are none of your business,” she shot back. “And they aren’t going anywhere. So start talking, or turn your butt around and get out.”

Ellis straightened a little and crossed his arms over his chest as he looked down at the guy. Brad did likewise. They were each at least a foot taller than the guy.

Carl refocused his attention on Mandaline and lowered his voice even more. “I’d like a chance to take you out to dinner. We had some good times. I’d like a chance to spend some time with you. See if—”

Mandaline let out a loud, scoffing laugh. “Are you serious? For starters, no way in hell. Secondly, I’m not available for any half-baked romantic ideas you might have flitting around in that follicly challenged head of yours. Thirdly, I might have forgiven you a long time ago for being such a spineless weasel—”

“See, told you so,” Sachi muttered to Ellis.

“—but I will never, ever forget what you did to me. And I will never, ever trust you again. Any positive feelings I had for you died when you did what you did. I’d wanted to stay friends, but you let your parents institute a scorched-earth policy against me. I don’t wish you ill-will—”

“I do,” Sachi muttered.

“—and I even talked Sachi out of hexing you”—she glanced over her shoulder at Sachi, who instantly produced a manically innocent grin—“but I have absolutely no place for you in my life or my mind. I definitely have no place for you in my heart.”

Ellis tried to read the man’s body language. He’d always had a knack for that, which had served him well during depositions and trials. Carl seemed borderline desperate, nervous. Which Ellis didn’t understand.

“Mandaline, please, if you’d just give me a chance—”

“What’s really going on here?” Ellis asked as he stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Mandaline. “You didn’t just suddenly get a magnanimous idea and decide to come see her. What’s really on your mind?”

“Nothing!” Carl’s face reddened. “Not that it’s any business of yours! I don’t even know who the hell you are.”

He draped his arm around Mandaline’s shoulders. Brad stepped forward and slid his around her waist.

“It is our business, because she is our business. I’m also an attorney.”

“Our?” Carl looked up at Ellis, to Brad, and back again. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“Can I please shoot the dipshidiot now?” Sachi asked from behind them.

Brad, Ellis, and Mandaline all said, “No.”

“Dammit,” she muttered.

“Good-bye, Carl,” Mandaline said. “I wish you well—”

“I don’t,” Sachi muttered.

“—but if you ever set foot in my store again, I’ll have you thrown out and a trespass warrant issued against you.”

“And I’ll get a restraining order against you,” Ellis added.

“Mandaline, you are really being unreasonable.”

She sighed and stepped back as the men released her. “Okay, boys. Have fun.”

Brad and Ellis stepped forward and closed ranks, forcing the guy backward through the front door without laying a finger on him.

“If you ever come here again,” Ellis said as he jabbed a finger in the air at him, “we won’t be as nice.”

They waited on the sidewalk, watching until the guy finally walked to a car and got in it. When they returned inside, all the customers, as well as the employees, gave the two men a rousing standing ovation.

Mandaline looked around, suddenly self-conscious and red in the face. “Holy crap,” she muttered.

“Want me to find out what the hell he really wanted?” Sachi asked.

“Go for it.”

“Finally!” She whipped her cell phone out of her pocket and rushed into the office, where she closed the door behind her.

Ellis and Brad surrounded Mandaline, hugging her. “You all right, sweetie?”

She let out a sigh. “Not really, but I will be. It’s like the crazies have all crawled out of the woodwork today. I know we just had full moon, but holy crap on a crap cracker, can’t a girl catch a break?”