Thinking about Dru triggers another confession from me, because I desperately need Ben to understand why I panicked. “That’s one reason why I suspected you, you know.”
“Reggie, it’s okay.” The look in Ben’s eyes is soft. Loving. Forgiving.
But it’s not okay. Not to me. It won’t be okay for a long, long time. And if I can make him understand that I didn’t panic blindly, all the better. “After we kissed on the couch, I tried to quit. Remember? I told myself I couldn’t stay, because you were my boss’s nephew and I couldn’t work every day knowing I wanted to kiss you and touch you.”
Nick makes another sound of disgust. “Can we please not talk about this in my hall?”
“So I was going to quit, but then Dru got cursed and the timing was just fucked and . . .” I trail off.
Of course.
The timing of everything.
I’m an idiot.
“I told you, Reggie, it’s fine.” Ben’s voice is gentle as he takes the box of tissues that Nick extends toward us. He pulls one free and mops my tear-swollen face tenderly. “We won’t give up. We’ll figure it out—”
I clutch his hand, my eyes wild. “I already did.”
37
BEN
I can hardly believe she’s here.
My Reggie.
Even though she stands at my side, it’s difficult for me to grasp that she really, truly is here with me. No, not just standing at my side. She clings to me as if she never wants me to leave her sight again. Her hand is tight in mine, and even though her eyes are swollen with tears, there’s a look of determination on her face.
The last day has been rough. My protective instincts wouldn’t let me forget about her. The moment I got home, I looked for Reggie. When I saw she wasn’t in her room and Lisa said she hadn’t stopped by the house, I was worried. I hunted down Nick’s address and showed up at his place to ask if he’d seen her. When he said he hadn’t, I demanded to stay and wait, and a frantic Reggie showed up hours later, tearful and distraught that she’d somehow lost me.
It would take a lot more than one small argument for me to stop loving her. And because I know Reggie’s past, I immediately knew why she panicked. We’re alike, she and I, and I understand her far better than she thinks.
Except I don’t know what she’s thinking now, as we return to Aunt Dru’s house. She said she’d figured out who cursed my aunt, and though I’ve told her a dozen times that the spell misfired, she wants to talk to Lisa. Reggie thinks there’s a clue we’ve missed, and since I can deny her nothing, I drive us both back to my aunt’s.
Reggie’s hand is on my leg the entire time, as if she’s afraid to let me go. It’s the best feeling in the universe.
When we return to Aunt Dru’s house, everything is quiet. We head up to her room, and Lisa is seated by the bed, a paperback romance open over her belly as she dozes.
For a woman that’s been in a coma for five days, my aunt actually looks surprisingly good. Her cheeks are rosy and full, and Lisa has her dressed in clean clothing. Poor Lisa looks more tired than Aunt Dru, actually. The pregnant woman opens her eyes and gives us a weary look, dark circles hollowing her face.
“No change,” Lisa tells us as we head into Aunt Dru’s room. “I’m sorry to say that we haven’t seen her wake up at all. No one’s come by to visit, either.”
“You can tell us the truth, Lisa,” Reggie says, her voice surprisingly hard. “We’ve figured it out.”
Lisa looks confused. She turns to me, and when I shrug, she gives Reggie a puzzled look. “I’m sorry?”
Reggie squeezes my hand, shooting me a confident look. “Where is it?” she demands boldly as she strides into the room. “Did she hide it somewhere in here?”
“Hide what?” Lisa asks.
“The tablet. You cursed her. Or she cursed herself.” Reggie feels along the edge of the bed, flipping up the corners of the blankets as if hunting for something. “It’s all in the timing.”
Lisa shoots me another helpless, confused look. I have to admit that I’m confused, too. “Reggie, sweetheart. My aunt is a little eccentric, but this curse is dangerous to her. She could starve to death and never wake up. Aunt Dru wouldn’t put herself in danger like this.”
Reggie just shakes her head, that expression of determination written all over her pretty, freckled face. “It’s the timing,” she says again. “Every time you and I got close, Ben, and I tried to run, something happened. Lisa got cursed, so Dru suggested you stay by my side, remember?”
I frown, because I distinctly remember my aunt pulling me aside and having a conversation with me. Insisting I stay in the area to help her watch over Reggie, to keep her safe. That I stay at Reggie’s side at all times to protect her. And that suited me just fine, because I was fascinated with Reggie already . . .
“And the night we kissed, Dru kept asking if we were going to get together,” Reggie says, dropping to her knees by the bed and flipping the bedskirt up. “And I told her I was quitting, and she asked me to wait until morning and—aha!” Reggie’s head pops up over the side of the mattress, a wild-eyed and triumphant look on her face.
She tosses an empty potato chip bag onto the mattress, directly onto Dru’s sleeping form.
“I was looking for that!” Lisa exclaims. “My snacks have been disappearing.”
Reggie disappears under the bed again, and a moment later, she tosses a drained soda bottle next to the chip bag, followed by an empty cookie container. “She doesn’t look thin for someone that’s been unconscious and unable to eat for several days, does she? She cursed herself,” Reggie says again, triumphant. “There’s a mess of empty snack bags and drink bottles under here. She’s cursed herself somehow, but there’s a loophole. But because she cursed herself, that’s why Abernathy’s scrying spelled out ‘Magnus.’ She’s doing this to force me and Ben together. She’s playing matchmaker.”
I stare down at my aunt’s peacefully sleeping, cursed form. “No . . .” I breathe. It’s insane, even for Aunt Dru.
“I thought Lisa was in on it at first,” Reggie admits, getting back to her feet. When Lisa makes a sound of protest, Reggie nods. “I know. But you’re so tired and pregnant that it doesn’t make sense. I bet if we checked on your curse, though, it was probably cast by Dru. It’s not a very harmful curse, after all. It’s just inconvenient.”
Lisa’s mouth opens. She stares at me, then back at Reggie. She stares down at her arm and then slowly pulls her sleeve up to reveal that she’s still wearing Dru’s familiar cuff. “She asked me not to take it off,” Lisa says. “I thought it was just her being, well, Dru. But she asked me to hide it from Reggie. Didn’t want to hurt her feelings. Said once the baby was weaned, we’d pull me back into service. Do you think this is all some weird game of hers?”
I bend over and gaze down at the empty chip bags and soda bottles underneath the bed. I think of all the times Aunt Dru brought up Reggie to me, insisted I spend more time with her. Nudged her in my direction. I was all too happy to do so, because I was fascinated by Reggie. And that fascination distracted me from the fact that perhaps Aunt Dru was being a little pointed in her enthusiasm. Scheming machinations are definitely an Aunt Dru thing. She’s sweet when she wants to be, but she’s also a two-thousand-year-old witch who insists on getting her way.
I put my hands on my hips, thinking. “She’s definitely cursed to sleep, but she also seems to be waking up at some point to eat.”
“I don’t understand,” Lisa says. “I never saw her wake up, much less eat anything.”
Reggie snaps her fingers. “Maybe she can’t do it when someone else is in the room.”
“Now that sounds more like Aunt Dru,” I say with a rueful shake of my head. “Shall we exit the room and see if Sleeping Beauty awakens, then?” And if she does, I just might strangle her for scaring the life out of me.
We usher Lisa out of the room and shut the door behind us. Reggie presses her ear to the door, frowning, and then shakes her head. “Nothing. Maybe we have to be farther away?”