“Hey,” she said, sliding onto the stool next to him. She flashed Hugh a smile, and he came over immediately.
“Hey, yourself. Welcome home. The usual?”
“Sure, thanks, Hugh,” she said.
Jeremy was looking at her, a slight smile on his lips, one brow arched. “You know everyone in town?” he asked her.
She shrugged. “I grew up here, remember?” she said. “But no, I don’t know everyone. Hugh graduated high school a few years before me. He was on the hockey team.”
“And you were a cheerleader?”
“No,” she told him with a laugh. “But half my friends were.” She grew serious. “Where’s Brad?”
“I just walked him home.”
“Oh. How’s he doing?”
“Not well.” He turned to look at her. “He’s sure that he has the answer, but proving it…Let’s just say it won’t be easy.”
“Oh? He knows who took Mary?”
“He says the devil did it.”
“You’re joking.”
“I’m dead serious. Well, the devil in human form, I guess. He’s convinced that the fortune-teller they went to that afternoon did it. Did you learn anything else?” he asked her.
“Hey, I introduced you to Joe. You know what I know.”
“I thought he might have said something else to you.” Jeremy was still watching her, eyes intense. “And hey, if you’re worried about being seen with me, I can behave like a casual acquaintance.”
She was surprised by his words, then surprised again when she felt herself blushing. Joe had definitely been hostile when he’d met Jeremy. Why?
Because Jeremy was a private investigator? Or because Joe sensed the chemistry between them?
No. Joe thought she should move on, have a life. He had said so often enough.
But did he really mean it?
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said. She stared at him openly. “I do what I choose to do,” she said softly. “I never let others influence my choices.”
He turned back to face the bar, so she couldn’t read his reaction to her words. “Still, people around here will trust you before they trust me,” he said.
“I’m not sure why any of that would matter. A woman is missing. Everyone around here is hoping she’ll be found alive and well. Hoping—and praying.”
“Not everyone,” he said.
“Oh, come on! Wiccans are not—”
“I didn’t mean wiccans,” he said, staring at her again. “I was referring to the person who took her.”
“Oh,” she said. “Of course.” She had to stop letting her feathers get so easily ruffled.
“Tell me about your friends,” he said.
“Which friends?”
“Adam and Eve.”
“They’re very nice people.”
“Wiccans?”
“Yes. So?”
“Just curious.”
“They’re nice. I went to school with them, too. I’ve known them both forever. They have a shop where they sell a lot of the usual tourist stuff—and a lot of not-so-usual items. They work with a lot of local artists and jewelers.”
“What about powders and potions? Do they sell those, too?”
“Yes. And tea,” Rowenna said, hearing the edge in her voice.
“Sorry,” he said, and set his glass down. “I guess I should get you home.”
“Sounds good.” She slid off her stool and waited for him.
When Hugh walked over with the check, Rowenna smiled at him. He grinned back. “See you,” he said.
“Yeah, you will. Thanks,” Jeremy told him. He set a hand on Rowenna’s waist, guiding her out.
The air outside was beautifully cool. The harsh cold of winter had yet to make an appearance.
The city seemed very quiet. They might have been the only ones out as they walked to Jeremy’s rental car.
He pointed to one of the houses they passed on the way.
“My new residence,” he told her.
“Oh? A whole house?” she asked.
“Hey, it’s leaf season,” he said. “It was better to rent the house than pay the ridiculous room rate at a hotel. I was just lucky to get the place when someone had to cancel. Did you know that even the locals like to travel to see the foliage?”
“Yes, but they’ll be going farther north soon,” she told him. “Vermont, Maine.”
“It’s pretty,” he admitted.
“You don’t really get the seasons down where you live, do you?”
“Sure. We have killer hot. Just plain hot. Almost cool. And sometimes, in the shade, there’s almost a nip in the air.”
She laughed.
“I’m exaggerating,” he told her. “We’ve actually had snow in the north of the state, and there have even been days when it’s been colder in north Florida than in Chicago.”
She thought then, as they moved along the street, that she really loved his smile. She wished that they weren’t together only because a woman was missing. And she wondered what would happen when they reached her house.
At the car, he opened the door for her. “Thanks for letting me drive you home,” he said casually.