I glanced at Derek, who was watching me thoughtfully. “What do you think?”
“Not to discount your mother’s skills,” he said, sitting back in his chair, “but I think Austin and Robin appear to be two consenting adults who’ve known each other a long time.”
He was right, of course, but it didn’t make me feel any better. I supposed stranger things had happened up here in Dharma land. I just couldn’t think of anything right off the bat. Robin and Austin had always been hot for each other, but the timing had never been right for one or the other. Now . . .
Was that what had happened? Was the timing suddenly right? Was it all about Austin and Robin? Or was Mom’s power increasing? Was she starting to chant love spells that actually worked? And if it was only an enchanted love spell that got them together, wouldn’t it wear off eventually? Wouldn’t one of the interested parties complain that they’d been coerced into something that wasn’t of their own free will?
Whoa, what was I smoking?
There was no such thing as a love spell, enchanted or otherwise. Clearly, Austin and Robin had just experienced a simultaneous moment of supreme lust. I could dig that.
My only concern now was that I didn’t want Robin to get hurt again. But there was nothing I could do about it except follow Derek’s lead and keep it simple and positive.
After all, Robin had looked so happy and Austin so downright determined when they left. Who was I to worry or judge or interfere? All I’d wanted to accomplish in bringing Robin to Dharma was for her to be safe, away from bad people and out of the city. I’d achieved that goal.
I turned to Dad, who still looked shell-shocked. Feeling about the same, I held out my wineglass. “More, please?”
“Good idea, Punkin,” he said, and filled everyone’s glasses with golden, bubbly liquid.
As we all recovered from the shock, Mom filled us in on what was happening around Dharma. We talked and laughed and enjoyed the view of the rolling green hills covered in vineyards, broken by picturesque thickets of gnarled oak trees.
Mom was particularly proud that Annie’s kitchenware store, Anandalla, had been written up in several cooking magazines. Annie Karastovsky was relatively new to Dharma. She was the long-lost daughter of my former bookbinding mentor, Abraham. The whole town, and especially Mom, had adopted her as their own.
Gabriel’s recuperation was another of Mom’s triumphs. The formerly mysterious stranger who had saved my life in a noodle shop on Fillmore Street in the city, Gabriel was still in Dharma after almost dying last month, when he was struck in the head by a killer’s bullet. That attack had led to a daring sting operation and the arrest of a murderer. Gabriel had recently moved into a bungalow a mile away from Mom and Dad. I was surprised to hear that he seemed to be enjoying the slower pace of life up here. In his spare time, he was helping out Guru Bob with his massive library project.
Guru Bob, by the way, was more properly known as Avatar Robson Benedict, the leader of the Fellowship for Spiritual Enlightenment and Higher Artistic Consciousness, the artsy Sonoma County commune my parents had joined years ago, back before the commune got rich from the grapevines they grew and the winery they built. Back before the commune property was incorporated and morphed into the charming town of Dharma. Back when we all lived in Airstream campers. Those were the good old days.
Mom regaled us with the antics of the Wiccans who lived in the next glen over and how they’d finally accepted her into their coven.
“Wait’ll they hear about the power of my love spell,” she said.
“Do you think they’ll elect you chief witch?” I asked.
She laughed. “Oh, sweetie, you make it sound like the PTA.” But her eyes glittered with intent as she added, “No, they’ll install me as grand raven mistress of the most high druidic pentangle, if they know what’s good for them.”
“Okay, now you’re scaring me.”
Finally, after securing Mom’s promise to call me with any news of Austin and Robin, Derek and I took off for the city, crossing the Golden Gate Bridge just before sunset.
As we wound our way through the Presidio, then onto Lombard until we reached Van Ness, my thoughts focused on Austin and Robin again. Were their paths about to merge for real? Or was it just that Mom’s ability to bust a love spell was more potent than we’d thought? Nope, I reminded myself. It wasn’t a love spell. Just some heavy-duty lust. Nothing wrong with that.