it. They’re bubbly and irrepressible, and their little shop selling charms and candles and potions… Maybe they think they’re witches. But Joe? And Cassie? And Trace? The man I flirted with and danced with and… kissed. Oh. My. God.
I lower my head to the wooden bar and slowly knock my forehead against it. Once… twice…
“Hey.”
I lift my head and peer at Trace.
“Don’t do that.” He frowns. “You’ll hurt yourself.”
“What are you doing here?”
“I had a feeling you might be here.” He slides onto the stool beside me.
“Please go away.”
“No.” He signals to the bartender, who pops right over, and orders a beer.
“What are you drinking?” he asks me.
“Peanut butter whiskey.”
He chokes. “What the…?”
I shrug. “I don’t drink hard stuff, so I thought I’d try it. Did you use your witchy powers to find me?”
“No. I used my gut instincts. They’re usually reliable.”
I close my eyes. Not only am I dumbfounded, but I’m also disappointed. I feel like I had the family I always wanted in reach… I had it. They were so nice to me, so welcoming and inclusive and… then they turn out to be a bunch of whack jobs.
I guess this is what I get for trying to add some excitement to my life.
“I never should have taken that DNA test,” I mutter, then toss back a bigger gulp of whiskey. I cough.
“Easy, beautiful.”
I shoot him a baleful look. “If there was ever a time in my life to get trashed, this is it.”
His lips twitch. “Yeah. I don’t blame you.”
I narrow my eyes. “You were all fucking with me, weren’t you? Was that some kind of weird family initiation joke?”
“No. It wasn’t a joke.”
“Shut up.”
“Will you listen to me?” His tone is mild, though his eyes still focus on me with that mesmerizing intensity that fascinated me the other night.
I swallow. My gaze hooked on his, I nod.
“Okay.” The bartender slides his beer over to him, and he curves his hands around the glass, looking down at it instead of me. “The Candler family has their idiosyncrasies. What family doesn’t? But they’re not insane. They were telling you the truth.”
I open my mouth, but when he slants me a quelling glance, I shut it.
“Can you open your mind to the possibility that magic exists?” he asks quietly. “That witches have existed throughout history?”
“In fiction.”
“And real life. But real-life witches aren’t all that different than you. We coexist happily with Ruckers. You’ve probably met witches before this.”
Her lips purse in a skeptical pout.
“Can you open your mind to the possibility that magic might live within you?”
“Oh sure. I’m the most ordinary person ever.”
“I don’t think so.”
“Did you know who I was when we met?”
“No.” He shakes his head. “I had no idea. I just knew that you were beautiful and kind and fun, and… I was incredibly attracted to you.”
I bite my lip. That was how I felt about him.
“There is magic in the world. You just have to open your eyes and your mind to it.”
This all sounds so enticing. Like something I want to believe. But I’m not a child. I’m an adult who knows what the real world is like—it’s studying, saving, doing all the right things, then watching your mom die. It’s your boyfriend dumping you because he’s bored. It’s loneliness and disappointment and tedium.
“You took a step toward creating your own life,” Trace continues, his voice deep and sure. “By taking that DNA test. You were probably terrified, weren’t you?”
I nod.
“But you did it. That’s courage. Then when you found you had a family… that was terrifying too.”
“Yes.” I let my hair fall over my face, looking down at the bar. “I found out that night we met. I was really thrown.”
“But you decided to meet Joe. That was courageous too.”
I guess.
“Your mom didn’t have that kind of courage.”
My head jerks up. “You didn’t even know my mom.”
“I know.” He holds up a hand in a placating gesture. “I’m not insulting her. But what happened when Joe told her the truth… obviously she didn’t have the courage to believe in something she’d never experienced.”
“She probably thought he was bonkers,” I mutter.
“No doubt. At least Joe didn’t have to turn her into a potato.”
“What?” I gape at him.
“It’s the law that if a witch tells a Rucker they’re a witch and that Rucker betrays them by telling another Rucker, that witch has twenty-four hours to turn the Rucker into a potato. Or they’ll be stripped of their magic and cast out. If your mom