By the time he was finished, Sophie’s brain was gibbering mush.
He cuddled her in tight, and then looked over her shoulder and laughed. “I guess somebody’s happy to see me.”
Sophie followed his gaze. The flowerpot sitting in her bedroom window was a riot of flowers and blooms. They were practically dancing. Wow. She hadn’t lost control of her magic that badly since… well, since the last time Mike had visited, but it had taken a lot more than a kiss then.
Her poor plant was getting a lot of exercise lately.
She was really happy to see him. However, they had a small logistics issue. “I’m packing to head to Fisher’s Cove. I’m so sorry—I obviously forgot to tell you. The trip got moved up kind of last minute.”
He kissed the top of her head. “So Jamie said. I haven’t been to witch school in a while, so I thought I might tag along for the ride.”
He was coming to Nova Scotia? With her? Sophie gulped. That was serious. She tipped up her head to look at him, a question in her eyes.
The answer in his was clear. Yes, this was a big deal—and he knew it.
~ ~ ~
Elorie grabbed the vase just before it tumbled off the table. “Sean James O’Reilly, since when does dusting involve knocking things on the ground?”
“It’s okay,” Lizzie said, popping up the last two stairs. “He’s getting pretty good at repair spells. I bet he could fix it just like new if it broke.”
“That’s no excuse,” Elorie said, trying not to grin. She whacked Sean on the head with a pillow and winced as she barely missed the vase herself. It was hard to model good housecleaning behavior when she really just wanted to goof off too. It was her first full day back home, and vacuuming hadn’t been in her plans.
However, the witch deluge was descending tomorrow, and Aaron would accept no less than perfection in each and every guestroom. Not that she disagreed with him. She just wasn’t thrilled about leading the commandeered cleaning crew.
“Have you finished fluffing all the pillows, Lizzie?”
“Uh, huh. And Kevin is bringing some nice books over for everybody. Aaron only has books for old people, so we’re sharing some of our kid books.”
True—with Ginia and Aervyn coming, the inn would likely end up full of kids. Elorie shrugged and picked up the flower vase. They might as well start witchling-proofing now.
Aaron came up the steps with a fresh set of linens. “Small change of plans, troops. We’re going to need one more room set up—apparently Sophie is bringing a guest, so they’ll be staying with us, too.”
Usually Sophie stayed in Gran’s tiny guestroom, but that wasn’t what attracted Elorie’s attention. “Sophie’s bringing someone?”
Aaron winked. “Some guy named Mike.”
“Sophie’s bringing a guy?” That was hard to imagine. There had been no end of matchmaking efforts over the years, but Sophie had always been far more interested in her plants and potions. “Does Gran know?” Gran’s sense of propriety was a little old-fashioned, and she loved Sophie dearly.
“She does.” Aaron grinned. “She says to make sure they have a bottle of her special cider waiting.”
Elorie felt her jaw hit the floor. Gran made only a few bottles of her bespelled sparkling cider each year, and it was a major occasion when one got opened. Not only did she know of Sophie’s guest, but clearly she approved.
Fascinating.
Elorie took the linens from her husband as Kevin arrived with an armful of books. “We’ll take care of this. Sheets are hard to break.” She signaled to her witchlings. Time for a magic lesson.
“Okay, you three. I want you to put the new linens on this bed.” She waited a beat, just long enough to see Sean’s scowl forming. “No hands. Show me how your circle work is coming.”
Sean grinned. “Easy, peasy.”
Elorie doubted it, but one of the first rules of being a witch trainer was to lay down the rules and then get out of the way. “No spellcasting, either. I want you to do this as a team. Spell out loud so I can tell what you’re doing, but no other talking.”
She watched as they called power and linked together with ease. That much, she expected. It was the next part she thought might challenge their teamwork.
Judging from their configuration, Kevin and Lizzie had automatically defaulted power to Sean. That alone would probably dig them into trouble. Sean sailed into his first spell: