to decide if I should laugh, but receiving no visual cue that she was kidding, I moved right on to the scowl that was rapidly freezing deep crevices between my brows. Sometimes known as WTF lines.
Since I’d been complimented on my diplomacy, a precedent had been set. Now that I had a reputation to maintain, I couldn’t be as forthright as I wanted to be. So, I chose my words carefully, staking out a position that was agreeable with not much commitment behind it.
“That’s a strange beginning. I’ve come a long way to see what this is all about. So, of course, I’m going to hear what you have to say.”
Lochlan nodded, seeming satisfied with that. “I’m holding you to it.”
“Very well.”
He turned to Maggie. “See? No reason to tie her up.” Thanks to my very expressive face he saw the shock that registered and laughed. “Be at peace, Rita Hayworth. It’s merely my offbeat Yorkshire sense of humor.” Seeing the light in his eyes I relaxed slightly, but not completely. He turned to Maggie again. “Did you bring the shoes?”
Without a word Maggie pushed her chair back, rose, and left the room.
“How have you been enjoying your life so far?” It was question posed far too casually for the very profound subtext.
“Well. It’s had its ups and downs. Honestly. I’m trying to decide if I’m in the middle of an up or a down.”
“What if I told you that your understanding of reality is only half complete?”
“I would wonder what you’re selling for $19.95.”
“What?” He squinted.
“Never mind. I guess you have to be American.”
He nodded. “The fact is that everything you think you know about the world is about to change. Tonight. Over coffee.”
I looked around the room as I muttered, “But wait. There’s more.”
“I beg your pardon?”
“Nothing.”
Maggie returned carrying the red shoes that I’d admired in the shop window. The ones she’d said were mine.
This was not beginning the way I’d imagined. I’d thought a staid and stuffy lawyer would read the terms of inheritance while I sat up straight and tried to appear smarter than I am. My mind was racing, trying to find a connection between glittery red shoes, inheriting a shop and residence in a pretty English village, and having my world rocked; the last dependent on Lochlan making good on his promise to upend my view of reality.
“Look…” I began.
Lochlan raised his hand just enough to stop me before I said whatever I was going to say.
“Do you believe in magic?” he asked.
I looked from him to Maggie, who’d reseated herself across the table from me. Whatever was happening, Maggie was definitely in on it.
“Like Mickey Mouse having a broom carry water?” I ventured.
Lochlan looked at Maggie as if he needed an interpreter. She shrugged as if to say she was every bit as clueless as he.
“I do not know the reference, but I suspect my meaning isn’t that,” he said. “What I mean to have you understand is that there are people and creatures you probably believe to be myths, or fiction, that are as real as you. Living right alongside humans with humans none the wiser.”
I was trying to estimate how quickly I could get from my chair in the dining room to the front door when I remembered that I’d promised to hear the man out. Not that a promise should necessarily be my bond. I’d once promised my parents I’d never smoke a joint of demon weed. I’d promised my soon-to-be ex that I wouldn’t go over the budget he set for our daughter’s prom dress. When I stopped to think about it, my life was a path strewn with broken promises.
Oh God. I was a terrible person.
“Rita?”
Caught not listening, I jerked back to the moment at hand.
“Here,” I said dumbly as if Lochlan had been saying ‘Bueller’ over and over.
“Are you following so far?” he asked.
Several heartbeats passed while I grappled with how to answer. When nothing brilliant arrived on my mental horizon, I went with, “Not really. No. I came here for what I thought was a semi-legal meeting, but the evening has taken a bizarre turn. Conversationally. Magic? And creatures living among us? This has all the ear markings of a prank. But I don’t know anybody rich enough to spend this kind of money on a joke.” I looked around. “Are there cameras? Is this being recorded? If you’re going to want to know if I’ll give my permission to use this on TV, I’ll tell