the car, pick up my meds, and head home. I’m surprised to see several vehicles in my driveway, and it takes me a minute to recognize them as all belonging to Lucas. His prized McLaren is still safe in the garage in Chicago and will stay there until the garage is done at our new house.
“Hey.” I come in, quickly closing the door behind me. “How did all those cars get here?”
“Someone drove them,” Eliza replies, speeding in from the living room, startling me. “That’s usually how cars get from one point to another, isn’t it?” She’s wearing a floral maxi dress, and her hair is hanging straight down her back. “What, surprised to see me?”
“Yeah,” I say slowly, eyes wide. I put the tea set on the counter. “It’s daylight.”
“Is it? I didn’t notice.”
I can hear Lucas in the office, talking to someone on the phone. “Why are you here?” I ask, liking how I don’t have to sugarcoat anything with Eliza.
“I was bored and Lucas wanted some of his cars brought over here. I figured you’d want your Jeep back and I knew you’d already enchanted the windows. so I had Monica drive me.”
“Please tell me you altered her memory about the enchantments.”
“Relax. Lucas did it himself.”
“Good.”
Eliza comes around the table and looks at the box. “That’s pretty.” She picks up the tea pot and turns it over, looking at the brand. “Good find.”
“Oh, right. I forgot you collect antiques.” I sit at the table, unwrapping the teacups. “Mrs. Bishop closes her shop right at sunset, but I can go in and look for whatever it is you were collecting. Plates or something?”
“I’ve moved onto hairpins. I just found a great one on eBay. Reminds me of the summer we spent in New York City in the twenties.”
“The nineteen twenties?” I ask, since Eliza and Lucas have lived through a few sets of “twenties”.
“Yes.” Eliza smiles, long lashes fluttering. She’s drop-dead gorgeous and knows it, and if being dead suits anyone, Eliza was born to become undead. “I do miss the style sometimes.”
“Oh, we should have a twenties-themed party when the new house is done.”
Eliza gives me a look, wanting to disagree and insult my idea somehow but can’t. “That would be fun. As long as you leave most of the planning up to me.”
“Sure. As long as we can have a Clue-style murder mystery game in there, you can plan the whole thing.”
She presses her full lips together and sets the teapot down. “I suppose I could pull that off.”
“I’ve always wanted to host one of those.” I turn the sink on, letting the water warm up before washing the tea set. “And now I have a house big enough to.”
“And period appropriate,” she adds. “Kind of. You are modernizing the kitchen and bathrooms.”
“We are, but we’re keeping things as traditional as possible. Nothing will be overly contemporary.”
“Good. Lucas told me you were summoned to your coven?”
“Former coven,” I add ruefully, and look at the clock on the oven. I have to leave soon to make it to the door on time. I grab a rag from under the sink and start washing the cups. “What is Lucas doing?”
“Some sort of business deal. It has something to do with your new house. Landscaping, perhaps.”
“Oh, awesome. I didn’t even think of that.”
“Someone called right when I got here to tell him that a bunch of trees in the front yard are rotting from the inside out and need to be cut down so they don’t fall on your house the next time it storms.”
“Did they happen to say why the trees are rotting from the inside?”
“Bug maybe? It didn’t seem supernatural,” she adds, knowing exactly what I’m thinking.
“Good.” I set the clean cups on a towel spread out on the counter. Eliza watches me for a few seconds and then comes over, taking the dish towel that’s hanging on the oven, and starts drying the cups.
“Why are you really here? It wasn’t to bring my car.” I rinse the sugar bowl and put it on the towel.
Eliza takes her time drying it, running the towel over it three times before flicking her eyes to me. “I might be a little worried about you…and Lucas. Shit hit the fan, and you’re here smiling like everything is normal. And that is not normal.” Her eyes go to my stomach. “You had the most unexpected pregnancy of the century, have a group of cock-sucking vampires after both you and your husband,