Page 48 of Impractical Magic

“I don’t think that’s a thing.” Scarlett handed the new lock set to Nate without needing to be asked. “Here you go.”

“Why thank you, intrepid assistant.”

Nate smiled, and for a moment, all her feelings of dread wilted away.

“Hey, maybe you should talk to Aphra,” he suggested.

“Aphra?”

“Yeah, she’s got the yarn place on East Street? She’s in my store all the time, looking for exotic herbs and weird items I didn’t even realize I had. Who knows, maybe she has intel about bugs, too?”

“Hmm, I guess it couldn’t hurt to ask. And I could definitely use a new friend at the moment.”

Nate studied the lock plate to make sure he’d installed it correctly. “Not really a new friend, though—you know Aphra.”

“Huh?! I don’t remember that name. Oh God.” She sighed. “On top of everything else, I’m forgetting people now?”

“Well, you know her and you don’t, I guess. I’ll let her explain it to you.” Nate stood. “Okay, you try the new key—see how I did.”

He’d done it perfectly, of course. Scarlett locked the door, then unlocked it and held it open. They stood side by side before the portal—all the trouble of Oak Haven behind them and a gleaming sunset ahead.

“It would be so easy to just step right through,” she said longingly. “Evening at the beach. What do you say?”

He lifted an eyebrow. “A little skinny-dipping?”

“Nate!” She laughed girlishly. “Oh my God.”

“Just kidding.” He sighed. “I think I better get back to work.”

“Yeah . . .” Scarlett closed the door and locked it. “Some other time.”

“You want to come along to the store?” he asked. “I’ll make coffee.”

At that moment, nothing on Earth sounded more appealing than coffee with Nate . . . except for the bit where Scarlett would have to face everyone in town who’d been alarmed, damaged, or messed with by magic today. “I think I better stay here and help Mama,” she said.

“Sure.” He nodded. “I’ll see you at the thing later. Everybody’s gonna be there.”

“The thing? What thing is happening tonight that I’m—oh! Oh, no. No, no, no, Nate, tell me they’re not doing that.”

“It’s a town crisis,” he said with a wink. “Of course, they’re doing that.”

Chapter 18: Oy, With the Flamingos Already

It was standing-room only at the Oak Haven town hall, where residents had gathered to discuss the ongoing magical calamity in their town. As town leaders, the Melroses had been key players at every meeting for centuries. Tonight, though, Delilah got to stay home and mind the hotel while Luna was still chasing a lost guest who’d stepped into his shower and ended up somewhere in Kathmandu. That left Scarlett with nothing better to do than attend. Mama announced she expected to see her middle child’s face in the crowd, no matter what.

She skulked around the block a dozen times before forcing herself to go inside.

The large, wood-paneled meeting hall was lined with folding chairs, each one occupied. More people sat on the floor and leaned against the perimeter walls.

On a modest platform at the front of the room sat Oak Haven’s Elder Council, composed of Mama Melrose and four other witches of a certain age. In the center of the platform was a podium occupied by Conrad Delmonico, Oak Haven’s cardigan-beclad town selectman. Conrad loved the rules of order more than chefs love shallots, but the crowd was agitated and rowdy, and would not be governed—not by Conrad, nor by any rules of any order.

Scarlett snuck in the back as quietly as she could—holding her breath when the door loudly squeaked. She found an open spot against the back wall and scanned the room. Her mother was up front, of course, and she saw the Earls and their spouses in a clump in the far left corner. The backs of so many heads looked familiar, calling to a section of Scarlett’s memory bank she hadn’t accessed in a decade. Nate was over on the right—his face stood out to her as though lit by spotlight. For a half-second, Scarlett considered going over to sit beside him.

Trouble was, he wasn’t alone.

He was sitting with Polly Practically Perfect and her Grumpy Goth daughter Violet. Polly leaned over to whisper in Nate’s ear. He nodded and chuckled, then whispered a response.

What the hell?! Scarlett thought. He told me he wasn’t with her!