Chapter 10 Jesse

I 'd been idling in the pharmacy parking lot across the street from Books and Broomsticks for a few minutes. Lauren had called again that morning to "make sure" I was going to swing by Zin's shop. This meant that she was prepared to coerce me. Luckily for her, she didn't have to dig into her bag of creative threats because I still felt more anticipation than dread about seeing Sam when I woke up. I was not quite as confident as my middle-of-the-night self, but I was prepared to at least satisfy my curiosity about what it would feel like to see her again.

And get the logo done. Of course, all of this is for the business, right?

I grabbed my Emberwood Dragons hat from the passenger seat and put it on, already feeling a little more like myself.

Here goes nothing.

She was dusting one of the crystal displays toward the back of the store when I walked in. The scent of whatever candles or incense she had burning took me back to eighteen almost immediately. I never really had a reason to come to her aunt's store except to see her, and I half expected a teenaged Sam to run up to me and covertly thread her fingers through mine.

That's because she didn't hate you then .

She walked toward me, feather duster in hand, and her eyes met mine too briefly for me to figure out how this was going to go. I adjusted my hat as I took her in. She still looked like the girl I had imprinted in my memory—but like now she existed in HD. Her dark curly hair was longer, and while she had the same big blue eyes and heart-shaped face, her body was now that of a modern-day pin-up girl. She had always been curvy, but Jesus. My breath tried to choke me when my eyes roamed over the rest of her.

And she's apparently trying to kill me.

I had thought she might be mad, but murder didn't really cross my mind. Her shirt dipped down low enough to show an unfortunate amount of cleavage. Only unfortunate because the memories flashing back now were far less appropriate, and I hadn't even spoken to her yet. I had a desire to stick a hoodie on her, but I just tightened my grip around my bag instead, hoping my knuckles weren't white.

"Hey, Sam. It's good to see you."