Chapter Two

“ Y ou want me to wear this on my date?” Izzy pointed to the outfit Harper had insisted on picking out for her—a sky blue sweater, dark acid-wash jeans, and chunky brown ankle boots— and then resumed playing This Little Piggie with Alana.

“No, to go in and sign up. There’s an orange sheet by the register that says Pumpkin Spice and Speed Dating. You would have seen it if you hadn’t been wearing your Heartbreak Goggles since you got here. Oh, Aidan, come on! Ten more minutes for mommy. This kid. I’m going to get a blockage.” Harper tried to cajole her son into nursing for longer.

“Can’t hubby magic that out for you?” Izzy replied snidely. The “Heartbreak Goggles” remark hurt, and she felt like hurting back.

“That’s not how magic works. If you’re going to live here, you might want to learn a little bit about the basics,” Harper answered in a clipped voice that instantly evoked feelings of guilt.

“Sorry. I love the outfit. If I’m going to wear this just to sign up, what the heck am I going to wear to the actual dating thing?”

“A little black dress. Something clingy. You’ve got a great figure.” Harper disappeared under a nursing blanket.

“Mommy’s lost her little mind.” Izzy blew a raspberry on her niece’s tummy and melted at the cascade of gurgling giggles that followed. “A little black dress? In a coffee shop?”

“Hey, the autumn season is like one long Christmas Eve in this town, okay?”

“What’s Christmas Eve like?”

“Magical, no pun intended.” Harper reappeared, her hair mussed, dark circles under her eyes seeming more prominent.

Okay. So magic doesn’t solve everyone’s problems. Izzy bit her lip as she watched her sister struggling with her stubborn nephew. “Can Alban make me a love spell?” she asked suddenly, voice tiny and guilt-ridden.

Harper’s eyes widened. “No. no, Izzy, you wouldn’t want that. Love spells are powerful magic, dark magic if it’s forced. Alban would give a couple a love spell as an anniversary gift, something they could mutually use to enhance their feelings of love, to increase something that’s naturally there. Trying to force it onto a person would—”

“Stop. Stop, you don’t have to make me feel like a criminal,” Izzy halted her sister’s horrified explanation, her cheeks hot with embarrassment. I’m not so desperate that I would trick a man into staying with me, am I? No. But then, how does this magical night of dating work?

“Sorry, sweetie. Look, when Alban and I started dating, you know I didn’t think magic was real. Even when I first started to believe in it, I thought it was just basic stuff like burning candles and herbs, rubbing lucky crystals.” Harper’s eyes narrowed. “You’re the biggest skeptic I know. Why did you believe me when I told you about Alban’s family? About this place?”

“I have a better question— why are you asking me two years later?” Izzy laughed as she held out her arms for a squirming Aidan. “Trade you?”

“I guess. Maybe he has your metabolism. You can live on cereal and coffee.” Harper switched twins with Izzy. “As for why I didn’t ask sooner... you were the only person I dared to tell. You were the only person I thought might believe me, and when you did I was too grateful to ask questions.”

Dang, her sister was good. Izzy’s annoyance at this whole contrived situation melted. “Same deal. You were the only person I would believe. You told me and I didn’t get what it meant, but I believed you. And then there was the thing with the grill.” Izzy shook her head at the memory. Shortly after her sister’s confession that her new fiance was a warlock, they had gone to Lake Wesauking for the weekend. Travis hadn’t been with them, claiming he had to help his dad with a big construction bid. When they pulled up to their rented cabin, they were confronted with a grill that had been left sputtering and smoking underneath the shingled porch overhang. With one hoarse cry and a flash of his hand, Alban had put out the flames. It had been a panicked, gut reaction, but Izzy couldn’t argue with her own eyes.

“So you trusted me then. Trust me now. There are so many nice guys in Pine Ridge who are looking for love.”

“Uh-huh. You’ve mentioned. And my skeptical ass—”

“Language!” Harper glared and pointed her chin at the babies.

Izzy closed her eyes. “My skeptical behind wants to know why. Why is this the hunk-of-the-month club? I know it’s a small town, but it isn’t exactly Hallmark around here.”

“Trust issues.”

“Who? Me or them?” Izzy demanded, cuddling Aidan on her lap.

“Both, but in this case I meant them.”

“Why the he-heck would you want to set me up with a guy who has trust issues?” Izzy caught the slip of her tongue just in time, but she had a feeling the next time she wouldn’t be so lucky. What in the world was Harper thinking?

“Not everyone! But some of these guys have trust issues with the outside world, as in they fear exposing their secret magical heritage to skeptics who will mock them or scientists who might want to dissect them! This event is a nice way to let them meet someone who is cool with the Pine Ridge vibe. That’s you.”

Izzy said nothing, silently freeing her ginger waves from Aidan’s chubby fist. Harper had a point. She was cool with the idea of a peaceful magical community, having lived in one for a few months and having been associated with one for a few years with nothing but positive outcomes.

Seeing the gap in the conversation, something that rarely happened when both sisters were together, Harper pushed on as she lounged back, Alana nursing contentedly under a soft gray and pink blanket. “When you go to the speed-dating night, all you do is ask for the beverage at the top of the sheet. What’s on the Saturday Speed Dating sheet this week?”

“Pumpkin spice, I think you said.”

“Right, so if your name is on the sheet and you ask for pumpkin spice anything, you’ll get one with an enhancing potion.”

Enhancing potion?

Okay, so she was heartbroken but she wasn’t dead. It had been months since she’d had any bedroom attention and the only images conjured from the words “enhancing potion” involved male anatomy. “What does that do?”

“Not what you’re thinking it does!” Harper knew her far too well. “Remember how I said love spells were dangerous? An enhancing spell is the way to go. Enhancing potions, a liquid herbal concoction that’s been enchanted, will enhance the positive characteristics of the person drinking it. So instead of being shy and awkward on your first date, all of the qualities you already have will really shine. You’ll be the funniest, smartest, sexiest girl in Pine Ridge. And you’ll be talking to guys with their best foot—or hoof—forward.”

Izzy rose and collected her sister’s outfit of choice, her cheeks working, torn between laughing and sobbing. Maybe I’m in a bad dream. Because this can’t be real.

But it was real. Her sane, logical sister was sitting there, nursing her half-warlock babies, and talking to her about dudes with— “Did you say hooves?”

“They have intelligence and emotions equal to ours. What does it matter if their DNA is a little screwy? Or demon-y?”

“Aren’t demons evil?”

“Well. Not around here.”

“I don’t think I’m signing up.”

“I SIGNED YOU UP.”

“You what ??” Izzy screeched, almost losing her grip on her Pine Loft To-Go refillable mug of cinnamon streusel coffee.

“I signed you up after I looked at the list this morning. Alban’s working from home today, so he told me to go get myself some coffee and visit the bookshop. Oh, also, I ran into Judy Macleod, the lady who runs the preschool where we plan to send Aidan and Alana next year. She wants you to submit an application since one of their teachers is going on extended maternity leave soon. I told her you had your degree in literacy education.”

“But I’m subbing at the cyber school, remember?” Izzy shook her head, dumbfounded. She was still stuck on her sister signing her up. The nerve of some people. Did exposure to magic make you more pushy?

“You wanted to teach.”

“Subbing is teaching!”

“Subbing at the cyber school means you grade all the independent assignments the sick teacher left and fill out data sheets on who logged in. You love kids . You should be with kids. You should teach itty-bitty kids how to read and learn their letters and become book nerds like you.”

“That... doesn’t sound bad. But the other thing. Let’s go back to the other thing,” Izzy slurped her coffee and felt the spice and sugar fortify her. She was ready to battle Ms. Perfect-Yet-Pushy. “I told you I didn’t want to be signed up. You did it anyway. Now you can go back and un-sign me up.”

“You didn’t want to go because I mentioned guys with hooves. First, I think that’s something you’re going to need to get over if you live here, and second... there were no guys with hooves on that list. None that I recognized, anyway. Besides, if you’re nervous about meeting supernatural species—”

“This conversation shouldn’t even exist,” moaned Izzy, yanking open her laptop.

Harper continued blithely, “If you’re nervous about meeting supernatural species, then this is perfect for you! You’ll get to talk to town guys for twelve minutes each. If you like them, you can meet up later on for an actual full-length date.”

“How will I know what species I’m talking to?” Izzy asked, rubbing her temple. “Is it on a card somewhere? Do we have name tags? Does mine say ‘human’?”

Harper’s voice dipped a few degrees, sending frost through the airwaves. “If you have a good time with a sweet, funny, intelligent guy, should it matter if he’s part incubus on his mom’s side or a vampire twice-removed?”

“Is that even a thing?”

Harper groaned. “Look, I’m parking at the bookstore now. You are an educator. Your job is to teach respect and kindness to all people. Pine Ridge is the perfect example of that. Also... I saw the way your eyes turned into saucers when you heard about ‘enhancing potions.’ Let me tell you, Vanessa Kane—you know her, she lives next door? She is married to a dragon shifter. Girl, some women don’t need enhancing potions. Mmhmm. Not at all. Ooh, so she said dragon shifters can use their—”

“Stop! Stop right there, Harper. You’re horny and sleep-deprived. I’m hanging up. Love you. Get a nap... and then get Alban. I’ll babysit.”

“I’ll take you up on that, and you’d better take me up on this chance to get to know some people. Maybe even get a little action.”

“How can you say that? I just broke up. I just —”

“No. Honey, you broke up over three months ago. What are you going to do? Stay miserable forever?” Harper’s voice faded as she shifted around, getting out of the car. “You know, it can just be coffee with some neighbors.”

“Neighbors?” Izzy knew her voice was a mere screech. “I don’t want to date anyone who lives in my building. Oh, God, they see me in my depression hoodie and my—”

“Not your literal neighbors, Izzy! You could look at it like getting coffee with people in your town. You know, going to a social function and mingling, talking to a few people.” The car door slammed and Izzy could hear Harper’s voice drop as she entered the bookstore. “It’s a cup of coffee, Izzy. It’s not a mythic quest to find Mr. Right. Will you please think about it?”

Izzy spoke in a sullen voice, lower lip out, pouting where no one could see her. “You’re right. I’m being stupid. I’ll go and get coffee. I mean, I love pumpkin spice with a cinnamon whip. Put me in some leggings and call me Ms. Basic.”

“It’s okay to want cozy pants and yummy drinks, Iz. I’ll talk to you soon?”

“Love you. Talk soon.”

Izzy hung up the phone, the screen going back to its factory pre-set image of her carrier’s logo and nature pics. It had been a picture of her and Travis at a hockey game just after they’d moved in together, but she had finally deleted the painful reminder.

“Hm. Not a mythic quest for Mr. Right. Dragons be damned, the real mythic part of that sentence is ‘Mr. Right.’ No such creature.” Izzy flopped back on the couch, ignoring her laptop and the mindless grading she had to do for work she hadn’t even taught. Her chin nudged its way into her chest and she stared at the frayed waistband on her sweatpants.

Why can I believe in magic... but not love? Ha. It’s easier to believe in dragons than a guy I can trust.

Her mind reeled off course. Dragon. A literal dragon.

If she hadn’t cut her off, what would Harper have said about Vanessa Kane’s husband, Mr. Dragon? She was sure she’d seen him getting the mail one afternoon, a handsome man with a long braid of dark hair and wide shoulders.

The area beneath her sweatpants pulsed with a sudden, unfamiliar heat.

Travis, the guy she had chosen for his complete and utter lack of risk had dumped her and upset all of her plans without even talking it over.

Who was to say that some second cousin to a werewolf wouldn’t be better? Or at least better in bed.

Travis had been her only lover, and he had been comfortable and predictable. Even enjoyable. But that was it, and that was enough at the time. It met her goal of safety if not satisfaction.

Still.

If she wasn’t going to look for Mr. Right, at least she could look for a hot hook-up with Mr. Right Now .