Chapter 24

Once again, Ephie had drifted off before Remy and, once again, she'd woken up before him. She'd made coffee, and as much as she wanted to sit outside on that gorgeous patio, she wasn't going to.

She'd told him she wouldn't go out alone, and she was going to stick to that, even if he wouldn't know the difference.

It was a little like being under house arrest, but she understood the reasoning. Over dinner last night, Remy had told her about the SUV with stolen plates. There was a good chance Turner's men had tracked her here. All the way to Remy's house.

That stupid phone.

Taking chances might be fine for someone like Remy, who had the benefit of his vampire powers to give him an edge in dangerous situations, but her skills were … meh, at best.

Even so, there was a part of her that really wanted to go to the coven meeting tonight to see what it was like. A big part of her. She'd never been to one, and she had been invited.

Remy would be at work. Maybe if he drove her and picked her up and she promised never to be alone, he'd think it was safe enough. Birdie had promised to stay with her, too. Although Birdie probably couldn't go to the coven meeting, seeing as she was a werewolf and not a witch. Ephie knew a little more about witches than she did vampires, and that seemed like a given.

She carried her coffee cup to the front windows. Being stuck inside on such a pretty day felt like punishment, even knowing the reason for it.

Not even Jean-Luc wanted to hang out. He was sleeping with Remy. She'd checked.

She sighed and peeked through the blinds. A car had pulled into the driveway behind Remy's SUV.

Ephie smiled as a blue-haired woman got out. She was carrying a cloth shopping tote that looked full. Ephie went to the front door, unlocked it, and swung it open. "Hi, Birdie," she whispered as loudly as she dared.

Birdie came up the front porch steps. "Hi, Ephie. I hope you don't mind the visit, but I had an idea, and I thought you might be bored with Remy sleeping."

"A little. I have work I could do, but it's hard to be inside on a day like this."

"Should we go out to the back again like yesterday then? I don't want to wake Remy."

Ephie made a judgment call. "Okay, let's do that." She wasn't going out there by herself. She was going with a werewolf. Remy could fuss about it all he wanted, but a werewolf was pretty good protection. "You go on through, and I'll fix you a cup of coffee."

"Perfect," Birdie said.

When Ephie brought the coffee out, her own cup refilled, Birdie was at the table, her shopping bag by her feet. She put the cup in front of Birdie. "Here you go."

"Thank you." Birdie left the cup on the table and reached into her bag. "I have just the thing to go with this coffee."

"You do?"

"Yep." She set three boxes of various sizes on the table. "I figured since you can't really go out, I'd bring some of our town's best treats to you."

"And you're not going to get into trouble because you aren't at work?" Ephie liked Birdie a lot. She didn't want to be the reason the woman's responsibilities were ignored at the sheriff"s department.

"I promised I'd be back in an hour." Birdie winked. "Or two. Now, first we have doughnuts from Zombie Donuts. They're just the best. They used to be made by a necromancer, but now they're made by a winter elf. I got an assortment, since I didn't know what you liked."

Ephie didn't quite know what to say.

Birdie opened the first box, revealing a dozen delicious doughnuts with everything from chocolate to sprinkles to colorful icing on top.

The smell made Ephie's mouth water. "Those all look amazing."

Birdie grinned and added a stack of paper napkins next to the box. "Of course, if you're in the mood for something different than doughnuts, we have one of Mummy's Diner's famous cinnamon buns."

"Just one?" That surprised Ephie. After all, the first box had a dozen doughnuts. One cinnamon bun seemed a little lacking by comparison.

Birdie snorted. "One is plenty." She opened the second box, proving her point.

"That's one?" Thick white frosting enrobed a massive swirl of pastry dough that had been generously spread with cinnamon. The aroma of pastry and butter mixed with the cinnamon nearly had Ephie drooling.

"Yep." Birdie brought out more paper napkins along with two packages of plastic utensils.

"Wow."

"This last box isn't really breakfast food, but I had to bring you some anyway. These are all handmade chocolates from Delaney's Delectables. She's a vampire. The flavor combinations will knock you out. I got the spring sampler. There are strawberry and basil creams, agave pear jellies, salted raspberry dark chocolate truffles, peach and ginger bombs in white chocolate, and these new lemongrass creams that I am currently crazy about."

Ephie sat in amazement. "You have all of this here, in this town? Not to mention that ice cream we had the first night. And I thought New Orleans had some good food."

Birdie looked pleased with herself and rightly so. "What should we start with?"

"How about a doughnut? They're the easiest to eat and the most like breakfast food. Although that cinnamon bun is a very close second."

"You pick a doughnut, and I'll cut us each a wedge of cinnamon bun."

"Deal." Ephie picked a chocolate glazed doughnut that had been filled with something. The glaze was sprinkled with chopped peanuts, which made sense as soon as she took a bite. The filling was peanut butter whipped cream. "Oh, man. I love chocolate and peanut butter together. That combo of salt and sweet is so good."

"I'm glad you like it." Birdie put a slice of cinnamon bun on a napkin for Ephie. "Here you go." She handed her a plastic fork, too.

"I'm going to be in sugar overload."

Birdie grabbed a doughnut slathered with hot-pink frosting and pink, white, and green sprinkles. "You say that like it's a bad thing."

Ephie laughed. "What flavor is that?"

"Snozzberry. It's a combination of strawberry and lime. It's delicious."

"This town is so cool." Ephie took another bite of her doughnut.

"You haven't even scratched the surface. Maybe you should stick around a while."

Ephie nodded. "It's already occurred to me that moving here could be good in all kinds of ways. That would mean moving away from my mother, which wouldn't be the worst thing, but I'd be moving away from my grandmother, too. And that I'd be less happy about. A lot less happy."

Birdie nodded thoughtfully. "I can understand how that would be tough." She sipped her coffee. "Are you going to the coven meeting tonight?"

"I don't know. I'd like to, but I think Remy would feel better if I stayed home."

"You'd be surrounded by women more than capable of protecting you."

"I'm guessing that wouldn't include you?"

Birdie shook her head before picking up her piece of cinnamon bun. "No, but they aren't allowed to come to pack meetings, either."

"Makes sense. I'll talk to him. See what he thinks. I was hoping if he drove me and picked me up, and you were here at the house to hang out with me while he's at work, he might be all right with that."

"Whatever you need. Let me know." She wiped her mouth, then opened her purse. "That reminded me that this is another reason I came. The report on the plate he sent me last night."

Ephie frowned. "He didn't mention that to me."

"Probably didn't want to worry you. And I can see why. It wasn't anything. Just a rental car rented locally. Town's full of those."

"No big deal then."

"Not that I can see."

"Did you happen to see who it was rented to?"

Birdie opened the paper. "It was reserved with a credit card in the name Dee Mills. Mean anything to you?"

"Nothing. I'll be sure to give it to Remy, though."

"Thanks. Listen, if you want to go tonight, I'm sure Pandora would pick you up and drop you off again. And I'll be here whenever you want me to be."

"I really appreciate it. I'll talk to Remy and let you know."

"Sounds good."

They ate some more of the treats she'd brought, finishing up the coffee, too. Jean-Luc appeared in the yard, having apparently walked through the wall that separated Remy's bedroom from the backyard.

Birdie still couldn't see him unless he was fully materialized.

After a little more small-talk, Birdie sighed. "I hate to run, but I should get back. You wouldn't believe how cranky my nephew can get."

"A cranky werewolf doesn't sound like a good thing."

Birdie grinned as she got to her feet. "I can handle him. But it's not good for his blood pressure. You enjoy the rest of these goodies, and I'll talk to you soon. I can see myself out through the side gate."

Ephie jumped up. "Thank you so much for coming by. I really enjoyed talking to you. And everything you brought was just great. As soon as all this nonsense is over, I would love to take you to lunch."

"Well, we'd better get this nonsense over with, then." Birdie hugged her, then headed for the gate. "Bye, Ephie."

"Bye, Birdie."

As soon as the gate closed, Ephie closed all the boxes, stacked them up, and took them, the report Birdie had brought for Remy, and the two coffee cups back inside.

Jean-Luc, evidently bored with the hunting of insects, came in with her.

She set the boxes on the kitchen counter before putting the coffee cups in the sink. She left the report on the table. Then she went back to the guest room and fired up her laptop. Might as well get some work done.

As she was getting ready to check her email, she got a text from her mom.

How are things? All's gone quiet here. Not sure if I should be more worried about that or less. Tell me you're all right.

I'm fine, Ephie texted back. All quiet here too. Glad you're good.

So am I. Still not sure it's safe for you to come home. Are you going to be all right there for a few more days?

Ephie smiled as she thought about the man sleeping in the room next door. I'll be just fine.