CHAPTER6
The next morning, Mia sent a message to Blake telling her she’d be in tomorrow to manage the weekend parties. The response was curt. Mia inferred that Blake had begun to think that Mia had decided she was too good for the job. After a couple of paragraphs ranting about the coven, Blake ended the email with the words “Have a good day off.”
Mia blinked at the one line of positivity. Was it snide? Or was Blake actually wishing her well? She decided she’d take it at face value but watch Blake tomorrow for retribution for being off for three days.
Life was never boring around there.
Her cell rang and she saw the name: Trent. She answered the call with, “I’m so glad to hear from you. I miss you horribly.”
“Nice to know, but I’m sure I’m not the one you miss.” Sarah Baldwin was on the other end of the line. “I took a chance to give you a call because the baby isdown for a nap and our evil overlord is studying her lesson plan for today before she calls us out to the backyard for our daily torture. Your guy is doing well, dealing with all these females in the house.”
“Sarah, it is nice to hear from you, and it has been a while since I’ve seen you.” Mia tried to backtrack on her first greeting.
“At least you didn’t tell me what you were wearing.” Sarah giggled.
Mia snorted. “I’m in yoga pants and a Boise State sweatshirt. How about you?”
“Jeans and a polo that Em just threw up on. Typical mom uniform.” Sarah answered with the truth.
“Em?”
“Elisa Marie. We’ve been calling her Em for the last few months. I have no idea why, except I used the initials on my lists, and now she kind of likes it. Kids make their own world, right? Anyway, I won’t keep you. The dragon lady’s coming for me soon. I wanted to thank you for feeding Mark yesterday. I worry about him not eating.”
“He came to interrogate me about the recent death and my role in it. Offering food was only polite.” Mia smiled. “Besides, it was my lunch time too. He might have planned the visit that way.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. Anyway, thank you. I’ll keep Trent out of trouble here for you. Sonja is really pulling out all the tricks to try to get him alone. In fact, the house is too quiet right now. I’ll go break up her evil plans.”
Mia laughed and was about to tell Sarah that Trentcould take care of himself, but she’d already hung up. Sarah took her promises seriously.
She went into the living room and picked up the novel she’d been trying to finish for a few weeks. She’d given Damien the books on the academy structure last night, before he’d left to go to Grans’s house to sleep. Grans was working in the potion lab again this morning. Mia wasn’t sure what she was mixing up, but now she had at least a few hours this morning to read.
She was going to take advantage of it. Like Sarah did when Em—Mia loved that nickname—took a nap. With Trent on her mind thanks to Sarah’s call, she snapped a picture of the book sitting on the couch and sent it to him with a caption, “My Day.”
A text came back quickly.Lucky. I hear it’s a good book.
He sent nothing else.
Whatever. She set the phone on the coffee table and curled up with the book. Sometime later, she noticed that Mr. Darcy had curled up with her. She rubbed his soft ears before returning to reading. Her life didn’t have enough quiet times like this.
When the apartment door opened, Grans came in, her hair wild and slipping out of the clip she’d put it in that morning. Her shirt was stained with some kind of purple goop and she had a pen behind one ear. “You look comfortable. Nothing to do today?”
“Lots to do today, but the last two hours have been peaceful for me. Trouble in the lab?” Mia put in a bookmark and stretched as she stood, getting a dirty look from Mr. Darcy.
“The lab’s fine. The protection spell took care of that. Do you want to start lunch while I take a shower? This inquisition spell is starting to make me queasy.” She looked at Muffy, who’d just got up from his nap. “I suppose you need to go outside?”
The little white dog wagged his tail and barked.
“I’ll get him. He’s been sleeping all morning and I didn’t even realize he was in the apartment.” Mia whisked him up under her arm. “I can get some steps in. Tacos for lunch?”
“Sounds lovely if you can make some Spanish rice to go with it. I’m starving. I didn’t eat much at dinner last night. Dorian can drive me crazy at times.” Grans paused in the hallway to her room. “Thank you for taking him in. I appreciate you getting involved in all this.”
“He and Mr. Darcy are buddies. I guess I don’t have a choice but to call him my friend too.” Mia watched as a glop of whatever Grans had been working on moved its way down her shirt. “Throw your clothes into the wash. I’ll make sure they get in the dryer after lunch. I’m going to work on a design for a workout room on the second floor. Who knows how long I’m going to be here, and if Trent moves in, he’ll need one like the one he has in his house.”
“That’s thoughtful. See you in a few.” Grans had already turned and was out of sight.
Mia would pull Nathan aside and ask him about what it might cost to put this vision into reality. She could talk to Trent tonight about what he wanted in a home gym. It would be an excuse to call him.
Muffy ran out the door and frolicked in the front yard. As he turned to come back in, he paused and waited for a car to arrive. When Damien stepped out of his car and came up to the door, Muffy attacked him, begging to be picked up.