He had also warned her not to let Angie know—about anything. Claudia couldn’t help wondering why.
All the tables were pushed together and Chris had baked a cake. Angie was setting the last place when the door opened. They weren’t expecting guests for another hour, and Claudia thought she’d have to shoo out a customer who was ignoring the sign.
Tory stepped in and Angie dashed over to him, jumping into his arms. He caught her easily, and they hugged each other like neither one would ever let go.
Claudia couldn’t help smiling as she witnessed the happy homecoming. “Um. I’ll just step into the office for a few minutes,” she said.
Neither one of them looked her way.
She closed the office door behind her and pulled a chair around the desk so she could whisper to Anthony. She knew enough about paranormals to realize they had superior hearing.
“Why can’t Angie know about Tory? What does she think happened to him?”
Anthony laid down his pen and took Claudia’s hands in his.
“Promise you won’t get mad?”
“Mad? Why would I—Oh. You think I’ll react badly if you insult Angie.”
“No.” He took a deep breath. “You already reacted badly.”
“Huh?”
“The incident I’m going to tell you about happened a year ago. You don’t remember it because…well, Kurt and Sly took care of that.”
Her eyes widened. “You mean my memory was erased? The same way you said you could erase memories if you had to?”
“Yes. Are you sure you want me to tell you more?”
“Are you kidding? You’d better tell me all of it now.”
He looked like he was trying to stifle a smile. “When Brandee and Angie lived together, Angie overheard a conversation between Brandee and Nick. He was trusting his girlfriend at the time with sensitive information but didn’t realize her best friend and roommate was hearing every word. Well, Angie went a little nuts. She disappeared for a night, and when she returned, she’d made a decision to break her promise to Brandee and tell you all about it.”
“Me?”
“Yes. She felt that as the manager, you needed to know the bar had paranormal patrons. She even outed me.”
“Oh!”
“Yeah. Well, you called an emergency staff meeting and asked who else knew about this. Apparently you weren’t convinced Angie was in her right mind, but you were willing to hear her out and see if there was anything to it.”
“That sounds like me.”
“Yes. And it’s one of the things that makes you a great manager. However, one of the waitresses freaked out and went screaming out of the office, telling everyone in the bar that vampires and werewolves were invading Boston.”
“Let me guess. Robin?”
“Yes.” He chuckled.
“And that’s funny, because…”
“Well, because the damage control was successful. Believe me, if it hadn’t been contained, I wouldn’t be laughing about it. I might not even be here. Remember my so-called business partner?”
Claudia tossed her hair over one shoulder and couldn’t wait to show Anthony how well she was able to handle the paranormal. Telepathically, she said, Oh. You mean Mother Nature?
Anthony’s jaw dropped. “You know about Gaia?”
Yes. She visited me last night. We had a very interesting conversation. That’s one of the things I was going to tell you about later.
He took a moment to recover and she couldn’t help gloating a little bit inside. See darling? I may be handling the paranormal end of things better than you think.
“I should say so. What did Gaia tell you?”
Just that I shouldn’t talk about the paranormal with anyone but you. She made me pinkie swear.
Anthony laughed out loud. “Pinkie swear? Really?”
Claudia sat up straight. “Yeah. She understood I’d have to confide in someone, and she said I could talk to you…but never to let anyone else overhear us. Now I know why.”
“Wow. I guess she must really like you. She threatened to leave me stranded high in the Alps if I told anyone.”
Claudia shrugged. “Maybe I proved myself trustworthy.”
“I’d say there’s no maybe about it.” He smiled and raised her hand to his lips.
“So…paranormals,” she continued. “Are you going to fill me in on our guests?”
He hesitated but only for a moment. “We’d better do it telepathically so no one can hear us.”
Perfect. Okay. So who’s who?
“Before I tell you anything, I want you to remember you’ve counted most of them as friends for a long time. I don’t want that to change.”
Neither do I.
“All right.” Anthony rubbed her palms with his thumbs. “If you think you can handle it, I’ll start small. Tory is a shapeshifting coyote. Angie may never know that. He doesn’t have to shift during a full moon as a werewolf does, and he doesn’t need to drink blood or stay away from sunlight. In essence, he can live his entire life as a normal man if he chooses to.”
For Angie’s sake, I hope that’s what he decides to do.
“For everyone’s sake, I think he will.”
Okay. One down. Who’s next? Claudia asked.
“You know Brandee is special, but she didn’t used to be. She was as human as you and Angie until she and Nick were engaged.”
So what happened?
“Gaia needed a new muse and offered her a position as muse of photography. Wait, it was more than that. Muse of still and moving images, I think.”
Considering Brandee’s career in photography, that makes sense. But did that happen after she and Nick got together, because she proved herself trustworthy with a secret of his?
“Bingo.”
So, Nick’s a…
“Nick’s a werewolf.”
Claudia tried to let that sink in. Okay. Yeah. That makes sense. He’s a big man and he’d have to let Brandee know why he couldn’t be with her during full moons. Right?
“I’m sure that was part of it. I was with him when he told her everything, just in case.”
In case her memory needed a “do-over”?
Anthony chuckled. “Yes. He even shifted in front of her and let her see his other form. She was naturally nervous but accepted him fully.”
Wow. That took guts on both their parts.
“Yes. But she had to know the truth. And he wanted her to see that she was perfectly safe with him in either form. I hope you know his guarantee of safety includes you and everyone here.”
I don’t doubt it.
“You should also know he helped me get Boston Uncommon off the ground. He, like me, had a vision of paranormals meeting in a safe space and getting to know each other as friends.”
It seems to have worked.
“Yes, but there are still some age-old rivalries out there. We don’t run around recruiting hostile factions and try to play diplomat. We’re just available for those who want to get along.”
That sounds like the best way to handle it.
Anthony gave her a smile that spoke of genuine admiration. “You really are amazing, you know that?” he said out loud.