He laughed. “She sounds like a piece of work.”
The waitress brought their drinks and took their orders.
“Oh, she definitely was,” Mandaline continued once they were alone again.” Her expression turned sad. “I thought I loved Carl, but I finally couldn’t take it anymore. I know most Christians are really nice, sweet, live-and-let-live kinds of people. I even have plenty who I read Tarot for. She wasn’t.”
Her expression darkened. “And Carl wouldn’t even stand up to her for me. So I ended up divorcing his ass. His parents had money and paid for his divorce, meaning I got screwed. I finally ended up just walking away and signing everything over to him. I had my clothes and stuff from before I met him and that was it. He got everything. I spent my free time at the store, with Julie, getting reacquainted with myself and my beliefs until I was happy with me. Then I realized my job made me miserable. Julie offered me full-time here, plus reading and teacher fees. Not as much as I made working in the office at the dealership, but for the first time in a while I woke up happy every morning, eager to get to work. It was well worth the money trade-off.”
Ellis realized he envied her a little. He also completely understood what she meant about being happy to go to work.
It was how he now felt. “You must really like what you do.”
“I do. I’m content, and I think that’s important. Enough about me,” she said as she sat back. “How do you like Brooksville?”
Mandaline tried to pay close attention to Ellis, which was difficult with Brad playing footsies with her under the table. She’d finally slipped off one sandal and placed her foot on his seat, between his knees, so he could reach under the table and massage it for her. She eventually slipped off her other sandal and placed her other foot there as well, allowing him to give them equal treatment.
It did fabulous things to her libido and mood, but horrible things to her powers of concentration.
“Brooksville’s nice,” Ellis said. “Quiet. Peaceful.”
“Except for owning a possessed house?” she teased.
He had a nice smile when he chose to use it. “Exactly.”
They had a pleasant dinner. Once she was able to draw out Ellis in conversation, she was able to more easily look past the angry, frightened man she’d encountered in her apartment after their dinner.
“How about,” she said as they were waiting for the check, “I come over tomorrow evening with equipment to check out the house. Say, around six? That way I can be there both during daylight and at night.”
Brad eagerly nodded. They looked at Ellis.
“I’m fine with that,” he said.
She glanced at her phone for the time. “We need to get going. It’s after eight thirty.”
She kept an eye on Ellis for any signs of him changing his mind, but he nodded.
“Anything I need to know so I don’t put my foot in my mouth?” he joked.
She smiled. “Just remember that if Sachi mentions skeet shooting, or shotguns, or anything like that too many times, she’s just being very protective.”
“Um, oh. Okay.”
Chapter Thirteen
The coffeeshop coven group was never an advertised gathering. They didn’t need to, because they always had plenty of attendees. Tonight, it looked like anyone who’d ever been to one of the meetings was in attendance. Mandaline felt both grateful for the support and sad that Julie wasn’t there to see how many people’s lives she’d touched.
She didn’t miss how Brad freely mingled with everyone, introducing himself and getting to know people, while Ellis took up residence in a chair in the far corner.
I will cut him some slack. At least he’s making an effort.
The evening wore on. A few times she glanced at Ellis and saw him checking his phone, probably reading e-mail.
Brad, however, was a hit. When people found out he was an artist, and he showed them pictures on his phone of some of his work, he became the center of attention.
Makenzie, whose reservedness usually made Sachi look positively warm and snuggly by comparison, even seemed to react to him. “Hey, we could put some of his pieces in here to sell.” She blushed and looked at Brad. “If you wanted to,” she added.
Mandaline had to beat back a sudden and unexpected surge of jealousy over the way Makenzie responded to him. That was followed by a rush of shame. She’s my friend and my employee. And Brad is very special.
Brad, however, smiled at Mandaline. “I would like that very much. If you wanted them here.”
Mandaline felt like she was alone in the room with him, from the force of his gaze. “That’d be great.”
At ten o’clock they all gathered in the front of the store in a rough circle to talk about Julie. Mandaline was happy to see more smiles than tears from her friends. Julie would have wanted it that way. Even Ellis pried himself out of the chair to join them, standing next to Brad.
They went around the room, everyone saying a little something about Julie. When they reached Brad, he let out a sigh and looked at the floor. From across the room Mandaline sensed the shift in his demeanor. From the way Ellis draped an arm around his shoulders, she guessed he did, too. “She was a beautiful soul,” Brad softly said. “I wish I’d known her longer.” He sniffled.
Ellis nodded. Mandaline couldn’t read his expression as he spoke. “I didn’t know her well or long either, but it’s obvious from all of you who did, who loved her, that she will live on in your hearts and memories. I think that speaks highly of what a wonderful person she was.”
Mandaline waited until he met her gaze to nod and smile. Thank you, she silently mouthed to him. He nodded and returned his attention to Brad.
Once everyone had a chance to speak, Sachi clapped her hands together and stepped into the center of the room, a paper bag in her hands and a grin on her face.
Oh…crap.
She flashed a playful smile at Mandaline. “We all know how Julie was fond of playing matchmaker and trying to fix people up.” A wave of soft laughter and knowing nods swept through the room. “I was talking to Mandaline earlier and joked maybe now that our friend is on the other side, perhaps she can help those of us out who are still single and looking.”
With a flourish, she produced a large pink dildo from the paper bag. Apparently made of some sort of jelly material, it also had a suction cup built into the base. She licked the cup and then stuck the ten-inch toy to a table with a soft plop. It stuck, slowly waving back and forth.
The room erupted in gales of laughter.
Sachi, her audience’s reaction only spurring her on, wasn’t even close to being done. “I told Mandaline we needed to do a chant for guidance, for assistance.” She turned and grinned at Mandaline, pointing to her. “For getting laid.” Mandaline let out a soft groan and felt her face heat. When she glanced over at Ellis and Brad, she found Brad grinning even more broadly than Sachi, and Ellis had actually cracked a smile.
Sachi raised her hands over her head as she walked around the room, inciting others to join in with her and repeat her chanting. “Hail, Dildous! Hail, Dildous! Hail Dildous!”
It was hard to hear the chant over everyone’s laughter. Even Mandaline joined in, knowing the healing that this would incite in everyone, the joy it brought them, was worth it.
Sachi stopped in the middle of the room again, next to the table with the toy stuck to it, and sliced her arm through the air to call for silence. She raised her hands again, the consummate showman. “Oh great and mighty Dildous, we ask for your celestial vibrations to rain down upon us. OmmmMMMMMM!”