As others took up the humming, it sounded like a giant vibrator hard at work. Mandaline had a hard time keeping it up over the urge to laugh, as did many others.
Sachi took over, once again silencing them. “So mote it be!”
A chorus of, “So mote it be!” echoed through the room, followed immediately by applause and laughter.
“I hope that was a new toy,” Mandaline said with a smile as she walked over to look at it.
“Hell, yes. By the way, I took it out of petty cash.” She peeled it off the table, where the base reluctantly let go from the table with a loud pop. With regal posture, she held it out in front of her with both hands, as if passing on a sword. “I give you the celestial spirit tickler, for your safekeeping.”
Mandaline shook her head. “Oh, no you don’t. I’m not taking that thing.”
Sachi wouldn’t be refused. She slapped it into Mandaline’s hands. “Sorry, boss. Your store, your dildo.”
Her face now red, she risked a glance at Brad and Ellis. She hoped Ellis didn’t hurt himself with the wide smile he wore, and she thought Brad might just piss his pants he was laughing so hard.
Mandaline finally stuck it under the counter by the register.
For the final part of the evening, they all filed out the back door to stand in the parking area in a large circle, holding hands under the light of the full moon. In the past, Julie usually said something to close out their evening. So everyone looked to Mandaline.
She took a deep breath and stared up at the sky. “Mother Goddess, Father God, thank you for tonight. Thank you for the blessed full moon. Thank you for friends and family and love and light. Thank you for laughter and joy and the ability to smile, even as our broken hearts are hurting and healing. Thank you for bringing Julie into our lives, and thank you for keeping her spirit alive within us. Namaste. Aho.”
“Aho,” the group repeated back. They broke up, everyone hugging and bidding each other good-night. Brad gladly took part in that, apparently able to make friends wherever he was.
Ellis, she noted, stepped away from the group.
Once everyone else had left except the two men, Mandaline locked the front and back doors and pulled the shades in the front windows.
“Thank you for tonight,” she told them. “I had a great time at dinner.”
Brad grinned and enveloped her in a hug. “Thank you for letting us take you out. This was great. When’s the next one?”
“I’ll have to look at the calendar. Probably dark moon, unless there’s something else first. In two weeks.”
She turned to Ellis, who now looked uncomfortable again. She opened her arms to hug him, wondering if he’d leave her hanging.
After hesitating only a moment, he hugged her, relaxing when they didn’t share one of those sexy visions.
“Thank you for giving me a second chance, Mandaline. I appreciate it.”
She finally stepped back. “It’s the least I could do.”
He looked uncomfortable again. “I respect you have your beliefs, but in all honesty, this isn’t me. No, I don’t know what happened between us. No, I don’t have an answer. But you’re entitled to your beliefs and I don’t fault you for them.”
She folded her arms in front of her. Well, the evening was ending on a far lighter note than it had last night, but she wasn’t feeling inclined to ask them upstairs, either. “I appreciate that.”
Brad looked back and forth between them, a near-desperate expression in his eyes. “Wait, this isn’t good night, is it?”
Ellis apparently found his shoes very interesting as he looked down at them. “If you want Brad to stay, I don’t mind coming back to pick him up later,” he softly said.
She felt her heart soften more for the man. No, she didn’t want to separate the pair. Brad was right. If it was going to work, it would only work with the three of them. She needed more time rebuilding trust with Ellis before she’d be ready to accept them both into her bed.
Who am I kidding? I’ll fall in love with them even more if I sleep with them.
“I…” She sighed. “It’s been a long day and I didn’t sleep very well last night. I think it’s best we call it a night.” She brushed a kiss across Brad’s lips, then leaned in and kissed Ellis’ cheek. “Thank you for a wonderful dinner. I’m glad you both came to coven tonight.”
Brad silently fumed all the way home. Julie had remained completely silent evening. He thought for sure after how well dinner went and that Ellis came to the gathering at the store that their evening would end in Mandaline’s bed.
Not driving back to the house before eleven o’clock.
“Are you okay?” Ellis asked.
“Fine,” he shot back. “Peachy.”
Ellis apparently knew enough not to press the matter.
When they returned home, Brad started through the kitchen toward the stairs before doubling back. He took his medicine then headed upstairs. “See you tomorrow.” He changed clothes, then went into the attic, closing the door behind him.
Already, his mood felt darker. It seemed to happen more quickly every time he went up there.
Hopefully he’d have an answer tomorrow.
He sat in front of the sketchbook he’d been working on before. Then he picked up the pencil and let his mind take over.
Ellis went to his room, feeling guilty. Brad obviously had other notions about the way the night would end. To be honest, he wouldn’t have minded that, either. But it was his fault he’d screwed everything up. Mandaline was giving him another chance, sure, but it would take a while for her to feel comfortable with him again. He wasn’t a total idiot when it came to emotions. He could see it in her face.
And the abject disappointment on Brad’s when she’d called it an evening.
Can I seriously have a relationship with someone who believes in all that, though?
He wasn’t sure. Then again, he had a relationship with Brad, who strongly believed in it. Although that wasn’t exactly the same.
He undressed and lay on top of the covers with the TV on. He flipped through channels until he found a movie he didn’t mind watching.
It would be a long, lonely night.
Mandaline walked Pers one last time after the men left. She’d felt badly enough about the desperation on Brad’s face that she’d almost changed her mind and asked them upstairs for a little while.
Why torture myself?
Who even knew if Ellis would ever be able to accept her or her beliefs, or the things so obviously happening around them that were out of his control? What if he had another one of his hissy fits the next time something magickal and wondrous happened? Could she handle living walking on eggshells after she swore she’d never do it again?
She knew the answer to that.
I can’t.
She wasn’t sure at first if she’d easily fall asleep. But before long she found herself back in the dream, of chasing, or being chased, through grey and dreary woods. She felt no fear, just a tugging anxiety that there was something she needed to know, and the only way she’d figure it out was to see the dream through to its conclusion.
She emerged from the woods once again outside Ellis and Brad’s house. Again, she glimpsed the familiar shock of red hair as Julie disappeared through the side door.
Mandaline followed behind, not bothering to call out to her. She was supposed to follow her, to catch up with her.
She found her in Brad’s bedroom. “Believe,” she said to Mandaline.
Just as Mandaline stepped forward to hug her, the closet door flew open and a blizzard of paper exploded into the room, filling it and separating her from Julie.