The Matchbaker (A Romantic Comedy) (16 page)

“The latter.” I can’t hide all this magic stuff from her—and I’m too tired to even try. “Listen, there’s something you need to know. It’s about
the change.
”

“What? That you’re magical?”

I stare at my sister, agog. “You knew?”

She shrugs as if it’s no big deal. “I had a hunch. And Colin knows…kind of.”

My head is spinning. “And no one wanted to tell
me
?”

“Look, it’s not like we knew for sure, but it’s kind of hard to grow up in this town without knowing
something’s
going on.”

I’m going to ignore that statement since I grew up here and had absolutely no clue that it was apparently filled with magical folk.

“Okay, so I guess we can fast forward to tonight and the book I’m looking for.” I don’t have to tell her why I need it, just that I need it. “I’m hoping Mom kept a book of spells. I may have messed up an order, and I’m not sure how to fix it.” It’s not a complete lie.

“Have you checked under the mattress?”

My eyes widen. “The mattress! Of course!” I hop off the bed and lift the mattress.

I don’t see anything at first, but when Holly comes and helps me lift it just a little higher, I can see the corner of a book near the top of the bed.

“Oh, my God,” I whisper. “You’re a genius.”

“Can you just get it out?” Holly grunts under the weight of the mattress.

I lean in and grab the book. It’s old and crackly, just like one would expect of a book of spells. The brown leather is worn and on the cover it reads Cooper in scrolly engraving. The pages crackle as I open them, as if the book hasn’t been used in decades. I flip through—every other page is a new spell as well as its counter spell, if there is one.

“Wow,” Holly breathes over my shoulder. “I feel like I’m in a movie or an episode of
Charmed
.”

“Welcome to my world.”

“So what are you looking for?” she asks, and my pulse races.

I should change the subject. “Hey, what are you doing here this late, anyway?”

Holly shrugs and collapses back onto the bed. “This is a great bed,” she says. “I might just crash here tonight.”

“In Mom and Dad’s room?”

“Why not? They’ll never know. Besides…it’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”

Her lower lip quivers a bit. I want to tell her so badly this is all my fault, and I’m going to fix it. But I can’t. Not yet. Because what if I can’t fix it? What if the spell reversal doesn’t work? Or even worse, what if there’s no spell at all?

Sixteen

I spent all night scouring the book of spells. All night. Now I can hardly keep my eyes open—I have no idea how I’ll get through the day. And it’s Thursday, which means there are a ton of special orders for the weekend, God help me. It’s almost worse than being hung over, and now I’m wishing I had thrown back a glass of pinot and called it a night. But I didn’t. So I stayed up reading until the sun broke on the horizon and it was time to get ready for work.

At least the weather’s turned colder. The crisp air has been a fairly decent jolt to my system, but I need more. I need coffee. Buckets of it.

“I’m going to Latte Joe,” I tell Holly as I pull into my parking space behind the bakery. “You want anything?”

She sighs. “I guess. Large sugar-free mocha latte with an extra shot of espresso.” She wilts as if that took all her energy.

“You okay?” I ask, eyeing her as we both emerge from the car.

“Just exhausted is all.” She yawns. “Haven’t been sleeping much lately.”

“Yeah, me neither,” I mumble. “I’ll be back in a few.”

I walk around front and dash across the street, dodging the early-morning traffic, which includes three whole cars, until I reach the door and push inside.

“We’re not open yet!” a male voice calls from the back.

“Oh, sorry!” I yell back. “I’m Candy…from across the street. We usually pop over later for coffee, but it was a rough night and—”

I’m brought up short when a tall, good-looking guy with dirty blond hair emerges from the back, drying his hands on a clean, white towel. He’s wearing a bit of a scowl, and I immediately get defensive.

“You probably shouldn’t leave the door unlocked if you don’t want customers yet,” I say, dropping my perky smile.

Blondie’s eyebrows shoot up. “You should probably read signs before you go barging into establishments at quarter to seven in the morning.”

I turn around and look at the door. Damn. The OPEN sign is facing me, which means CLOSED is clearly broadcast to passersby.

“Oh,” I say, embarrassed. “Sorry about that. I’ll come back, I guess.”

He’s staring at me with a really annoying smirk on his face, as if he’s enjoying watching me dig my own hole.

“I can make your coffee now,” he says.

“Oh, really? After you reprimanded me?”

“I wouldn’t call it a reprimand—”

“Look, I had a long night. I just want some coffee, preferably without the snarky banter…if that’s even possible for you.”

He contorts his lips this way and that, trying not to laugh at me—the jerk—as he says, “Snark-free coffee coming up!”

As he’s pouring my simple cup of coffee, I remember that I’m supposed to get the sugar-free mocha latte—extra shot—for Holly. Crap. That’s a tall order when the place isn’t even open yet.

“Here ya go,” he says as he slides the cup of coffee across the counter to me. “And it’s on the house.”

I stare at him, shocked.

“If you had taken the snark, I would have charged you.”

He winks at me and my stomach flutters a bit. Maybe I’m just hungry.

“Well, thanks.” I grab my coffee and bolt out of the shop. Holly can get her own beverage once the place is open. Or maybe I’ll run back across later and get it for her. It’s the least I can do after putting a spell on her boyfriend to make him fall in love with me.

“What’s going on with that guy?”

I jump, and hot coffee spurts from the mouth hole of the lid onto my hand as I trip off the curb into the street. “Damn it, Colin. What are you doing?”

“Watching you flirt with another man first thing in the morning.” His voice is serious, like he’s just caught me red-handed.

I turn around to face him. He looks like hell. “Did you sleep outside or something?”

His eyes get a little shifty, and that sick feeling comes back in full force. “Oh, God,” I moan. “Please don’t tell me you slept outside my house all night.”

“Technically, it’s your parents’ house.”

“Technically, you’re stalking me,” I reply. “God, Colin, what were you thinking?”

“I’m in love with you, Candy.” His voice is so creeptastic it makes my skin crawl. “I need to be with you. I was going to ask to come in but then Holly showed up.”

“At which point you should have gone home.”

“But I need to be near you.”

I roll my eyes and then start off across the street toward the bakery. I can feel Colin close on my heels. Not only am I completely annoyed, but I’m starting to worry that he might do something stupid. Like make a declaration of love in front of Holly.
Oh, God.

“Colin, you have to back off. Please.”

“But I thought you loved me too.”

So did I
.

“Look, this has been really hard on Holly,” I say, dragging him a little further down the sidewalk so Holly won’t see us if she happens to be in the front part of the shop. “It’s just not the right time, okay?”

“Then when?” He looks desperate with those damned puppy dog eyes again.

Part of me feels really sorry for him—I did this to him, after all. And part of me wants him to go away, take the hint. Leave me alone. But the biggest part of me wishes I had never cast that damn spell to begin with.

“I don’t know,” I say quietly. “I just don’t know.”

My phone buzzes and I gladly whip it out of my pocket. It’s Holly. I hold it up for Colin to see, but he doesn’t even acknowledge what I’ve shown him. He just keeps staring at me, longingly.

I turn away to answer. “Hey, Hol.”

“Where’s my latte?” she asks without preamble.

“Oh, God!” I fake being forgetful. “I totally forgot! They were closed and the guy was kind of a jerk—he threw me all off. I’ll go back in, don’t worry about it.”

I hang up and turn back to Colin. His eyes haven’t left my face. “I love you,” he says.

“I know.” I glance across the street at the coffee shop then back at Colin. “I forgot Holly’s coffee, and I need you to get inside. I’m sure you have work you should be doing, don’t you?”

“Not really.”

“Right,” I say, exasperated. Clearly, he’s forgotten about everything but his obsession with me. “Well, go help out behind the counter today then. They could always use an extra pair of hands.”

“Anything you want, Candy.”

It’s possible he’s getting worse. Like, falling even deeper in love with me. Shit. I have to figure out the counter spell and soon.

He walks into the bakery as I dart across the street to the coffee shop again. It’s seven now, and they are officially open.

“Couldn’t stay away?” Mister Snark is still behind the counter, his blond waves seemingly blonder now that all the lights are turned on.

I give him a tight smile. “Forgot to get something for my sister.”

“Shoot,” he says, moving to the giant espresso machine.

“Sugar-free mocha latte…with an extra shot.”

He sets to preparing the latte. “So, let me guess. She’s your younger, higher-maintenance sister?”

“What gives you that idea?” I ask playfully. “I didn’t catch your name, by the way.”

“Joe,” he says simply, and his cheeks turn slightly pink.

“As in
Latte
Joe?”

“No, Latte Joe is my father. I just go by plain old Joe.”

“Well, Plain Old Joe, I don’t think I’ve seen you around before.”

Joe puts the lid on the latte and brings it to the counter. “That’s because I haven’t been around before. Not in a long time, at least. My dad is sick, though, so…here I am. Picking up the caffeinated torch.”

“That’s nice of you. Coming back to fill in.”

“I wish that’s all it was,” Joe says as he pushes away from the counter. “Dad’s not gonna get any better. I’m here to stay.”

I don’t know why I’m excited about this, but I am. Poor guy is about to lose his father, not to mention I just ruined Holly’s relationship with Colin. Not really fair of me to be getting butterflies over another guy. I thought Colin gave me butterflies, but this…this is different. Especially now, since all Colin’s given me lately are the heebie jeebies.

“Oh, well, welcome back to the neighborhood then.” I’m trying to tone down the giddy feeling I have inside, but it’s not working that well. I shake my head. “But, of course, I’m sorry to hear about your father.”

Joe gives me a half smile. “Thanks.”

I need to go, but we’re at that uncomfortable moment when no one wants to be rude by running out as soon as the topic of terminal illness comes up. Plus, I kind of want to stare at him a little while longer.

“Hey, if you need anything, just let me know.” I gesture out the window toward the bakery. “That’s me across the street.”

“Candy’s Confections? Are you Candy?”

I shrug and smile. “Guilty.”

“Wow,” he says, shaking his head.

“What?”

“It’s just…well, we went to high school together. I mean, sort of. I was a couple years ahead of you, but…”

He breaks off when he realizes I’m staring blankly at him. I wish I could say I remembered him—that would make things much less awkward—but I don’t.

“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, Candy,” he finally finishes.

“You too…Joe.” And then before things can get any
more
awkward, I head out of the restaurant and back to the bakery. Somehow I know that Joe is watching me the whole time.

~*~

I don’t often get to take a lunch break, but today I have no choice. I wish I could say it was to take a long, much-needed nap, but instead it’s to scour—once again—over the book of spells to see if I can find the anti-spell to my spell.

I grab my apple and protein bar and head to the small park in the center of the town square. It’s still a little early for lunch, so it’s quiet—the only sounds coming from the rush of water as it cascades from the urn-shaped fountain, and the occasional car driving by.

With my protein bar in one hand, I use the other hand to crack open the book. I pick up where I left off before my shower in the wee hours of the morning. The book is filled with not just spells, but recipes, too. Cake recipes. Some of the very same ones Mom taught me for the bakery, with the main ingredients always being Focused Emotions and the Magic Spoon.

I flip past a few more pages until I land on the Fall for Me recipe. My heart races. This might be it—this might be the key to the spell’s undoing. There has to be a counter-spell, there just has to be.

My phone buzzes next to me. Lucy. We haven’t talked in ages, I have to take it.

“Luce?”

“Oh my God, Candy!” she squeals down the line. “You finally answered!”

“I know. I’m sorry,” I say apologetically. “Things have been kind of crazy around here…to say the least. How are you? How are you feeling?”

“Oh, fine! Second trimester has been great so far.”

“And Ohio?”

“Well, it’s not New York, but it’s nice.” Much to my amazement, she actually sounds genuinely happy when she says this. “The baby will have her own room, and we have a backyard and everything. It’s really nice, Candy.”

“I can’t wait to see it, Lucy.”

“Enough about me, though…what about you? How’s the whole magical powers thing going?”

I give an ironic laugh as I lean back against the bench. “Oh, God, Luce. I think I may have made the biggest mistake of my life.”

There’s a gasp on the other end of the line, and I can tell Lucy is desperate for a juicy story. It’s the least I can do for her—poor thing is being forced to live in rustication in the Midwest.

“I may have used my powers for…selfish reasons,” I begin. “If I had had the book of spells in the first place, I would have known it was a bad idea, but I didn’t. Mom decided to keep that hidden from me. And now everything is messed up…so messed up, Lucy. You have no idea.”

“Thankfully, I have all day,” she says excitedly. “Start at the beginning.”

I tell her all about Colin and Holly and my stupid cupcake, and all the crazy goings-on ever since. I omit the part about Joe, though. That’s a story for another time.

“So he’s stalking you now?” she laughs. “This is amazing. I can’t believe you have the ability to make someone fall in love with you. Mind blowing.”

“Yeah, mind blowing,” I repeat in a deadpan tone.

“Listen, Candy. This can’t last forever. I’m sure there’s an anti-spell or something. You’re the smartest person I know—you’ll figure it out.”

I smile. “I miss you, Luce.”

“Not as much as I miss you.”

We hang up after a near-tearful goodbye and I turn back to the book, ready to figure out the counter spell.

“You won’t find what you’re looking for in there.”

I whirl around on the bench to find Joe standing directly behind me. What is it with the men in this town always sneaking up on me?

Wait a sec…

I blink up at him, skeptical. “What are you talking about?”