Shanna Swendson - Don't Hex with Texas

“When you get to be a certain age, what’s a few centuries?” I said with a laugh, even as I cringed at the idea of my grandmother dating my boss. Or former boss. Maybe.

He grew more somber again. “You are welcome to return whenever you see fit. After these events, I’m no longer convinced that you’re any safer anywhere else, and you more than make up in assistance what you might cost in distraction or danger. But you must do what you—and what Mr.

Palmer—believe is best. He is the one who seems to suffer the most.”

“Thank you, sir. I’ll keep that in mind.” It sounded like the ball was in my court. Or maybe Owen’s court. I knew where I stood, but I still didn’t know what he felt. Did he feel relief at having me out of the way and presumably out of danger, or did he want me with him? It looked like we were going to have to talk about it, but clearly not tonight.

By the time I’d said good-bye to Rod and Merlin, Owen was already at his rental car and ready to go.

“Do you want me to drive?” I asked. He looked to be close to passing out, and he just nodded and sat in the passenger seat.

When we got back to the house, he automatically headed for the tree on the edge of the porch, but I caught him. “Remember, we left legitimately. And it’s not even all that late.” It just felt like it, we’d been through so much.

“Oh, good,” he sighed. “I wasn’t sure I could make it up that tree. I’m not entirely sure I can make it up the stairs.”

I took his arm. “I think it’s time for more cake, maybe some ice cream. And then, just think, we get to sleep through an entire night.”

“Wow, I’d forgotten what that was like.”

“I can’t believe it’s all over now.”

“We’ve saved the day again,” he said with a laugh that sounded like he’d been drinking. He must have been giddy with exhaustion and relief. “And now, it’s time to get back to normal.”

That’s what I’d been afraid of. I’d come to the conclusion that normal was way overrated.

Ididn’t want to go to work the next morning, but it would have been hard to explain that this was the first day I hadn’t had to do what amounted to at least two jobs in days. Things worked out, however, when Mom got a look at Owen the next morning at breakfast. “Oh, you poor thing! Those allergies must be killing you. Katie, you can’t leave a guest at home alone when he’s sick. I’ll tell your father you aren’t going to work today. You stay and look after your friend.”

I could only imagine what she’d have said if she’d seen him the night before. Today he looked pale and tired, not nearly as shattered as he’d been before he got a good six hours’ worth of sleep.

“I’m fine,” he insisted. “But I would appreciate having Katie stay home with me. I have to go back tomorrow, so this is my last day here.”

That set off a whole new round of fussing. I’d heard Merlin tell him that he didn’t have to be back at work until Monday, and this was only Friday, so I wasn’t sure why he felt he had to leave so soon. I supposed he might want to catch up on his rest in the peace of his own home and have a whole free day before he went back to work. Being around my family wasn’t restful for anyone. At least he’d said he wanted to spend the day with me. I took that as a positive sign.

When Mom had rushed off to her meetings and Owen and I were left alone with our second cups of coffee at the kitchen table, I said, “So, you’re heading back tomorrow, huh?”

“Yeah, I think that’s best. I’ll have been gone more than a week.”

“That makes sense,” I said, nodding. “And I guess your cat and your dragons miss you.”

He smiled. “I don’t know about the dragons, but Loony may not let me back in the house. I don’t think I’ve ever been away from her this long. Fortunately, it looks like I have a job to go back to.

There’s nothing like catching the bad guy for getting myself out of trouble. I’ll have to send your grandmother flowers to thank her for her sprite.”

I waited for him to say something about me coming back with him, but he didn’t. I knew Merlin had said it was okay, but I needed to be sure of what Owen wanted. “Is there anything else you wanted to do while you’re here, before you go?” I asked.

“Sleep?”

I laughed, trying to keep my tone light even though disappointment weighed me down. Would it have killed him to say he wanted to spend quality time with me without having to worry about dark magic, or possibly that he wanted to pick up where we’d left off before the naiad showed up? “Yeah, sleep does sound good.”

“Did you get your front porch time?” he asked.

“What?” I asked, shaking my head.

“You said back in New York that you wanted some time to sit on the porch, or maybe in a hammock, and have nothing to do with magic for a while. Did you get that while you were here?”

“I guess so. I hadn’t really thought about it. The first week or so I was here, I was treated like a guest, so I got spoiled and had time to relax—as much as I could amid all the craziness. I got to know my baby niece, which was nice. And then when they realized I was staying instead of just visiting, it was right back to being a member of the family instead of a guest, and I was back at work. There wasn’t any magic for a while, but I’m not sure I’d call it restful.” I sighed. “What about you? Did the craziness continue after I was gone, or did the disaster quota drop dramatically in my absence?”

“Well, I didn’t have to drag anyone out of a burning building or a frozen pond. I haven’t been trapped by dragons, stalked by a fairy godmother, or had hordes of mothers swarm after me, so I guess you could say things settled down after you left.”

I let the ensuing silence hang in the air for a while, in case he wanted to add something about not being sure that the disasters were really directly related to me, after all, or maybe that he kind of enjoyed all the little crises because they were entertaining and better than being bored and alone. But he didn’t say anything. I knew my only other option was to ask him flat-out if he wanted me to go back to New York, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. What if he said no?

After we cleaned up from breakfast, we took a short ride around the town to make sure things were more or less back to normal. All of Nita’s guests had checked out during the night or first thing in the morning, and there were no strange cloaked figures dancing on the courthouse square. When we stopped at Dairy Queen for lunch, there was some talk of kids setting off fireworks in the park, but otherwise, it appeared that a major magical battle had gone entirely unnoticed.

Mom held one of her big family dinners that night to say farewell to Owen. I watched him across the living room, chatting with all three of my brothers while he held Lucy. I’d been surprised earlier at how well he fit in with my family, but now I knew that wasn’t as surprising as I’d thought. As odd as my family was proving to be, he fit in perfectly, magic and all.

The rest of the family said their farewells at the dinner, so we were alone when Owen left the next morning. The odd distance I’d noticed when he first arrived was back in full force as he prepared to leave, getting his magical case from under my bed and carrying his bags out to his car. He closed the trunk and gave it a pat, then turned to me and said, “So, I guess I’d better be going. Thank your parents for being such great hosts.”

“I will. They loved having you here. I’m sure they’ll be telling me right away to invite you back any time.”

“And maybe the next time we won’t be fighting magical battles.”