Kiss and Spell

“I’m not the one who’s feeling the magic,” she said.



I nearly whacked my head on the counter from rising too quickly with a stack of paper cups. “The magic?” I asked, my voice rising in pitch and volume. How could she have known?



“You know, that connection you two have. Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed it. I can practically see the little hearts circling your heads when you two are together.”



Actually, little hearts had been about the only thing that hadn’t circled our heads the night before. If it had even been real. It had felt like a dream. But if it had been a dream, that might mean it was something I wanted to happen, and I wasn’t ready to admit that. I needed to deal with Josh before I started having romantic dreams about other men.



When Owen came to the coffee shop to test the new brew, I knew that it must have been real, unless we’d had the same dream. He didn’t quite look me in the eye and he blushed as he spoke to me. Florence watched all of this with great amusement. I’d never convince her that there was nothing going on.



“Let me know how it goes,” I told him before he headed down to open the store and start the treasure hunt, my attempt at a bright, cheerful tone coming out a little squeaky. Yes, he was just as cute as I remembered, and my whole body tingled at the thought of the magic we’d made together—literally.



I had to break it off with Josh, I decided right then. Even if nothing ended up happening with Owen, if I could feel this way about someone else while dating Josh, it was a pretty good sign that Josh and I weren’t meant to be. I couldn’t marry him.



At that moment, Josh came up the stairs into the coffee shop, holding an enormous bouquet of flowers. “For you,” he said, presenting them to me with a flourish.



“Oh, uh, thanks,” I said. “This is a surprise.”



“Well, this whole store revamp thing is a big deal for you, and I wanted to congratulate you. I think I haven’t come across as very supportive, but I just want what’s best for you. I didn’t think that would involve working in a bookstore, but that’s my issue, not yours, and I can see how much happier you’ve been lately.”



He was saying all the right things—too right, come to think of it. He sounded like he’d been perusing the self-help section before coming up to see me because his whole speech was right out of one of those “learn to communicate with your mate” books.



While I was still thinking about how to respond, the phone rang, and then Florence called out, “Katie, they want you downstairs to help kick off the treasure hunt.”



“Oh, sorry, I’ve got to go,” I said, then remembered that I was still holding that huge bouquet of flowers. Florence reached over and took them from me, and I headed off again.



“Apron!” Florence called after me, and she took the apron from me once I’d untied it. I nervously smoothed my hair as I hurried downstairs.



“We couldn’t start this without you,” Owen said, now sounding less bashful than he had earlier. There was a small crowd of customers gathered around the table where we were handing out the treasure hunt clues. “Do you want to do the honors?” Owen asked me.



“The honors?”



“Start the hunt.”



“Okay, on your marks, get set, go!” I called out. The contestants instantly dispersed. “That seems to be going well,” I said. “And I’d better get back up to the coffee shop because it looks like we’re going to be busier than usual.”



“I’m sorry, I should have hired someone to take your place before now. That detail slipped my mind.”



“Take my place?” I asked, suddenly alarmed. Was he angry that I hadn’t kissed him the night before?



“I’d planned to make you the assistant manager in charge of marketing and get you out of the coffee shop entirely—that is, if you don’t mind. I should have talked to you about that earlier.”



“Well, yeah, that sounds wonderful,” I said. “But for today, we’re swamped. The new coffee is going over really well already. You may have to hire a couple of new people.”



He grinned. “We make a pretty good team.”



“Yeah, I guess we do.” I had that same sense of gravity pulling me toward him that I’d had the night before, and again I resisted it. Before the temptation could overwhelm me, I hurried up the stairs to the coffee shop.



I paused at the top of the stairs when I saw that Josh and Florence were in the middle of an intense conversation. I hadn’t thought they knew each other all that well or that they’d have anything to talk about other than making small talk about me, but they seemed to be arguing.