Hank motioned for me to be quiet. I snorted. Margo scooted closer to me and nudged my arm up with her head. I lifted it and she scooted under until her head was lying on my chest. I hadn't yet moved from the couch because every time I tried, Hank gave me the glare of thecentury.
Once he was satisfied that the Russians weren't going to break in or hired assassins or whatever, he sat in the chair across from me, a solemn look on hisface.
"Tell me whathappened."
"Hank, you're the gardener. Is there a reason you're so concerned about all ofthis?"
His eyes flashed with something I couldn'tdecipher.
"You told me those exact words earlier,” I said. “Just being the gardener. So I’m a little confused. I think maybe my spell went wrong. I'm not sure. It isn't enough to warrant all thesecrecy."
Hank's lips twisted to the side. "You have no idea what's on your land, doyou?"
I tilted my head as my brows drew inward. "Ummm, grass? Trees? Deer? What else could therebe?"
He snorted and stood. "Want a cup of coffee?" he called as he headed into the kitchen. My kitchen. How did we get here with him being so comfortable in myhome?
"Yes!" Ishouted.
Weird. Today was reallyweird.
After hearinghim bang around in the kitchen for about five minutes, he walked back out with two steaming mugs. He handed mine to me and I noticed it was chalk full of cream. Barely any coffee. Just the way I liked it. I took a sip and it had just a hint of sweetness. "How'd you know how I like mycoffee?"
He shrugged. "Justguessed."
I peeked over and took a look at his. Black. Howexciting.
I moved Margo over, much to her dismay, and sat all the way up careful not to spill my coffee. "Want to tell me what's on myland?"
He shook his head. "It's better if I showyou."
Just then, frantic pounding came from the door. Hank sat his coffee down and stood to answerit.
"Helen Reaper, you better be alive because if you're not I'm going to killyou!"
Hank turned back to me with a smirk. "Friend ofyours?"
I sighed and stood up. Hank came over to help because I was a little wobbly. "It'sPepper."
Hank's perpetual scowl reappeared on his face. "Ah. The witch who wants to be agardener."
I chuckled. "This witch whoisa gardener. Also the witch who likes to flaunt the seasons in yourface."
"The seasons exist for areason."
I opened thedoor.
Pepper stood there wearing a short blue jean skirt and a black tank top. She had ripped up fishnet stockings and a pair of black combat boots on. Her hair was teased into a high ponytail and her eyeliner was smeared down her eyes. "Goth night at the nursery?" I quipped. Not that she was a conservative dresser. No sirree. But she usually didn't look like an extra from MotleyCrue.
"My mom wanted me to do speed dating and since I promised her a long time ago I would try it, under duress I might add, I had togo."
"So you purposely sabotagedit?"
"Not quite," she chirped. "There was a man there named Seth. Cute in a geeky, quiet kind of way. He was under mom duress too and told me that he slept in her basement, collected baseball cards, and made a point of watching a minimum of 30 hours of Netflix per week. So, not to be outdone, I told him I raised chickens inside of my house and fed them worms by mouth. I added that I licked stamps for fetish videos and that I had to wear my socks twelve times every time otherwise the fairies would come and get me and drag me off toFairyland."
Hank and I were staring at her open mouthed. "And this is good why?" Iasked.
"Because we both started cracking up. And then we realized we were in the same boat. So we have a friend date. Neither one of us want to settle down, so we struck an agreement. We can pretend to date to get our moms off ourbacks!"
