I blinked at her casual mention of magic. Noticing my expression, she chuckled. “Magic beats from you like a furnace, Evie. Anyone with a hint of power can feel it.”
“Well. Um.” I waved the paper. “He already paid you, right?”
She snorted and pulled her keys from her pocket. “Oh yeah. While I’m more inclined to do favors for the Shifter Lord, I require payment up front, no matter who it is.”
I held a finger up. “Wait a minute.”
Hurrying back into the shop, I grabbed a business card and scribbled my cell number on the back before heading back outside. “Call me sometime. Maybe we can grab a cup of coffee or something.”
She waved the card at me. “I just might, Evie Quinn.” Jennifer winked and hopped into the truck. “Not sure what you did to him, but he was mighty remorseful when he called me last night.”
I groaned. “You don’t want to know.”
She grinned. “Oh, but I do. Maybe we’ll grab a drink instead of coffee.” Jennifer waved and started the vehicle. “Be careful out there. And watch out for Caelan. He’s a charming sonofabitch, but you don’t want him fixated on you.”
Good advice, but I was beginning to worry it might be too late. “Don’t I know it.”
Jennifer drove away, her words ringing in my ears.
Chapter
Seventeen
Ididn’t call in Moira and the others, though she popped in a few hours after normal opening time and walked in with her mouth agape.
Moira’s eyes scanned the room, a furrow of confusion forming between her brows. “Did your mom come in and clean up or something?”
We locked eyes and started cracking up. My mother probably didn’t even know what a broom was. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”
The vampire grunted. “Oh, I bet I would. This has the Shifter Lord written all over it.”
My shoulders slumped. “Yeah.” I shoved Jennifer’s price list at her. “I thought I’d write a check for everything, but the asshole hired a talented potter.”
Moira took the invoice, scanned the paper, her brows slowly inching higher with each line she read. “Whoa.”
“Yeah.” I laughed. “You can check out her work in the back. I brought in twenty new pots.”
“Still writing a check?”
“Thinking about it. He’s the one that broke them, but writing a check prevents me from owing him anything, and I didn’thave to report it to the insurance company.” But paying him in full would take a chunk out of the payment from the floral arrangements I made for Caelan and that chapped my ass.
“Meh.” Moira flicked her fingers. “You have plenty of money, and we’ll all chip in to keep him off our back.”
I wasn’t a millionaire, but I did alright. Writing the check would pain me, but it was the wise thing to do. “I’ll decide tonight.”
Moira grabbed an apron from the hook by the door, one of the few things that survived Caelan’s wrath without damage and tied it around her neck.
“You don’t have to work,” I chided. “Why don’t you take the day off?”
“Nothing else to do, and you know how much trouble I get in when I’m bored.” Moira tied her long hair up in a high ponytail, then dug around in her purse for a small, leather cosmetic case. “Now, let me see your back so I can pick the rest of the glass out.”
“About that.” I’d been thinking about it all morning and still couldn’t figure out what happened. “I went to sleep full of glass, and I woke up without any. It’s the damnedest thing.”
Moira stared. “Even in your ass?”
I barked a laugh. “Even in my ass. I’d feel it in there, but I can’t feel a thing.”
Her brows drew together. “Let’s go in the back. I want to double check.”
