Chapter 12: Chapter Twelve

On Sunday, I pulled into Jake’s stepmom’s driveway, late. Magnolia didn’t do late. The daughter of a preacher, she thrived on “the three P’s”: punctuality, politeness, and perseverance. And Jesus. But he didn’t start with a P.

After taste-testing with Carma three days this week, she called me this morning wanting to do a second round. I’d eaten my body weight in appetizers and swore Carma’s strawberry scent was permanently tattooed in my nose. Fighting my attraction to her was nearly a full-time job in and of itself, and she still hadn’t said anything worth reporting about. The microphones and camera footage from her house had produced nothing interesting either, except that she loved singing Mamma Mia to her cats.

Now I had indigestion, was late, and had nothing to show for it. It was going to be a long night. I tried to get out of the truck with my seatbelt on and swore. I might be lethal with a shoelace and paperclip, but sometimes I was an idiot.

I held my breath as I walked through the front door, bottle of wine out in front of me as a makeshift shield. I had an excuse on my tongue as I braced myself for the welcome committee, which usually consisted of Jake’s niece on his back and his stepmom Magnolia close behind. I was greeted by…no one. I breathed a sigh of relief at the unexpected respite.

Magnolia still struck fear into my heart. While godmother was a meaningless title to most people, Magnolia took her godmother duties over me very seriously. Especially now that my mom was always flitting around the world.

“Hello?” I called, inching into the house. A portrait of Jesus hung in the entryway, his gaze silently judging me. “Sorry!” I hissed at it, as if it were sentient and could hear me.

“Out back!” Jake called. “You’re late!”

I walked through the living room, the formal dining room, and the new farmhouse-style kitchen, pausing to take in the updated stone counters. Magnolia sauntered in through the screen door, wearing a spotless light-yellow jumpsuit. She looked like a woman on vacation. A shiver ran down my spine.

Any person who can prepare and manage a family dinner with a small grandchild while wearing a spotless pastel jumpsuit was likely as lethal as I was.

“You’re a witch, aren’t you?” I asked as she pulled me into her arms for a hug.

She clucked her tongue. “You’re late and you don’t come see me enough.” She kissed both my cheeks before letting go.

“You didn’t answer my question.”

She winked. “I’ll never tell.” She took the wine from my hands. “And your tardiness is forgiven because you brought my favorite.”

“Whew. Sorry, I had to work this weekend for an investigation.”

“Never have to apologize for working, as long as you remember to stop and enjoy life once in a while.” She pointed outside. “Just put the food out. Grab a chair and make a plate.”

As I stepped onto the back deck, I waved. Jake’s dad, Morris, was in a good-natured argument with Jake’s stepsister, Eliza, over what sounded like a newly formed trade agreement between several countries. I swear, the two of them liked to argue for fun. Daisy, Eliza’s daughter, ran at my legs and nearly knocked me over. I bent down and gave her a hug. As soon as I released her, she darted back to Eliza.

Jake pushed out the chair next to him with his hand. “Come eat.”

My mouth was watering as I looked over a spread large enough to feed twenty. “God, I’ve missed your food.”

Morris laughed. “We Texans know how to feed people.”

Jake took my dinner plate and started piling baked chicken, barbecued tofu, and a spoonful of every side.

“You haven’t lived in Texas in twenty years,” Eliza teased. While Jake looked like his late mom, Eliza took after Magnolia with red hair, blue eyes, and an attitude to match.

“They kicked your mom out when they found out she liked tofu!” he teased. Magnolia was a vegetarian, a trait not shared by anyone else in her family.

I sucked my lips in so I didn’t laugh out loud. When Jake set the plate down in front of me, I pounced, despite still being full from lunch. The Robinson family’s cooking made the body ravenous.

“I’m glad you got kicked out of Texas,” I said through a mouthful of food. “This is the only home cooking I get!”

“You’re welcome anytime, dear!” Magnolia said, coming through the back door with the uncorked bottle of wine and a tray of glasses. She poured a large glass for herself then sat down in her chair, smelling the red and swirling it around the glass.

“You gonna share?” Jake asked.

“Eventually.”

I laughed, realizing how much I had missed being here. I was still recovering from surgery the last time, and the pain killers had made me pretty unforgiving. A bouquet of flowers and an apology card had soothed the sting I’d left behind, but this was the first time I had the guts to face everyone again.

I set my fork down and cleared my throat. “I’m sorry, about—”

My partner reached over and squeezed my knee. “It’s forgotten.”

Magnolia set down her wine, grabbed the bottle, and poured some into a glass, then handed it to me. “Families fight. It’s the showing up when it counts that matters.”

I accepted the glass and toasted her. “Thanks.” I took a sip, savoring the deep flavor. I wasn’t a dry red person, but I made an exception for this wine. My phone vibrated and I eased it out of my pocket.

Carma: But are we totally sure Harvest Cafe is the right option?

Me: It’s the best so far.

Carma: *grimace emoji*

Carma: The key phrase there is “so far”.

Carma: What if we’re missing an option? Let’s try a new place.

Carma: You free?

I pressed my lips together, trying not to laugh.

Me: Normally I’d be in. But got plans w/ family tonight.

Carma: OMG I’m so sorry!

Carma: Will divert panic attack until later *winky face*

Eyes on me, Magnolia took another sip then said, “So, Mina. What do you think about your mom and Isaac? Make you want to find your own partner?”

I choked on my wine. Jake, wonderful friend that he was, hit my back. While laughing uncontrollably.

Gasping for a breath, I set the glass down and dabbed at my eyes with a napkin. “What?” I wheezed.

She leveled me with a look. “I want more babies to spoil before I hit sixty. Eliza’s already done her job, even if it was out of wedlock.”

I rolled my eyes. “Her fiancé died. I think Jesus will forgive her.”

Eliza blew me a kiss.

Taking another sip of wine, Magnolia paused for dramatic effect. “Now it’s up to one of you. You mean to tell me when you’re on missions you don’t meet anyone? I find that hard to believe.”

This was the problem with Magnolia adopting me as one of her own. I got the grandchildren lecture whenever an attractive person walked within ten feet of me. My cheeks heated, and I shoved a forkful of salad into my mouth. I wasn’t even sure I wanted kids.

Jake elbowed me, pissed I had the idea first. “Magnolia, most of the people we meet are marks. We’d be fired. And, you know, they’re criminals we’re trying to put away.”

She shrugged. “It’s just a little roadblock. When I met your dad, he was engaged.”

Her confession was a record scratch. I dropped my fork onto my plate. “Wait, what?” I asked through a mouthful of food. “I don’t know this story.”

Jake gaped. “Neither do I, apparently!”

Eliza’s mouth hung open. “Mom, what the hell? Engaged?!”

Magnolia waved her hand in the air. “Y’all are so dramatic. They hadn’t set a date yet. Calm down.”

“I can’t calm down, I found out my straight-and-narrow mom was a homewrecker.” Eliza wheezed, struggling not to laugh.

Magnolia crossed her legs, leaned back in her chair, and sipped her wine. “Morris had proposed to the mayor’s daughter before we started dating. She was so dense she didn’t know the difference between lima beans and cannellini beans, and I wasn’t going to let such a good man with such an adorable son get away from me. So, I tempted him over with my chili and he never left.”

Eliza let out a low whistle. “Already wing-manning your dad at four. Nice.”

I leaned over to Jake. “Honestly, I don’t think I know the difference between lima and cannellini beans either.”

He laughed through his nose and elbowed me. “No one expects you to. Your idea of cooking is a number five at Coney.”

His stepmom nodded. “You’re forgiven though, because you can literally take out a vampire with a chopstick.”

I glared at my partner. “You told her.”

He held his hands up. “She has spies everywhere. She doesn’t need me to tell her anything.”

“So dramatic,” Magnolia said, shaking her head. “I called Jim.”

My head snapped to her. “Wait. You called my dad?” It was no secret that Magnolia Robinson and Jim Summers did not get along.

“I wanted to see how he took the news about your mom.”

“Wow,” I whispered. “Cold-blooded.” Seeing as my dad had yet to talk to me about Mom’s pending nuptials, I figured I had my answer as to how that call went.

Eliza rolled her eyes. “That’s not why she called. Well, not entirely. We have a bit of a surprise.”

“Daisy!” Magnolia called to her granddaughter. “Can you come here a moment?”

Daisy was a blur of polka dots as she hopped over to Magnolia’s side, her ponytail swinging.

“Show Aunt Mina your trick with the bread rolls,” Magnolia encouraged.

Daisy shook her head. “Mom said I wasn’t allowed to show anyone but you and Grandpa and Uncle Jake.”

Eliza scrunched her nose. “Baby, you can show Aunt Mina, too, okay?”

She nodded. “Okie dokie.” She grabbed three rolls, then set them down on the table. She hummed for a few moments. The rolls shifted on the surface, then lifted off, hovering about four inches in the air.

My mouth fell open.

Magnolia clapped. “Such a good job, Daisy. Thank you for showing us.”

“Okay!” And with childlike grace, she flounced away from the table and back to Eliza.

I ran my hand over my mouth before looking around. “Whoa. Dude. This is huge.”

While neither Magnolia nor Morris had supernatural abilities—honestly, I still wasn’t fully convinced Magnolia wasn’t a witch, even though she denied it—Jake being able to communicate with ghosts like me and Eliza’s ability to write letters to the dead and receive answers proved there was supernatural blood in their lineages. For Daisy to have such substantial power at such a young age meant there must have been supernatural blood on her father’s side, too.

He nodded. “I still can’t wrap my head around it and I’ve known for three days.”

“And you didn’t tell me immediately?”

“Had to get the okay from Eliza.”

Eliza smiled apologetically. “I remember Ben telling me a story his great-great…whatever grandma was chased out of Boston during the Salem witch trials. Obviously, both of us needed to have the witch gene for Daisy to manifest powers. Of course Mom’s still convinced my gift is psychic ability instead, as she refuses to believe anyone else in the family could be a witch and not tell her.”

Jake turned to me. “Obviously, Magnolia and Dad are extremely offended that they didn’t have the inside scoop,” Jake teased.

Magnolia glared at her stepson. “I’m the only reason you guys know anything about anyone in this family. You’re welcome.”

Jake put his hands up in surrender. “I didn’t say it was a bad thing. I was just explaining.”

“Mina’s been around long enough to know what’s up.”

I laughed. “You’re not wrong. God forbid anyone tries to keep a secret from you, Magnolia.”

“Speaking of secrets, you ever going to share why you keep checking your phone?”

Dammit. My hand, which had been reaching into my pocket, stilled. I cleared my throat, trying to figure out how to respond in a way that wouldn’t spark more questions. “I’m helping plan a fundraiser as part of my job on our new case. We’re debating caterers. Just trying to get it resolved before it turns into an in-person argument tomorrow morning.”

Jake gave me side-eye. Magnolia noticed. She gestured between us with her wine glass. “Why is my son giving you his ‘you’re in so much trouble when Magnolia leaves the table look?’”

“Am not!” he defended.

I laughed. “That’s his ‘this makes me very uncomfortable because I don’t like to talk work with my family’ look.”

“Not true. I’m just concerned about this entire mission. It’s…tricky.” He flinched. The word tricky was a mistake. I kicked him.

His stepmom folded her arms in front of her. “Tricky, how?”

He turned to face me with an exaggerated head movement. “Are you fielding this or am I?”

“I hate you,” I mumbled. I finished my wine before responding. “He’s just concerned because one of our marks is very attractive. He has it in his head I don’t know how to work with attractive people.” My phone buzzed again and I pressed my palm to my pocket, wishing it would translate the message into Morse code. I’d learned Morse code for fun when I was eleven.

“So…who’s this attractive mark?” Magnolia asked.

I leaned my head back on my chair. “You did this,” I grumbled to Jake.

He ran his hand over his head. “It’s confidential.”

Magnolia raised an eyebrow. “You know I’m going to find out when I call Jim tomorrow to check in about Daisy’s schedule, right?”

I sighed. She was right. “Carma Nicks, daughter of the Lucinda Nicks.”

Eliza typed the name into her phone before whistling. “The daughter of the eighties exercise icon? Holy shit.”

“Language!” Magnolia warned.

Magnolia held out her hand for Eliza’s phone. She studied the screen for a moment, then looked directly at me. “I think you’re in trouble, dear.”

I waved her off. “I have worked with plenty of attractive people before and was perfectly fine.”

“First time for everything,” Jake muttered.

I pursed my lips. “I never slept with you and we’ve worked together for a decade. I think I can control myself.”

Jake looked both horrified and offended. “My family does not need to know about my sex life.”

“Or lack thereof,” Eliza teased.

Morris laughed and rubbed his hand over his bald head, a gesture Jake had picked up. “While I’d love to have you for a legal daughter, you guys don’t have that spark.” Jake and I looked at each other and made a pu key face.

“It’s nice to have some eye candy while I’m working,” I admitted.

Magnolia leaned back in her chair and swirled the wine in her glass. “I see.” She motioned to Eliza. “And as for your catering problem, Eliza will help. I’ll cook, she’ll pose as a caterer. More eyes in the field.”

“Uh, Mom, I have my own caseload,” Eliza defended.

“I’ll call Jim.”

“Of course you will,” she muttered.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing!” She looked between me and her mom. “Yeah, sure, why not? Doesn’t matter if I have to check my schedule or talk to my partner or learn any of the event details.”

Magnolia ignored the sarcasm. “See? There you go.”

Sighing, Eliza pulled out her phone. “Send me the details. I’ll make something work.”

I sent her the calendar link from my phone, the four missed text alerts staring at me. Taunting me. “Any chance you can do a tasting on Monday, too?”

She narrowed her eyes at her mother. “No, but there’s no way I can’t say yes to this. Not this close to my birthday.”

Magnolia smiled. “You’re welcome.”

Quickly, I glanced over Carma’s texts and sent one back.

Me: Have the answer. My fam knows someone in the catering biz. Will set up tasting for Monday @ office if ok. Carma: You are magic.

My cheeks heated and I quickly stood, picking up my now empty plate to cover my reaction. “It’s my turn for dish duty.”

Magnolia opened her mouth, but Eliza stood and started helping. “Let’s tag team. You can give me more details.”

“Thanks.”

She followed me into the kitchen where she made a (slightly frantic) call to her partner and I texted my dad to let him know we were pulling Eliza in, then I relayed all the pertinent information of Monday’s tasting and the fundraiser.

When she was finished, I gave her a one-armed hug. “I owe you.”

She pursed her lips and nodded. “Big time.” She tucked her phone away. “Let’s get washing so you and Jake can prep me.”

Despite the brand-new dishwasher two feet away—which was only to be used during emergencies and large family holidays—we fell into an easy rhythm of scraping, washing, and rinsing the dishes.

“I can feel your anxiety,” I said, looking over my shoulder at her. “What’s up?”

“Do you ever think about what life would be like if you didn’t work for SHAP? Like, what would you have done?” Eliza asked it casually, but I knew this had something to do with Daisy’s powers. By registering her with SHAP, Daisy would be protected by the agency, but it might also shoehorn her into a life she may not want. Smart, good witches were a commodity, and even though she was only eight, I could nearly guarantee she would end up in a job like mine and Eliza’s. Eliza’s assignments were more in-office and less dangerous, but it was still an exhausting life.

Were Jake, Eliza, and I shoehorned because of our abilities? No. Right? I mean, just because I could talk to ghosts didn’t mean I had to become a field agent. I wanted to, especially because Dad supported the idea.

I shrugged, trying to look casual because I knew that’s what she needed, even though my mind was spinning. “Honestly, I haven’t ever thought about not being at SHAP. It’s always been my dream, even as a kid.”

She smiled. “I just don’t want to take away any opportunities she may have had if I kept things a secret. I know we got lucky. We love what we do.”

I bumped her shoulder with mine. “Yes, you are going to take away some opportunities by registering her. She’ll likely never be an accountant or actress. But she’ll be protected and taught how to manage her powers.” As not only the daughter and niece of an agent, but as a personal family friend, Dad would make sure the best agent available would guide and protect Daisy and her family.

“I mean, she hates math,” she joked. “So maybe that’s a good thing.” She looked down at her feet.

“If Daisy only saw ghosts or something, I’d say to wait. But to be eight and telekinetic? She’s gonna need the training, and you’re going to need the help and protection.”

Eliza sighed and tucked her hair behind her ears. “I know you’re right.”

“You’ll also be giving her greater opportunities than you could ever imagine,” I added. “She could be the next Territory Director. Of course, she could run away, travel with the Renaissance Festival doing sleight-of-hand shows. I mean, the options to rebel and embarrass you during Christmas dinner are endless.”

She laughed. “Thanks.” She sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I know you’re right. Parenting sometimes sucks.”

“I can imagine being in charge of small humans is about the scariest thing in the world.”

“Scarier than helping birth a litter of werewolf pups during a full moon?” Jake asked, walking into the kitchen. He pulled a barstool from the counter to the sink, sat down, then leaned his cane against the cupboard. He picked up a towel and started drying the dishes.

“I didn’t have to raise the pups,” I defended. “Just had make sure they entered the world without me or the mom dying. Much less scary.”

“What about you, Jake? If you didn’t work for SHAP, what would you be doing right now?” Eliza asked.

He met my eyes, and I tilted my head slightly, confirming she asked me the same thing. He turned to face his sister, leaning against the counter. “Well, if I didn’t work for SHAP, but stayed in Michigan, I’d probably be an engineer.”

“Engineers do grow on trees here,” Eliza mused.

“If I managed to make it to California however,” he added, “I probably would’ve become Zac Efron.”

Eliza and I dissolved into laughter. “With your complete lack of musical talent?” I teased.

“And your inability to memorize lines. Like your fourth-grade play?” Eliza added, a low blow. I had seen that home video and it was rough.

“I was nine!” he argued.

“It was three lines!”

I bent double at the waist, laughing too hard to stand up straight. Every time we got ourselves under control, someone would start laughing again. It took twice as long to get the dishes done as it should have, but it was worth it. I couldn’t remember the last time I had laughed that hard.

When we finished, Jake opened the drawer where Magnolia hid her chocolate mint candies and gave each of us one. He unwrapped his candy and looked both ways before popping it into his mouth. “Eliza, I know you’re freaked. But there’s nothing in the world I’d rather do than work at SHAP. And Daisy never needs to go on a mission if she doesn’t want to.”

“Ha!” Eliza said. “You know she takes after you in the daredevil category.”

I put my hands on my hips. “Hey, you know Aunt Mina wouldn’t let anything hurt your girl, right? SHAP or no SHAP.”

She laughed. “I know. That’s why I put up with your bullshit.”

Jake leaned against his sister’s shoulder in a show of support. “Family. The only people who can insult you and still make it sound like they love you.”