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Mia closed and locked the door behind the last straggle of custo day"
"I thought that last group was going to ister for the night, then zipped the cash bag "You want to take this ht deposit?"
"How much , pulled out the stack of bills, and flipped her thumb over the ends "Lots of cash customers today"
"God bless them every one I&039;ll do the deposit Credit card receipts?"
"Right here"
Rolling her shoulders, Mia crossed over, scanned the stack "Business is good"
"Solstice week, sucks theirls Wanted to know if they could see the witch and get some love potion"
Amused, Mia leaned on the counter "And what did you tell them?"
"I told them sure, and hoell the beauty potion worked for "
"Well, they have to learn not to look for life cures in a pretty bottle of potion"
"You put out so solstice week, and custoic Mix, for love, beauty, and prosperity"
"Terrifying thought" Mia angled her head "In all these years, Lu, you&039;ve never once asked me for a spell or a charet on well enough on my own" Lulu hauled her enormous purse from behind the counter "Besides, don&039;t think I don&039;t know you look out forout for yourself"
"What an odd thing to say I always look out for ot your house, and you live well Live the way you see fit to live You&039;ve got your looks, and you&039;re healthy Got as chorus line"
"Shoes separate us fro h her hair "Well, naturally"
"Anyway" Lulu focused in She knew her girl, and she knehen that girl was trying to distract her
"You run things pretty ood friends And you&039;veyou can be proud of"
"We made it," Mia corrected
"Well, I didn&039;t sit on ave a decisive nod that took in the entire store "And it shines"
"Lu" Touched, Mia brushed Lulu&039;s arm as she came around the counter "It means a lot to me that you&039;d think that, say that"
"It&039;s fact And there&039;s another fact, one that worries hts You&039;re not happy"
"Of course I am"
"No, you&039;re not And worse, you don&039;t think you&039;re ever going to be Not deep-down-in-the-gut happy You want to give me a spell, you fix that That&039;s all I have to say Now I&039;o putBruce Willis kick ass"
With no coh the store and out the back Unsettled now, she took the cash and receipts and wandered through the store It did shine, she thought She had put a great deal of energy and iination to use here Financial resources and intellect, long, hard hours and eclectic taste
And nearly seven years of her life
It made her happy, she insisted as she walked up the stairs It challenged and fulfilled her That was enough She&039;d h Maybe she had once assumed she would have a different kind of life A life that included a ether But that had been a young girl&039;s fantasy, and she had put away such dreas didn&039;t ht as she went into her office to fill out the deposit slips It only meant she&039;d taken another path, ended up at a different destination
In-the-gut happy, she ht down to it?
Wasn&039;t it just as important to be satisfied, fulfilled, successful? And wasn&039;t it essential to any level of happiness to feel in control of your life?
She heard, as clearly as fingernails scraping against glass, the dark pressing against her s She looked outside The sky was still gloith the light of a sues, trying to find a crack, a chink in her will
"You won&039;t use me to destroy" She said it clearly, so her voice carried through the empty store
"Whatever else I do in my life, I won&039;t be used You are not welcome here"
And there at her desk, with the day&039;s receipts and paperwork neatly stacked, she spread her arht It shiolden rivers As it spilled froathered what she needed to make the deposits
Before she left the store, she detoured to her new terrace The doorwalls had been installed that day, and she unlocked the glass, slid it open Stepped out into the evening The ironwork railing was exactly as she&039;d wanted Fussy and fe shake, and was satisfied at its unyielding strength Beauty, she thought, never had to be weak
Froe point she could see the curve of beach, the roll of the sea And the first sword of white froht The dark that crept in noas benign, full of hope Below her, High Street was still busy Tourists were out for strolls, wandering into the ice cream parlor for a treat The air was so clear she could hear bits of conversation and the shouts and squeals of young people on the beach
As the first stars gli that she refused to recognize, and couldn&039;t resolve
"If you had a trellis, I&039;d climb up"
She looked down and there he was Dark and handsoirl she&039;d been had fallen so pathetically in love with Sa up into business established on the island"
"I&039;ve got pull with the local authorities, so I&039;d risk it But why don&039;t you coht"
There had been a time when she would have run to him Because she reet everything and anything but hi "I have an errand to do and another long day to by the bank, then horabbed the ar by, then pointed up - "isn&039;t she spectacular? I&039;"
"Why don&039;t you give the guy a break?" one of the men called to her, only to be elbowed aside by one of his companions
"The hell with him Give me a break" He laid a hand dramatically on his heart "I think I&039;et ?" she de fat diaer"
"Hey" The man jabbed one of his friends "Lendfat diamond and move to Trinidad with Red"
"If I had ten K, I&039;d move to Trinidad with her"
"Now see what you&039;ve done" Sa riots You&039;d better coo with me before my new pals and I have to beat the crap out of each other"
Ahed, stepped back, and shut the doors
He waited for her When he&039;d seen her standing on the terrace, he&039;d been staggered She&039;d looked so enchanting, and so sad Heartbreaking He&039;d have done anything in his power to lift that quiet sorrow And anything, nearly anything, to reach past that thin shield she kept between them He wanted to see as in her mind In her heart
Maybe the key, at least for one precious evening, was to keep things simple He stood on the sidehen she came out and locked the front door behind her She wore a slim dress that flowed around her ankles and was scattered with tiny yellow rosebuds Her shoes were a series of slender crisscrossing straps and a high wedged platforold around her left ankle ridiculously sexy
She turned, hitched the strap of her bag onto her shoulder, then scanned the sidewalk "Where did your friends go?"
"I bribed them with free drinks at the Coven" He jerked his head toward the hotel
"Ah Replaced by a cold beer"
"Want to go to Trinidad?"
"No"
He took her hand "Want an ice creao to the bank, ht deposit Which, I&039;ll point out, isn&039;t being stuffy but responsible"
"Uh-huh I&039;ll ith you"
"What are you doing in the village?" she asked as they started toward the bank "Working late?"
"Not particularly I went hoed his shoulders "Caht, had timed it exactly as he&039;d planned Just as she&039;d be closing He glanced over, studied a sroup of people on the opposite side of the street They were decked in flowing robes and weighed doith silver chains and crystal pendants
"Amateurs," he commented
"They&039;re harmless"
"We could call up a storm, turn the street into a meadow Give them a real thrill"
"Stop it" She drew out her key for the deposit slot
"See - stuffy" He heaved a sigh "It&039;s painful to see such a bright hope turn into a rule book"
"Really" Efficiently, she made her deposit, tucked her copy of the transaction into her cash bag "I don&039;t recall you ever soat a rule book"
"When they look like you, I study theht, were ht&039;s seemed to be foolish She could do with soroup of would-be witches approached abox filled with struggling dahlias, she gave a graceful turn of her hand The flowers sprang up like jewels, full and bright
"And the crowd goes wild" Saed the reaction across the street, the shouts, the gasps
"Nice touch"
"Stuffy, ht her a frothy swirl of orange and crea a walk on the beach The moon was nearly full It would be fat and round by the weekend, and the solstice And a full moon on the solstice meant bounty, and promise And the rites of fertility that lead to harvest
"Last year I went to Ireland for the solstice," he told her "There&039;s a small stone dance there, in County Cork It&039;s ht until nearly ten, and when it begins to fade, toward the end of the longest day, the stones sing"