A Southern Charms Cozy Potluck Box Set Read online

  I pointed a finger at him. “Are you responsible for this? I called a handful of my friends. There’s a massive crowd out there.”

  “Stop being so dramatic.” He rolled his eyes. “I might have played phone tree to those who want to see you start your business. They love you, Birdy. Go talk to them and see how much.”

  “I’m stayin’ in here with the food,” TJ declared, stealing a cornbread muffin off the cooling rack.

  Nana stopped me on my way out. “I’m proud of you for living to your fullest.” She kissed my cheek and swiped my behind on my way out.

  Walking toward the noise, I second-guessed myself a couple times. Was it crazy to want to start a business? I knew nothing about running one. And what if I failed? Then again, if I never tried, that would be the bigger failure.

  I approached the room and spotted Mason talking to Ben off to the side of the crowded room. The detective spoke in hushed tones, but whatever he said to my advocate friend, it must have been serious. He stopped talking and smiled at me, nodding his head to encourage me to get on with things.

  When the entire room of friendly faces quieted down upon my entrance, my nerves did a dance. I waved at everyone and swallowed hard. “Well, this is a few more than I expected.”

  Blythe beamed at me. “Hey, if you’re on the fence about opening up your business, we’re here to help you make up your mind to do it.”

  I smiled despite the butterflies in my tummy, glad to have my best friend at my back. “I’m not making up my mind just yet, but if I’m gonna do it, I have to know what my limitations really are. And to know that, I have to push myself. And that’s why y’all are here.”

  Lee raised his hand. “When do we get to eat the good food your grandmother’s cookin’?”

  Everybody laughed while Alison Kate elbowed him. I couldn’t help but smile at the reunited couple and their intense cuteness together. “When we finish, so we better get on with it. If y’all were told right, you brought a couple of personal belongings with you. I’m gonna go upstairs to my bedroom, and I want y’all to find a place to hide your first object. Then I’m gonna go through my paces and see how far my talents can be pushed.”

  “I claim geezer privileges on this first test,” Henry said, surprising me with his presence. “In about two seconds, it’s gonna be too hot and humid to run around outside.”

  “Then why’d you come?” asked Flint.

  “Because if Charli’s gonna finally value herself enough to open up a business, then I’m here to cheer her on. No harm in that, is there?” The older rascal of a gentleman nodded at me and snuck a wink when nobody else was looking.

  My cheeks warmed. “Thanks, Mr. Henry.”

  Horatio’s voice boomed from the back of the room. “When would you like us to start?”

  “Oh.” In my embarrassment, I forgot to give the go-ahead. “I’ll go upstairs now. Anywhere on the property is fair game.”

  With great enthusiasm, everyone began chatting with glee, probably planning what hiding place they wanted to use. Beau followed me upstairs. He and I had practiced last night so I could see if my powers still remained limited with vampires. I didn’t know if I still kept a little of the extra juice of magic from the founders’ tree or if I could just push myself harder, but out of the ten times we tried the exercise, I managed to find the object twice with a lot of effort.

  “I’m gonna go nap,” my vampire roommate told me with a yawn. “Good luck today.”

  I entered my bedroom and closed the door. The voices from downstairs quieted as they all hunted for a good hiding place. Left alone with my thoughts, a few doubts crept their way back in, and I sat on my bed contemplating my sanity again.

  After about fifteen minutes, someone knocked lightly and cracked the door open. Mason stepped inside, and I freaked out, trying to kick some of my dirty clothes under the bed. Rushing to push him out of my room, I slammed the door behind me.

  The corners of his lips quirked up at my efforts. “I think everyone’s ready downstairs. And perhaps you should think about hiring Henry to help you. As much as he said he didn’t want to do anything, the man herded all of us. He might make a good secretary.”

  I smacked the detective on his arm and walked downstairs. My friends waited for me to choose who to start with. Lee pulled me aside and asked if he could go last, which puzzled me but I gladly obliged.

  Ben volunteered to go first. I held his hand and had him picture the object. A connection to an ink pen formed quickly. “Is it in the curio cabinet in the parlor, second shelf from the top, hidden behind the collection of flasks Aunt Nora refused to accept from Tipper’s will?” I asked.

  My friend raised his eyebrows. “That’s impressive. I thought you used to have to lead me around to find it.”

  I let go of his hand with a slight squeeze. “Sometimes I still have to do that, letting the thread of connection tug me forward. But for some people and some lost items, it’s a little easier now. Although I may still have to do it the old-fashioned way to prove to a client that I used my talents to find whatever it is they hire me for or they might not want to pay me.”

  It was a little odd to have everyone watching my every move and really learning how my magic worked. But if they could understand it and me a little better, then they could also help me figure out how in the world I would set up a business.

  I found most of the objects hidden either in the downstairs of the house or close by outside. When it came to my brother, the twinkle in his eyes alerted me. Taking my hand, he looked away, whistling.

  “You’re not concentrating,” I accused.

  “I know. I wanna see if I can beat you at this. Can I keep something hidden from you if I want?”

  As one of the first people to help me learn about my talents, it both annoyed and amazed me that he still knew how to push me. Concentrating harder, I tried to win the game. A thin glimmering thread stretched to me, and I grabbed onto it with my will, binding it to me.

  “It’s somewhere outside,” I declared. Tugging on Matt’s hand, I walked with impatience toward the barn that housed the horses.

  “I see you haven’t lost your touch.” The glee rolling off my brother bothered me.

  Ignoring most of my friends following us, I entered the barn wary of the horses whinnying in their stalls. Aware of my brother’s devious nature, it didn’t amuse me when I stood in front of a steaming pile of manure. “Pixie poop.”

  His snicker joined the laughter of my watching friends. “No, horse poop.”

  “You’re the idiot who hid his spell phone in the middle of a pile of crap. I’m not fishing it out.” I dropped his hand and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “You might,” he teased. “It’s not my spell phone.” Matt slipped his own device out of his pocket and showed it to me. Choosing my name from his list of contacts, he hit Send. The phone in the manure rang and vibrated.

  Without hesitation, I slugged him on his arm. “You jerk. You’re gonna get it out of there and clean it until you’d let your unborn baby eat off of it.” I stomped out of the barn.

  “Hey, I really did try to keep it from you. Your magic is much stronger than it used to be,” Matt called out.

  I shot him a middle finger and made my way back to the porch. Henry sat in a rocker, sipping on a glass of sweet tea. “I told that boy not to do it, but you Goodwins have a stubborn streak that runs a mile wide.”

  I found items for the rest of my girls, and paid special attention when I came to Flint. If I’d had issues with vampires and fairies, I didn’t know how other supernatural beings might work with my magic. Finding a connection with the gnome as well as Horatio wasn’t that different. I told Flint where he hid the pink pin Goss gave him and informed Horatio that I might have to keep the copy of whatever old book he’d slipped into the bookcase full of Tipper’s old collection.

  My gigantic friend guffawed. “That’s a first edition of A Study In Scarlet I found in a rare bookshop in Bloomsbury. I think you sh
ould keep it, Holmes.” He leaned closer and did his best to whisper. “And I think it is a most capital idea for you to open your business. Give me the word and I shall create more cards for you to hand out.”

  Juniper hovered close by, her blue-green dust floating down. “I’m not sure how I can help, Charli.”

  “Actually, you’re one of my most important test subjects. I’m a little confused with fae magic. Moss hid stuff from me, but when I went looking for Mrs. K’s brooch, I found it easily at Flint and Goss’ house.” Too many times I wondered whether or not fairy magic blocked me. I’d just never had the motivation to find the answer.

  “Oh, we fae can befuddle others with our magic.” Juniper thought hard, tapping her finger against the side of her tiny mouth. “I would imagine if Moss didn’t want you to find something, she could block your magic. With the brooch, I think it could be a couple of things. One, Goss wasn’t hiding it. And two, she’s pregnant, and that makes her a little vulnerable right now.”

  “Speaking of, I’m goin’ home to my missus.” Flint wished me well and headed out to check on his pregnant fairy wife.

  Juniper let me hold her hand, and I had her try to block me from finding her item. Touching her directly gave me a bit more juice to work with. Although the picture in my mind was fuzzy, I could see her wand but couldn’t quite pick the place.

  As soon as I had her concentrate on wanting to find it, the image in my head cleared. “You’ve placed it in the red and gold vase sitting next to the window.”

  Horatio confirmed its location, picking up the vase and shaking the delicate porcelain to retrieve the rattling wand.

  Henry snapped the piece of paper he held in his hand and cleared his throat. “So you can charge more for finding items that require more effort and magic. You would price on a scale, but you should charge a minimum up front. Kind of like how our postal service does it.”

  We all gaped at him, and he sniffed. “Hey, I wasn’t born old. I led a very productive life before I became the amazing old fart standin’ in front of you.”

  Lily raised her hand. “Can we eat now?”

  “Oh, I forgot the second part of this. How many of y’all brought a second thing?” I asked.

  Several hands shot up so I could give my second round of instructions. “I think I have enough evidence to help me make a decision for the ‘lost’ portion of Lost & Found. But I’ve never tried my talents in reverse. What if someone brings an object in and wants to find who it belongs to? I’ll go back out of the room, and those of you with a different item can place them on this table. Then I’ll try and figure out who they belong to.”

  It didn’t take long for them to be ready for me, and I studied the pile of things. I ruled out a couple of them, knowing exactly who they belonged to because of what they were.

  Since I’d never tried to match an item to the person, I thought I better add a little extra oomph to the exercise. Breathing in deep and letting it out to center myself, I recited an extra special spell. “If Lost & Found is the game to play, I need to keep my doubts at bay. Finding things is what I do, my magic talents help me through. If something lost can be found, let’s try to turn this trick around. Found item to owner now restore, I task my magic to give me more.”

  A little bit of energy sparked inside me, and kick of power surged through my body. Ready to try it out, I picked up a tie pin. “At first glance, I might think this belongs to a guy because of what it is. But it could also be a sentimental piece.”

  I flipped the cool metal over in my fingers, searching for any kind of connection to someone in the room. With all eyes boring into me, my anxiety grew with each second that ticked by without my magic jumping to life.

  The power was there for me to access, but it didn’t appear to work in the opposite way. My friends shifted in their seats, their silence weighing on me until I couldn’t take it anymore. “Gah, I don’t think this is going to work.”

  “You can’t give up that quickly,” stated Mason, his brow furrowed. “I’m betting that when you first started getting a hang of your talents, it didn’t just happen.”

  I looked at Matt, who nodded in agreement. “We had to practice a bunch.”

  “But I’m an adult now who accepts her magic. It should be easier, shouldn’t it?” Old familiar doubts reared their ugly heads, telling me I couldn’t do it.

  Henry scoffed. “Well, of course it’s not working. You’re asking your powers to start from scratch. You have to do something they already know to do. Now, I’ve been watching you today. The first thing you do when you’re trying to help someone find something is—”

  “I hold onto them,” I finished. “So maybe I need to touch the person it belongs to in order to match the item to them.”

  As awkward as it was, I held the tie pin in one hand and reached out to every person sitting in the room, starting with Mason. His warm touch felt inviting but held no zing of connection. He winked at me and urged me to the next person.

  I paused when I held Henry’s hand, thinking I’d felt something. Unable to make a clear decision, I moved on until I’d touched everyone. Wanting to give up, I furrowed my brow and went with my gut instinct. Standing in front of Henry, I asked the man to stand up.

  Closing my eyes, I concentrated on the tie pin and then touched Henry’s hand. When I opened my eyes, I saw a glow around the item and where our skin met. “This is yours. Isn’t it?” I hoped.

  The older man’s gruff expression broke into one of glee and he cackled. “You got it. See, there’s more in you than you expected.”

  One by one, I matched the objects to the person, although the process took longer than I’d like. At this point, how would I translate the new skill into something I could use to make money? If someone turned something they found in to me, it might take me a year to touch every single person in town to find the original owner. It wasn’t a very practical skill.

  The last object, a small dark blue box, lay in the center of the table. It didn’t take my magic to tell me that it most likely held a very important piece of jewelry. Confused, my eyes darted around the room. Who would use a ring for this exercise?

  For a second, my stomach clenched, wondering if this was Mason’s weird way of telling me he wanted more between us? I knew it couldn’t belong to my brother, and I’d given the items back to my girlfriends. Lee caught my eye, his face turned bright red, tilting his head toward his girlfriend.

  Relieved and hit with sudden joy, I cleared my throat and made a show of finding the potential owner. “Who might this tiny leather box belong to?” I walked around, waving it in front of people, touching them on the shoulder.

  Passing by Alison Kate twice, I flashed her a quizzical glance. I placed my fingers to my temple. “Ali Kat, I think that this box is meant for you.” I stated in my most mystical voice.

  My friend shook her head. “That’s not mine.”

  Lee scooted to the edge of his seat next to her and got down on one knee. “Yes, it is. If you’ll have me.” He took the box from me and opened it.

  Alison Kate squealed and covered her mouth, tears forming at the corners of her eyes. I backed away to let Lee have his moment, but Blythe, Lavender, Lily, and I stood at the ready.

  Lee tried to speak, but his voice broke. He coughed a couple of times and attempted again. “Alison Kate, I was blind for so long to the hope and joy that was right there beside me for all those years. I don’t want another one to go by without making sure that you’ll be mine for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

  With a shriek of pure happiness, Alison Kate tackled Lee around the neck, giggling and crying at the same time. “Yes, yes, yes!”

  The entire room erupted in cheers, applause, and more tears from us girls. Lee attempted to put the ring on his new fiancée’s finger, but she hugged him too tight.

  Ben came up to me on my left side. “He got that ring while we were working out the contracts for the spell phones and other development deals. When he heard a
bout the friend-tervention and how the others tricked you and Blythe with their engagement, he thought why not do it now.”

  I wiped a stray tear from my cheek. “I’m really happy for them.” Noticing Ben’s warm glances at Lily, who did her best not to look at her boyfriend in that particular moment, I wondered how long it would take the tall advocate to ask her the same question.

  We watched Alison Kate pull herself together long enough to let Lee slip the ring on her finger. They stood up and welcomed the jubilant embraces from the rest of us.

  “I’m declaring my experiments over. Let’s get us some food,” I shouted over the din of merriment.

  Mason stood off to the side, leaning against the wall. He watched the scene with a little bit of sadness in his eyes. I walked over to him and placed my hand in his. “You okay?”

  His thumb swiped over my skin. “I am. Just remembering how it felt.”

  After everything he’d shared with me, I couldn’t help but recall the pictures of Mason with Jessica. “Do you wish things had been different?” I asked without looking at him.

  He squeezed my hand once and paused. He did it again twice until I looked him in the eyes. “Not at all.”

  The rest of the world dropped away in that brief moment. We’d flirted back and forth before. This felt like…more. And for the first time, my doubts about what there was between the two of us stayed quiet.

  “Mason,” I breathed out. My eyes flitted to his lips, and I wanted to find out if the stubble he still kept would scratch against my skin.

  Henry hacked and spluttered with dramatic intensity to interrupt us. “Your grandmother sent me to find out if y’all gonna come eat or what?”

  Mason shut his eyes for a second. “Be right there.” When Henry left, the detective bent his forehead against mine. “One of these days…” he trailed off.

  “I know,” I whispered, squeezing his hand and letting him go.

  We turned to follow the elder gentleman to the kitchen to fix our plates when Mason’s phone went off. He answered it, his expression darkening into a scowl. “He did? When?”