Page 36 of Clearly Charmed

My body stiffened, and I pulled away.

‘Forgive me. That’s none of my business.’

‘We all have different fathers. None of us have ever met them, and Belladonna has never offered up their names.’

‘Like I told you, my dad wasn’t really around, either. But my mom is pretty great.’

I wished I could have said the same thing about Belladonna, but I couldn’t. She’d always put herself first. A fact that had stung for most of my life.

He cleared his throat and said, ‘Should we get back to it?’

‘Yes,’ I managed to choke out.

We went back to studying the archives, passing several books back and forth. With each one we set aside, the knot in my chest loosened. All of this was going to be a fool’s errand. Prove that there was nothing here that would lend itself to the tales of magic.

‘Have you heard how Julius is doing?’ He reached for another large tome, brushing my shoulder, and my pulse kicked up again.

‘I called the judge at lunchtime. He was still a little panicked about the whole thing. Worried about how swollen Julian was. He and Eric love that dog more than anything.’

He gave an understanding nod. ‘I can sympathize, but last night he seemed smart. Like he was a level-headed guy.’

‘Smart. Yes. Level-headed, not so much.’

‘What do you mean? He is a judge, right? Isn’t being level-headed a requirement of the job?’

‘In the courtroom, he’s fair and impartial. Outside, he does everything in his power to defend this town. That means he can get a bit assertive.’

‘I’ve only been here a few weeks, but I can understand why he’d be that way. There’s a lot to protect here.’

He gave me that weighted stare as he sat back, stretched his arms over his head, revealing a strip of tan skin, and a peek at the top of his black boxer briefs. I hated the way my throat went bone dry. How my fingers ached to touch him.

The pull toward him made zero sense. I’d always been cautious. The one who asked questions. Probed people’s intentions and motivations. But for some reason, every single time I was around Bryce, I was drawn to him. Like he was the strength of the tide pulling me out to sea. The flame that drew a moth closer.

I forced my attention back on the archives in front of us. ‘Have you always been comfortable interviewing people? I’d guess that requires a special kind of patience and skill set.’

He tented his hands on the table. ‘I suppose. The key is to put the person at ease. When I speak to an informant, witness or even a victim, I explain what I’m trying to do with my piece. How offering up information can be difficult, but it can lead to greater change.’

He was committed, resolute, and I needed to know more. ‘Give me an example.’

He settled his weight in the chair as if readying for a long story. ‘My first real reporting job was for a small newspaper in Orange County. A secretary at a local high school was accused of embezzling money from their parent-teacher organization. She refused to talk to me because her lawyer told her to stay quiet, but there was something about the situation that was off. She lived in a shoebox-sized apartment. Drove a twelve-year-old car that desperately needed a new transmission. Didn’t wear fancy clothes or jewelry. If she had stolen the ten thousand dollars that was missing, where was it? Because she wasn’t spending it on herself.’

‘Offshore bank account? Hidden underneath her mattress?’ I joked, but his face stayed sober.

‘Through a little more sleuthing, I found out she was overdrawn at her bank too.’ A flicker of shame rippled across his face. ‘I’m not proud of what I did next. For a few days, I followed her, eventually approaching her outside the local grocery store with what I’d learned. I promised I’d be fair if she trusted me. Talked to me. Told the truth.’ The bracketed lines around his mouth tightened. ‘We sat down the next day at a coffee shop she chose. I asked about her life, her family, her dreams. They were all honest and simple answers. Not the responses of an embezzler.’

The edges of his brows dipped together like the memory of that time still twisted something dark inside him.

‘You can’t leave it at that. What happened to her?’

‘She confessed that she’d been having an affair with the school’s principal. It was a rebound after his divorce. He took the money to pay off his debts but got scared. Made it look like she’d stolen it.’

‘What a shithead,’ I seethed.

‘It’s worse. She said she loved him. Believed covering for him was proof of her commitment. I told her I’d hold the story for forty-eight hours so she could tell her attorney and set things right.’

‘Did she?’

‘Yes. She ended up giving the guy up and getting her heart broken in the process.’