Page 62 of Clearly Charmed

‘He’s been talking to her matched couples. Asking them about their original interactions with her. How she brought them together.’

A chill raced through my veins. I was supposed to be protecting my sisters, not letting Bryce dig through their lives with a machete.

‘I’ve spoken to Bryce a couple of times in the last few days, and he’s given no indication that he’s discovered anything earth-shattering. If he had, he’d definitely show up at my door to interrogate me.’

‘So you are talking to him regularly. What else are you two doing?’ she said with too much bitterness.

‘I’m staying on top of this, Lee. That’s all you need to know.’

She muttered something about who was on top of who and I ignored her. Went back to inspecting the apples. The tension rose until she finally murmured, ‘Do you really think he’d say a word to you if he found something?’

That knowing look he gave me as he asked about the journal and Ambrosia flashed through my head. Yeah, I was not sharing that piece of information.

‘Have you ever known anyone in this town to stay quiet when it comes to gossip?’

She shook her head.

‘As long as nothing weird happens, all he’ll have is the basics found in the archives. What people have told him. A lot of that is myth and can’t be proven. And if I know anything about Bryce, it’s that he’s serious about his sources and his facts.’

‘Yeah, right, nothing weird.’ Her gaze lingered on the table Julius almost knocked over before she went back to her vegetable art.

After plucking a handful of apples from the crate, I grabbed a cutting board and went to work. The sounds and smells of late summer filtered toward us. A few tents away, a vendor from Leadville made kettle corn, the scent of sugar and cinnamon coating the air. The judge and Eric had set up a wireless speaker, and songs from old country favorites like Johnny Cash and Merle Haggard had me humming along.

I continued to slice up the apples, putting them in sealed plastic containers, and setting them inside a nearby cooler to keep them cold. As I was getting into a good rhythm, Lia’s shoulders tensed. Her head whipped left and right, and she said a very guarded ‘Fuck.’

Before I could ask what she’d sensed outside, the tent ruffled and Bryce appeared looking like a too-hot lumberjack. A deep blue Henley clung to his broad shoulders. Jeans that fit his ass so well it should have been illegal. And he was still wearing those boots, which had to be broken in by now.

‘What are you doing here?’ Lia grumbled.

‘I heard this is the best and busiest tent in the festival. Thought I’d offer my services.’

Lia arched a brow. ‘Services? What are you planning to do? Interrogate the children until they cry?’

‘Lee,’ I chided her.

‘No, it’s a fair question. I was hoping you’d give me a job, Lia. The one nobody in this tent wants to do,’ Bryce said.

You had to hand it to him, even though Lia looked like she wanted to dropkick him to the county line, he was still trying to win her over.

She paused for a few seconds before a devious look spread across her face. ‘The apple-dipping station is all yours.’

‘Lee,’ I said with caution. We’d both heard the stories about how it took the pharmacist and his wife three days to get the chocolate out of their hair last year. ‘Pick another job for him.’

‘No.’ Bryce stood his ground. ‘Give me directions, and I’ll do it.’

Lia ignored my searing look and walked him over to the table where we’d set up the dipping station. Not more than ten minutes later, Mo showed up with vats of melted chocolate and set them out near the table. The veins in Bryce’s neck pulsed like he knew he was in way over his head. It was the opening I needed to get him and his prying eyes out of here.

‘Hey. We’ve got this. Why don’t you walk around the festival? Go to the main tent and see the enormous vegetables the locals grow.’

‘Nope. I’m here to do a job and’ – he inched closer – ‘I like watching you work.’

He stared at me with those stunning blue eyes, and I lost all damn thought until Lia cleared her throat. ‘I need more peppers.’

‘Right. I’ll grab them,’ I said.

Bryce walked over to the dipping station, and my gaze veered back to how well those jeans fit him.

‘Dani,’ Lia barked, knowing all too well where I was staring. ‘Peppers.’