Charmed Spirits (4 page)

Matt
took a sip of his coffee, and she forced herself to not watch the way his
throat worked as he swallowed. It was as if she was a teenager again. Though,
since the last time she’d seen his blue eyes they’d both been teenagers, she
couldn’t really blame herself. Much.

“I
own the hardware store. But I still do carpentry jobs on the side. I like to
work with my hands.” He studiously avoided her gaze, and she was grateful.

Damn
hormones.

“I’m
glad you’re doing what you like, Matt.” Her voice sounded too whimsical. Damn,
she didn’t know what she wanted in life and yet the man she had left made her
want even more things. Well, maybe not everything. Who could really want
Stacey? Matt had changed so much if that was his new type.

“How’s
Stacey?” She cringed. Had that sounded jealous? Oh, whatever.

“Stacey?”
He furrowed his brow then a slow, wide smile covered his face.

Oh,
God. It hurt. Jesus, he loved her.

“Don’t
tell me you’re jealous, Jor.”

She
raised her chin and fought back the ridiculous notion, on the verge of tears.
She would
not
cry over the fact she’d lost her chance when she’d never
even had one to begin with.

“Of
course not, I’m very happy about your engagement.”
Look at that, I didn’t
throw up when I said it.

Matt
choked on his coffee, his body folding over himself. Jordan rushed to his side
and pounded him on the back.

“What...what
did you say?” Matt asked once he quit coughing long enough to get some words
out.

“I
was just saying I was happy you and Stacey are getting married. It’s nice to
see you moving on.” She cringed. That wasn’t what she’d meant to say. Now she
looked like she was the center of the universe.
Great going, Jordan
.

“Where
the hell did you hear that?”

“Uh,
from Stacey? Your soon-to-be bride?”

Matt
shook his head and looked a bit sick. “Hell, no, Jor. Stacey and I aren’t
engaged, dating, or even close.”

Relief
spread through her even as she thought that it didn’t matter anyway. She’d
leave. But he wasn’t with Stacey; she could at least rejoice in that.

“Oh,
well, I might have heard wrong.” Wait, why was she covering for the blonde
bimbo?

Matt
shook his head. “Oh, I don’t think you did. That woman is a conniving snake.”

Jordan
threw her head back and laughed with Matt joining her. “Oh, thank God. I was
worried it was only me.”

“Oh,
no. I’m pretty sure the entire town is with you on that front, Jor. Dear God, I
wish that woman would move away.”

“Or
at least shut up.”

Jordan
drank the last of her coffee, a weight she didn’t know she had lifting off her
shoulders as she talked with Matt. She’d almost forgotten how close they’d been
as friends before they’d dipped their toes in the more serious relationship
pools. She could always count on him, though, as it turned out, the same
couldn’t have been said of her.

“So,
you’re here to help with carpentry? Well, I’m going to need tons of it.” She
waved her hands around the room and tried not to wince. “But, I think that may
take a backseat for now.”

Matt
nodded, his gaze roaming over the place with a frown over his face. “I can’t believe
people would do this.” He turned to her, they eyes locking. “I promise you, if
me or my brothers had known the extent of the damage, we’d have done
something.”

She
could always count on the Coopers. “But in the store, you hinted.” She hadn’t
wanted to push, but he’d known something.

Matt
shook his head. “I’d only guessed the place would be in need of repairs since
your grandmother hadn’t let anyone in the house for so long. I’d seen it from
the outside, so I knew it wasn’t good, but I hadn’t realized the inside was
this bad.”

Pain
ricocheted through her. Yet another thing that was her fault.

Jordan
gave a nod but didn’t meet his eyes. How could she?

“Those
asses will get what’s coming to them, Jor. Don’t worry.”

She
smiled. Yep, that was her Matt. The good guy. Wait, not
her
Matt. Never
again,
her
Matt.

“It
doesn’t matter. I’ll get this place cleaned up, sold, and then it won’t be an
eyesore anymore.”

“You
mean we.”

“Huh?”

“
We’ll
get this place cleaned up.”

Oh,
she didn’t know if she could work side-by-side with him for too long. Her
already unsteady mood swings might go crazier than a menopausal woman in a heat
wave. Something she was
not
looking forward to experiencing one bit.

“Why
are you helping me?” She had to ask. She’d left him, and yet here he was, being
a nice guy.

“Because
we’re friends.” The words looked like they were ripped from him, and she wanted
to cry at the situation. “Or at least we were. I’d like to be friends, Jor.”

His
gaze locked with hers, and she wanted to throw her arms around him or cry. Since
she was stronger than that, she did neither.

“I’d
like that too.” She was proud of how steady her voice sounded when inside she
was a wreck of emotions and memories.

Matt
smiled and walked farther inside the house. “Okay, where do we start?”

“Start?”
How about kissing? That seemed like a good start…No!

He
raised a brow and gave her a knowing look.
Jerk
. “In your house?”

“Oh,
right. Sorry, the coffee hasn’t kicked in yet.” She looked at the mess
surrounding them and held back a cringe. “I think we need to work on at least
cleaning up a bit first then fixing what we need to.”

Matt
nodded, his gaze studying the room as she tried to pull hers from his jawline.
Yum.

“Okay,
then. I heard from Mrs. Chambers that you already bought some cleaning supplies
at the general store.” He grinned, and she shook her head.

“Damn
small town.”

“Come
on, you missed us some.”

“Not
even a little.” She shook her head as he laughed. No, she hadn’t missed the town.
She missed Matt and his brothers and maybe a few others, but not the town. The
busybodies and sharp-tongued residents were the reason she’d left in the first
place. Well, at least most of the reason.

Matt
held his hand over his heart and staggered back. “I’m hurt.”

“Shut
it. I don’t have time for your pains.” Though to soothe them… Geez, this was
going to be even harder than she’d thought.

“I
like it when you’re feisty.”

She
leveled a look at him and walked toward the mound of cleaning supplies and trash
bags she’d bought the day before.

“That’s
enough of that. We said we wanted to be friends for as long as I’m here, and
you talking like that isn’t helping anything.” She had to get it out there
because, if he kept being his normal charming self, she wouldn’t make it.

Matt
put down the box of trash bags he held and crossed his arms over his chest.
“Okay, there are a few things wrong with that statement. First off, yes, I want
to be your friend. We were best friends once, and I’d like to have you back.
Second, what the hell is with that ‘as long as I’m here’ crap? If you leave
this time—”

“Not
if, when.”

He
rolled his eyes. “Fine,
when
you leave this time, you don’t get to do it
without a goodbye and a phone number. We’re going to talk once you leave and do
what friends do—connect.”

Guilt
ate at her from the memory of her leaving before, but she buried it. It had
been a long time ago.

“And
third, I’m being myself with you, Jor. I’m not groping you or kissing you like
I’d do if we were more than friends. I was teasing and playing around. That’s
what friends do. I know this is awkward, and we’re not talking about the
elephant the size of Montana in the room, but we’re going to get through this.”

“I
don’t think it’s possible for an elephant the size of Montana to actually fit
in this room.”

He
let out a breath. “It could, and it will, considering our history. Awkwardness
doesn’t follow the rules of physics; it’s one of the commandments or
something.”

She
raised a brow. “Really? God said ‘Thou shalt not follow the rules of physics when
awkward’?”

“Something
like that.”

They
broke out in laugher, and just like that, the tension eased a bit. They picked
up the cleaning supplies and started to work as a team. With each trash bag of
junk collected, they reminisced about the times they’d spent in her
grandmother’s house. She had thought she’d have felt sad in the place where she’d
grown up and ultimately rejected, sitting with the man she’d left, but with
Matt’s smile and laughter, she couldn’t quite feel too depressed. As always,
Matt made her feel whole again.

Too
bad she was going to leave him again once when she figured out what she was
going to do with her life.

“Do
you still practice?” Matt asked as they sat on her porch and gulped down the
ice water she had in her cooler.

“Practice
what?”

“Witchcraft.”

She
froze, surprised he’d broach the taboo subject with such ease. “Sometimes.”

“Sometimes?
That’s it? What does that mean?” He took a long drink then leveled his gaze at
her.

She
shrugged, not comfortable with the topic. He’d always been her protector when
she wasn’t protecting herself. But he hadn’t been there for all if it and hadn’t
seen what had happened when others found out about her talent. If she could
even call it that.

“Jordan?”

With
him sitting there with that honest look on his face, she couldn’t hold back. He
made her feel transparent, so she told him the truth. “I don’t practice as much
as I’d like. But I’m always using my powers. I mean I can’t
not
be a
witch. It runs through me; it’s in my blood. I just don’t do everything that I
want to with it.”

He
rested his hand on hers, and she gripped it tightly, his warmth seeping into
her bones. “What do you want to do with it?”

“Like
working with potions again or trying out new spells. Anything, really.”

“Why
don’t you?”

“I
don’t know.” No, that was a lie. She
did
know. But she’d been hiding
from herself for so long it was hard to find who she was.

He
nodded, but she could tell he didn’t believe her. It was just one more reason
she liked him; he let her be when she wanted it.

“I
hope you have the proper permits for this monstrosity,” Prescott said from the
edge of the walkway, startling her.

She
and Matt stood quickly, her stomach heaving at the thought of having to be in
the same space as Prescott. And, oh God, what if he told Matt about what had
happened that night?

Matt
crossed his arms in front of his chest and shifted so he blocked her from view.
She took a deep breath and moved closer to his side. She was a freaking adult.
She could handle this. Maybe.

“Jordan
owns the place, Mr. Mayor,” he growled. “It’s not a public place, so she
doesn’t need a permit to clean it up.”

“We’ll
see.” Prescott lifted his head so far Jordan thought she could see directly up
his nose and walked away, anger in his stride.

As
soon as his car sped away, Jordan relaxed, they’d been too into each other even
to notice him pull up in the first place. She needed to hurry up and get the
house sold so she could leave. She might be a strong woman in some respects,
but Prescott made her want to crawl in a hole and hide. That, by far, wasn’t
his worse offense. She hated being weak, but for some reason, she couldn’t grow
a backbone around him.

“I
hate that guy,” Matt grumbled.

Jordan
gave a small smile. “Me, too.”

“Hey,
you two, I hear you could use some help.” Justin, Matt’s very cute brother,
walked toward them.

“I
think I got it, Justin,” Matt growled, and Jordan raised a brow.

Interesting.
Was Matt jealous of his big brother? Should she even care that he was? After
all, they weren’t together, and Jordan thought of the Coopers like her family,
just a very sexy one. Matt was the only one who had ever made her want to dream
of more. Not in terms of success, but to have him
be
her family.

“I
could use all the help I can get, actually.” She wouldn’t have to be alone in a
room with Matt and her traitorous thoughts, and she’d get out of here quicker. That’s
what she wanted after all, right?

“Sounds
good to me,” Justin said. “Where do you want me?” He wiggled his brows, and she
laughed while Matt growled again.

“You
want to take the bathrooms?” she teased.

His
face fell. “Seriously?”

“Hey,
you’re late; it seems only fair.” She looked over at Matt and winked.