Page 20 of Demon Loved
Well, technically, this would be the third time she’d seen Bill, thanks to the way they’d bumped into each other down on Rich Street earlier today. At first, she’d been startled, but she’d accepted his explanation about sketching the town’s architecture without too many questions. She’d heard her artist cousins say that they felt much more connection to a place or an object when they drew it rather than merely taking a picture with their phones, so she could see why Bill would want to do the same thing.
And he’d been such a sport about helping Helen Doyle, hanging that picture without a single raised eyebrow. Brianna didn’t think she knew too many guys who would have been quite so mellow about being roped into providing free labor like that.
Which meant Bill seemed a lot more promising as a romantic partner than anyone else she’d met in a very long time.
Except for the part where he was a civilian…where he wasn’t even from Arizona.
She allowed a breath to escape her lips, mostly because she was alone in the car and didn’t have to worry about anyone giving her grief for being overly dramatic. Best to get it out of her system now.
Especially with the Grand Hotel coming up on her right. She pulled into the gravel-paved parking lot and was pleased to see Bill waiting at the base of the wide steps that led up to the hotel’s entrance. He wore a dark camp shirt and jeans and appeared completely casual, but he still looked like a movie star who was trying to maintain a low profile while out mingling with the common folks.
She brought the Suburban to a stop near the steps, then waited while he came over, opened the passenger-side door, and climbed in. As he fastened his seatbelt, he sent her a glance that could only be classified as amused.
“This is…quite a vehicle.”
“It is,” she said equably, and began to turn the hulking SUV around — no mean feat in the tight quarters of the Grand Hotel’s somewhat skimpy parking lot.
“I haven’t seen many gas-powered vehicles around here.”
“That’s because there aren’t very many.” They were heading back down the hill now, the Suburban chugging along and playing its usual symphony of grumbles and creaks. Every six months, she had a mechanic in Cottonwood who still had the know-how to service an internal-combustion engine look over Sally — Bree’s nickname for the SUV — so she knew the vehicle was running just fine, but she also realized it could sound alarming to people who weren’t used to her ride.
Bill shifted in his seat so he could look at her a little more directly. “But you prefer this type of vehicle?”
Bree didn’t know if “prefer” was precisely the right word to describe her feelings on the subject. “Not exactly,” she replied. “It’s not that I have something against electric cars. But none of them seemed to have the space I needed to haul my equipment around, and a cousin of mine was practically giving this one away, so….” She shrugged, even as she guided Sally around the long, banking curve that would send them down to Cottonwood. “Everyone thought I was crazy for taking on an antique like this, but she works.”
Even as she spoke, she wondered if she was being a little disingenuous. Sure, Sally could carry pretty much anything Bree could throw at her, but still, there were plenty of modern EVs that had some decent hauling capacity. However, what they couldn’t give her was the opportunity to be in the driver’s seat at all times, and she liked the feeling of control.
Well, that and the way pretty much everyone who lived in the Verde Valley and wasn’t a tourist recognized the vehicle and would wave when she went by. It made her feel…included, she supposed, which was something she appreciated. Obviously, she was a member of the McAllister clan, but her relatives also knew that she and Shane were something just a little bit other, thanks to their father not being from this particular plane of existence.
Shane had never seemed to be bothered by that otherness, though. Bree supposed it could have been because he was so secure in his magic, whereas she….
Your magic is just fine, she told herself. It’s just a little wimpy.
Okay, a lot wimpy, especially when you considered that both her parents were powerhouses on that front. And although her mother’s gift was enhancing the magical powers of anyone nearby, even that rare and useful talent didn’t seem to have any effect on her daughter. No one could say exactly why, although her father had theorized it was most likely because Brianna shared his blood and therefore wasn’t an ordinary witch.
Even though she thought she was far less than ordinary when it came to using magic.
Bill appeared to be interested in watching the landscape pass by the Suburban’s windows and didn’t seem to have too much of a problem with the way they’d both fallen into silence after he’d nodded at her reply. Well, the world outside was all new to him, or at least mostly new; she supposed he’d seen this landscape while the taxi was bringing him to Jerome, but things often looked a little different on the way down than they did on the way up.
For a Thursday night, Cottonwood was busy, and Bocce looked packed. Bree wasn’t too worried about that, though, just because the restaurant’s current hostess was a McAllister, and she knew that Tally would get them in without it looking too much like they’d been bumped to the head of the line.
And they lucked out on parking, since someone was pulling out of the public lot across the street from the restaurant just as she guided the Suburban in.
Maybe she should take that as a good omen.
“I suppose I should have asked if you like pizza,” she said as they waited for a break in traffic so they could cross the street.
Bill only smiled at her. “Is there anyone who doesn’t like pizza?”
“People who are lactose-intolerant?” she responded, and his smile broadened.
“Luckily, that isn’t something I need to worry about.”
Thank goodness. A gap in the passing cars presented itself, and the two of them hurried over to the restaurant, where Bree caught Tally’s eye through the window. Her cousin nodded, and that was enough reassurance for her to know that they wouldn’t have to worry about waiting very long.
Sure enough, Tally seated two groups ahead of them, but soon afterward, she guided Bree and Bill to a table near the window and handed over a couple of menus. “Your server will be with you shortly,” she said, sounding professional enough, but Bree could still see how her cousin’s big hazel eyes were dancing.
No doubt the story would be making the rounds that Brianna McAllister had been spotted having dinner at Bocce with a handsome stranger. Or maybe it was already circulating amongst the clan; The Asylum tended to be a place for tourists or those in the family who were celebrating a milestone of some sort, and that was why she hadn’t seen anyone she recognized at the restaurant the night before, but that didn’t mean someone might not have spied her as she said goodnight to Bill before heading home.
