Page 18 of Rise of the Melody
I climbed out wearing slashed black leggings, my boots, and a black tank top with tiny white polka dots. My makeup wasn’t as heavy as normal since I’d been tired when we woke at the crack of dawn, but I’d reapplied my red lipstick in the car. That was all that mattered. I ran a hand through my long hair to get out the snags from the trip and followed Aunt Lorna into the crowd. CooShee stayed at my side on his leash, though we both knew it was just for looks.
I glanced at my aunt. “So…Ronald?”
“Och.” She waved her hand at me again. “It was a million years ago.”
“Thirteen to be exact.”
She sighed and eyed me. “We were…a couple. Until, you know, everything. We didn’t exactly get a proper good-bye.”
“Why?” I asked. We passed a rowdy group of twenty-somethings chugging beers, then smashing the cans in their fists when they finished.
“In the aftermath of the disappearances, everything was chaos. We were ordered off the island and my mind was a mess.”
My mind flashed back to their conversation in the back room of Moonlight Apothecary. She’d said we’d been banished. I’d forgotten about that. I shook my head now, anger surging. How had I never known this? My parents had gone missing. How heartless was this man?
Aunt Lorna rubbed her head. “So much of it is still a blur.”
I wanted to focus on this Ronald dude. “Well, you’re here now. You and Ron should talk.” Rekindle.
“No. It’s too late for that.”
“Too late. Mm-hm.” I tried to nod nonchalantly, but the grin was beyond my control. She swatted my arm and shook her head, moving on toward some food trucks. Bagpipe music rose up from the other end of the park, and I got a whiff of whiskey and beer that had sloshed all over the grass.
“I mean, it’s just wild,” I said, still thinking about my aunt and the sheriff. “You can tell he’s still feeling you.”
“I doubt it. I’m sure he’s found someone new. Oh, my goodness, look. Scotch eggs!”
She pointed toward one of the trucks with a picture of whole cooked eggs with something brown on the outside. “What are those?”
“Oh, my gran made them when I was little. It’s a hardboiled egg surrounded in ground sausage and coated in breadcrumbs, then deep fried.”
“A healthy snack, then?”
She laughed. “Don’t ruin my nostalgia!”
We were all hungry. Aunt Lorna got three scotch eggs and gave two to CooShee. He actually wagged his tail as he ate them. I got fish and chips. I didn’t eat fried food often, but my gawd, everything smelled so good. CooShee smelled my plate and looked up at me before gently nipping a piece of fish without permission. If he were a regular dog I’d correct him, but he was a harbinger of death. He could steal my food all he wanted.
“Oh, look!” Aunt Lorna pointed. “They’re getting ready for the wife-carrying competition.” We walked over where, sure enough, men in kilts had women flung over their necks, backwards. As in, the ladies had their heads down the men’s backs. Their bottoms were pushed into the back of the men’s heads, and their legs dangled straight out in front of the men.
One of the guys, younger than the other men, broke away and came running our direction. I looked around but he was literally running straight at us. No,me. I blinked as he got closer, his hamstrings bulging out from beneath the blue and white plaid kilt. He smiled big and two dimples had me sucking in a breath that got stuck. Blue gray eyes. Brown, wavy hair. Large shoulders.
“Oh, my,” Aunt Lorna said, stepping aside as he came to a halt, breathing hard.
A flush of sizzling heat hit my face and arms, making goosebumps rise. He had magic. My heart jumped. CooShee growled low, causing the guy to take one step back in caution.
“Sorry,” he said, holding up his hands at the dog. “I’ll back up, bud. My bad.” Then he looked right into my face and gave a huge, bright smile. “Hey!”
“Um, hey….” My eyeballs slid over to my aunt but she was no help, grinning like a freaking jester. Now I knew how she felt when I’d been way too happy about Ron.
The guy just kept smiling and I didn’t know what to do with all that happiness.
“What’s your name?” he asked me.
“Letty.”
“Letty. Nice. I’m Teague,” he said. “I can feel your magic, wow.” To hear him talk openly of that buzzing heat we radiated was so strange.
“Um…thanks.” I continued to excel in speaking skills. I fidgeted with the cuff on my wrist. Why the heck had he run all the way over here? Were people here justthatwelcoming to strangers?
