The bell over the door chimed and helped pull her from her musings.
Dear God, what the hell am I doing? Berating herself, she marshaled her thoughts and summoned what little control she had left.
“Abby,” Kayla shouted, and stepped out from behind the counter to greet her friend. “We were just talking about you.”
Abby finger combed her windblown ponytail and loosened the multicolored scarf around her neck. “You were?” she asked. Abby turned sideways and smiled at Brianna, her pretty blue eyes lighting up. “What’s up?”
Kayla piped in. “I was just telling Brianna that she should come to your party.”
Abby’s smile widened. “She absolutely should.” Abby reached into her bag and pulled out a flyer. She crossed the floor and handed it to Brianna. “Come, it will be fun.”
After they exchanged a few more pleasantries, Abby turned back to Kayla. “Now show me these costumes you were talking about.”
Brianna turned her attention to the inventory sheets before her, taking stock. For some unexplainable reason she found it hard to concentrate, something kept nagging at her, yet she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Max paced around the counter, restless. Then he did the strangest thing. Using his paw, he flipped open the book of spells, walked over the page, and purred louder.
Brianna gathered him into her arms and stroked his back. She glanced at the love spell that he’d flipped to. “Well, well, Max, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you and Kayla were in cahoots.” Of course the spell he’d flipped to wasn’t exactly what she needed. In fact, there was no such spell to match her wild imagination.