Phantom Lessons, Book #2
Copyright© 2023 by Lynn Donovan
Chapter 12
Mysti glanced up when the chimes on her shop door rang. Lucas Hart, of all people, stepped into her store. “Morning, Mr. Hart. What can I do for you?”
The muscle in Lucas’s cheek bulged and released. “This is probably a stupid question, but ... you don’t happen to have a crow or a blackbird of some kind?” His eyes darted around her store, He was having trouble letting them meet hers.
She giggled. “No. And I don’t have any eye of newt either. What are you needing a crow for?”
“It’s a joke, actually. Kinda ... a peace offering.” Hart met her eyes for the first time.
“I see. So you’re not cooking up any incantations to bring Grandpa Harold forth, right?”
“No.” Lucas’s forehead drew tight.
Mysti recognized pain when she saw it, and this man was in some serious pain.
“I was just hoping for a gag gift.” Lucas grimaced.
“Ah.” Mysti had an idea. “A gag gift crow. I might be able to help you with that. Wait here.”
She hurried to her back room and rummaged around for a while. Soon, she immersed with a scarecrow that had a crow on its shoulder. “This is a Halloween decoration, but” —She pulled at the crow’s feet— “If I can manage to pull this off, you’re welcome to have it.” Just then it broke free. She handed the dusty thing to Lucas.
“Thanks. What do I owe you?” Lucas reached for his wallet.
Mysti held up her hand to stop him. “On the house.”
Lucas’s eyes roved over her sales counter where several tins of assorted balms were displayed. “I guess I might need one of those tiger balms, too. Fish gave me some and it did a number on a seriously bad headache I was sporting.”
Mysti smiled and placed a tin of the remedy in the center of the counter and told him the price. “Anything else, Lucas?”
His eyes lifted to meet hers, “You got any potions for a ... the day after Toby’s finest?”
“Ah!” Mysti tipped her head back, realizing why he looked so terrible. “Sure. She crossed the store to her antique stove turned cabinet, and searched through several bottles. She lifted one and then another. Using a small measuring scoop, she blended a concoction of tea and poured it into a biodegradable cellophane sack, folded the top and sealed it with a decorative strip of tape. She smiled as she brought it back to the sales counter and entered the price into her cash register. “It’s ginger root and chamomile. You can drink it hot or steep it and let it cool, then drink it iced.” Compassionate eyes gazed at his. “Anything else?”
Lucas twisted to lift his wallet from his back pocket. “No.” A pink flushed his tan face. “I suppose that’ll take care of what I need.” He lifted the blackbird. “And this.” An ornery smile brightened his eyes from their moon-shine glazed haze.
Mysti nodded and finalized the sale.
----
The doorbell rang and Sam opened her door. “Well, Hello.” She stepped back to let Lucas Hart in. “Paul, it’s for you.”
Paul stepped out from the bathroom and glared at Lucas.
Hart held out a foil wrapped plate.
Had he brought food for Sam? “What’s that, Hart?”
“I thought it appropriate for the occasion.”
Paul considered the dish with wrinkled brow. “Um. Okay.”
Lucas pulled the foil off. “You gotta fork?”
Paul laughed so hard he bent at the waste. “Man! I take it things didn’t go so well, yesterday.”
Lucas chuckled. “You were right, bro. I was wrong. There, now do I really have to eat this damn thing?”
“What?” Sam stepped up to the men. “Why do you have a dead bird in that plate?”
Paul gasped between laughing. “It’s a crow. He’s gonna eat crow.”
Sam smiled. “Oh, I see. You two are weird.”
“Is Tyler gone for good?” Paul sobered.
“Mason Dee put him on a bus yesterday afternoon. I paid for a one-way ticket and gave him some change for a snack. Mason Dee stayed to wave bye-bye as that Greyhound drove off with poor wittle Tyler peeping out the window.” Lucas smiled. “He’s history.”
Paul slapped Lucas on the back. “Are you ready to get back to work?”
“Oh, don’t you know it. We’re at least four days behind, Bro.”
“Well, let me see what we can do about that.” He turned to Sam. “I’ll be back for supper.” He kissed her lips and smiled sweetly. The twinkle was back in his emerald eyes. She handed him his leather jacket and kissed him one more time. “You boys have fun.”
Lucas and Paul walked toward their cars already discussing how to get the show back on track.
----
The next morning, Sam parallel parked in front of Coach Ringer’s Toyota truck. Paul was good at his word, he came back for supper, only it was after nine o’clock and she had fallen asleep on the couch. He carried her to bed and tucked her in. She wanted him to stay but he said he needed to get some rest himself. If he had stayed, neither of them would have gotten much sleep. She giggled at the thought.
She and Tyson got out of her Mitsubishi, three coffees in a holder balanced in one hand, satchel and purse over that same shoulder, and a sack with two danishes in the other. “There he is!” Tyson squealed and jumped up and down. Sure enough, Paul, in his golf cart, scurried across the soccer field. She waited until he stopped and Tyler flew into his usual seat at the back. “Morning.” She couldn’t help but smile.
“Howdy, ma’am. May I interest you in a dee-lux transportation Veehickal to the building in which you conduct your daily constitution.”
Sam giggled. “My daily what?”
“I don’t know my mind fizzled out by the time I got to the end of that statement.” He laughed. So did she. “Well, if you’re asking me if I want a ride. The answer is yes.”
“Cool.” He leaned over her seat and pantomimed opening her door from the inside.
She swept to the cart, lowered her satchel and purse into the floorboard and held out the tray with coffee.
“You’re gonna spoil me.” Paul took one and sipped it gingerly.
“Oh and” —She reached into the bag, pulled out a danish, and handed it to him.”
He smiled and took the sweet roll. “You know how to win a man’s heart.”
“No, no.” She grinned. “Not any man’s heart. Just one man’s heart.”
“I have to agree with you on that.” He bit into the danish and sighed. “You’re friend Vi is a goddess in the kitchen.”
“I know, right.” Sam giggled.
Paul drove the cart toward the school building. “I’d like your opinion on something.” He cut a glance from the corner of his eyes.