Lost Bird

  Wow. Okay, there was another facet of this. How did she explain to him that she wanted to date not one, but two guys?

  Well, he didn’t wig out over Ellis and Brad.

  Maybe that was her answer. He’d accepted their dynamic without batting an eye about it.

  But would he be as accepting of an alternative lifestyle when it was his little girl in the middle of the man sandwich?

  Chapter Fourteen

  The Friday evening investigation was a bust. More thunderstorms that wouldn’t let up until after dark.

  Sachi called it around five that evening, phoning Tammy to break it to her, and to reschedule it for Sunday evening.

  “Oh, that’s all right. This worked out for the best. Herbert told me it would, and it did. Although I feel badly the boys lost some of their things.”

  The men’s beds were ruined by the rain, as were some of their books and things in their bedrooms. Fortunately, most of the living room furniture had been saved and moved to Grover’s. All in all, the men had gotten off lucky. And with the extra furniture Mandaline still had in storage in the upstairs section they called the warehouse, stuff that Julie had left to her, other than the actual mattresses, they’d be able to easily help refurnish anywhere the men moved.

  And the men were using the beds in Tammy’s two guest rooms, so they were okay for the time being.

  Sachi had still wanted to see the men that evening, maybe have some private time with them, but as her energy crash hit she realized that probably wouldn’t be a good idea.

  She called John first. “I’m not playing favorites by calling you before Oscar,” she said, “it’s just your number was right above your aunt’s in my contacts.”

  “It’s okay.”

  She broke the news to him. “But we’re still on for tomorrow,” she said. “For skeet and the coven, right?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Good. Would it hurt your feelings if I said I needed to go home and crash tonight?”

  “Of course not. Sachi, I’m just glad you’re alive and for all the help you got for us. We’ll keep ourselves busy tonight. We need to get stuff organized in our rooms here anyway. It’s okay.”

  From his tone of voice, she knew he wasn’t just pissing on her leg about it.

  “Okay, thanks. I’ll call Oscar myself.”

  “Okay.”

  That call went equally well, and he laughed when she apologized for calling John first.

  “Okay,” Oscar started, “can I ask for something?”

  “Sure.”

  “Quit apologizing. If this is going to work, unless we master the art of the three-way phone call, I promise I won’t take it personally.”

  She let out a sigh of relief. “Thanks. I just wanted to be fair.”

  “I know, and I lov—I’m glad of it.”

  She couldn’t be sure, but thought he’d caught himself maybe staring to say he loved her for it.

  She let it go. “Okay. Thanks for being so understanding.”

  “It figures we all get to this point just to have us move in with Aunt Tammy.” He chuckled. “I guess we have no choice but to take things slowly now, huh?”

  With her dad living under her own roof, until she knew he’d be okay with it, and until they took things farther, Sachi knew he was right. “Yeah, I guess so.”

  “Then we’ll see you in the morning.”

  Her dad called her while she was on the way home and begged off dinner, making her laugh.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Oh, nothing. You have a more active social life than I do, and you’ve only officially lived here less than two weeks.”

  Doubt crept into his voice. “Do you want me to cancel my plans? I will if you want me to.”

  “No, Daddy. That’s not what I meant.” She hadn’t had time to give him the full story about what happened Thursday night at the men’s apartment. He’d arrived home after she’d gone to bed, and was already gone that morning when she got up. “Go and have fun. Seriously. I’m going to order myself a pizza and have me a beer and relax.”

  “If you’re sure.”

  “I’m sure.” In fact, he wasn’t home when she went to bed a little after eleven that night. As she fell asleep, exhaustion and stress catching up with her, she offered a prayer of thanks to the Goddess for the positive things that had happened in all their lives despite the whacky delivery of same-said blessings.

  * * * *

  The next morning, Oscar drove them over to the shooting club to meet Sachi. Neither of them had been there before even though they knew where it was.

  They hadn’t really discussed what had happened Thursday night, still processing everything as well as trying to sort through their belongings and bring some semblance of order back to their lives after work the evening before.

  John spoke up before they reached the shooting club. “We still good?”

  “Absolutely.” Oscar glanced at his friend. “I want this, and I’m willing to do whatever we need, no matter how long it takes, to make it work with her.”

  “Our parents will probably shit bricks.”

  Oscar smirked. “Yeah, well, your mom’s already going to shit bricks that we’ve moved in with Aunt Tammy. Did you tell her yet?”

  He snorted. “Hell, no. You crazy?”

  “You don’t think she’ll find out?”

  “Oh, I think she’ll find out, but I’m hoping someone else tells her.”

  “Chicken.”

  “Damn straight. You know my mom. At least your parents are out in Arizona and can’t do anything but give us the silent treatment from long distance.”

  “That’s true.”

  They spotted Sachi’s car by one of the skeet fields and pulled in next to it. She was standing under the shelter there and talking with an older man, who seemed to be focusing intently on her every word.

  Oscar held out his fist to John. “We’re in this together, right?”

  John returned the fist bump. “Together. Absolutely.”

  She smiled and waved at them before shaking the man’s hand.

  “Here we go,” John said. “Either she loves us after today, or we make total idiots out of ourselves out there.”

  “Or we make total idiots out of ourselves, and she still loves us anyway.”

  * * * *

  Sachi was glad the men hadn’t backed out of shooting. This would be another test. How they handled themselves, if they were good sports or not, if they seemed threatened by her skills.

  She’d seen that before, especially with older men watching some of the girls on the juniors team. It wasn’t uncommon to hear comments like, “Oh, she shoots good…for a girl.”

  More than once Sachi had ordered people off the field, with the full backing of the board of directors, over bullshit like that. She wouldn’t have her girls bullied or made to feel like tomboys for their skills.

  And she also drilled it into the boys’ heads that she wouldn’t tolerate any kind of behavior like that from them, either.

  It’d only taken bouncing one spoiled brat rich kid from the squad, and banning his parents from the club, to drive that point home.

  Only after the boy delivered a personal apology to the girl, in front of his teammates, did Sachi give the girl the final decision of letting him come back. The girl had, and then proceeded to clean his clock in the next round, shooting twenty-four to his seventeen.

  His parents, who’d railed against the original banning, were still banned as members.

  She walked Oscar and John down to the office, got them signed in and got their skeet rounds and shells paid for, and set them up with rental guns and vests. They’d come prepared with their own safety glasses and earplugs.

  Unlike her very first round with Ellis, where she’d been making a point with him, she took it easy on her guys. She didn’t shoot the first round, coaching them and pulling for them. By the time they finished, John had hit ten, and Oscar eleven. She didn’t run them throu
gh an official round, mostly worked stations one and seven with them to get them used to it.

  Both agreed it wasn’t as easy as it looked.

  “Are you going to shoot?” Oscar asked. They’d each paid for two rounds and bought two boxes of shells.

  “I will this time.” She smiled. “I didn’t want to intimidate you right off the bat.”

  “I’ve got a hot news flash for you,” John said. “You already intimidate us.”

  “In the good ways,” Oscar quickly added.

  So far, their auras hadn’t shifted much, except to seem even warmer, deeper, thicker. They were obviously enjoying this time with her.

  She knew she was enjoying it.

  They were getting ready for the second round when one of the customers, Ed Geary, showed up and asked if he could join them. She’d coached him before and knew he could pull for her.

  Pretty soon, Sachi was lined up at station one for her first shot.

  Don’t screw this up, girl. “Ha.”

  Ed hit the button. The machine cycled and launched the clay. It turned into a satisfying cloud of dust as she hit it dead on.

  John’s and Oscar’s eyes widened. “Whoa.” It had taken them both three tries to hit the high house one clay.

  She smiled as she broke the gun open. “And that, boys, is how you shoot like a girl.”

  John grinned. “I can only hope to one day shoot as good as you do.”

  Ed, a retired firefighter in his late seventies, cackled. “You’ll need a hell of a lot of practice then, let me tell you what.”

  By the time they finished that round, Sachi’s shoulder was protesting, and she’d shot a satisfying twenty-three.

  John had hit ten, Oscar nine.

  “Don’t feel bad,” Ed consoled them. “She worked you boys easy the first time. Those two stations are the ones she starts people on. You’re lucky you hit as many as you did this go-round.”

  She carefully waited to see how they’d react.

  Luckily, neither man seemed to take a hit to his ego. John looked at her, a playful smile on his face. “Then I guess I’m lucky this isn’t strip skeet, huh?”

  Ed roared with laughter. “If you were dressed like a damn Eskimo she’d still have you nekkid by station four!”

  Oscar, who was standing next to her, winked. “Maybe that’s not such a bad thing,” he whispered, too low for Ed to hear.

  Take things slow? Hell, at the rate they were going, she might not be able to control herself.

  One thing was for certain, by the time she walked them back to the clubhouse to return their equipment, she was definitely one step closer to head-over-heels in love with them.

  * * * *

  John hoped his nerves didn’t get the better of him. Sachi had playfully texted back and forth with both of them throughout the afternoon.

  “I hope this isn’t a mistake,” John said as they headed for Oscar’s car. He carried the macaroni and cheese casserole that Aunt Tammy insisted on making for them to take.

  “Why would it be a mistake?” Oscar asked.

  “You’re into this kind of stuff more than I am. I don’t want to end up looking like an ass in front of her friends.”

  “You won’t. Just don’t laugh at them or anything. Unless it’s something supposed to be funny. You heard her, she doesn’t expect us to share her beliefs. She only cares that we respect them.”

  “I’ll do my best.”

  “Hey, I’ve never seen you piss in a punchbowl or anything, buddy. I’m sure you’ll do just fine.” Oscar grinned as he started the engine.

  “Thanks for the vote of confidence, college boy.”

  “You know what I mean. Give yourself more credit than you are.”

  Before Oscar should shift the car into reverse, John reached out and grabbed his arm. “You’re really okay with all this?”

  “All what?”

  “This. Us. Her.”

  Oscar’s expression turned serious. “Yeah. I’m serious. I thought I made that clear already.”

  “It won’t cost us our friendship?” John asked.

  “I won’t let it,” Oscar said. “Whether you let it or not, I can’t answer. I don’t think this would work with anyone but you, but it just…” Oscar stared out the windshield for a moment, his jaw working as he searched for the words. “It just feels right with you, okay?”

  Oscar looked at John again. “This just feels right. That night we had dinner with her at Golden Corral, my mind kept drifting and I kept thinking how right it felt then, the three of us. Like it’s supposed to be that way. That might sound goofy, but it’s how I feel. Like it wouldn’t feel right if it was only one of us with her.”

  John let go of his arm, slowly nodding. “Yeah. Me, too. I’m glad you said it.”

  “Anything else you want to say while we’re having a deep moment?”

  John smiled. “Try not to feel me up when it gets to that point.”

  Oscar stared at him. “You’re a schmuck.” He backed out and pointed the car down the driveway.

  But Oscar wore a smile that belied his tone. The smile that told John they were on the same page.

  And that gave him a lot of hope.

  * * * *

  Sachi helped Mandaline fold her laundry and get the sheets put back on the bed. Her friend had decided suddenly that afternoon that she wanted to wash the sheets and towels from the apartment. “You picked a hella crappy time to do this, boss. You realize that, right? We’ve got two dozen people who will be here soon.”

  “Which is exactly why I want it done now.” She smiled at Sachi. “I don’t have to think about it later.”

  “You said you guys aren’t even sleeping here tonight. Why not wait until tomorrow or whenever to do it?” She wrestled a pillow into a pillowcase.

  “Because I want it done.”

  Sachi quit arguing. It wasn’t doing any good anyway. Until Mandaline had the load of towels and sheets folded and put away, Sachi knew she wouldn’t get anything else done.

  It was easier to help Mandaline than argue with her.

  Stubborn witch.

  Fortunately, Sachi was already downstairs when John and Oscar arrived. John set their covered dish down on the folding table they’d broken out for the potluck dishes. Nervously, Sachi walked over to them and did the hug-handshake dance with them until they all settled on hugs.

  “I’m glad you guys decided to come,” she said.

  They offered her smiles in return. “Us, too,” they said, glancing at each other before laughing.

  It felt good to laugh with them. “Well, grab a seat. It’s very informal. Feel free to join in when we do circle if you want, or not. Totally optional. Most of what we do is just getting together to eat and talk.”

  “Why is it called a coven then?” Oscar asked. “I thought that was more formal.”

  Sachi shoved back the sadness threatening to creep in. “Julie named it that. Since this is a coffeehouse, she liked the alliteration, I think. Coffeeshop coven has a better ring to it than coffeeshop potluck group. And we’ve got people from all faiths. Christians, Pagans, Wiccans, Jews—”

  “So non-Kosher, nonpracticing Jews are welcomed?” Oscar teased.

  She smiled. “Even non-Kosher half-Jew, half-Shinto, Pagan non-Wiccan witches are welcome.” She tapped her chest with her thumb. “And you think you’re a mutt?”

  He laughed. “I bow to the lady’s superior muttness.”

  John smacked him on the shoulder.

  “It’s all right,” Sachi assured John. “I refuse to take myself seriously when it comes to my faith. If it’s not fun and doesn’t bring me joy, I don’t want it in my life.”

  John’s expression softened. “Sorry. I’m sort of a nonpracticing anything. I think my parents used to be Episcopalian, if that counts.”

  “And that’s fine, too,” she assured him. “Whatever floats your spiritual boat, as long as you aren’t harming anyone else, go for it.”

  “Is your dad okay with
what you do?” John asked.

  She shrugged. “He’d sort of fallen away from his faith before he met my Mom. It wasn’t a point of contention for them because they fell in love. She was more interested in love than she was religion. Which, from what my dad says, sort of frosted her family right the frak off, but that’s okay, too.”

  “What about her parents?” Oscar asked.

  “She was a very late baby. Her parents died when I was just an infant. I’m not close to my aunt and uncle on that side, either.” She rubbed her hands together. “But enough about that. Let’s find you guys seats before this place fills up.”

  If the laundry hadn’t been a hint Mandaline had something up her sleeve, then her behavior when they finished eating and got ready to start the inside circle part of the evening would have been a massive clue.

  Mandaline wore a grin that put Sachi on edge. Brad and Ellis, who’d also attended, looked equally Cheshire-like.

  “Whaaat’s up, boss?” Sachi warily asked her.

  Mandaline’s grin widened. “Noneyo.”

  “Noneyo?”

  “None yo’ business,” Brad teased.

  Sachi glared at them and leaned in close, her tone low and threatening. “I have the Browning in my trunk. And I have my road witch kit. Do not make me resort to da shoosting or da hexing of you three troublemakers tonight.”

  Mandaline was the picture of innocence. “Who? Us? Up to something?” She flashed a wide, nearly manic grin at Sachi.

  “Shit,” she grumbled as she headed back to the group.

  Mandaline called the group together for the inside circle. This was the fourth coven they’d had since Julie’s death, not counting the reception party after Mandaline, Ellis, and Brad’s handfasting ceremony. They were all still somewhat emotionally raw and trying to find their new way through it without Julie’s loving touch and guidance.

  Approximately thirty people had gathered, fewer than the last one, but a little larger than their average attendance in the summer.

  Mandaline, flanked by Ellis and Brad, stood across the circle from where Sachi stood between John and Oscar. Sachi couldn’t see what her friend held behind her back, but it soon became apparent.