Page 40 of Enchanted to Meet You

Then I hurried from the mudroom, silently cursing myself. If this was what it was like to be the Chosen One, I’d be more than happy to be unchosen.

Derrick

A true Witch does not worship evil, or any entity known as “Satan” or “The Devil.”

Rule Number Four of the Nine Rules

*World Council of Witches*

Derrick sat in the chair to which he’d been relegated in the front corner of Jessica’s shop—the “Friends and Family Chair,” her giggly coworker Becca called it, since apparently it was where the friends and family of the shop’s clientele sat and waited while the shoppers were trying on clothes.

There was a matching armchair across from Derrick’s, and in it sat a small older woman tending to a toddler in a baby carriage while a younger woman—presumably her daughter, the toddler’s mother—shopped. The older woman had made several attempts at small talk with Derrick, beginning with a sympathetic, “Waiting on your wife?”

Derrick had only grunted “No, ma’am” in reply. He’d learned it was better to shut down conversations with members of the public as quickly as possible, before they got too personal. Like Jessica asking about his childhood. He didn’t need her knowing about that.

Not that she was a mere member of the public. As a fellow witch and the Chosen One, she was obviously significantly more than that.

But the less she knew about who he really was, the better for both of them.

“Girlfriend?” Grandma asked next, cheerfully undeterred by his curtness.

Derrick couldn’t believe this. He’d staked out a fine position for himself here in this really rather comfortably soft leather armchair, with Jessica’s friendly cat, Pye, sleeping in his lap, and the book he was currently reading—or could pretend to read, since he was supposed to be keeping an eye out for unusual phenomena and the demonically possessed. Here he could keep Jessica—busily slashing the prices of merchandise that hadn’t been purchased during the weekend sale—in his sights.

But this grandmotherly woman kept trying to distract him. Even the kid in the stroller kept gurgling at him, happily waving a toy rabbit with a bell in its ear. The bell jingled every time the kid bounced it in his direction.

Derrick didn’t have a lot of experience with kids, but he didn’t dislike them. He simply wasn’t there to play with a kid, chitchat with grandmothers, or entertain the stares of the women of West Harbor. He was there to keep the Chosen One safe.

Why was everyone in this town so intent on keeping him from doing so?

“Yes, ma’am,” Derrick said, to satisfy Grandma and hopefully keep her quiet. “I’m waiting for my girlfriend.”

“Oh, how nice.” Grandma took the toy rabbit from her grandchild’s fingers and bounced it in the air, causing the bell to ring even more loudly and the toddler to shriek with delight. “Isn’t this a lovely shop? My daughters buy all their clothes here. So does my daughter-in-law. Well, she’s not my daughter-in-law yet,because she and my son still aren’t married. Living together for years and still no plans for a wedding. I don’t understand what’s taking them so long. Maybe you can explain it, you look about my son’s age. What’s so wrong with marriage, I ask you?”

Derrick glanced at Jessica, but she was now helping the woman’s daughter with a gown she wanted to try on. There’d be no rescue from that direction.

“Nothing’s wrong with it,” Derrick said, lowering his book. “Maybe your son is simply waiting until he’s found the right person.”

“But he has! Dina and Mark have been together since high school. They’re in their thirties. They own a home and three beagles together. Surely they have to know by now that they’re right for each other.”

“Well, then what does it matter if they get married?” Derrick asked. “Maybe they don’t feel they have to legitimize their relationship in the eyes of others with a big expensive party and a slip of paper.”

The older woman looked horrified. “It’stradition.”

“Aren’t traditions made to be broken?”

“You sound exactly like my son. Which of the young ladies here is your girlfriend?”

Derrick was confident he was never going to see this woman again, so he pointed. “Her.”

The old woman’s gaze followed his finger. Then her eyes widened. “Her?”

“Yes,” Derrick said.

“You’re datingJessica Gold?”

Derrick hesitated. Wait. Why did this woman look so delighted? Did she know Jessica? It was a small town. The likelihood was that she did. Had he screwed up? Oh, well, what did it matter? Like it or not, he’d be gone in a few days, either because he’d failed in his mission or because he’d succeeded, and was on to his next one.

“Yes,” he said. “Jessica Gold is my girlfriend.”