Page 69 of Enchanted to Meet You

But I could see his gray-eyed gaze quickly sweeping the room,taking in the other tables and teams, trying to figure out if there were any supernatural—or otherwise—threats he needed to worry about.

He’d already clocked Esther at the hostess booth. She’d seated us, assuming a politely distant professional demeanor as she brought us to our table and handed us our menus. I’d complimented her on how she looked in her Brewport uniform of khaki pants and navy polo shirt, and received in return an icy “Thank you.”

Esther hated her new job.

“Well, it’s simple,” Yasmin was saying to Derrick as she pointed to the flat screens overhead. “Dr. Steve—he’s our local veterinarian, but also the trivia master—will project the questions up on the screens, and then we write our answers on here.” She showed him our answer sheet. “When we’re done, each team hands their answers in. Then Dr. Steve tabulates them, and the team with the most right answers wins a really great prize.”

I smiled at Derrick. “A Brewport T-shirt in the color of your choice.”

“Every team member gets one!” Yasmin cried excitedly. “So far we’ve never won.”

“Well,” Derrick said with mock seriousness. “Then I guess we’d better win tonight.”

I grinned at him, and tried to ignore the flutter I felt in my heart when he grinned back. This was bad. This was so bad. Dina couldn’t be right. I couldn’tlikeDerrick—not that way. It never worked out when I liked a guy. It always ended in disaster—occasionally spectacularly. I couldn’t let this end the same way, especially with innocent teenagers involved.

But surely it wouldn’t—not this time. Derrick was leaving soon anyway, regardless of how things turned out. He had to get back to his important job of saving other towns from demonicruin. So probably I was worrying unnecessarily. Probably everything was going to be—

“Jumbo nacho platter for the Sisters In Law?” a server asked, before sliding a heavy plate in front of us. “Compliments of the house.”

“Yay,” Yasmin cried. “Yep, that’s us!”

“Oh, it’s so sweet of them to remember,” Dina said, before digging in. “Thanks!”

Derrick looked down at the heaping plate of gooey deliciousness before us and raised a questioning eyebrow. Before I had a chance to explain, an attractive Black woman appeared at our table, her hands resting on the slim shoulders of a very embarrassed teenaged girl. It was Esther and her mother, Virginia Dodge.

“Oh, good,” said Mrs. Dodge. “They brought your nachos.”

“Thanks so much, Virginia.” Yasmin’s mouth was full, but that didn’t stop her from gushing, “You really don’t have to keep doing this every time.”

“Are you kidding me?” Mrs. Dodge, soft and curvy in all the places her daughter was sharp and angular, also shared the same intelligent eyes and warmly generous mouth as Esther. “After what you did for us? I think we would have had to move if you two hadn’t cleared up that fence line situation. And now you, Jessica Gold, agreeing to be Esther’s mentor? Do you know how much money that’s going to save us? College tuition has gotten outrageous, and of coursethisone wants to go to one of the most expensive universities in the country. And we have her little brothers to send, as well. We owe you a lot more than nachos! Please order anything you like, on the house.”

I smiled while Esther said nothing, merely looked as if she wished the floor of the restaurant would open and drop her straight into the sea.

“You don’t have to do that, Mrs. Dodge,” I said. “It’s my pleasure. Esther is a remarkable girl.” In more ways than her mother knew. “She really doesn’t need any mentoring. But I’m glad to do it, just the same.”

“We’ll just be happy if you can get her out of her shell.” Mrs. Dodge wrapped her arms around her daughter and squeezed her tight, while Esther rolled her eyes. “She’s so shy. We’re hoping her working here a few nights a week will help.”

Derrick glanced questioningly at me.Esther, shy?

I grinned back.I know.

“Mom.” Esther wiggled out of her mother’s arms. It was amusing to see how the normally poised and confident girl reverted into someone completely different when her parents were around. “Can I go back to work now?”

“Oh, yes, go.” Mrs. Dodge patted Esther on the shoulder as the girl returned to the hostess booth. “And please, Jessica, call me Virginia—or better yet, Ginny. Reggie”—Reginald Dodge, Esther’s father—“is around here somewhere, I know he’s going to want to stop by to thank you as well, but there’s a problem with one of the ATMs. Are you all ready to get your butts beat tonight by the Bruisers?”

“Not gonna happen!” Yasmin drained her wineglass. “Tonight’s the night for the Losers!”

“Sure, it is,” Ginny said, smiling sweetly. “Have you checked out the categories?” She pointed to the largest screen above our heads just before hurrying back to her own table. “I have a feeling we all might be in trouble!”

I did not agree. Tonight, Dr. Steve had selected his categories based on a holiday theme, and the holiday he’d chosen was Halloween.

So with categories like Haunted Houses, Ghosts and Ghouls, Spooky Music, I Want Candy, and Witches, it seemed like theLosers might have an unfair advantage over everyone else, even if none of them knew it.

“Thank God,” Yasmin said, confidently scrawling our team name at the top of our answer sheet. “Things might finally go our way for once.”

“Have you ever considered changing your team name to something that doesn’t have the wordloserin it?” Derrick asked.

“Why would we do that?”