Something soft, wet, and cold slid against Valerie’s cheek. From the void of being half asleep and half awake, she heard Thor’s usual high-pitched, breathy whine. Blindly, she reached out and found his massive furry paw on the edge of her bed. A few more licks to her nose and around her mouth drew her completely out of sleep and she peered through the darkness.

​

Her black lab’s deep brown eyes greeted her with an imploring look, and though she wanted nothing more than to slip further under the warm covers, the dog would be expecting breakfast soon. With her dark hair a tangled mess around her face, she squinted at the flipping letters on her vintage alarm clock.

​

There was just enough dawn peeking through her black curtains to illuminate the numbers. Five forty-five.

​

“Shit, shit, shit!” she whispered as she frantically rolled over to get out of bed. She brought her arms close to her chest, finding her thin t-shirt hardly adequate in keeping her warm. Each day she meant to pull out her warmer sleeping clothes from the trunk in the closet, but each day she forgot.

​

Valerie heard the tap of dog nails on the floorboards as she tried to grab for clothes out of her closet, her eyes still not adjusted to the dim light. She managed to find a pair of dark jeans and a t-shirt she had picked up at a Five Finger Death Punch concert a few years back.

​

Perfect Books and Brews opened at six in the morning and though she was one of the co-owners, Krystal was getting fed up with her friend’s constant tardiness. It left the task of opening up the coffee shop to her two friends while she got to snooze and that wasn’t fair. She wasn’t surprised she slept through all of her alarms. Again.

​

Struggling in and out of pants legs, Valerie found herself hopping around, trying to avoid bumping into furniture or tripping over Thor who was getting a little impatient for his breakfast. The bottom of her foot landed on something smooth and when she tried to right herself, she slipped and crashed to the floor. A few loose leaf pieces of notebook paper, the ones that belonged inside her family grimoire, were sent fluttering around half of her room.

“Val?” Shawn called from across the house. “You all right?”

​

Valerie groaned at the pain in her banged-up elbow and knee. She earned a couple of bruises that would show up later. “I’m fine!”

​

Common sense returning to her, she reached up and flicked her finger toward the ceiling light. If her magic came in handy at any time, it was in those moments when she was her laziest. It clicked and the room was finally illuminated to reveal the chaotic mess of papers atop her desk, discarded dirty clothes littered across the floor, and rock band posters tacked up on the walls.

​

“You tripped over something, didn’t you?” he asked. Without waiting for an answer, he continued, “I told you that you need to clean that room up.”

​

Valerie, in no mood for his shit today, grumbled out, “Go suck a –“

​

Just as she was about to finish, Thor vigorously licked at her mouth, urging her to get up and hurry, so he could get fed. Despite it all, Valerie smiled and pushed the lovable mutt out of her way.

​

Within just another minute, she was fully dressed and in the bathroom across the hall. There wasn’t much time to fix her hair or her makeup. Usually she straightened her wavy, dark brown hair, so her red streaks would pop out nice and bold. Settling for a good brushing and a little hair de-frizzing charm, she went to putting on just mascara and skipped the thick black eyeliner, though it made her green eyes look a little odd without it. There was no time to complete her full, half-smoky look while she was running late.

​

Thor followed her every step of the way, his thick tail wagging side to side with impatience as he watched her get ready. Raised from a pup, the lab was insanely loyal, almost to a fault, and hardly ever let anyone else feed or touch him except for Valerie. Shawn was allowed his few moments, but they were few and far between. If only the dog would give a little, Valerie could have had Shawn feed him every morning.

​

She rushed into the kitchen and found her roommate calmly sitting at the small dining table with his tablet in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. School was out for winter break, otherwise he would have been dressed in a pressed button-down shirt, khaki slacks, and an outrageous tie that she could tease him for. Instead, he wore a nice pair of faded jeans and a grey shirt that showed off the kind of muscles one might expect an active soccer coach to have. It was a wonder no girl had taken him up by now. If it weren’t for his bright blonde hair, she might have considered him. But Valerie hated blonde hair on guys.

​

“Didn’t you hear your alarms going off?” he questioned before taking a sip from the purple and gold LSU mug.

​

“No,” she groaned as she grabbed Thor’s bowl from the counter and the plastic cup they used to scoop out his food. “I slept through every one of those fuckers.”

​

Shawn made a disapproving sound in his throat before swallowing. “You’re going to have to watch your language. I almost cussed like that in front of my students the other day.”

​

Valerie rolled her eyes and hurriedly dished out the dry food into the bowl. Thor was already hopping on his front paws, tongue lulling with enthusiasm.

​

“Sorry,” she said. “Haven’t had coffee yet.”

​

By the look he gave her, she knew that he wasn’t buying that excuse. It was common knowledge that she enjoyed her improvisational expletives. Shawn pointed toward the pale yellow counter where an old coffee maker sat, a half-full carafe of the brew keeping warm on the heating pad. “There’s plenty if you want some before you go.”

​

Thor already had his muzzle in the bowl before she could fully set it down on the linoleum floor.

​

“No. I’m running late as it is and Krystal’s going to tear me a new one.”

​

She rushed out of the kitchen, through the dining room that was only used for Shawn when he was grading papers, and into the foyer.

​

“Hey, just a second!” he hollered. “I think I might have found a new roommate for us.”

​

Valerie was about to grab her dark grey wool coat and scarf from the coatrack, but dropped her hands and tilted her head back to stare at the ceiling in exasperation. “So?”

​

“I’m meeting up with him at Perfect Books and Brews later this morning. I want you to sit in while I interview him.”

Shawn and Valerie had been in the market for a new roommate for the last two months. Their landlord was forced to raise the rent due to property taxes going up. But the task of finding a mature, responsible person who was out of their wild college phase and had a reliable source of income was proving harder than they thought.

​

Goldcrest Cove wasn’t a big town and many of their applicants were fresh high school graduates trying to get out of their parents’ house or returning college kids who didn’t have a job yet. All other unmarried adults seemed to be roomed up with other friends or they were in hiding, because neither Valerie nor Shawn was hearing from them.

​

“I can’t guarantee anything,” she replied with a sigh as she took her coat off the hook and slipped her arms through. “If we get busy, I’ll be behind the counter.”

​

“Then just stop by and meet him.”

​

So, another guy? That suited her just fine. Minimal drama, less clutter, and she’d still have plenty of cupboard space in the bathroom.

​

She agreed as she fastened her scarf around her neck and ducked out into the cold morning without another word. They never exchanged goodbyes or hugs or anything sentimental like that. Valerie cringed at the idea of it. She cared for Shawn, but keeping her distance was second nature to her now. Whoever this new roommate was would learn that quickly. No forced bonding or heartfelt talks. Getting too close was dangerous. Her identity as a witch forbid it.

​

The moment her boots hit the flagstone path leading to the driveway, Valerie nearly slipped. She let out one little curse at the thin layer of ice that had formed overnight. Checking to make sure that Shawn wasn’t peeping through the window, she used her magic to instantly melt the ice and the frost on the windshield of her dark green Acura.

​

Such a move would have infuriated Krystal, but what the witch didn’t know wouldn’t hurt her. And she wouldn’t know about this incident, or the ones all the way to work. Valerie figured she was doing the community a favor by thawing the roads for them – and for her.

​

The curbsides up and down Johnson Avenue were already packed, and from the glimpse she caught of the waiting line outside Perfect Books and Brews, Valerie knew exactly what kind of shit storm she was about to walk into.

​

Christmas was fast approaching, and families were already flocking to Goldcrest Cove in droves. Business was picking up for McRae’s Morsels down the road, Miss Macy’s Antiques, Mamma Pazzini’s Italian Restaurant, and especially Amber’s Bed and Breakfast. Perfect Books and Brews was not spared by this mass influx of tourists and visitors. Krystal already told them to expect hard work hours due to their growing reputation as the best – and only – coffee shop in town.

​

Valerie wrapped her coat around her and broke into a light jog up the street. There were at least a dozen people outside the door, but Krystal had already let several customers inside.

​

By the door, she recognized Devin and Aaron, two of their morning regulars and probably the town’s finest police officers on the force. Devin was already taken by Krystal since this past Halloween and it was sickening the way they drooled over one another after only being together for a couple of months. It didn’t help that they were true Twin Flames. They were each other’s mythical soulmate that only came around once in a lifetime. Valerie was happy for her friend, but she would have rather been happy from a distance.

​

He, unlike Aaron, was privy to the fact that Valerie, Krystal, Alexa, and a few other women in town, were witches. It hadn’t been an easy transition and he learned something new about them and their ways almost every day. In the end, it proved pretty handy to have someone on the Goldcrest Cove Police Department know their secret.

​

Aaron, on the other hand, still didn’t have a clue about their magic.

​

Devin was the first to smile and rush forward to open the door for her. “Running a little late, Val?” the former Boston cop asked.

​

Valerie just rolled her eyes, but the moment she tried to pick up the pace, her foot slipped on a patch of snow that hadn’t been cleared away. If Aaron’s strong arms hadn’t caught her, she would have taken a nasty spill on the pavement.

​

She looked up into his mocking brown eyes as the wind whipped at his curly blonde hair. Some girls might have considered him handsome, just like Shawn. Even if he didn’t treat her like a joke, she couldn’t bring herself to see anything good in him. She just couldn’t stand him and his wisecracking. He was too cocky for his own good. His occasional snide remarks about her makeup, hair, or dress made her bristle every time.

​

“Watch your step, Barbie.”

​

Once he helped her to her feet again, Valerie had to restrain herself from using her magic against him, as she had wanted to do countless times before. Too much this morning. She still hadn’t had her coffee and she was growing crankier by the minute. She just set her lips in a grim line and charged inside the warm coffee shop, flipping her hair as she went. She could hear Aaron chuckle as she made her flustered exit.

​

Taking a few peaceful seconds, Valerie took a deep breath to let the aromatic hug of espresso beans welcome her to work. The dull roar of voices, spoons clinking against mugs, and the whirl of the grinder were as home to her as anything else she knew. The coffeeshop might not have been her idea, but it had become her baby, just as it had for Krystal and Alexa.

​

Once behind the counter, she slipped off her coat and scarf to hang on the wall, and then threw her bag at Krystal’s feet where she stood at the register.

​

“You’re late,” her dark-haired friend said as she opened the cash register to slip in the ten she had received from Mrs. Young, who was bouncing her bundled up baby on her hip.

​

“I know, I know,” Valerie replied as she slipped on her apron and set to helping Alexa with a big order. One of the secretaries from the town’s biggest furniture store was waiting for eight drinks to go.

​

Even if she hadn’t had her coffee yet, she could still brew up a mean espresso. Part of her and Alexa’s job, along with making coffee, tea, lattes, and espressos, was keeping a keen ear out to Krystal’s brief conversations with the customers while they were ordering.

​

Because, though they looked like any typical baristas and this coffeeshop was unassumingly stylish and homey, the three witches had a special calling. And through the low hum of voices, she picked out one customer who could use her particular expertise.

​

“Is your wrist feeling okay, Mrs. Robinson?” she heard Krystal ask after ringing up the customer’s usual large green tea.

​

“It’s just my arthritis,” Mrs. Robinson replied. “It always gets me on these cold mornings.”

​

Valerie didn’t need to hear anymore. She grabbed a large to-go cup and poured the hot water over the hand-packed green tea bag. While the scalding hot water flowed in, steeping the dried leaves, she infused the coffee with a quick, but effective pain-relieving charm she had used for Mrs. Robinson’s drinks before.

​

All it took was a flick of her fingers and a little sprinkling of magic. It wouldn’t be instant relief, but within half an hour, Mrs. Robinson’s arthritis would be subdued for a day.

​

Valerie lied whenever Krystal asked how many coffees and teas she had enchanted before noon, knowing the sheer total would make her friend’s head spin straight off her neck. For reasons that became clearly serious in October when a charmed coffee got way out of hand, the witches tried to limit themselves to four or five charms a day and no more.

They didn’t want to become a one-stop miracle shop. They helped those who were in pain, those who were down on their luck, or those who needed a little pep back in their step. All with the use of their magic.

​

Krystal, the eldest by four months and most fortunate of all the girls with her excellent magical parentage, had taken on the task of playing mother to both Valerie and Alexa since they were little. They were the Three Musketeers. Inseparable. When she mentioned the idea of opening a coffee shop together, Valerie was fully on-board. When they discussed the idea of breaking the cardinal rule of witchcraft and aiding non-magic folk with their daily problems, she was doubly excited. They realized long ago that if they had all these special powers, it should be used for good. And what better way than to give back to the community they loved so much?

​

Always ready to rebel and the one with a natural eye for style and colors, Valerie set herself to designing the place, adding the vintage, urban touches of a red brick wall and distressed hardwood floors. Alexa took care of the finances. No one would suspect that her ditzy personality, half-magical genes, and her long bleach-blonde ponytail masked a clever mind for numbers and figures. Krystal was the face of Perfect Books and Brews, the first to greet the customers and the one who gave it a homier feel with personalized mugs for regulars and a pair of listening ears to talk into when life was hard.

​

That suited Valerie, because most people aggravated her anyway. One who did that much too perfectly was swaggering up to the counter with his partner.

​

Valerie let Mrs. Robinson’s tea steep while she snatched off two mugs from the shelf near the register. Aaron’s, a Goldcrest Cove Police Department mug he had snitched from the station, and Devin’s, a new mug Krystal bought for him. It was white except for the iconic image of a sailing ship and the words, “I’d Rather Be Fishing” glazed on the side.

She caught Krystal and Devin sharing a quick kiss over the counter.

​

“Do you think you could warm me up a bit?” Devin asked, flashing a flirty smile to his girlfriend.

​

Krystal returned the look and brushed aside her black bangs, so they wouldn’t hang too low into her eye. “Not right now,” she whispered.

​

The first of the three to discover their dark magic, Krystal was still trying to get the hang of her fire elemental abilities. If gone unchecked, she could make water boil or start a fire on the countertop. She learned early on that a passionate, emotional response was what triggered it every time, which was why Devin’s presence made things interesting to say the least. It was all his fault her dark magic had developed in the first place. The entrance of a Twin Flame into a witch’s life heralded all these new challenges. Another reason to steer clear of romance.

​

Rolling her eyes at how undeniably cute they were, she poured Officer Devin a cup of plain black coffee and handed Aaron’s mug to Alexa to start his special blend. She didn’t exactly trust herself with his order right now. She’d likely spike it with something sinister and she’d be found out later.

​

Once the timer went off for Mrs. Robinson’s tea, Valerie popped a lid on the to-go cup and stepped around the counter to hand-deliver it to the older woman. That was the first time she had smiled all day and it was only for Mrs. Robinson’s sake. Valerie absolutely hated her smile, especially when it was faked. Krystal told her to try and think of something funny or happy when facing the customers, but Valerie always drew a blank. There were plenty of things she enjoyed, plenty of things she could laugh at, but nothing that made her happy enough to grin from ear to ear and giggle as Alexa did at every given chance.

​

“Here you go, Mrs. Robinson,” she said, gently handing it over to the woman who had taken a seat at one of the smaller tables near the wall of bookcases.

​

Mrs. Robinson smiled, her wrinkles deepening. “Thank you, Valerie.”

​

She would have stayed and exchanged more shallow small talk, but the line still stretched clear out the door and Alexa couldn’t fix all the drinks by herself. Valerie turned and hurried away, wishing she hadn’t been in such a hurry to leave the house. Even just a sip of coffee would have livened her up enough to deal with the mad rush that morning.

​​

(End of Excerpt)