Chapter Twenty-Two: Closing Day

For the first time in my five years of employment at Curio Killed the Cat, I got to the shop before my shift was scheduled to start. In fact...I couldn’t remember a day when I got there on time. So early was good. I was definitely turning over a new leaf.

Of course, my leaf was still Sebastian-less. I kept Saturday as my revenge day and did a number of horrible things to the Noelle doll-baby, and then tried to get a hold of him twice on Sunday. No call back, but I hadn’t given up yet. Since I was nearly officially unemployed, I’d have all kinds of time on my hands. I’d see him eventually. Even without the client/spellcaster relationship, we were still friends. We had more evil against Alicia to plot. So we’d sit down, have a beer, and I’d tell him how I felt. Welcome to the new and improved Briar Malik: honest and no shame.

“Hey!” I called to Lil as I came in.

She was putting together some boxes to pack away the extra stock. Of course, she chose to do so in a pencil skirt and heels, so it wasn’t exactly easy to kneel down and get the boxes unfolded and taped.

“You weren’t kidding when you said don’t own jeans, right?”

She gave me a look. That “Lilith” look. It was part bossy, part parental, and one hundred percent something I was going to miss.

“Our last day isn’t an excuse to dress badly,” she said.

“Aw, I’m going to miss you, Lil.”

“I’m pretty sure you’ll still see me.”

“Oh, right, when I crash on your couch.” I grinned. “Just ’cause I was drunk doesn’t mean I don’t remember that.”

“Any luck on finding a new job yet?”

“Nope. I’ll keep trying to get new clients, though.”

“I may...I may have some work for you.”

“Uh oh. Hard work?”

She smiled. “Hopefully not. I think I’ll take you up on your offer to find...the man from the other night.”

“Oh! Cool!”

“But it can’t be anything...forceful. I don’t want to make him come back. Just...assist our paths in crossing again. I just feel as though I need to determine...who he is, I guess.”

“Sure thing. But I’ll make that a freebie ’cause we’re friends. So I think I’m going to keep the Curio site going. I’ve been getting some clients through there, and maybe I can kinda run the store, like, privately through eBay.”

“That’s good initiative. I’m proud of you.”

“Yeah.” I hopped on the barstool. I knew I should probably start helping with the boxes, but since I was in on time, I figured I had a good ten or twenty minutes before I needed to be working. “I’m all new and improved. Have I mentioned that? I kick ass now.”

“Do you?” She struggled with the current box for a moment, then sighed. At last, she lifted it and set it on the counter and started taping the bottom from there.

“Yeah. I think I realized it when Devlin came over on Saturday.”

She stopped what she was doing. “What?”

“Don’t you mean ‘pardon?’”

“Briar—”

“Okay, so yeah, Devlin shows up, and he’s all like, ‘I miss you so much, and let’s get back together, and I broke up with Noelle.’ And then I’m like, ‘I love you too, but I’m over you now.’”

“You’re over him now? Just as of two days ago?”

“No, stupid, I’ve been coming to this for awhile. No more drama and stuff. I’m new and improved.”

“You’ve said that. How about you improve by handing me another box?”

I supposed I could maybe help. I picked up a few boxes and started unfolding them. “Any sign of Liam?”

“In the back sorting files. Have you...spoken to him lately?”

Lil was getting forgetful in her old age. “About the law of three or my customer service skills?”

“Seriously, Briar.”

“When have I ever had a serious conversation with him that didn’t turn into an angry debate about his self-righteous beliefs? Why?”

“I’m not exactly certain.” She frowned. “Something is wrong. He’s been growing more and more distant these past weeks, and then he specifically asked if you and I could have lunch with him today so that he could tell us about something.”

“As long as he doesn’t get to pick the place. And where’s our illustrious leader?”

Lilith paused her task to look at me in confusion. “Who?”

“Madam Curio. Does she even know we’re packing up today?”

“She’s supposed to be by later with the landlord.”

“Why is he coming—so that he can cackle about our lack of jobs?”

“I highly doubt Mr. Adamski cackles,” Lilith said with another sigh.

“I bet he does.”

A figure stepped out of the shadows by the book cases. Startled, I jumped. “Dammit, Ally! Don’t you have school?”

“I’m here to help.”

“Scaring me isn’t helping.”

He went back to the corner to sulk.

The bell over the door rang. There was a big “Closed” sign on it, so I wasn’t sure what customers would be coming in. My eyes lit up as they settled on Sebastian, however.

“You’re here! Don’t you have work?”

“Took a personal day.” He lifted one of the empty boxes and flashed me a grin. “I’m here to be manly and carry things for you.”

I jumped off the barstool, walked over, and poked my index finger into his stomach. “I can totally carry more than you.”

He dropped the box back on the floor. “Yeah, good point.”

“I’m glad you’re here—there some stuff I wanted to tell you.”

“Oh, me too!”

Him too. He was smiling, so it must be good news. It was probably, “You’re wicked hot, Briar, and I’m madly in love with you.”

I might have been new and improved and mostly shameless, but I didn’t want to confess everything in front of Ally and Lil. “C’mon.” I grasped his hand and dragged him towards the back office.

Belatedly, I remembered that Liam was in there, and I found him standing over the filing cabinet. He looked over at me. “Oh. I wasn’t sure if you’d be in today.”

“It’s our last day. Of course I would be.”

“Briar...” He sighed and walked over to me. “I realize we haven’t always...gotten along terribly well. But I want you to know that—”

“Yeah, okay, can we maybe do this later?”

“I was about to apologize for years of my less than desirable behaviour towards you.”

“That’s great, but you still have to go, ’cause I have to talk to Sebastian for a minute.”

He looked ready to say more, but at last shook his head and left the office.

“Okay.” I closed the door so it was just the two of us. “So—”

“Me first?” he asked.

I nodded. I was looking forward to a declaration of undying love.

“You better sit down for this.”

The only chair was the crappy office one that sank when people sat on it. “I’ll stand.”

“Well, I told you I made up with Noelle. She came by Saturday morning and wanted to get back together.”

I was going to be really happy when he got through this part of the story.

“But I made it very clear that I was still hurt and had some issues,” he continued.

And then she died horribly, I finished for him in my head.

“So last night she was...like...you know.”

I so didn’t want to know.

“But I made it very clear I had some boundaries. She cheated on me. I’m not going to sleep with her.”

That made me smile. “Good for you.”

“I mean, I can’t do that kind of thing now without a major commitment.”

“And that’s when you kicked her to the curb?”

“No, that’s when we got engaged.”

Silence. Heavy, heavy silence. I wasn’t sure if I was hearing correctly.

“You...what?”

“We’re engaged! Can you believe it?”

I sank onto the edge of the desk. “I can safely say...no.”

“I know.” He paced back and forth in front of me. “I can’t believe it either. But I wanted a commitment. And that’s it. No sex ’til we’re married.”

“And...when will that be?”

“I dunno. Soon, probably. I don’t want her to cheat on me again.”

Boy brains were infinitely bizarre.

“Isn’t this exciting?”

If he asks me to be a bride’s maid, I’m going to beat him with the chair.

“If you trust her—” I began.

“I do.”

“Even though you have a lot of evidence to the contrary—”

“Well, yeah, but—”

“And you think this is really the best solution—”

“Well—”

“And you’re happy...”

There. I’d planted enough suggestions in his head. If he didn’t see what a monumental mistake this was...

“I am. I think. I mean, I am. It’s what I wanted. Mostly.”

What he wanted. Wonderful. “Great. That’s super.” I started toward the door. “I have to go pack now.”

“Well, hey, what were you going to tell me?”

I hesitated. I still wanted to tell him. I mean, he was engaged now, no matter how fucking stupid it seemed. But...I still thought he should know.

I played over the words in my head. How to phrase it. What exactly to say. I couldn’t chicken out now...

You helped me realize that I... No, that was lame. If I hadn’t met you, then I’d still be moping over Devlin, and...nope. I’m actually smiling, and it’s because of you. That had potential...

“Okay, the truth is—”

The office door opened. I was about to snap some angry comment when I saw it was Lilith. Colour had left her face and she was frowning.

“What’s up, Lil?”

“You...you need to get out here.”

Oh, saints, who died? “What...?”

“Please.”

Fine then. Ruin my declaration of love moment.

Sebastian followed me out of the office into the storefront. Liam stood by the cash register, arms crossed over his chest and staring across the room at Madam Curio and Adamski. Ally still hovered in the corner. Another older, shorter man stood in the center of the room.

“What’s up?” I asked.

“Oh, good news, dear!” Madam Curio said. “Everyone still has a job.”

“I...uh...what?”

“Exactly what she said,” Lilith said in a low voice. “But no one has explained further.”

“I had an offer to rent the space,” Adamski said. “Someone with far better credit. Debts are being paid off in instalments, and the store is remaining open.”

My gaze went to the strange old guy. “So who the hell is this?”

“Your new superior,” he said. “And I’d admonish you to choose your phasing carefully.”

Great, new old boss with attitude.

“Fine. And who might you be, kindly old man?”

“Quentin Nicholas,” Liam said before the man could answer.

“Why do I know that name?” I asked with a frown.

Lilith sighed. “Because he owns The Magical Pentacle.”

I spun to face Liam. “Traitor!”

He gaped at me. “Excuse me?”

“You said to Lil that you needed to talk to us about something. And she said you’d been distant. You had something to do with this!”

“I was offered a job at The Magical Pentacle,” he said. “Wilhelmina came to me about it, trying to get me to leave this store before it closed. But I didn’t.” He glanced at Lil and then back to me. “I didn’t like lying about it, however. I was going to tell you.”

“I still don’t believe you,” I said. “How else would you know that guy?”

“I met him years ago. I didn’t know about this, Briar.”

“The only ones who knew about this arrangement were Mr. Nicholas and Ms. Jannessen,” Adamski said.

Saints, they were talking about a whole lot of people I didn’t know. “Who’s that?”

“Your former boss.”

My gaze flickered to Madam Curio, who was still smiling. She seemed quite delighted. I figured she was drunk.

“Yes, that’s me,” she said. “This is so exciting. We’ve been discussing this for a few weeks now in secret, but I didn’t want to get your hopes up.”

So I shouldn’t have accused Liam of being a traitor...apparently my boss and the landlord were.

“Just the three of us knew about it,” she continued.

Heels clicked on the hardwood. “And me.”

How I neglected to notice Billie Humphrey was there—even out of sight—was beyond me. She’d apparently been hanging out behind a bookshelf, but I should have sensed her evil presence or smelled her bad perfume or something.

“What’s she doing here?” I asked.

“There’s going to be a bit of a staff change,” Quentin said.

Billie had a satisfied smile on her face. I totally wanted to lay the smack down.

“Staff change?” Lilith said before I could comment with a bit more in the way of profanity.

“Yes,” he said. “Effective immediately, Wilhelmina Raven will be transferring to Curio Killed the Cat.”

Billie looked just as shocked as I felt. She stomped across the floor. “What?”

Quentin responded calmly. “You’ll be transferring to Curio Killed the Cat. Lilith Mare will promoted to management at The Magical Pentacle.”

We all glanced at one another.

“But you said Briar would be fired and I’d get to run—” Billie started.

“Of the existing employees, Ms. Mare is most qualified to move to management position. She’ll run The Magical Pentacle while I oversee this shop to see if it can turn a profit. As for terminating employment...well, it’s far more cost effective to keep current workers than train new ones.” He glanced over the boxes for a moment. “So unpack the stock, everyone. First thing tomorrow morning, the transfer will be in effect.” Without another word, he left the shop, leaving a roomful of stunned people in his wake.

Billie’s jaw had all but hit the floor, and I wished I could enjoy it more...but I couldn’t. Eventually she stalked after Quentin, shouting in his wake about how he’d promised her this and that.

“Well!” Madam Curio turned to us. “Isn’t that great news?”