Witch Weigh (A Paranormal Romantic Comedy) (7 page)

Chapter Nine

“Tessa, my dear, I’ve got the perfect costume for you.” Claudia straightened from the box of costumes she’d been bending over. Her shirt was a shiny orange satin fabric and she wore black leggings. Two black triangle pieces of fabric were pinned to her chest pockets. A green ribbon was threaded through her hair, a floppy bow atop her head. Grudgingly, Tessa had to admire the way Claudia walked around as comfortable as a runway model when she was past middle age, plumper than plump and dressed as a pumpkin. The woman was just plain comfortable in her own skin, and Tessa envied that.

Claudia inspected a voluminous piece of black fabric before she wadded it up and tossed it in Tessa’s direction.

Tessa held up the fabric and tried to make sense of what it was supposed to be. “You want me to dress up as a shower curtain?”

Claudia laughed. “Don’t be silly. Slip the robe on.”

Tessa did, but only because she had less than half an hour to get into a costume before the masquerade themed dinner. Costume parties were for children. But if she didn’t show up in a costume she was worried she’d miss dinner, all two lettuce leaves of it.

She turned sideways in front of the mirror and tried to figure out what the robe was supposed to change her into.

“Here, you’ll need this.” Claudia tossed her something black. “I’m a genius. This is the perfect costume for you.”

Claudia’s grin was telling, as was the pointy black hat in her hands. Tessa shook her head. If her Aunt Trudy and those old crones she hung out with could see her like this her punishment should be considered complete.

“Put it on,” Bethany said. “You’ll look cute.”

Perfect. She was now cute. Life was peachy. She started to put the hat on but stopped. Screw peachy. She was a real witch, damn it, and she didn’t have to sink so low as to dress up like some pathetic cartoon character. She needed her magic back. There just had to be a way.

“What else do you have in the box?” she asked Claudia.

“What do you see yourself as?”

“A Greek goddess,” Tessa answered.

Claudia laughed. “Actually, now that I’ve gotten to know you better I think you’d make a great pirate. But if you don’t want my assistance then I’m going to help Bethany instead.”

“Good idea,” Tessa said. Bethany needed all the help she could get. For some odd reason though, Tessa left the sentiment unspoken. Normally a comment like that would have rolled off her tongue.

She turned her attention back to the box of costumes. She pulled out a red sequin dress and held it up. Low neckline. Check. High hemline. Check. Size Twenty. Crap. Too Small. Still, she might as well try to squeeze into it. Everything else in the box was matronly and frumpy. She headed for the ladies locker room.

Tessa nearly broke a sweat trying to get into the dress but she managed to wiggle it down over her hips, which left only the side zipper to struggle with. Drawing in enough air to last her two solid weeks without needing another breath, she pulled the zipper up. There. She was in it. Walking slowly so as not to deplete her oxygen reserves, she went back into the common area between the ladies and men’s locker rooms to retrieve her room key.

She stopped when she saw a familiar figure standing over the costume box. It was Marcus. She hesitated. He didn’t know her from Adam or Eve, but she’d read his personal hate notes he’d penned to himself.

“Hey, watcha’ starin’ at?” His voice was deep, defensive and directed at her.

“I’m sorry,” Tessa said, the apology coming surprisingly easily. She waited for the zipper to split but it didn’t. Apparently it would take more than two words to set it loose. “Are you looking for a costume?”

“You’re a real girl genius, aren’t ya?” Marcus snarled before turning back to the box.

Tessa narrowed her eyes, an angry retort bubbling up within her. But then the words Marcus had scrawled on his slip of paper paraded through her mind’s eye. Her anger dissolved. He had enough self-generated negativity without her adding to it. Instead she watched silently as he dug through the costume box.

He straightened and glared at her. “What the hell are you still doing here?”

“If you can’t find a costume I have an idea that might work.” Tessa barely recognized her own voice, it sounded so level and calm. Good Lord, she sounded like her Aunt Trudy. What next? But in for a dime, in for a dollar. “Move over.” She joined him and dug around for the black robe. “Here.” She handed it to him. “Try it on.”

Marcus held it up. He scowled at her. “You want me to go as the Grim Reaper?”

“With a frown like that I could just about see it. But I was thinking more about Harry Potter. Try it on.”

He did and it fit. But still he looked unhappy. “Who’s going to know what I’m supposed to be? I look like a fat dude in a black robe.”

“Hang on a second.” Tessa nipped back into the dressing area and grabbed an eye liner pencil. “Stand still,” she instructed Marcus when she was back. She reached up and drew a lightning bolt on his forehead, and then stood back to admire her work. “There. Everyone will know who you are now.”

Marcus looked at her for a long moment, his uncertainty patently obvious.

“You’re welcome.” Tessa smiled. “Now get out of here because I need to find something to wear and I don’t have much time.”

“Don’t be crazy,” Marcus said. “You look hot in that number.”

“It doesn’t fit.” But as the words left her lips, Tessa realized she was wrong. The dress did fit. Not only had the zipper stayed zipped but she actually had some wiggle room now. What the hell was going on? She crossed over to the full length mirror and pivoted around. Not ten minutes before her dress had been so tight that with one false move she could have created a snowstorm of red sequins. But now the dress fit like a dream, hugging her curves in all the right places and all the right ways.

She couldn’t help herself. She squealed with delight.

“Chicks are weird.” Marcus shook his head.

Tessa grinned. That the dress fit, pleased her. That she’d just possibly discovered the way out of her strange predicament, was pure magic.

She turned to Marcus and fixed him with an appraising look. “I need help with something.”

“Name it.” He pointed to his forehead. “I owe you for this.”

“How are you with wire?”

His eyebrows shot up. “Say what?”

“Can you please try to make something for me?”

He shrugged. “I can try.”

Tessa took a hanger from the closet and handed it to Marcus. “I need help with my halo.”

“There’s something I bet you’ve never said before.” He laughed, a genuinely happy sound that made Tessa smile. She needed to watch all this smiling and laughing. It was all new to her. And it probably caused wrinkles.

She ripped a red satin ribbon from a clown’s outfit and wound half of it around a headband. When Marcus handed her the halo she wound the rest of the ribbon around it.

“Voila,” she cried triumphantly, holding up her creation proudly. “I’m just like MacGyver.”

“Who?” Marcus looked puzzled.

“You don’t know who MacGyver is?” Tessa shook her head. “He was a character on a television show and he could make anything out of nothing. The show was on in the eighties.”

“Eighties?” Marcus gave her the once over and then cocked his head to the side. “How old are you?”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.” Tessa grabbed his arm. “Come on, Potter, let’s go get something to eat.”

***

“That’s your third banana, Tessa.” Bethany’s expression was one of worry. “Do you know how many calories that is?”

“Don’t know, don’t care.” Tessa popped the last bite in her mouth and then patted her lips with a napkin. Now that she knew the way down the scale and out of this mess she wasn’t going to worry about calories, or exercise, or anything other than getting what she wanted.

She turned to look at Bethany. “I like your costume.” Bethany was Mrs. America, at least according to the white sash across her bosom. The poor thing looked uncomfortable, like she wished she was a thousand miles away. Tessa felt sorry for her, yet another new experience.

“Do you and your husband go out on the town very much?” Tessa asked. Chatting with another woman, mortal at that, was not something she had much experience with. Or finesse either, judging by the tears that welled in Bethany’s eyes. “I mean, when he’s not deployed. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say anything wrong.”

Bethany shook her head. “No, you didn’t. I just miss him.”

“Tell me how your kids are doing,” Tessa said, knowing Bethany’s children were a safe subject.

Bethany smiled. “They’re with my brother Cody on his ranch in Texas. He’s a bachelor and, while he loves being an uncle, I think he’s in over his head. But the kids are having the time of their little lives.”

As they talked they watched the wait staff clear the dining room tables and move furniture aside to make room for a dance floor. The atmosphere was far more festive than usual. Bright gold and green streamers hung from the ceiling and purple and red balloons floated this way and that, giving the room a Mardi Gras feel. The normal air of deprivation was gone. She guessed this had something to do with the fat free frozen yogurt station being set up in one corner but it could just as well be the band setting up against the back wall. Either way, it was a nice change from the usual round of after dinner jumping jacks.

But where was Liam? Tessa eyed the door for the hundredth time. She was bursting to share the news with him that she’d figured the way out of this set-up, which meant she’d found out a way to get to Europe.

And then she saw him in the entrance way. He was dressed as a major league baseball player, right down to his fitted grass stained pants. Fiona, dressed as Marilyn Monroe, hung on his arm. Even worse, Fiona held Jinx’s leash in an offensively possessive manner. Tessa narrowed her eyes. Marilyn could have Tessa’s fairy godfather, she didn’t care. Much. But her cat? Oh, no, that was going too far.

Chapter Ten

It practically killed her but Tessa resisted the urge to rush over and grab Jinx’s leash from Fiona’s hand. If her new theory was correct, doing so would make her pack the pounds back on. Instead she would wait for them to come to her. But it wasn’t easy to watch Jinx prance after Liam and Fiona as they stopped to chat with other guests.

Liam had an easy natural manner with people that Tessa found intriguing. Not attractive, she told herself, just interesting. It wasn’t only women who appeared to enjoy his company either, men seemed to appreciate his quick wit and humor as much as the ladies did his good looks and charm. The man was all smiles and sunshine. The perfect fairy godfather. Except for the fact he hadn’t done one single thing for her since he’d popped into her life. She sighed.

Bethany glanced her way. “What’s wrong, Tessa?” She followed Tessa’s gaze to where Liam stood. “Oh, you’re watching Coach Kennedy.”

Tessa bit her tongue. Hard.

“I can see why you think he’s handsome. He’s certainly a nice man,” Bethany continued, apparently unfazed by Tessa’s silence. “Who’s that woman with him, the one with the cute dog?”

“Marilyn Monroe,” was as civil an answer as Tessa could manage.

“No, really,” Bethany craned her neck to get a better look at Liam’s companion. “She’s gorgeous. Not an extra pound on her.”

“So?” Tessa didn’t have the patience to listen to any more of Bethany’s commentary. “What does that matter? Just because she’s thin doesn’t mean she’s any more attractive than either of us.”

Bethany’s doubtful expression annoyed Tessa even further.

“Oh, for goodness sake, Bethany, don’t buy into the crazy idea that a woman’s beauty can be measured by her clothing size. That’s so stupid. I’m just as beautiful as she is and I outweigh her by a good fifty pounds.”

Bethany raised her eyebrows.

“Okay, seventy pounds,” Tessa conceded. “But the number isn’t the point.”

“You mean you’re not a little jealous of whoever she is?” Bethany persisted.

“Not one tiny little bit,” Tessa lied.

Claudia joined them, a cup of fat-free frozen yogurt in hand. She held it up for them to see. “Lovely sight, isn’t it? The strawberries are insanely delish. Now if there were just a bit of chocolate drizzled over the top it would all be good.”

Bethany groaned. “Don’t talk to me about chocolate.”

Claudia grinned. “Okay, so what were you two ladies discussing?”

“Tessa was watching Coach Kennedy and his date,” Bethany said.

“Oh, I want to see.” Claudia turned so that she was facing in the same direction they were. “I want to know who has Tessa so worked up.”

Tessa groaned. “I’m not worked up. Or even curious about that woman.”

“That woman, huh?” Claudia laughed. “I’ve seen her around a time or two but I don’t know who she is. She is gorgeous, in a young, blond sort of way.” She craned her neck to take a better look. “Check out her tattoo.”

Tattoo. Ugh. Tessa never understood why humans wanted to draw on themselves. Ink themselves, whatever they were calling it these days.

“Wow, those are some wings,” Bethany said, her voice full of awe.

Tessa froze. Wings? What in the hell was going on?

“They’re gold. Wow. I’ve never seen that shade before. They look like fairy wings,” Bethany said.

Tessa couldn’t stand one more “wow” out of Bethany. Not when her head was about to explode. Was Fiona a fairy godperson? What was she doing here? And what were she and Liam up to?

Tessa felt like she was drowning in a sea of unanswered questions. Feeling Claudia’s gaze upon her, she turned. A strange thing happened, something she’d never experienced before, but it was almost as if Claudia understood her confusion and her wish to be alone.

“That’s enough gawking, Bethany.” Claudia took the younger woman by the arm. “Let’s go get you some of that yogurt.”