The Haunted_Edit Copy 4-9-17 final final 5 Upload

“You’re sweet.” He stood up and stepped over to stand in
front of me. “But I feel good as new.” Then he bent his head to kiss
me, sending tingles dancing down my spine all the way to my toes.
When he broke away, he walked around to the back of the
counter and pulled out his keys. “How was work today?”
I didn’t need to follow him to continue the conversation; the
store was small enough that he could hear me clearly as he headed
to the front door to lock up. “It was fine, thanks. There’s a new
Sherlock Holmes movie that came out on Friday with rave reviews.
Do you want to go see it one day this week?”
“Definitely.” He flipped the sign so the store’s “Closed”
status was advertised to the outside world. “Do you want to come
over now? I bought some sage on my lunch break and I’m going to
smudge the place.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “I’d like that.” My reservations about seeing
him had completely melted away. There was nothing strange about
his demeanor; he seemed to have recovered from the episode last
night.
Tucker turned off the lights inside the little shop, grabbed a
plastic shopping bag containing his sage, and we walked outside. I
realized that his car wasn’t parked at the curb. In the summer, I knew
that he walked, but the sidewalk was covered in ice and the air was
positively frigid. New England wasn’t really the best place for
wintertime walks to work.
“You didn’t drive today?” I asked, not trying to hide my
surprise.
“It’s not that cold,” he shrugged.
Oh, well. Maybe he just needed the fresh air to clear his head,
or something. I followed his example and shrugged it off as we got
into my car to drive to his apartment.
Again, to my surprise, he handed the sage stick over to me
once we were inside. “You want me to do it?”
He smiled as he reached into one of the cabinet drawers and
produced a lighter. “You can get some practice.” His thumb flicked
open the top and he held the flame over the dry herb until it caught
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