The Witch Next Door

TWND-Chapter Five

A/N: Please vote/comment/fan ~ I will love you forever (or at least until the end of this story)

Copyright © 2012 Dionne Tuttle

All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book. The characters and events portrayed in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead is coincidental and not intended by the author.

Chapter Five

It was close to four when I finally managed to return to work. I had spent the better part of an hour driving around looking for the mayor. My cheeks burned as I remembered the stares I had received from people as I had cruised the streets calling for Orville. The alternative didn’t even seem possible. My earlier threats to make Orville into breakfast might become reality if I didn’t find the mayor fast.

     I parked Jake’s Porsche into his reserved spot and carefully locked it before entering the building. I cast a cautious look at Jake’s office before proceeding to my desk. Good. He didn’t seem to be back from lunch yet. With a little luck I could return his keys to his desk and pretend that I had been at work all this time.

     I opened the door to his office slowly, ignoring the curious looks from my co-workers. They were the least of my concerns right now. I quickly walked over to his desk and gently placed the keys on top of the gleaming brown surface. I was just breathing a sigh of relief when a noise at my back startled me.

     “So you finally came back. Nice to know that you remember that you have a job.”

     I jumped a foot. “Jake, you have to stop scaring me like this.” I turned to find Jake leaning against the door with his arms crossed.

     “Where have you been? We need to have the interview with the mayor by five o’clock to fill out the front page. Not to mention the fact that it would be nice to have access to my car.”

     I tried to search for an excuse that would sound plausible and, failing that, decided to ignore the question. “About that interview-”

     “Don’t tell me that you won’t have it ready by five.”

     “Okay.” I stood there looking at him.

     Jake sighed. “Okay. Why won’t it be ready?”

     “Would you believe that the mayor ran out before I was able to interview him?” I looked at him hopefully.

“Is that what happened?” Jake shut the door with a well-practiced kick of his foot and walked over to his desk.

     I nodded. Well, it was part of the truth anyway. The mayor had run out of the interview. I had just left out the part where I had managed to turn the mayor into a pig. No harm done. What Jake didn’t know wouldn’t hurt him. I hoped.

     Jake sat down behind his desk. He looked no less intimidating when he was seated than when he was standing. His dark hair fell over his eyebrow, narrowly missing one of his soft brown eyes. My hands itched with the urge to lean over and push it out of the way. I actually had to curl my hands into my palms to keep them from following my thoughts.

     “Jane, give me one good reason why I shouldn’t fire you right now.”

     I felt as though he had slapped me in the face. It had never occurred to me that Jake might be thinking of letting me go from my job. “I’m good at my job. I’ve just had an off day. Everybody has one once in a while.”