Blonde With A Wand Part 27

"Hey, Lily!" Anica hopped up and hugged her sister.

Jasper stood, too, and watched them. The hug seemed real, and not some loose, perfunctory embrace. The Revere sisters seemed to like each other better than Jasper remembered, and he wondered if the transformation problem had brought them closer together.

"So, this is Jasper," Anica said.

Lily thrust out a manicured hand. "It's good to meet you. I mean, really meet you. I realize we've met before, but . . ."

"I wasn't myself at the time." He shook her hand.

She laughed. "Well put." Her gaze swept over him. "How does it feel?"

"Temporary," Jasper said. "I think I have from six to six, but if I don't, then-" He shrugged.

"You've always had equal amounts of time on either side of midnight," Lily said. "This shouldn't be any different."

"Logically, you're right. I suppose you have a policy about bringing animals in here, though. I'd hate to violate that."

Lily waved a dismissive hand. "It's not gonna happen, but even if it did, we'd bill you as a new street act we invited in. Give people a few drinks, and they'll believe most anything. Speaking of drinks, I need to get back. Why don't you two sit at the bar, so we can talk?"

Anica glanced over at Jasper. He decided to let her make the call.

"I think we're better off over here for now," Anica said. "Jasper's still getting his bearings."

"Oh. Well, that makes sense. What'll you have? I'll send a waitress over with your drinks."

"Sam Adams for me," Jasper said. It hadn't been his brand before, but now that it was a.s.sociated with Anica and s.e.x, it was his favorite.

"Make that two," Anica said.

"Anything to eat? We have some simple pub grub."

"Onion rings?" Jasper suddenly had a taste for something fried within an inch of its life.

"Sure." Lily glanced at Anica. "Anything for you, toots?"

"I'll share his onion rings." Anica leaned closer to Lily. "Is Griffin here tonight?"

Lily blushed. Jasper hadn't been around Lily much, but he was positive blushing wasn't something she did very often.

"He's at the table closest to the bar," Lily said. "That's the spot he and his friends always take. He's the one in the navy suit."

Jasper glanced over. The guy looked way too conservative for someone like Lily. His hair was cut very short-not quite a buzz cut, but close-and the designer suit was all business. Then the guy laughed, and Jasper could see how maybe Lily was attracted. Griffin had the kind of contagious laugh that said Let's get this party started.

Anica nodded. "He's cute, Lil."

Jasper felt a pang of jealousy. He had no real claim on Anica, and yet he sure hated hearing her call some other guy cute. Maybe he needed to think about staking that claim if her comment mattered so much to him. Yes, maybe he should.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Duh. You think I'd notice somebody who wasn't? Anyway, trouble over there. Some woman from the law firm has decided to join their little happy hour gathering. I don't like it. I don't like it one bit. Anyway, I have to get back. I'll send someone over with your beer and onion rings." With a wave Lily walked away.

Jasper noticed she chose to walk past the table where Griffin was sitting. He glanced up and glanced quickly down again. Interesting.

"He doesn't want to look at her." Anica sat down but she kept her attention on Griffin.

"Oh, I think he wants to." Jasper settled into his chair. "But he's afraid to."

"Huh?" Anica stared at him. "Since when is a guy afraid to check out a woman? I thought it was the national pastime."

"It is, unless you're worried about the consequences."

Anica's eyes narrowed. "You think he's married? Or engaged?"

"Could be. Or he thinks Lily's too hot to handle. I might have thought from that reaction that he's shy, but nothing else about him comes across that way. What does she know about him?"

"Other than that he floats her boat? Not much."

Jasper pushed back his chair. "Wish me luck. I'm going in."

"You are? I thought you didn't want-"

"I'm curious about the way he deliberately didn't look at her. And for purposes of this maneuver, we're going to be engaged, so Lily's my future sister-in-law. That okay with you?"

Anica's jaw dropped. "I . . . um . . . sure."

He left her looking stunned but not horrified. Good. She wasn't grossed out by the idea of an engagement.

He was making this up as he went along, but if he was being honest, the idea of marriage had been hovering in the back of his mind ever since . . . ever since he'd met her. Maybe her remark that Griffin was cute had prompted him to concoct this particular cover story, but he thought the impulse went much deeper than that.

Walking over to the table he cleared his throat. "Griffin? Griffin Taylor, is that you?"

Griffin glanced up in surprise. "Yeah, I'm Griffin." He peered more closely at Jasper. "But I don't think-"

"Jasper Danes. You probably don't remember me. We worked out at the same gym for a while, but then I left and tried somewhere else."

"Mario's?"

Bingo. Jasper had pegged him for a guy who worked out and the gamble had paid off. "That's the place. Anyway, I just wanted to say h.e.l.lo."

Griffin stood and held out his hand. "Good to see you, Jasper. Want to sit down and have a drink with us?"

"Thanks, but I'm over there with my fiancee, Anica Revere." He gestured toward the corner. On cue Anica waved.

"Then go get her," Griffin said with a grin. "Veterans of Mario's torture chamber have to stick together. I left that h.e.l.lhole, too. I'm over at Fit and Flexible now, just off Michigan Avenue. You should try it. Anyway, go get Anica. We'll make room."

"Okay, thanks." Jasper couldn't keep the smile off his face as he made his way back to where Anica sat. "Come on. We're invited to hang out with Griffin Taylor and friends."

"How did you do that?"

Jasper started to tell her but then thought better of it. "I refuse to answer on the grounds that it might incriminate me."

"What did you tell him besides the fiancee part?"

"I implied that he and I had worked out at the same gym." It wasn't quite like the girlfriend-breakup story, but once again he'd played around with the truth. He waited for the ax to fall.

"You're a smooth operator, Jasper Danes."

He rubbed the back of his neck, not sure if she'd complimented him or condemned him with that remark.

"Then again, I'm not in a position to point fingers." Anica grimaced. "A really honest person would have immediately told her parents she'd turned her date into a cat." She gazed up at him. "I'm hoping it all gets fixed before they come home, so I never have to tell them."

"I can understand that," he said cautiously, not sure if he was out of the woods or not. "So . . . do you want to go over and meet Griffin Taylor?"

She stood and picked up her coat and purse. "I'd love to. I'm sure finding out about Griffin counts as a good deed, even if you had to fib a little to set it up."

Relief flooded through him. "I have to admit the good-deed thing has me worried. I gave away all that money and only got seven hours for it. What will it take to get the other twelve?"

"I don't know. Maybe you have to do acts of service instead of just giving away money."

"Seems like it would have to be something really big."

"Maybe not." She handed him his coat and linked her arm through his. "Let's go get acquainted with Griffin, shall we?"

An hour and two beers later, Anica excused herself from the table and walked over to the bar. Lily had been giving her questioning looks ever since Anica and Jasper had joined Griffin's table. Anica thought Lily deserved to be put out of her misery.

She leaned against the polished wooden bar. "I have info on your boy."

"How did you get chummy so fast? Does Jasper know him from somewhere?"

"No, but he pretended to so he could find out more about the guy."

Lily stopped squirting seltzer into a gla.s.s and stared at Anica. "And he would be doing this . . . why?"

"As a good deed. He's paid for two rounds of drinks so far and has given free investment advice to anyone at the table who wants it. He's living in Good Deed City right now. So, do you want to hear what we found out or not?"

"I'm listening. I have to keep working, though. I've been watching you guys too much and I'm a few drinks behind."

"As you already know, Griffin's a divorce lawyer. He also isn't a big believer in happily ever after, which might be about the job, but not every divorce lawyer feels that way so I'm not sure if that's where the att.i.tude comes from."

"I don't care about a happily ever after. I just want a happily right now in bed with that hottie." Lily speared an olive and a pearl onion with a plastic toothpick before floating them in a martini gla.s.s.

"Are you sure? Because when we were little, you were the one who always wanted to dress up like a bride."

Lily was silent for a few seconds. "Maybe I wouldn't mind finding a guy like Griffin to marry." She made a second martini and scooted both stemmed gla.s.ses across the bar toward a waiter who carted them off on a tray.

"I'll bet if I got him horizontal once, I could change his mind about marriage."

"Don't count on it. He's not your type, Lil. Too a.n.a.l. Too conservative."

"I could fix that."

"Eventually you'd have to tell him you're a witch."

"By then he'll be so blissed out on good s.e.x that he won't care."

Anica sighed. "Don't say I didn't warn you. Listen, Jasper's doing all these minor good deeds, but I think he needs something major, something that will buy him a chunk of hours, maybe even the entire twelve. Any ideas?"

"There's the soup kitchen. It's open twenty-four/ seven."

"Which soup kitchen? I'm sure there are several."

"Probably. This is the one I know about and it's only a couple of blocks from here." Lily set up two more gla.s.ses and began mixing some drink Anica didn't recognize. "One of my customers is in charge of it and mentioned it so I'd have a place to send anyone who wanders in and needs a meal but doesn't have money."

"Could Jasper just go there?"

"I don't know. I'm sure there's a training program for volunteers, but maybe if I call they'd let both of you come in tonight as a special case."

"That sounds brilliant."

Lily grabbed her cell phone from under the bar and tucked the phone against her shoulder as she continued to mix drinks.

Anica realized she'd never fully appreciated her sister before. Because Lily had a gift for making friends, she also had a million contacts. This one could save the day.

Lily closed up her phone and stuck it back under the bar. "You're all set. Clyde's expecting you."

"That's fantastic, Lil. Which way is it?"

"Go out the door, turn right and go two blocks. It's on this side of the street. Can't miss it."

"Thank you so much. This is huge." Anica hurried back to the table. "Sorry to break up the party, but Jasper and I need to be going."

"We do?" Jasper glanced up at her. He'd ordered a third beer and seemed to be enjoying himself.

"It's either that or abandon that project you told me about. Doesn't it have to be finished first thing in the morning?"

"Yes. Yes, it does." Jasper immediately pushed back his chair and grabbed both their coats.

Some of the guys at the table teased Jasper for his slave driver of a fiancee.

"No, no, she's focused," Griffin said. "I'd hang on to her if I were you, Danes. She'll help you get where you want to go."

"I plan to hang on to her," Jasper said.

Anica knew he had to say that to keep up the facade of them being engaged, but she liked hearing it all the same.

"So what do you have in mind?" he asked as they put on their coats and prepared to leave the bar.

"Lily set this up just now. There's a soup kitchen within walking distance. We can volunteer to help serve for as long as you want."

"All night?"