Both Em and Todd looked at him. “Stubbed my toe,” he said, turning to close the door.
He considered thunking his head against it to rid himself of the X-rated image and the tightening in his gut that accompanied it. He looked at Em instead, thinking that would help. She was sitting at the table wearing an oversize sweatshirt and baggy sweatpants with her face makeup free and her hair a tangled mess, chowing down on a breakfast better suited to a twelve-year-old. It didn’t help. He was still turned on.
“Stop waggling your eyebrows at us,” Em said to Todd. “Nothing happened. We just wrapped up at Seaton House six hours ago, and Josh slept on my couch.”
Okay then, they were going with the truth. Maybe it was better that they end the charade anyway. He was getting worried about his ability to keep Em in the friend zone. On his part, at least. She didn’t seem to have the same problem keeping him there, which, he had to admit, was a slight blow to his ego. She’d acted as if kissing him was about as big a deal as kissing Gus.
Todd looked from him to Em. “Why?”
“Because he was tired,” she said, shoving another spoonful of Froot Loops into her mouth.
“I meant why was he not sleeping with you? Did you guys have a fight?”
“No, we didn’t have a fight. Not everyone jumps into bed with someone after a couple of dates. Not like some people I know,” she said around a mouthful of cereal.
“Hey, I’ll have you know that Matteo and I dated for weeks before we jumped into bed together.”
“There you go. We’ve only been dating for a little more than a week,” Em said.
Okay, so she wasn’t going to tell Todd the truth. Josh considered doing it himself but he’d started this to help Em. It had to be on her time line. He just hoped the conversation about their non–sex life stopped. “You want a cup of coffee, Todd?”
“Thanks.” Todd nodded as he pulled out a chair at the table and went back to talking about the sex Josh and Em weren’t having but Josh was afraid he wouldn’t stop thinking about having whenever he was around her now.
“Yeah, but by my calculation, you guys are with each other every day, so you’re on at least date number seven. Even if they were kind of lame dates.” He looked at Josh. “I thought you were going to up your game, bro. Football practices and a football game don’t exactly cut it.”
Josh silently urged Em to tell Todd the truth. She didn’t. “What are you talking about? I love helping Josh at the practices and working with the kids. And being behind the bench at the game was fun.”
Admittedly, Josh enjoyed her helping at practices, and he’d really enjoyed having her behind the bench with him. A little too much, now that he thought about it.
“I guess that makes sense. You two have a lot in common. Which is why I figured you two would be getting down and dirty.” Em shot him a glare. “Doing the nasty? Shagging?” He shrugged. “Whatever. You’ve been friends since grade school, so that means your seven dates are equivalent to a brand-new couple going on their twenty-first date, and I guarantee they’d be having sex.”
Josh couldn’t take it anymore. “Enough with the sex talk,” he said, wincing at the sharpness in his voice. “Sorry. I didn’t get much sleep. But I doubt you came to talk to us about our sex life, Todd.” He hoped he hadn’t.
Josh handed Todd his coffee and then pulled out a chair at the table and sat down across from Em. Avoiding her gaze, he took a sip of his own coffee and nearly burned off his tongue.
“I feel your pain, man.”
Josh had a feeling he wasn’t talking about him burning his tongue.
“Todd,” Em muttered, then nodded at the newspaper in his hand. “Let me guess, Peter O’Brien’s on the front page of the Herald demanding Seaton House be torn down.”
“Pretty much. He’s painting the Sisterhood as a coven of witches who are using Seaton House as a meeting place to call on evil spirits.” He lay the newspaper out on the table.
Em scoffed. “Next he’ll be telling people in town to lock up their virgin daughters on Halloween so the Sisterhood can’t make them light the black candle and achieve immortality.”
Josh laughed. “Hocus Pocus. My sister loved that movie.”
“I loved it too,” Todd said. “But I hate to tell you, kids, that’s the rumor spreading around town.”
“Oh come on.” Em shoved the cereal bowl away from her. “People can’t seriously be buying that crap.”
“Have you been on social media in the last five years?” Todd asked.
“Yeah, and anyone who spreads malicious lies should be shut down.”
“Agreed. But that’s way above our pay grade. And there’s a little thing called free speech.”
“Yeah, well, if you publish crap that’s a blatant lie that puts people’s lives and their livelihood at risk and encourages hate, that crosses the line in my books.”
“Preaching to the choir, sister. But as I said, our hands are tied.”
“Not if we can prove that Peter O’Brien was behind the letters, the phone call threatening me, or the 911 call you guys responded to.”
Todd groaned. “Don’t remind me. Last night had to have been the most embarrassing night of my life.” He cocked his head. “Scratch that. Second most embarrassing. The most embarrassing was when I proposed to Matteo and he rejected me.”
Em sighed. “Give the guy a break. You dated for six months. And it looks to me like he was right. If you really loved him, you wouldn’t have broken up with him because he needed more time.”
Todd’s jaw dropped. “You’re supposed to be on my side.”
“I am, which is why I’m being honest with you.” She put her hand on his arm and shook it. “You’ve been miserable. Give the guy another chance.”
“What if he rejects me?”
“Then you’ll know he’s not your one.”
Todd looked from Em to Josh. “Listen to her. You really are good, man.” He grinned. “Sherpa coat, here I come.”
“What are you—” Em held up her hand. “Never mind. I heard all about the betting poll. Did you know they’re taking bets on how long we’ll last at Highland Brew?” she asked Josh.
He nodded. “Todd is the only one who thinks we’ll go the distance.”
“Not anymore I’m not. If the odds keep dropping, I may have to go for the bomber jacket and not the full-length coat.”
Em picked up the newspaper. “Did you get anything out of Madame Zola that connects her to O’Brien?”
“I didn’t get a word out of her, but Ellie’s husband did. He’s one scary dude, hot too, and he wasn’t happy his wife was upset or that Madame Zola got in a scuffle with Granny MacLeod. Even if Granny got her bruises from throwing herself at Madame Zola, who by the way, has a list of aliases a mile long.”
“I thought Abby checked into her,” Em said.
“She did. Her website looks legit, and Abby even called some of the people who left glowing recommendations. She did her due diligence. It’s just that Madame Zola has been doing this a long time. As for a connection between her and O’Brien, that would be a no. She swears she targeted Abby because of her podcasts and the talk about Seaton House. It fits her MO.”