Penny & Her Heru Ch 4

Rent-A-Witch: Whynot Coven

4 - Jibber Jabber

The remaining males came to our table to introduce themselves. The first was Tyson, Alpha of the Bear Shifters followed by his beta, the beta from the wolf pack, and the beta from a cougar pack. The minotaur, Cyrus, is the minotaur king’s Whynot ambassador. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be not to correct them as they each congratulated Heru on finding his mate. A half hour ago I would have stated he may have found me, but that didn't guarantee a single thing. Now? After a short walk and having him stand behind me as I stared down a handful of males, I wasn't so ready to correct anyone.

I tried to find the button to activate a silence bubble along the edge of the table as inconspicuously as possible while we waited for the waitress to come back with our drinks. I wasn't sure if I wanted food, but I needed a drink. Something to wrap my hands around as we talked or to stop me from reaching across the table to strangle him. Depends on how the chat went.

"Sorry. No silence bubble. If want a bubble, we could go to the coffee shop downtown. Their tables all have them." His eyebrows dipped as he presumably looked in the direction of the coffee shop.

From the corner of my eye, I noticed the minotaur's ear twitch and the cougar shifter tilt his head in my direction. They were probably just normal body movements, but after what I had to go through when I walked in, I wasn't interested in them listening while we got to know each other.

Heru started to say something else but stopped when I held up a finger. I placed my purse on the table and twisted the ball of the kiss clasp three times to the left before opening it. It took a moment of rummaging before I pulled out a small brass bell.

The corner of Heru's mouth tipped up when I sat it on the table. "You carry a bell in your purse?"

I snapped the kiss clasp shut and twisted it once to the right to lock it before setting it on the edge of the table. "You would be surprised what I have in that little bag."

"I doubt Glenda will like you ringing a bell at her waitresses." He reached for it but pulled his clawed hand back when I put my index finger on the top of the handle to hold it in place.

"It's not for them. It's charmed to create a small noise shield when you ring it three times. I bought it from a lady who was tired of her husband mumbling to himself when he read the paper. She charmed it and set it on the table next to him so she could putter around the house without listening to him."

The corner of his mouth tipped up as he studied the bell. "Clever woman."

"She made enough money from charming things for them to retire early. But it was never anything that would draw the attention of the council. Teapots that never boiled dry, fabric diapers that cleaned themselves, lightbulbs that never blew. That kind of thing."

I thanked the waitress when she placed glasses of water on the table. It wasn't until after she walked away that I realized she only handed me a menu.

"Eat here often?" I waved the single menu.

"You want to talk about where I eat?"

Heaven help me. "Eventually, but the bell takes a while to recharge after you ring it so we should just chit-chat till the food gets here."

"Chit-chat?" He even looked hot when he was confused.

"Yeah. Chit-chat, jibber-jabber, small talk." I put the menu on the table when I realized I was waving it between us.

Heru rested his forearms on the table and leaned forward. "How does one … jibber-jabber?"

Chances were high he was messing with me, but I went along with it. Anything to keep the awkward feeling from coming back. I crossed my arms mirroring his pose and leaned on my side of the little table.

"Well, there are different levels of jibber-jabbering. The first is the nonsense level." I held up a finger. "You see a neighbor while out walking the dog and you say something about the weather."

He held up a finger. "Level one – weather."

"Very good." I held up a second finger. "Then there is the grocery store level. You run into someone while shopping, so you have to park your buggies in the middle of the aisle and jibber-jabber about little Johny and how well he did at his last baseball game."

"Does it always have to be about little Johnny when you block the aisle?" He bopped my second finger with the tip of a claw.

"No, no you can talk about anything while you keep other people from reaching for the cereal or whatever. But it has to be something that you could easily find out by looking on Facebook."

The side of his mouth tipped up. "You assume I have an account."

Before I could ask if he had an account the waitress dropped two plates off with a smile. Well, one plate and one platter. The one she sat in front of me was a chicken salad sandwich, chips, and a cup of fruit. In front of Heru were several sandwiches stuffed with different sliced meats, a basket of fries, and a salad big enough to feed a family of four.

"I'm sorry I didn't order this." I tried to hand the waitress back the sandwich.

Instead of taking it, she tucked her hands behind her back. "Yes, well, Glenda thought you would be hungry after the ceremony and took a chance you would want something."

I flicked my gaze between her and the plate. I loved chicken salad.

Heru slid the plate back in front of me and thanked the waitress. "Try it. Glenda has a knack for knowing what someone will like. She’s never been wrong."

I bobbed my head and scooted things around on the table. I didn't see anything that we were missing and glanced at Heru to see if he needed anything, but he was all set too. Full drinks, napkins, and a platter of food that could feed my entire family.

Now that it was time to ring the bell and get to know each other I didn't want to. I wanted to drag out the jibber-jabber conversation and come up with a level three.

"You’re overthinking things, Little Dove, ring the bell."

Shit. He could already tell that I was overthinking something. Anxiety flashed through me – could he read my mind? I studied his face as I imagined running straight to the Gatehouse and back to my life in Salem. He popped a grape in his mouth without reacting. I figured if anything would set him off the image of me running through a mirror would have. I needed to quiz my sister when she got back from wherever Venn flew off to find out exactly what he could have done.