Page 38 of Eye on the Ball

Tess

Connor Murphy’s new pub was full of Dead Enders having a great time when we got there, which boded well for the new venture. Jack and I introduced Alejandro and Rose to lots of people we knew, and then we found a table near the dartboard. Jack and Alejandro started a game that involved darts, beer, and trash talk, and Rose and I drank ginger ale and talked about magic and eccentric families.

The place was gorgeous. Connor had bought the old firehouse that dated back to the 1800s. Our current fire department had moved to a new building outside of town when firetrucks had gotten modern and huge, but this building in downtown Dead End had been built to accommodate the old horse-drawn fire trucks. It had served various other purposes since the city sold it but had been vacant for a couple of years. Aunt Ruby had told us Connor paid a very reasonable price for the building and the city gave him some perks for establishing a business there. Nobody wanted empty buildings downtown.

He’d renovated the interior with everything a modern pub needed but kept several touches from the old firehouse days. Framed photos of the old wagons, pulled by horses, lined the walls, and the fireman’s pole still stood in one corner. There was even the front part of an old fire truck repurposed as a decorative booth.

When Connor stopped by our table on his walk around the place, he was grinning ear to ear, flushed with well-deserved success. He was twenty-seven; a medium-tall, slender guy, maybe an inch or two taller than me, with dark auburn hair and lovely chocolate-brown eyes. I’d noticed more than one woman’s attention on him as he made his way around the room, and I knew he was single, so maybe the pub would be a success in more ways than one.

“Tess! Thanks so much for coming. What do you think, one business owner to another?”

I’d been happy to talk about ideas and strategy with him when he’d joined the Dead End small business association, and I was thrilled for him tonight.

“Connor, I’m delighted for you! This is gorgeous, and I think you have a hit on your hands.”

“Thank you so much! I hope so. I’ve poured everything I have into it, that’s for sure. The grand opening is next Saturday, so I need you all to win that game. Then the whole town can come in and celebrate!”

“Absolutely. Connor, this is?—”

“Hi, Rose, nice to meet you!”

She smiled at him. “It’s a great place. I wish we had a local pub near us that was half as nice.”

“Come visit anytime!” He glanced to his left when someone called his name. “I guess I’d better be moving on. Tess, I’ll get you that refill on the ginger ales.”

“Did you tell him we were coming?” Rose asked.

“No, why?”

“He knew my name.”

I laughed. “He also knew we needed refills, and he never glanced at our glasses. No, Connor’s a precog. But it’s a very minor gift. He can see maybe thirty seconds into the future. Not long enough to see the lottery numbers, unfortunately.”

“Handy for knowing what drinks people want, if you’re a pub owner,” she said.

Meanwhile, every person who walked up to the darts board with an eye toward claiming the next game with the winner watched Jack and Alejandro play for a few minutes and then walked away. Hard to compete with a man who had shifter reflexes and strength and another with a magical gift for targeting anything he aimed at.

I tuned in with half an ear. The current trash talk was Alejandro telling Jack his grandmother was a Persian show kitty and asking did Jack need his fur combed out before the next round. Jack laughed and ordered another round of beers from the server—a youngish guy I didn’t recognize—and then threw three bulls-eyes in a row.

“Kitty catthat, P-Ops.”

Shaking my head, I turned back toward Rose just in time to see the front door smash open with way too much force. I was halfway up out of my chair before I remembered.

This was not my club, and

I was not a bouncer.

This past year had put me in the bad habit of jumping into danger, face first. I needed to sit down and take a long look at my life choices. Maybe take up something peaceful, like knitting. Nope, those big needles might be too dangerous when the next crisis came up. What did I know about embroidery?

The door smasher was Probie Truckman, followed by a half-dozen of his family members. They looked around and then headed straight for Brenda, who was standing by the bar with a few friends, including Lauren from Lauren’s Deli and Mellie from Mellie’s Bakery.

(See what I mean about Dead End business names? Connor’s Pub fits right in.)

“Jack,” I said, quietly enough that only a tiger with Superior Tiger Hearing would hear me. “Trouble.”

He and Alejandro had already picked up on it, though. They’d put the darts down and moved closer to our table.

“I think I’ll go get us more drinks,” Jack said in his normal speaking voice.