“It was an accident. The manager had to pay for a day at a spa, and I got pushed off the broomstick. All she needed was a salt bath to break the spell, but she was going to sue.”

“I can’t imagine why…” Kisten rocked to his toes and down, his hands behind his back as he looked up through the snow at the steeple. “I’m glad you had a good time. I did, too.” He took a step back, and I went still. “I’ll stop by sometime tomorrow night to pick up my coat.”

“Hey, um, Kisten?” I said, not knowing why. “Do you…want a cup of coffee?”

He came to a graceful halt with one foot on the next step down. Turning back, he smiled, his pleased expression reaching all the way to his eyes. “Only if you let me make it.”

“Deal.” My pulse was just a shade faster as I opened the door and preceded him in. The sound of slow jazz met us, drifting up from the living room. Ivy was home, and I hoped she had already been out and back from her twice-weekly fix. A soulfully sung “Lilac Wine” made a soft mood, accentuated by the darkness of the sanctuary.

I shuffled off Kisten’s coat, the sound of the silk lining a soft hush as it slid from me. The sanctuary was dim and silent, the pixies snug in my desk though they ought to have been up by now. Wanting to preserve the mood, I slipped off my boots while Kisten hung his coat beside the one he had let me borrow.

“Come on back,” I whispered, not wanting to wake the pixies. Kisten’s smile was soft as he followed me into the kitchen. We were quiet, but I knew Ivy had heard us when she turned the music down a shade. Tossing my clutch purse to my side of the table, I felt like someone else as I padded in my stocking feet to the fridge for the coffee. I caught sight of my reflection in the window. If you ignored the snow stains and falling hair, I didn’t look too bad.

“I’ll get the coffee,” I said, searching the fridge as the sound of tinkling water intruded on the jazz. Grounds in hand, I turned to find him looking relaxed and comfortable in his pin-striped suit as he stood at the sink and cleaned the new coffee carafe. His mind was entirely on his task, seemingly unaware that I was in the same room while he threw out the old grounds and pulled a filter from the cupboard with a smooth, unthinking motion.