The Memory Keeper

Chapter 14

The blankets were thrown off of Natalie the next morning.

She shrieked, curling into a ball. But it was only Piper. "Rise and shine," the witch sang, "time to weave the day!" Then she grimaced. "That sounded so much better in my head."

Natalie sat up, rubbing her temples. "My head hurts. Any reason my head has started hurting so badly after taking those capsules you made me?"

Piper shrugged. "Um, maybe you are taking too many? I told you to take them sparingly. You do not need one every night."

The mind weaver stretched. "What happens when I run out of them and the nightmares come back?" She grinned a little, thinking of she and Peter's trip to Willow Haven, then felt a punch in the gut when she realized he had walked out on her last night, just before they were supposed to do another session.

"What is it?" Piper asked. "You look how you do when I trick you into eating raw fish."

"Nothing." She slipped out of her bed and continued to stretch on her way to her wardrobe, more so to distract herself. Too many thoughts were demanding her attention at once. It was not the best way to start the day.

"I'm not blind."

"Yeah, but maybe I am."

Piper flapped her arms and rolled her eyes. "What are you going on about now? Let's skip the 'my life sucks' poetry today, please."

"Peter Sheinfeld," Natalie almost wailed, flinging herself back to the bed, grabbing the covers and yanking them to her chin. "He kissed me, but it was obviously an accident, and I see the way he looks at me, but I do not know if it is me he sees. And... He walked out last night before our session. Just out of nowhere, like perhaps something more important came up!"

Piper smiled a little. "Get dressed, you sentimental creature."

After a little wrestling and threatening not to bring her a sandwich for lunch, Piper had finally managed to get Natalie out of bed. The mind weaver dressed and followed the witch through her apartment and down the stairs.

When she peeked under the slab, she saw all of her furniture in the office was put back in place, but with the walls so blue, it looked like a completely different space. Her spirits lifted. "You did all of this?"

Piper twirled around the room. Then she batted her lashes at Natalie. "Maybe a certain blue-eyed man helped me."

"Mr. Sheinfeld?" Natalie looked around. "Did he mention why he walked out on me last night?"

But Piper did not answer. Instead, she threw herself into Natalie's desk chair and kicked her boots up on the desk. "Let me just say that he and I have an understanding."

"Piper, thank you, but I did not exactly need your approval."

"Well, you do," she sang, "and trust me, that is a good thing."

"Where is he now, then?"

"How should I know? Work? Family? Errands?"

Natalie felt like someone had thrown the rug out from under her feet. "I told him we needed to meet up a lot more frequently... Damn," she hissed, now speaking more to herself, "I should have just taken more of his memories in Willow Haven."

Piper sat up in her seat. "You went to Willow Haven?"

"Yeah, sure I did." She lifted her chin. "And not for the reason you are thinking. I decided against it, for the time being." She watched Piper closely. The witch picked up the paper weight on the desk, shaped like a hunched back whale, and turned it over in her hands.