Whether Brianna was ready or not, James had decided it was time for her to get her first magic lesson. He'd kept the goods he'd bought from Reagan Kelly the day before at his office and brought them back now as he came home from work, the neat little bag hanging from his wrist as he used his other hand to loosen his tie. She was home, her car was in the garage and the lights were on when he walked in so he called her name as he strolled in through the foyer, listening intently for where she might be. She might not take kindly to him bossing her around so he was determined to break it to her gently, ask even, though that wasn't usually his style.
Brianna was in the kitchen getting things ready for dinner. She had gotten home and changed out of her work attire into yoga pants and a soft sweater, her red hair tied up out of her face as she sliced the tomatoes for the pasta sauce. She heard the front door open and then James's voice call out for her. Despite the tension from the past couple of weeks, today she found she was happy to hear his voice and she set the knife down long enough to wipe her hands on a dish towel. "Kitchen," she called back as she lifted the cutting board to turn and carry it toward the stove top where the pot was waiting. Brianna glanced at him over her shoulder when he entered the room. "How was work?"
It spoke volumes for James's love for his wife that he liked her in soft and casual clothing just as much as he liked her all dolled up for an event. Then again Brianna had a way with making everything look good and even clothes James might consider frumpy hugged her body in all the right ways. "Hey," he said with a little smile as he came into the kitchen. "Work was uneventful. I got you something." He jerked his hand so the bag slid from his wrist and into his grip, then held it out to her, balanced on his fingers. "A little luxury from Belladonna. I spoke to Reagan Kelly."
Brianna dumped the tomatoes into the pot and set the cutting board to the side as she turned towards James. She hadn't been to Belladonna since the whole mess with Sebastian and Brianna reached out to take the bag giving a perfunctory glance inside before she looked at James. "Thank you," she said, leaning in to give him a quick kiss. The gifts were a pleasant surprise, as she had always loved buying Reagan Kelly's products. But she was more interested in James speaking to Reagan, as she assumed that was the real reason her husband stopped into Belladonna in the first place.
"I have good news and bad news," James muttered, though it was really all wrapped up in one in his mind. "I'm fairly certain at this point that whatever your parents told you wasn't fully true and that nobody's really after you or the kids. However, it seems as if breaking that curse did more than unleash your magic." He moved to the fridge to grab a gatorade as he spoke, then leaned against the counter as he opened it. "According to Reagan, Bash was a model student. She only taught him the basics but he was good. He wasn't very good when I started teaching him. Strong, but unfocused." It was the most he had ever told Brianna about anything related to magic, it was one of those topics he kept to himself but this concerned their children and she needed to know.
Brianna set the bag of Belladonna gifts on the large island and watched James as he moved to the fridge. She did her best not to interrupt him, eager to hear what he had discovered. It was difficult to quell the bristling along her spine when James spoke of Reagan teaching Sebastian. No, she hadn't wanted Sebastian learning any magic, but there was still the oddly placed irritability that some other woman was teaching her son something that should come from within the family. Brianna was well aware of how irrational that sounded given she was so set against her kids learning magic at all, but at the moment she didn't care. "Maybe he feels more pressure when he's around you," Brianna suggested. "Maybe it's messing with his focus."
"He generally does well under pressure," James pointed out but he only had experience with sports and academic pressure so perhaps magic was different for him. "Let's see if lesson two is easier on him. Phee did well, now we just need to know how you'll do." He arched a brow at her and smiled. "When do you want your first lesson?" He hadn't really presented it to her as if she had much choice to begin with but he'd been angry at the time. He still didn't want to give her an out but he was more willing to pretend she could refuse and smooth-talk her into it.
"I have to imagine magic is on a different level than tests and football," Brianna pointed out. She couldn't even pretend to know what any of this was supposed to be like, so she had to trust James knew what he was talking about. At the same time, Brianna felt the need to be involved too, to make sure Sebastian and Phee weren't learning anything dangerous. His question directed towards her prompted Brianna to turn back towards the island where she started prepping the rest of the pasta sauce she was making. "I think you should focus on helping the kids first," Brianna said. "I think they need it much more than I do."
"And if I'm wrong and things do go bad?" James muttered. "You need to know the basics to protect yourself from yourself and you need to know even more if you want to be safe from others." It wasn't like he couldn't teach all of them, he'd make time where he didn't have it, they were well off and he controlled his own work hours. What he said was only half the truth of course, he wanted her safe but he also didn't want to be known to be married to a witch who didn't know any magic.
Brianna sighed dramatically, as if this was all just one major inconvenience to her. Which is was.But it was also unnerving and a tiny bit frightening, but she had trouble admitting that to her husband. Nothing seemed to rattle him and Brianna had spent years achieving that same, unshakable coolness. "All right, then teach me the basics," she conceded, picking up the knife to start slicing into an onion. "We'll start this weekend, if you're going to be here. The kids have some dance Saturday night, so that might be an ideal time."
James nearly protested because he wanted to start sooner but Brianna had a point; it was probably better to do this when the kids were out of the house. He didn't expect anything to go wrong but things had been tense lately and he didn't need Sebastian to irritate his mother right before a lesson. "How about-" he started, pushing away from the counter and closing the distance between them, resting one hand on her hip. "Spa day. I'll book us a couple massage, use the afternoon for a little self indulgent pleasure before your first lesson." He had planned to leave town but he didn't mind driving in the dark so he could leave right after the lesson and still be at his hotel before ten.
Brianna paused in what she was doing and looked at him, unable to deny that a massage sounded like just what she needed. She thought about the evening and maybe promising to wear that black nightie he seemed to enjoy on her, but Brianna didn't want to promise sex if the magic lesson ended up irritating her and putting her off. If nothing else, they would spend some time together before the unpleasantness. "Okay," Brianna agreed. "That sounds nice." Her hand began to slice the knife through the onion again. "No work calls during, though. Your phone has to stay in the car."
"You drive a hard bargain," James murmured with a touch of amusement, kissing the side of her head before backing off again. "The phone stays in the car." There was a chance he might forget it by Saturday, unless she reminded him, but for now he thought he could do it. At least through the massage. He could probably do with an hour of no stress too. "I'll make the arrangements," he said before finishing his gatorade. "I'll be in my office if you need me."
Brianna looked over at him and arched a brow. "Why don't you go make those arrangements and then come back out here and help me with dinner." As far as she knew, Sebastian and Phee weren't home yet and she still had to brown the beef and get the pasta ready. Obviously Brianna knew James would rather hide away in his office and work on whatever he felt like he needed to work on, but he could stand to lift a hand around the kitchen every now and then.
James mirrored her expression in that he too arched a brow but he was also giving her a somewhat amused smile. "I suppose I could do that," he replied and at least that meant Brianna wanted to spend time with him. He didn't enjoy cooking but he was good at it, mainly because James didn't find it acceptable to be less than great at whatever he did, no matter how insignificant. "I will be right back."
Satisfied, Brianna went back to cutting up the onion to get it into the sauce pot. She knew James didn't like to cook, but she didn't like to do a lot of things around the house that she did. It only seemed fair that he get his hands dirty occasionally too. "I'll be waiting," she told him lightly, and a touch amused. Yes, it meant they would spend a bit more time together, but given the state of things, that probably wasn't the worst thing in the world.