By the time November rolled around, Jamie's life in Tuscany had settled into a nice routine. He'd get up in the morning and, depending on where he had spent the night, he'd either have breakfast with his family, or he'd have sex with the Rossi women and then have breakfast. After that, he'd go to the shop and get to work with Aldo. Aldo kept nagging him about coming in late after spending the night at the Rossis, but he didn't really mind it as their shared work was both pleasing and lucrative. The two of them made steampunk clocks, computers, appliances, telephones, even cellphones and sold them all online for a tidy profit. They still handled appliance repairs and even the odd antique restoration, from time to time, but making their steampunk creations was both their bread and butter and the release to their creative impulses. Jamie expanded their services into fixing electronics as well and that was in high demand, making the store even more profitable.
Jamie didn't really need the money, since he was still a millionaire, but he kept taking his share as it made for a great cover story for all that he could afford. Aldo was quickly climbing out from under the pile of debt his failing business had been generating for the past few years and that was the main reason the strict and principled man tolerated Jamie's sporadic tardiness.
Jamie would take his lunch break in the afternoon, after everyone else, and he'd always take it at Trattoria Rossi. Sometimes, one, or both, of the girls would drag him upstairs for a quickie. After some more time spent at work, Jamie would always go back to the trattoria and have dinner with the girls. Then, depending on everyone's schedule, he'd either stay with them and talk and make love until late in the night, or he'd go to his mother's place and spend the evening with his family.
Fridays and Saturdays were always swamped at the trattoria, so he'd spend them with his family, but on Sundays the trattoria was closed and he'd spend the whole day and night with the Rossi girls. They'd go to Pisa and see a movie, or do some shopping, and then retire home for an evening of carnal delight.
Each day, Jamie made a point of stealing an hour for himself, to work on his Force abilities and PTSD treatments. He also worked out twice a day to convert all the delicious food Laura made for him into hard muscle. He built up his body and now looked fit to pose for a nude statue of a greek god. If he had not adopted such an intensive exercise regime, he'd be hauling around some twenty-five pounds of fat located over his stomach.
It was a great life, Jamie had to concede. He had all the great sex with two delightful women that he could handle, all the great food that the two of them would make for him and he had possibly the greatest job he had ever even heard of. He conceived of wacky things, made them true and then sold them for a lot of money, after first playing with them himself, under the pretext of testing them. His plans for touring the world were on the back burner and he was beginning to doubt he'd make use of them at all, when the time came.
His mother had definitely become very happy living in Tuscany, despite the nearly record breaking cold autumn that had slammed them with snowfall as early as October. She was dating her boss at the wine store and the two of them were spending more and more time together every day. Jamie had thoroughly investigated the man and found nothing wrong with him. All he had on his record was a string of parking tickets that he'd regularly pay. The man traveled to larger cities in Tuscany quite often on business and, once he got there, he seemed to have trouble telling where parking was and wasn't allowed. But, other than that, he was a regular guy with an ok sense of humor, so Jamie didn't interfere with their relationship. He even kept his distance from it, after he had once walked into his mother's house and sensed her mind in the throes of ecstasy as her boss boyfriend was fucking her. It made Jamie want to crack open his own skull and pour bleach into it to get rid of the memory, but he meditated and learned to handle it. He also decided to keep his senses to himself, from then on.
Suzie was delighted as she was getting the run of the house more and more often, what with Jamie spending most of his time at casa Rossi and her mother going out and staying over at her boyfriend's often. The house became a hangout spot for the girls in her class and she was rapidly making her way to becoming the queen bee of their little school.
"Just remember, my little grasshopper," Jamie would say to her, "with great power comes great responsibility." She'd roll her eyes at him and mutter to herself about what a freak her big brother was. Jamie would smile at that. It meant they were still a family, despite their new circumstances.
Of course, happiness can't last forever and Jamie soon saw the fly land in his ointment. On the first Tuesday in November, the Sun finally broke through the gray, leaden clouds to sneak a peek at their sleepy, little town. Jamie was heading to the trattoria for lunch when he saw them. Three officers in gray uniforms were coming out of the trattoria, just as he was crossing the square. He gingerly extended his senses into their minds and was shocked to feel his telepathy blocked. He guessed they were part of the italian supernatural law enforcement. The three men got into a green jeep with the words "State Forestry Corps" painted on its side and drove off across the square, which was illegal, since the square was strictly a pedestrian traffic only zone.
Jamie dashed into the trattoria, looking for his girls. Laura was sitting at one of the tables. There was only one patron in the place, an elderly gentleman eating pasta in the back. Jamie knelt at Laura's feet and worriedly asked, "What's wrong?! Where's Alessandra!? Are you alright?!"
"Jamie," Laura said, "Jamie, calm down! Everything is alright. I'm fine. We're fine."
"Well, what's going on? Why were the cops just here?"
Alessandra came out of the kitchen, having heard Jamie's shouted questions and came over. Jamie and she hugged as Laura said, "They just wanted to ask some questions."
"About what," Jamie asked. "I know they were from the magical authorities. Did they come round to ask about me?"
"No," Laura said. "Don't worry about it. There are some suspicious animal attacks happening in the forest north of the city. They're just making the rounds and asking questions. No people have been hurt so far and that means they're not going to bend over backwards investigating."
The three of them sat down and Alessandra brought Jamie some lunch. She sat in his lap as he tried to eat it. "So, how are these attacks suspicious," he asked Laura.
Laura shrugged. "They didn't say," she said. "They came to ask questions, not answer them."
"Does this happen often," he asked.
Laura sighed and looked far into the distance. "I think it happened once before, when I was a little girl," she said, after a while. "I can't remember it clearly anymore, I was just starting school at the time, but I think I can remember my father warning me against going into the forest. I think the whole thing ended when a young man was killed in the woods."
Jamie patiently listened to her little trip down memory lane and then said, "I meant, do the cops come round to ask you questions often?"
"Oh, no," Laura said and chuckled. She read the concern on his face and waved it off. "Don't worry about it," she said. "It's standard procedure. Every time something happens, they go round and ask every caster in the area. It's just like when regular police go from door to door to ask people if they've seen anything. They were only here for ten minutes."
Jamie nodded at her answer and said, "And how often do they come to ask you if you've seen anything?"
