Bedtimes and Broomsticks

by Amanda A. Allen

  “He’s having a baby boy with his assistant.”

  “What did you say?” The danger in Maye’s voice escalated.

  “He wants normal kids,” Scarlett answered flatly as she started a sink of hot water, dumping the pans from the burned cookies and cakes inside.

  “What?” Slithered words of anger. How nice it was to hear the rage in her mother’s voice. It made the backs of Scarlett’s eyes burn with tears—they came so easily with the feel of her mother’s rage on her behalf.

  Scarlett fought until the need to cry was under control and then explained, “Luna talks to the dog. Ella has a real natural affinity to commune with trees. Freaks him out. Puffy cloud thoughts, Mom.”

  Scarlett glanced around the kitchen and chose a counter to focus on. Clear the counter, soak the dishes, wipe it down. One section done. Keep moving. Focus on what needs to be done. Don’t cry.

  Maye started to scrub the pots as Scarlett moved. Maye scrubbed and whooshed. They were both fast—like a lot of moms, cleaning was both second nature and a way to vent sheer fury. Scarlett had been cleaning a lot lately.

  “Are you ok?”

  Somehow with Gus the question had been loving and protective. With Maye—with their baggage—it was painful.

  “This is what we expected right? You had Gram read my leaves. You knew this would happen. You’ve been waiting for this all this time.”

  “Every mother wants their child to be happy, Scarlett. You know this.”

  Scarlett’s edges of anger dulled as she realized what her mother hadn’t said—that Scarlett had been waiting too. That she’d always known that it would eventually happen.

  With the generosity of not pointing that fact out, Scarlett felt the first crack in the wall between herself and her mom.

  But then Scarlett’s lips firmed and she scowled. “Then why did you have Gram read my future like that? Why didn’t you ask me? Why did you tell everyone how I would fail and never find happiness?”

  Maye searched Scarlett’s face, eyes flicking back and forth as though she almost didn’t recognize her. As though Scarlett weren’t a younger version of her mother as much as Scarlett’s daughters were of her.

  “I…” Maye faded out and shook her head.

  “I followed my heart and my path. I’m sorry it hurt you.” Scarlett said softly and then because she wasn’t perfect, she added, “I wish you could have let me be free.”

  Maye’s lips firmed and her face veiled her emotions, but Scarlett knew that move too well. Her mother regretted what she had done but not enough. Not enough for it to be ok. Not enough for to easily let the hurt slide away. To forgive that in having Scarlett’s leaves read and then told what was in them—Maye hadn’t been giving Scarlett the chance to avoid her fate. Maye had simply stolen the full happiness that could have been Scarlett’s. Maye had taken the peace out of the quiet moments in giving them an expiration date.

  “Wally isn’t back, and I need to check on the girls.” Scarlett put the broom away and walked out of the bakery and towards Harper’s funky little shop. “Tell him whatever you want. Maybe rehash my history, my leaves, and my future as you think you know it.”

  “I’m sorry, Scarlett,” Maye said and there was a plea in her voice—regret. And Scarlett knew her mother meant it. But she didn’t stop. The thing was—there were some things that you couldn’t take back. There were some things that didn’t fix with two little words.

  Chapter 4

  “Hey,” Scarlett said brightly as she walked into the shop. Her voice was brittle but only Harper caught it. She raised a brow and Scarlett shook her head. Not now. Harper’s cat gaze narrowed on Scarlett, and her sister tossed her christmas red and black hair. Harper didn’t need to think that hard, Scarlett mused, all Harper needed to do was remember what made Scarlett act like this and then go find their mother.

  Scarlett shook off her anger and focused on her daughters, examining them for signs of distress or worry. Of course, they probably were, the girls were druids after all. Druid children knew things just like druid adults. Her girls had to be aware that something was happening. They had to feel the tension in the air—the loss.

  Even still, Luna sat on a stool at the glass counter where the more expensive jewelry items were locked away. She was wearing at least a dozen necklaces and bracelets. Ella was a few feet down on the same glass counter. She was pretending to ring up purchases, wrapping random things in paper and putting them into bags. Sweet, massive Max was laying on the floor near the girls.

  Scarlett’s relief at seeing her daughters relatively happy warmed her and she glanced around only after she’d examined them. She found Henna and another woman sitting in the big cushy chairs near the window. The second woman was crying into her hands. All Scarlett could see of her was designer tennis shoes, tight leggings, and sleek, mahogany hair.

  Scarlett’s eye twitched at the intrusion, but this wasn’t her shop, it was Harper’s. And Harper didn’t seem to be bothered by the woman and Henna staking out a corner of the shop. Scarlett stared since no one was looking her way. It took a while for her to recognize the crying woman, but it was the little high-pitched hiccup sniffles that triggered a memory in Scarlett’s head.

  “Kelly?”

  The woman turned. Her pert nose, tanned skin, and cold face matched a cheerleader who had always shadowed Lacey. Her pink-glossed lips trembled and she nodded. Lacey and Kelly were both witches as well as best friends throughout high school.

  Scarlett tried to hide a sigh. If she had made a list of people she didn’t want to see her first day back, Kelly and Lacey would have topped the list. Seeing them as Scarlett had was almost reason enough to run away from Mystic Cove again.

  “Is it true?” Kelly’s voice cracked as she rose and rushed into Scarlett’s arms. Kelly wrapped Scarlett up, crying onto her shoulder as if they were friends. It took Scarlett a little too long to pat Kelly’s back, but the woman didn’t seem to notice Scarlett’s stiff body or jerky pats.

  Scarlett looked to Harper, pleading silently. But she pointed and laughed without making a sound. The two sisters faced off, arguing only with looks, as Kelly continued to actually wet Scarlett’s shirt with tears. What had she done for this to be her fate?!

  Kelly pulled back, eyes swimming in tears, and asked again, “Is it true? Is Lacey…re-rea-really gone?”

  Another large tear rolled down Kelly’s cheek leaving a furrow in her thick powder foundation. Her smoky gray eyeshadow, a bit dark for daytime makeup, was streaking down her face as well. But what survived of Kelly’s makeup was on point. Scarlett pretended she didn’t find that irritating.

  “I’m sorry,” Scarlett said, fighting for sympathy and losing. Lacey and Kelly had provided a sour flavor to the entirety of Scarlett’s childhood. How many times had they pranked Scarlett and Gus? How many times had the duo teased and mocked Scarlett and the people she cared about? How many times had Scarlett looked on in horror as they focused their ill will on someone else?

  “You never liked her,” Kelly said, yanking back as if Scarlett had somehow conned Kelly into her arms.

  Scarlett cleared her throat and glanced around for help, but Harper had leaned back and was watching as if this were a play she had front row seats for.

  Kelly almost snarled, “You never wanted her to be happy. Did you kill her? Did you!”

  Her gaze was fierce, but she crossed the line when she dug her nails into Scarlett’s biceps. Scarlett twisted from Kelly’s grip, stepping away and facing off with the woman. Scarlett was fighting and failing to find the calm of a druid.

  “Please,” Harper said sarcastically, speaking with a laziness that kept Scarlett’s daughters calm. “Like Scarlett would bother murdering Lacey. You have to give a shi—um…have to give a piece of…um…she’d have to care about Lacey in some way.”

  “What are you trying to say?” Kelly’s eyes were wide as if she couldn’t understand. She probably didn’t. Probably never had the imagination to realize how h
orrible Lacey was; Kelly probably didn’t understand that looking perfect and acting horribly didn’t make you friends.

  “You and Lacey and what happened in high school is all bullsh—ahh…” Harper choked and then grinned at the girls and said, “You guys don’t rate on Scarlett’s radar. You couldn’t mean less to Scarlett than some random person Scarlett has never met. Get over yourself, Kells.”

  Scarlett let Harper rage for them both. After all, she rarely found the calm of druids anyway, so she could be meaner than Scarlett would ever be and no one would blink. If Scarlett raged though, her daughters would sit up and take notice.

  “What about you?” Kelly’s eyes narrowed on Harper’s face. “You set her car on fire. It could have been you. Or your friend Gus? Scarlett always would do anything for that freak. Maybe she found out about him and Lace.”

  Scarlett had definitely lost the calm of druids. She crossed the store, took Kelly by the arm, and said, “It’s time for you to go. We didn’t kill your friend. Maybe go check with all of the people that you and Lacey were mean and horrible to over the last lifetime. I’m sure that list is long and ugly.”

  Scarlett walked Kelly to the door and literally shoved her out. Kelly sputtered in shock on the sidewalk, looking around to see if anyone had noticed what Scarlett had done. Kelly was gape-mouthed as if she couldn’t imagine someone treating her like this. She should get used to it. Her queen bee wasn’t around to protect her anymore.

  Henna scooted past Scarlett clucking as she went.

  “There, there,” Henna said to Kelly. “Feelings are running high. Shake it off, lovey.”

  “I’m going to check on things,” Henna called over her shoulder as she wrapped a pudgy arm around Kelly’s shoulder and spoke into her ear soothingly.

  Henna meant, of course, that she was going to see if there was news worth having. Harper hadn’t bothered to keep back her laugh until Kelly was gone, and the shrew’s tears had been exchanged for red-tipped ears of fury even with Henna’s attempts at soothing her.

  “Well,” Scarlett said with the same brittle brightness as before, “Give me a tour girls.”

  They jumped down and scurried to their mom without a sign of distress showing her a dusty teddy bear on the top shelf of armoire, a dress that had caught their eye for Scarlett, black glittery combat boots on a table in the corner. On and on they went, chattering happily and pointing out the strangest little details that Scarlett surely would have missed on her own. But Harper—she knew about each of them and pointed out other little things that caught the girls attention and burned away all the stress in the air.

  When the girls started trying on shoes, Scarlett moseyed casually over to Harper and said, “What. The. Hell?”

  “Kelly’s crazy,” Harper said, scrunching her nose. “Down here, shopping all time. Never home with her kids. She has lunch with Lacey every day exactly like high school. The two of the flitting around town while Lacey treated being mayor like being prom queen and Kelly was still her number one lieutenant. Is it really, really true?”

  “You mean about Lacey?” Scarlett made a face. Of course, Harper meant Lacey. “Yes.”

  “Was it bad?”

  “Yes,” Scarlett said and shuddered. “What did she mean about Gus?”

  Scarlett slid onto the stool next to Harper and began arranging jewelry on the velvet cloth in the glass cabinet.

  “Gus dated Lacey for a little while. It didn’t end well. Each rumor about why is crazier than the last.”

  Scarlett froze. Trying to imagine her Gus—in her head he was still the pale waif—with Lacey Monroe. And then Scarlett said the only thing that could be said.

  “Shut. Up.”

  “True.”

  “No. Way.”

  “True,” Harper said, taking the jewelry from Scarlett to put it how Harper wanted it. She handed Scarlett a box of lacy tank tops and padded hangers. Scarlett held one against her chest, considering.

  “Yes,” Harper said immediately. “Yes. With your mom leggings and a black cardigan. It would be perfect. Sexy but mommy. Gus would lose it.”

  “Gus?” Scarlett pretended to not understand, but she couldn’t quite pull it off with the vision of him as he was now. Gus had her ideal form. Her breath caught then as Harper reached out and Scarlett saw a bandage under her sister’s sweater.

  Her breath was frozen. Please, she thought. Not again. Please let Harper not be cutting herself again. Scarlett wasn’t stupid. She’d seen bandages on Harper’s forearms enough times to know what those were.

  Scarlett took a deep breath, let it whoosh out, and said, “I’m not going to date anyone.”

  It was hard, so very, very hard to say nothing about the bandages. But she needed to think. To process. To remember that Harper was an adult, and Scarlett didn’t get to live Harper’s life regardless of how much she wanted to.

  “You aren’t a nun.” Harper didn’t seem to have caught Scarlett’s floundering, but Harper was an excellent actress.

  “I am a mom,” Scarlett said, focusing on the moment. Focus on the moment. On the conversation now. Save it, Scarlett. Save it for later.

  “No kid expects their mother to stay single forever.”

  “No,” Scarlett snapped, using her mom voice. This was too much. The body, Gus, Mom, and now Harper. Scarlett selfishly needed Harper to be able to focus on Scarlett’s trouble. Surely it was Scarlett’s turn to be a mess?

  Harper tossed a safety pin at Scarlett’s face, grinning and then said suggestively, “Have you seen him yet? Because Gus is HOT now. Like panties—”

  Scarlett slammed her hand over her sister’s mouth and said, “Hello Luna.”

  “Mommy?” Luna’s voice cracked as she glanced around, “When did we get here?”

  Scarlett leaned down, lifted her daughter in her arms, and set her carefully down on the glass counter.

  “What do you remember?” Gentle mom voice. No worry allowed to seep through.

  “Um…” Luna scowled and then she shrugged and repeated, “Umm…”

  “It’s ok,” Scarlett said, rubbing her daughter’s back and examining Luna’s eyes. They were still clouded. Not quite right. Worry flooded Scarlett but did not come out in her voice as she said, “Do you remember when Mommy fed the plants at home too much grow juice and the garden grew overnight?”

  Luna nodded, her little green eyes and grubby face serious. Scarlett licked her thumb and worked at wiping a smudge on her daughter’s nose as she said softly, “Like that—you got a little spell on you that didn’t go quite right. So you don’t remember our trip here. But it’ll be ok. Mommy will take care of everything.”

  Ella appeared from behind a rack of clothes and slipped under Harper’s arm. Ella’s eyes were as serious and fixed on Scarlett’s face, looking for any sign of worry or fear.

  “Since that spell went all wrong, you can’t remember that we decided to move back to Mystic Cove to be near Nana and Gram and Harper. No big deal.”

  Luna licked her lips and looked around and said in a dazed little voice, “But where’s Daddy?”

  Scarlett took a long breath in and then softly said, “Daddy decided to stay where we used to live.”

  Tears flooded Luna’s eyes as she asked, “He didn’t want us?”

  Ella’s crooked little front teeth were digging into her bottom lip and her nails were digging into Harper’s arm who didn’t seem to notice. Scarlett did though. Her focus was entirely on her daughters and how they were taking yet another knock from this stupid life.

  “He…” Scarlett struggled, stopped and then said, “He loves you. So much. But, sometimes we make bad choices. Even grown-ups. He made a bad choice, and we had to make our choice. Our choice was to come home.”

  “But we need Daddy,” Luna said, wiping her nose across her arm. The tears were flooding down her face. “We need him!”

  Chapter 5

  “Your daughter is lightening trash on fire in the alley with my daughter,” Maye said as she came i
nto Harper’s shop. “I’m not entirely sure it’s wise to let Harper be around the girls unattended.”

  Scarlett considered and then decided she didn’t care—about the fire—she had zero concerns about Harper being around the girls. Mostly Scarlett was glad that Ella was setting things on fire instead of crying—bad parenting though that might be.

  Scarlett rocked the sleeping Luna, enjoying the feel of her baby in her arms, and the smell of baby lotion on her skin. The way her hair was soft even while tangled. Luna was huffing those little shudders that happened after you cried until you couldn’t cry anymore.

  Maye looked at them for long minutes and then asked, “What happened?”

  Scarlett took a breath and then whispered, “She must have seen what happened. Someone memory hexed her. So she…she got to discover that her dad left us again.”

  Nearly any practitioner could do a memory hex. Vampires and shapeshifters were the only exceptions. But certainly, a warlock, a witch, a druid could do that type of hex without too much trouble. There were a few other kinds of people in town—a few banshees, a few water nymphs.

  The problem was—it didn’t matter what kind of creature you were. Memory charms were a dime a dozen and anyone could have purchased one. Most people carried a charm bracelet in town—even witches and warlocks. Readymade spells were convenient. Scarlett had a charm bracelet on each wrist and one on her ankle.

  Charms could often be used either positively or negatively. Case in point? Memory charms. They could be used either to enhance memory or take it away. The enhancing of memory was a common wish and that particular charm was one of the best selling ones there were. Anyone, literally, anyone could have done the hex.

  Maye’s expression darkened but she finally spoke, admitting, “What I did was wrong.”

  Scarlett nodded, brow raised. They had both known that for some time.