Witching You Were Here (Wicked Witches of the Midwest Book 3)

by Lee, Amanda M.

  “Are you going to plow?”

  “Eventually,” Aunt Tillie said. “I have to be able to get out to the plow before that can happen.” Aunt Tillie paused at the door. “I have the boys working on clearing the snow.”

  “That’s good,” I said distractedly. “Wait a second, what guys?”

  Aunt Tillie didn’t answer. Instead, she just left the bedroom, leaving the door ajar behind her as she did.

  I turned to Thistle, worry etched on my brow. “What guys?”

  “What guys do you think? Landon, Brian and Trevor for sure,” she said, pulling on her jeans tiredly. She looked relieved when they easily buttoned. “I’m sure Sludge and that other hipster are probably helping, too.”

  “What is that kid’s name? The other kid?”

  “I don’t know,” Thistle shrugged. “I’m just going to start calling him Toxic Waste.”

  “That sounds like fun,” I said.

  We all dressed quickly, with Thistle and I forgoing makeup while Clove applied enough to make it look like she hadn’t just woken up. “What?”

  “Nothing,” Thistle said.

  “I know what you’re thinking,” Clove shot back. “You think I’m putting makeup on for Trevor.”

  “You’re not putting it on for us,” I said.

  “I wish you guys would stop being mean to me,” Clove said.

  “We’re not being mean to you,” Thistle challenged.

  “You get more and more like Aunt Tillie every day,” Clove taunted.

  “You take that back,” Thistle said, reaching for Clove.

  Clove sidestepped her easily and flopped over the corner of the bed and lunged out the bedroom door. Thistle raced after her. “You take it back!”

  I followed them downstairs, following the sound of Thistle’s raised voice and Clove’s hysterical giggles as she tried to evade her. When I made it to the main foyer, I found Thistle on top of Clove poking her in the chest.

  “Take it back.”

  “No.”

  “Take it back.”

  “Ow! Stop doing that!”

  “Take it back!”

  I watched the scene with mild interest. Clove was probably stronger than Thistle, but Thistle was definitely meaner than Clove. Thistle would undoubtedly win. That, of course, would prove that she actually was like Aunt Tillie – but I wisely stopped myself from saying those thoughts aloud.

  “What’s going on?”

  Landon moved in behind me. I noticed his face was flushed from physical exertion and cold. He pulled his hands out of the work gloves he had been wearing and pressed them to the exposed flesh of my neck. I jumped in surprise.

  “It’s cold out there,” he said. “Looks like things are a little hotter in here.”

  I noticed that Landon was looking at me and not at my wrestling cousins on the floor. “You’re feeling flirty this morning.”

  “Yeah,” Landon guilelessly agreed. “It was a long night on an uncomfortable couch.”

  “You could have slept upstairs,” I reminded him.

  “I tried,” Landon said. “Your Aunt Tillie was guarding your room with a shotgun.”

  “That’s not what I meant,” I said.

  “Yeah, but that was the only way I wasn’t going to sleep alone,” Landon replied.

  “It would have been pretty crowded,” I said ruefully. “You, me and Clove.”

  “I could live with that,” Landon teased.

  I smacked Landon playfully and he caught my hand and brought it to his lips suggestively. “You don’t think that sounds like fun?”

  “Not really,” I replied slyly. “Clove snores.”

  Landon shook his head but he didn’t let go of my hand. I couldn’t deny the little rush of warmth that shot through me at the gesture. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy the moment.

  “What are you two doing?” My mom rushed into the room and pulled Thistle off of Clove effortlessly. She may look small, but this isn’t the first tussle she’s had to break up. “Why are you two fighting?”

  “She said I’m like Aunt Tillie,” Thistle huffed.

  “So?”

  “So?” Thistle looked flabbergasted. “That’s the meanest thing she’s ever said to me.”

  “Oh, please,” my mom shrugged off Thistle’s faux argument. “She once told you that we found you in a cabbage patch and took you home because we needed a new family pet.”

  “I still haven’t been proven wrong on that,” Clove said from her spot on the floor.

  Landon reached down and helped Clove to her feet. I saw her eyeing Thistle mischievously. “Arf,” she barked shrilly. “You’re still my favorite pet.”

  Thistle launched herself at Clove again and the duo was wrangling on the floor for a second time in two seconds flat. My mom didn’t even try to break them up this time. “When they’re done, tell them we need help with breakfast in the kitchen.”

  My mom paused as she was leaving the room. “That goes for you, too,” she said.

  “I got it,” I shot back grimly.

  Landon’s mouth tipped at the corners as he tried to hide a small smile. “Your family is a trip,” he said, pulling the gloves back on.

  “They’re definitely something,” I agreed. “Are you enjoying shoveling snow?”

  “Trevor is a great worker,” Landon said. “Brian seems to think he’s only out there in a supervisory position.”

  “That doesn’t surprise me,” I said. “He’s a tool.”

  “There’s no arguing with that.”

  Landon shot me one more smile before he stepped around Clove and Thistle and headed back outside. For their part, my cousins were starting to tire of their spat. “Just take it back,” Thistle was panting as she tried to keep Clove pinned to the ground.

  “I shall not tell a lie,” Clove sang out.

  “We need to go help with breakfast,” I reminded them.

  “Suck up,” Clove shot back. She was clearly feeling a rush of adrenaline from her aerobic antics of the past few minutes.

  “You are a suck up,” Thistle agreed.

  “I’m not the suck up,” I argued. “Clove is the suck up.”

  “I’m not the one whining about helping with breakfast,” Clove said.

  Thistle shifted slightly to give me room to sit next to her on top of Clove. With the weight of both of us, any bravado Clove was feeling evacuated her body with a whoosh. “I can’t breathe.”

  “Then admit you were wrong and I’ll let you up,” Thistle said sagely.

  “I plead no contest,” Clove gasped out finally.

  “No contest?”

  “She means that she’s not fighting the charges,” I snickered. “She’s not admitting her guilt, though, either.”

  “I don’t know if that’s good enough,” Thistle mused.

  I plopped down a little harder. “It’s definitely not good enough for me.”

  Any further torture of Clove was postponed, though, when we heard raised voices outside of the inn.

  “What the hell?” Thistle and I climbed off of Clove. She was on her feet in seconds next to us.

  “What’s going on?”

  “It sounds like someone is fighting outside,” I said thoughtfully. “Maybe Landon snapped and beat the crap out of Brian.”

  “We can only hope,” Thistle said, opening the door to the winter wonderland outside curiously.

  None of us were prepared for what we found, though. Brian was on the ground and the figure that was attempting to hold him there wasn’t Landon. It was Trevor. “Listen, you little worm, I’m sick of hearing your voice.”

  I was surprised. I had never heard Trevor as much as raise his voice in a stressful situation. And, when you spend time with the Winchester women, there is nothing but stressful situations. I swung around looking for Landon. He was leaning against the outside of the inn and watching the scuffle with a small smile on his face. “Aren’t you going to do something about this?”

  “I am,” Landon shrugge
d. “I’m enjoying it.”

  “What did he do?”

  “He won’t shut up,” Landon said.

  “I’m delegating,” Brian whimpered from the ground.

  “Delegating is not helping,” Trevor said angrily.

  “Some of us are worker bees and some of us are the queen,” Brian said pragmatically from his spot on the ground.

  “Are you saying you’re the queen in this situation?” Landon asked.

  “No,” Brian sputtered. “I don’t know what I’m saying. Will someone get him off me? Please?”

  Landon seemed to consider the question for a second and then pushed himself away from the building. “Let him up, Trevor,” he sighed.

  “Not unless he promises to shut his thin-lipped little mouth,” Trevor grumbled.

  “Is it just me, or is Trevor really hot when he’s angry,” Clove whispered.

  “It’s just you,” Thistle and I said in unison.

  Landon had moved over and started to pull Trevor off of Brian. I was surprised that Trevor seemed to be fighting Landon’s efforts. We were all so enthralled by the tableau playing out in front of us that we didn’t notice that another figure had joined the fray.

  “Should I try to help?”

  We all turned in surprise when we finally registered the new arrival.

  “Dad,” Thistle said quietly. “What are you doing here?”

  Twenty-Seven

  “I thought I should come out and make sure everyone was okay,” Ted said uncomfortably, shifting his gaze from Landon, Trevor and Brian to the three of us. “It looks like it was a tough night.”

  “The night was fine,” Trevor grumbled. “It’s the morning that has sucked.”

  “You’re only saying the night was fine because you weren’t being hunted by a militant little Nazi with a shotgun,” Landon countered.

  “You have a Nazi staying here?” Ted looked confused.

  “Aunt Tillie,” Thistle said dismissively. “She was guarding the hallway last night. With a shot gun.”

  “From what?”

  “She wanted to make sure that Landon didn’t ravish Bay,” Thistle said. “And that Clove didn’t inadvertently hurt herself when she was trying to flirt with Trevor.”

  Clove looked scandalized and I noticed that Trevor’s already cold-flushed face had reddened even more under everyone’s sudden scrutiny. For his part, Landon didn’t look fazed by Thistle’s admission.

  Ted allowed himself a small smile at Thistle’s explanation. “That brings back memories.”

  “Of what?” I asked suspiciously.

  “Your Aunt Tillie used to patrol the grounds of the house when your moms were teenagers,” he laughed. “I bet she still uses the same shotgun – filled with buckshot.”

  “Buckshot?” Landon asked curiously.

  “Yeah, she doesn’t really want to kill anyone,” Ted laughed. “Maiming them is perfectly okay with her, though.”

  Landon raised his eyebrows in my direction dubiously. “I don’t think she’s too worried about killing someone, if the situation warrants it, that is.”

  Ted brushed off Landon’s statement. “Those rumors about bodies being buried on the property aren’t true. I asked Twila when we started dating.”

  “What rumors about bodies?” Landon asked.

  “It’s just an old wives’ tale,” I brushed the question off. “Aunt Tillie used to tell area kids that she killed and buried other little kids on the property when they trespassed.”

  “Let me guess, she didn’t want them stumbling on her pot field?” Landon sighed.

  “She has a pot field?” Trevor looked suddenly interested.

  “Not in winter,” Brian scoffed. I noticed he was still spread eagle on the ground, even though Trevor had finally climbed off of him. “Pot doesn’t grow in the middle of winter.”

  “Thanks, professor,” Landon barked, shooting a dangerous glare in Brian’s direction. “I never would have figured that out on my own.”

  “Well, you are the federal investigator,” Brian replied stiffly.

  Ted took in the situation on the front porch again and then turned back to Thistle. “I guess I should probably go,” he shifted back and forth uncomfortably. “I just wanted to make sure you were okay.”

  “Since when?”

  Everyone on the front porch turned to see Marnie standing in the open front door frame. I had no idea how long she had been there.

  “Marnie,” Ted said, lowering his gaze. “I just wanted to make sure everyone was okay,” he repeated.

  “Did you think we suddenly forgot how to make it through a blizzard? That the knowledge suddenly fell out of our heads?”

  “No,” Ted said. “I was just . . .”

  “Do you think that women can’t take care of themselves?” Marnie pressed.

  “No,” Ted said hurriedly. “I just . . .”

  “You just wanted to make sure everyone was okay,” Marnie supplied. “As you can see, we’re all fine.” Marnie glanced down at Brian, who was still on the ground in the snow, and shook her head. “Well, most of us are fine.”

  “Okay then,” Ted started to move away.

  “Why don’t you have breakfast with us,” Marnie offered gruffly.

  My head snapped up in surprise at the invitation. One thing you can say about the Winchester women, they never do what you expect of them.

  “You want me to have breakfast?” Ted looked understandably confused.

  “I don’t want you to,” Marnie clarified. “You just came a long way, through a lot of snow, and you look hungry.”

  Marnie didn’t wait for his answer. She turned on her heel and walked back into the inn, leaving us to continue our hijinks outside. I glanced over at Ted, but he still didn’t look convinced. “I don’t know,” he hedged.

  “It will be fine,” Thistle brushed off his concerns. “Aunt Tillie has other things on her mind.”

  Ted smiled at Thistle warmly. “Like Bay and Landon?”

  “And Trevor and Clove,” Thistle added evilly.

  Clove stuck her tongue out in Thistle’s general direction. She was looking anywhere but in Trevor’s direction. He didn’t seem to be bothered by the innuendo, at least not overtly. If he was embarrassed, he wasn’t showing it. That was good news for Clove. Maybe he was already getting used to our family.

  Everyone traipsed back into the inn, the men discarding their heavy winter garments on the front bench and snow-covered boots underneath it. Then everyone filed into the dining room. My mom was standing at the end of the table clucking angrily. “I thought you were going to come and help with breakfast.”

  “We got distracted,” I explained.

  “Like I haven’t heard that before,” my mom chided.

  Once everyone was seated and filling their plates with blueberry pancakes, eggs, bacon and hash browns, the conversation turned to the storm.

  “It wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” Landon said. “The roads will probably be rough, but not impassable.”

  “Especially when you have a plow,” Aunt Tillie supplied.

  Landon narrowed his eyes at Aunt Tillie. “Maybe you should leave the plowing for the professionals.”

  “Maybe you should mind your own business,” Aunt Tillie countered.

  “Maybe you should . . .”

  I put my hand on Landon’s arm to silence him, shaking my head imperceptibly. “It’s not worth it,” I said under my breath.

  “Yes,” Aunt Tillie said brightly. “I will only devour those that try to subdue me.”

  Thistle shot me a dark look. “Aren’t you glad you told her what it meant?”

  “What what meant?” my mom asked suspiciously.

  “The Addams Family motto,” Landon interjected surprisingly.

  “You know it?” He never ceased to amaze me.

  “I loved that show.”

  “We think the family motto fits Aunt Tillie,” I laughed. “It wasn’t meant as a compliment, but she took it as one.�
�

  Landon looked Aunt Tillie up and down dubiously. “It suits her.”

  “Thank you,” Aunt Tillie said happily.

  “I don’t think he meant it as a compliment either,” Marnie said.

  “I’m fine with that.”

  I glanced down the table and noticed the two hipsters weren’t present. “Where is Sludge and . . . and his friend?”

  “They went snowboarding at the crack of dawn,” Twila said. “And his name is Wreck.”

  “How did they get there?”

  “We loaned them two snowmobiles.”

  “You just loaned them snowmobiles? That doesn’t sound like something Aunt Tillie would do.”

  “I like them,” Aunt Tillie said. “They know how to respect their elders.”

  “You mean fear them,” Thistle said bitterly.

  “Are we going to have a thing this morning?” Aunt Tillie asked.

  “Define ‘thing.’”

  “You’ve always been surly in the morning,” she said finally.

  “I’m not being surly,” Thistle practically exploded.

  “So that wasn’t you holding Clove down on the carpet in the foyer?”

  “How do you even know that? You weren’t there.”

  “I know all and see all,” Aunt Tillie said ominously. “Sometimes, I know things even before they happen. That’s why I was standing guard in the hallway last night.”

  “What do you mean?” My mom asked.

  “I was making sure that Landon didn’t take advantage of Bay,” Aunt Tillie said simply.

  Landon’s face colored, even though he managed to remain calm under the sudden consternation of my mother and aunts. “I don’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “They were all trying to play musical beds last night,” Aunt Tillie said.

  “What?” My mom’s eyes went wide. “In my house? With guests present?”

  “We were not trying to play musical beds last night,” I said hurriedly.

  “And it’s not like Bay’s virtue is intact,” Thistle laughed. “It hasn’t been since high school.”

  Twila swatted Thistle angrily. “You stay out of this.”

  Landon slid me a sideways glance and then turned back to my mom. “See, she’s a pro.”

  I think he was hoping my mom would laugh, but she didn’t. “That’s not funny,” she snapped.