Page 75 of Big Witch Energy

Oof, she could never tell Regina, who would revoke Caroline’s sprinkle privileges.

At least one thing was looking up, she supposed as she wove through the early evening crowds. If the Rose was ready for inspection, they might actually be ready to open by Labor Day and recoup some of their summer losses. She would have something to focus on, besides her hideous fight with Ben and the wreckage of…whatever they’d been on their way to becoming.

Just outside of the Rose, Caroline overheard tourists griping about the construction fencing, how they liked “that old place” and it wasn’t a summer without a visit to the Rose. She smiled to herself, careful to slip through the mesh fence when she was relatively sure no one was looking. She didn’t want someone to follow her through.

She used her keys to open the front door, locking it carefully behind her. The barroom was completely dark, and it was a weird feeling. She’d only ever seen it with at least ten neon signs lighting it.

Even in the dark, she could make out that the walls were lighter, a sort of pale blue or gray, maybe, which was nice. The space seemed more open, but she supposed that would look different when they brought in the tables. But it smelled pleasantly of new paint and freshly sawed wood, and that was a good change.

“Hello?” she called, setting her purse on the floor near the bar. “Mom? Will?”

Tabby had sent her a photo of her mom in the dining room. Where was she?

A shadow moved in the corner. The light color of the walls made it a little harder to see her, but Rose was there, smirking at her. Like she knew something that Caroline didn’t. Which, she supposed, was fair.

Wait.

Now that she thought about it, the background of the photo had wood paneling. These walls were painted, so the photo couldn’t have been taken that day.

Was this some Parent Trap thing from the kids? Could they have recruited Cole to get Caroline and Ben into the same place?

“Mina? Josh?” she called. “If this is you, kids, I appreciate it—and I’m sort of impressed that you got Tabby involved, but…”

The floorboards behind her squeaked and she thought, This doesn’t feel right.

Stars exploded behind her eyes. The pain of being hit by a tiny motorbike was nothing compared to the agony at the base of her skull as she dropped to her knees. She couldn’t even feel her feet, it hurt so bad. But she could feel her face when she flopped forward, and her cheek made contact with the floor. What the hell did Rose hit her with?

Her eyelids drooped as she heard footsteps behind her.

Wait, Rose couldn’t make footstep sounds. And she was still hovering in front of her. As Caroline’s eyes drifted shut and the sight of heavy boots seemed imprinted on the back of the retinas, she thought, How many times can you be knocked out in a year?

Chapter 15

Ben

How was it possible to hurt this much without an actual physical injury?

There was a hollow ache in his chest that made it hard to breathe. He’d checked his blood pressure twice to make sure he wasn’t having some sort of cardiac event. He never knew it was possible for the human heart to actually break, but here he was drinking at a bar, listening to the sad indie rock of his youth.

Granted, he was at his own kitchen bar, and he was drinking cold-pressed juice, but still…

Nope, it was sad, no matter how you sliced it.

Caroline wasn’t answering his calls or his texts. In the old days, she would have at least told him to go fuck himself and then explained in graphic detail how and with what he could follow those directions. And she would have said it to his face. But this silence? It was unnerving. It was wrong. It told Ben exactly how badly he’d messed up.

He’d called in sick to the office for the first time in…he didn’t know how long. He knew it was going to be a letdown to Dr. Toller, taking on all Ben’s appointments for the day. But so much had happened and…he just didn’t know how he’d messed things up so bad, so quickly.

The things he said, the stupid, horrible things he’d said. He didn’t even know where they came from. He didn’t realize those old feelings were still festering there, so close to the surface. But then he’d heard Caroline telling Mina to repeat their mistakes, acting as if it hadn’t nearly destroyed them both. She’d spoken of avoiding Ben as if it hadn’t hurt, as if she was doing him some sort of favor. As if that made it easier for him to leave her.

He thought he’d moved past it. He was wrong. And now, it was almost a day later and he hadn’t heard from Caroline, and he was sinking back into that old feeling of having lost her. It was a familiar feeling that made acid rise into his throat.

He couldn’t wallow in it. The kids needed him. He would need to keep this grief private. He would need to keep it together, even as the kids needed to interact with Caroline and the coven for guidance and safety and to keep Mina from becoming some sort of magical supervillain. He would need to…make Josh breakfast, because Bigfoot himself was lumbering into the kitchen.

Ben cleared his throat. “Morning.”

Josh sat next to him at the kitchen bar. “So, you’re a little mopey this morning.”

“Your eyes are barely open,” Ben noted. “And I’m fine.”

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