Page 39 of Returning to Everton

“But Mommy! That’s a perfect reason to go out with someone! Come on, just one date. You owe him for this amazing playhouse,” she attempts to guilt me.

I’ve got news for her. She doesn’t need to convince me to go out with Nate. If anything, she needs to convince Nate toaskme out. He can act jealous all he wants, but if he doesn’t do something about it what’s the point? You want me? Come get me.

I hear the movers come out to put the patio furniture on the back porch, and decide here’s a good place to hide. They know where everything goes. I’m sure they’ll be fine unsupervised. Though with Nate in there, maybe that’s not such a good idea.

I turn back to Violet, “Alright missy. Let’s see what you’ve learned today,”

“Okay, Mommy! Watch this!” she demands excitedly.

She closes her eyes, and I can tell she’s concentrating on what she wants to happen. She opens her hands in front of her and I see a plume of bright pink magic hovering above her hands. I see her doll behind her on a little table, and it’s suddenly wrapped in the same pink magic. The next thing I know the doll is in Violet’s hands and she’s looking up at me with the biggest smile on her face.

“Wow Bug! That was so good!” I praise her. “Nate taught you that?” I ask, stunned that she can do that after just one lesson with him.

“Yup! Isn’t that so cool Mommy?! Now I’ll never lose my Abby doll again!” she exclaims.

I really hope she keeps it simple like that. I can deal with her magicking her toys to her, but she doesn’t need to do that with everything.

“I’m so proud of you baby girl,” I applaud her accomplishment. For a girl that could only use telekinesis before, to be able to do that after one lesson is amazing. I can already tell she’s going to be a powerful magic user.

“Now remember baby, there are still rules to how and when you can use magic,” I remind her. “I don’t want you to become dependent on your magic. That’s why we don’t just use magic for everything. We still cook instead of just magicking food. Although sometimes, that’s okay. It’s not okay to do it all of the time though. Okay, Violet?” I ask her. I want to make sure from the start that she doesn’t go overboard with the magic use.

“I know Mommy. I won’t use it all of the time,” she promises.

“Good girl,” I kiss her on the top of her head.

We hear the doorbell ring and Violet runs to answer her door. She opens the door and sees Quinn standing there.

“Aunt Quinn! Come see my new playhouse!” she exclaims. She’s very excited to show off her playhouse.

Quinn walks in and looks around. She ducked her head like I did, expecting it to be much smaller in here.

“Wow. Look at this place!” Quinn exclaims. “Did you design it, Vi?” she asks my very excited daughter.

“Yes! Nate helped, and of course, did all of the magic for it. But he asked me a lot of questions about what I wanted in a playhouse. He did a good job, didn’t he Aunt Quinn? It’s even better than what I imagined!” she says enthusiastically.

“He did a great job!” Quinn agrees. “What do you think about your mom’s friend Nate, Violet? You think he’s a good guy?” Quinn presses her.

There she goes again, trying to be a sneaky bitch. I give her the eye while Violet goes off about how much she loves Nate and how I should go out with him. Quinn chuckles and tells Violet she agrees. I just roll my eyes and shake my head at them.

“Alright if y’all are gonna gang up on me, I’m gonna leave,” I threaten. “If you’re gonna stay in your playhouse you have to be good, Violet. You can practice your magic, but don’t wear yourself out too much. You still have a playdate with Logan at the park later remember?” I remind her.

“Okay, Mommy! I’ll be good,” she assures me.

“C’mon Quinn let’s have a little talk,” I tell my best friend menacingly as I pull her out of the playhouse. When we get outside, I cast a spell on Violet’s playhouse so no one with ill intent can get in. Better safe than sorry.

“What are you doing?” I hiss at Quinn.

“What are you talking about Rowe?” she asks innocently. Too bad for her I know her too well to believe she’s innocent in anything.

“You know exactly what I’m talking about! First, you’re trying to make Nate jealous? Now you’re trying to get Violet to convince me to go out with him?” I grill her.

“What?” She goes for innocence again. “Tell me you don’t want that man in there and I’ll leave you alone,” she claims.

“Oh shut up Quinn. You know it doesn’t matter because he doesn’t like me like that,” I retort.

“Oh yeah? If he didn’t like you like that, why would he get all pissed off because there were a couple of hot young guys in your house?” she refutes.

Well, she has a point there. Does Nate really like me? I mean we’ve never really had that talk. He’s always been there for me; I knew I could count on him to support me no matter what. That’s why I wasn’t worried about him being alone with Violet, or teaching her magic. God, I need to just talk to all of the guys before I go crazy wondering what if.

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