Page 10 of Midlife Witch Unexpected

"This is Anita and Drake," the woman said. Pointing to her children who were sharing a bag of spicy Cheetos.

“And you are?” I asked, giving the kids a polite nod and a mild wave.

“Katrina.” The woman told me her name like it was an obvious fact. “I was one of your ‘tenants.’”

“Right.” I couldn’t help but frown at her, but because her children were there, I moved closer to her and kept my voice low. “Isn’t your tenancy up?”

“Yes, but I thought we should meet. Everyone calls me Trina. Anita and Drake are my kids. The only other coven member is Hilda. She’ll show her face around here any time now. Just so you know I’m not for it. Not at all, but it’s the way of things.”

“Oh my gosh,” I moaned and held my head, moving toward the coffee maker. There was no way in hell this conversation was going down without a coffee in my hand. I stood staring at the coffee maker, which seemed to spring magically to life as I approached it. The smell of coffee woke my senses and started to stir my brain into action.

This was my house.

We weren’t having this conversation at all.

“Could you please leave?” I stood up straight and looked Trina in the eye. “I’ve had enough unusual experiences for one lifetime.”

“We just came to have breakfast with you.” Trina frowned as if I was being rude and putting her out.

“I’m new around here,” I said, ushering the kids up and toward the kitchen door before I rounded on Trina. “Let’s play by my rules for a bit and see how that goes.” I walked around behind her, slowly shepherding her out. “I’m sorry about breakfast, but we’ll make something together another time. When I send you an invitation,” I hurried to add.

“But, but-” Trina tried to protest, but I wasn’t having it.

“Go on,” I said, shooing her toward the front porch. I didn’t stop until she and her kids were on the other side of the door, and I was locking it.

I’d seen enough of the locals up close and personal for right now. I needed to get settled in for myself first.

Chapter 6

It took me a moment to center myself. I took a deep breath. It was pretty clear what I needed to do next.

Shower. Badly.

Ew.

If I smelled anything like this last night sitting in Branson’s truck, he probably wouldn’t even show up to take me to my jeep.

I went upstairs looking for the shower, but it was really weird; the bathrooms upstairs were just toilets and washbasins, There was no shower whatsoever. I went downstairs and started walking around the house again. Off the entryway, there was a washroom with a toilet but no shower. Off the kitchen, there was a glassed-in patio full of greenery. The ferns were soft, feathery, and green, creating a backdrop for the explosion of purple and magenta caused by the fuchsias that were everywhere.

It was a breathtaking little floral paradise. But more than that, there was moisture in this room. I could smell it. Pushing through some of the plants, I found a screen and behind the screen, I finally discovered a walk-in shower. It was decorated with shells on the wall and stones on the floor and the water came from the ceiling like a massive waterfall showering down upon you.

I stripped down and stepped into the flood of water. As I stood there with the hot water pounding on my scalp, tingling my body and running its way across my skin, I smiled. I could get into this ‘showering in a rainforest’ feeling for sure. This was very, very exquisite. I smiled. For sleeping in a chair after a long drive and a run-in with the cops, I felt pretty good.

I couldn’t understand why my mom always hated this place. I can see why she didn’t want to raise kids here, but it seems like a nice place to visit.

“Hello?” A man’s voice called out from inside the house.

“For goodness sake, doesn’t anyone around here knock?” I muttered to myself.

“Hello?” I quickly turned the water off, grabbed a towel, wrapped it around my hair, and then wrapped one around my body. I was looking pretty good for forty-nine, but nothing I needed to be flashing anyone with.

“Do people know how to knock?” I asked loudly with irritation.

“Sorry. Sorry, it’s Branson,” he called. “I just came down to see if you wanted me to take you to your jeep.”

Right. Get jeep. Number one thing on my list to do now that my shower was so rudely interrupted.

I stepped out of the atrium hoping I could sneak up the stairs into my room, but Branson was standing in the center of the entry hall looking with amusement at my towel-wrapped self. There was no hiding my curves and I could just imagine how the towel was barely covering my ass. I'd always been self-conscious about my butt because it was kind of big, but the way Branson was looking at me like he wanted to take the towel off, made my skin heat up. Either it was a hot flash, leftover steam from the shower, or I was horribly embarrassed

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