Page 8 of Haunt Improvement
“About?”I asked cautiously.
Glinda shot a nervous glance across the room at the large window that overlooked the County Club’s massive collection of Olympic-sized swimming pools out back.With the fall weather settling in, the few Shifters who still swam generally waited until midday.At the moment, the pools were empty.
Which is why I supposed my cousin decided it was safe to drop a metaphorical house on me.
“The family knows you’re expecting.”
* * *
“What?” I gripped the table with both hands as the room began to spin.
A spiderweb of lightning streaked through the sky outside, reflecting ominously across the surface of the swimming pools, and the chandeliers in the Country Club flickered.I hardly noticed the collective gasp of the Shifters at the tables around us as my eyes laser-focused on my cousin.
“You told Emmy?” I asked—well, more likeaccused.
“She already knew.I swear!”Glinda held up both hands in surrender.“She wanted to know about the baby shower and what sort of gift she should bring.”
“I amnotinviting that witchy bitch to my baby shower.”I was sure my eyes were glowing red.They felt like they were on fire, and I doubted even the deluge beating against the dining room window could put them out.
“That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”Glinda’s bottom lip rolled out into an over-the-top pout.“You’re inviting me, and I tried to steal your broom and get you evicted.Emmy’s not done anything to you—recently.”
“Sheruinedhigh school!”
“Lots of teens had acne, and yours cleared up by our junior year.”
“She gave you amustache.A full-on, Burt Reynolds’ soup strainer!”
Glinda greened a little at that one, but she muscled onward, hellbent on excusing her cosmetically destructive sister’s hex-gressions.“Again, that was a long time ago.We’re West witches.Come on!Who else were we going to practice our wicked ways on?”
“Ididn’t practice any wicked ways on her,” I snapped back.
“Oh?”Glinda’s brows rose accusingly.“Aren’t you forgetting the dust bunny sandwiches you force-fed her?”
“Those were to muffle her curses so I had time to escape!”
Okay, so maybe I’d been atinybit wicked.But it was more out of necessity than proclivity.
“Besides, I’m not a West anymore.I’m a Hernández witch.TheHernández witch.I don’t do wicked—and I thought you didn’t either.”
“I promised not to do anything wickedhere,” she corrected.“Zelda made it clear that Assjacket was off limits.I’m not interested in duking it out with the next Baba Yaga.Terrorizing normies is more my speed—but that means commuting.And it gets lonely.Last night...with Emmy...was kinda nice.You know?”
I didn’t know what to say.What could I say?
I didn’t have a sister, and while Glinda hadn’t been as cruel as her siblings, my lack of wickedness hadn’t exactly drawn us together as kids.How we were able to get along as adults was a bit of mystery to me, considering her Wizard-may-care lifestyle.She was a bartender who enjoyed BDSM antics with her bunny Shifter boy toy and the occasional necromancy ritual.And, apparently, terrorizing dude-bros in the company of other wicked witches.
I, on the other hand, was a Samantha Homemaker, saving my witchy wiles for domestic bliss and settling in quite comfortably with my new fruit bat Shifter family.
But if Glinda and I could find common ground and be kind-ishto one another, was there a chance Emmy and I could strike a truce, too?
It was a really big IF.
“Here we are!”Daisy chirped as she returned with a fresh mimosa for Glinda and a plate of waffle egg bites topped with bacon bits.She knew all my favorites.By the time she’d collected our entre orders, Glinda had polished off the second mimosa.The downpour outside had also faded to a drizzle, and sunlight peeked through the clouds.
The Shifters were still on edge, and more than one group had abandoned their table, leaving half-eaten pancakes and omelets behind.I hoped they hadn’t forgotten to tip.I made a mental note to write in fifty percent on our ticket, just in case.And with the way Glinda was tossing back the cocktails, I could tell it was going to be a painful bill.
As soon as Daisy left to put in our order, Glinda picked up where we’d left off.
“Look...”She sighed and chewed her bottom lip.“Emmy and I talked about some other things besides the baby shower.”
