Page 98 of Boss Witch

“I’ve missed them both for years,” he said simply. “Get them on the next flight, if you can afford it. I want my family back. I wanteverythingback that he took from us.”

“My lad.” Grandad made that an endearment, like always, and he drew Gavin into his arms, like he didn’t properly tower over the old gaffer.

Samuel came over and rubbed both their backs, not quite joining the group hug but showing that he’d work up to it. Probably. “It’s never too late,” he said again.

This time, Gavin took the words to heart.

Chapter 30

18 months later

“I can’t believe you have a kid,” Clem said, staring at Leanne’s baby in awe.

Nobody had honestly thought Leanne and Trevor had a shot together, but somehow, despite some messy maneuvering and a near-­separation, they were making it work. Trevor would never be a high-­powered career guy, but he’d taken online classes and was working at home doing web design while caring for their little one.

Leanne seemed pretty damn happy about the whole situation.

“Has Melanie shown any signs in front of Trevor?” Danica whispered.

That was the trickiest part of raising a magical child with a mundane. The witch parent had to keep a sharp eye on the situation to ensure their untrained offspring didn’t spark up at the wrong time. It could be managed, but it was challenging.

“Not a problem,” Leanne said. “Ethel made her some baby clothes that keep things in check when I’m not around.”

They were at a coven meeting hosted at Leanne’s place, and Trevor was off for boys’ night with Titus, Calvin, Miguel, and Dante. From what Clem had heard, Margie was still hooking up with Dante, and they both thought nobody knew about it.

Everyone knew, of course; they just weren’t talking about it. Well, not talking to Margie and Dante about it anyway.

“Have you heard from you know who?” Kerry asked.

Clem sighed. “He’s not Voldemort, you can say his name.”

Given that much basic encouragement, Vanessa went right for it. “Gavin! Are you talking to him at all?”

She shook her head. “He sent me an email as he was leaving town, but what we had wasn’t real, it was a trick I played on him. So what would be the point of replying?”

Every witch in the room stopped what they were doing and gave Clemthatlook. Then Ethel said, “You can lie to yourself if you want, but don’t try it on us.”

“Disrespectful,” Margie added.

Getting it from Dante on the regular had made the woman downright sassy. Clem liked it on her. She glanced around the room, seeing nobody who was willing to back her up.

Not even Danica, who was disgustingly happy with Titus. They were even talking about getting married, now that his sister, Maya, had moved in with her girlfriend and his stepsister, Lucy, was going away to college soon. Even Gladys had a boyfriend these days. She went everywhere with Leonard Franklin from the coffee klatch.

As ever, Priya was the sympathetic one. “She doesn’t want to talk about it. We already did the group casting, so that leaves books. Why don’t we chat about what we’re reading?”

“I have people online who want to Zoom in for this,” Margie said.

Vanessa had invites as well, and thankfully, the coven meeting gracefully evolved into the book club they openly claimed it was.At our place, Hazel would be here by now.Their neighbor now attended every coven meeting Clem and Danica hosted. Leanne fired up her laptop and invited all their guests while her baby napped peacefully in the baby swing.

Happy endings all around, right?

Things were better for her family too. They’d fought for hours that day, but at the end of it, she’d ratified a truce between Allegra and Barnabas, who was somehow still married to Pansy, even to this day. She didn’t register as a witch, but she must have superpowers or something, as she was accomplishing the impossible—­keeping Barnabas Balfour in check. Gram was toeing the line Clem had drawn, thankfully, and peace had reigned for quite a while.

I should be happy.Privately, Clem admitted that she missed Gavin.

Close to midnight, Trevor came home from poker night, hosted at Titus’s place, and kissed Leanne with such reverent tenderness that an ache started in Clem’s chest. The two of them had beaten the odds and made their cracked pieces fit.Trevor picked up baby Melanie the moment she stirred and tucked her into the crook of his arm. The guy was a freaking natural with babies, a fact that Leanne crowed about constantly. Taking that as a cue, everyone gave hugs and said bye; Clem headed out with the rest of her coven.

She wasn’t the kind of person who wallowed in her emotions. Unlike Danica, she didn’t spend three days drunk after Gavin left, cry constantly, or melt into a puddle of sadness. But in her private heart, she acknowledged she’d lost someone special, the kind of connection that Gram used to justify her bias against half the freaking world.

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