Page 71 of Extra Witchy

“Sleepover?”

“Sleepover!” she confirmed.

They put on Vanessa’s favorite show, but neither of them paid much attention to it as Leanne listened to the family stuff Vanessa had been dealing with on her own. It wasn’t like the other witch needed her to solve anything, but before Leanne took a detour, they had been each other’s first stop with news and complications. She had no plans for that to change, even though she was married now.Sort of. Mostly?

“Thanks for listening,” Vanessa said quietly when she finished venting.

“Always. What are you planning to tell your folks?”

Vanessa’s father owned a regional restaurant chain, and her parents had been pressing her to move back to Atlanta and take over the company. She was currently working in graphic design while putting together enough sculptures for an exhibition, and she had zero interest in business management. Sighing, she shook her head.

“Hell if I know. Dad doesn’t understand why I can’t do my ‘little art projects’ while working for the family business, but it’ll eat up all my bandwidth, and I won’t have the energy to chase my own dream. I’ll be too busy living his.”

“I can relate. I still haven’t decided if I’m meeting my bio dad yet.”

Vanessa shook her head. “You’re out of your damn mind. Get in, get out, get paid.”

“You really think I should?” Leanne asked.

“I don’t understand how this is a question. He was a deadbeat your whole life, now he’s scared because his number is up, and even a wicked old witch can’t be sure our views on eternal life are correct. He’s trying to hedge his bets in case the mundanes are on to something. Man wants to clear his conscience, I say let him. It’s practically a charitable act.”

“When you put it that way—”

The keypad at the front door beeped. She hadn’t realized it had gotten so late, but here it was, well into the morning, and they hadn’t slept a wink.

Trev greeted Vanessa warmly, asking, “You look great. How’ve you been?”

“I’d spend an hour filling you in, but then I’d be too tired to drive home. Somebody told me you’re an amazing cook, when am I getting an invite to judge for myself?”

“Anytime you want. If you give me your number, we can set it up.”

Leanne smiled as the two most important people in her life swapped contact info. “Sure you don’t want to stay for breakfast?” she asked.

Vanessa shook her head. “We snacked all night long. Only thing I want to do now is crash like I’m in college again.”

Smiling, she headed out, and Leanne finally felt like things were fully okay between them again. She didn’t want to be the one who only showed up when she needed something. Trev came over and hugged her; she snuggled against his chest, realizing belatedly just how much the long night had taken out of her. The last time her eyes felt this grainy, she’d waited all night to be first in the doors at Bloomingdale’s in Chicago because some college friends convinced her that would be an awesome way to spend the day after Thanksgiving.

“Did you have fun?” he asked.

Was she imagining it, or was there a certain gravity to the question?Nah, my imagination is running away with me.

“We did. Vigorous book discussion, followed by gossip about our partners. I had so many entertaining things to talk about.”

Trev smiled like he hoped he was in on the joke, not the butt of it. His family really had a lot to answer for.I should hex them too.Leanne wished she could claim she wasn’t the type, but in all honesty, she could be petty as hell. Just look at how she’d hexed Mayor Anderson right before his big interview. She smiled at the delightful memory, wishing she could’ve seen for herself whether he’d developed hives or welts.

Yeah, no two ways about it. If the rest of the coven is nice, I’m extra witchy. No regrets, no apologies.

“Sounds like an awesome time,” Trev said.

“It was. Before I forget, I got you a present.”

“What?” He froze with a comic expression of disbelief. “But it’s not my birthday. Or Christmas. Or—”

“It doesn’t have to be a holiday for me to treat you,” she cut in.

“Wow. Okay. I’m ready.”

She felt a little guilty calling this a present. They’d repurposed a necklace she already owned, one she’d received from Junie as gift but didn’t much like because it wasn’t her style. She preferred delicate chains and small pendants, while this was a polished stone on a leather strap. It would suit Trev much better, and the tourmaline had been receptive to the layered protective charm. Now this pendant would repel all but the strongest magic, and if the council meddled with Leanne’s spell, the breaking of it would signal her that Trev was in trouble.

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