Page 40 of Clearly Charmed

Lia gave her the side-eye. ‘What are you saying?’

‘They never burned witches at the stake in the US. They hanged them instead.’

‘Well, hell, that’s comforting.’

Aster went on, ignoring Lia. ‘The last recorded hanging was in 1692. Ambrosia lived almost two hundred years later.’

‘The point is that all Bryce found today was meandering facts about how Harvest Moon came to be. How the town grew because of the mining and farming opportunities.’

The look of relief in my sisters’ eyes was enough to tell me I’d chosen the right thing to do. They already had enough on their plates, and I was okay with shouldering all the worry for them. It was my job as their big sister.

‘I’ve read a few of Bryce’s articles,’ Aster said in between sips of wine. ‘The guy is thorough. Determined. Not sure he’s going to write some puff piece about Harvest Moon just because he didn’t find anything in the archives.’

‘It’ll be all right, you’ll see,’ I said.

‘Really, Dani?’ Lia said with a snip. ‘I’m already getting questions from guys at the station, and Aster’s having more issues too.’

‘Lee Lee!’ Aster snapped. ‘You promised you wouldn’t say a word.’

I sat up quickly. ‘Are you having more weirdos come into the shop? We can get the sheriff on it, you know.’

Aster waved off my concern. ‘I’m just getting more calls about matchmaking than flower orders. But, as usual, Lia is overreacting.’

‘Overreacting? When your business starts to turn into a sideshow, when losers crowd the shop, pushing out real customers, you might change your mind.’

Aster set her wine glass down with a thud. ‘What would you know about running a business? You practically live at the fire station, and when you’re not there you’re off hiding on the trails.’

Their furious, unyielding stares warned things could go apocalyptic at any moment. Guilt twisted in my stomach. How could I be upset with them keeping stuff from me, when I was hiding things, too?

‘Stop,’ I said in the voice I only used when I was tired of listening to them bicker. ‘This is what Bryce wants. To set us all off so we make a mistake, do or say something wrong so he can twist it into content. We have to stick together, which means letting me handle this. Proving to him there’s absolutely nothing supernatural here.’

‘You think you can convince him, even with people like Mo and the rest of the shop owners whispering in his ear?’ Lia snickered. ‘They want this, Dani. To convince readers this town is mysterious, filled with magic, so they’ll come and visit.’

‘You let me handle Mo and the rest of the town,’ I said.

Lia crossed her arms over her chest. Aster stared straight at the fire. Her sweet face was now taut with tension.

We’d been here before. Cornered. Worried about the next thing that might try and split us apart.

The summer I was sixteen, Lia was thirteen and Aster was ten, Clo fell on the stairs, breaking her hip. The accident required surgery and a two-week stay in a rehab facility. Our grandfather passed the year before, and no one could find Belladonna, because the last cell number she’d given Clo didn’t work.

Colorado Child and Family Services got involved. Talked about putting us in foster care. I went to Judge Greene and begged him to let me take care of my sisters until Clo was released from the hospital. I was already making their lunches, picking them up from school, reading them stories at night before bed.

The judge wasn’t swayed by my arguments, telling me I was too young to care for the girls full time. He gently ushered me out of his office at the courthouse. I sat on the faded yellow linoleum floor for hours, refusing when his staff offered both food and water. When the judge found me at the end of the day, he agreed he and Eric would move into the house. Act as our temporary guardians until Clo was ready to come home.

‘You’ve both built good lives here.’ I put an arm around Lia’s shoulder. Smiled at Aster. ‘This man coming to town will not change a thing. I’ll make sure of it.’

It was a promise I’d made repeatedly to them, but this time I was terrified I wouldn’t be able to shield my sisters from what came next. In the library today, Bryce had shown me he was a determined and committed journalist, and I worried it wouldn’t matter what, or who, he’d have to sacrifice to get a story that would put him back in the game.

Chapter Fourteen

Good Entertainment

Judge Greene was in a foul mood. He paced back and forth across the stage area at the bottom of the town’s outdoor amphitheater, his sharp steps reminding me of an army general about to lead his men into battle. Eric, who was an ex-NFL wide receiver, scrambled behind him, encouraging him to take deep, full breaths. To not get his blood pressure up.

Most of the town sat in the first three sections of the audience, shifting their bodies on tiered concrete benches that faced the stage. The amphitheater only sat about a hundred people but was the main gathering spot for any town event, whether it was a local dance academy’s recital, or the community theater’s attempt at doing their own version of Shakespeare in the Park. Today it was the scene of the final planning session for the town’s annual Veggie Fest. A downtown event dedicated to growing some of the largest vegetables in the state. It brought in a good portion of the town’s tourism dollars and was named one of the US’s most memorable summer festivals by several major news outlets. A point of pride for many businesses and locals, including the judge.

I sat on a bench in the center tier about ten rows from the stage with Flora dozing at my feet. The copse of parched aspen trees surrounding the venue swayed in a slight breath of a breeze. Small bits of grass and bright green weeds popped up from the dry soil. The late afternoon sun warmed the top of my head, and I pulled the black band from my wrist and began to braid my hair to help with the blast of early September heat cooking my skin.