You see, the episode on the square put the town on the paranormal map, but as ghosts go, Howie is pretty lame. About once a week or so, when he knows he has a decent audience, Beau appears on the courthouse square. I mean seriously, a Confederate colonel in full uniform at the base of a memorial? The staging couldn’t be more perfect.
The tourists are eating it up and all the businesses on the square are thriving as a result. There’s even talk that some of the empty buildings are going to filled soon with new shops.
So all in all, I guess the whole mess came out the best way it could. Of course Tori and I have roughly a million questions about our heritage, which means we’re going to have to suck it up and talk genealogy with the moms. Myrtle knows a lot, but we need names and dates to fill it all in.
Tori is studying with Myrtle now, too, and my BFF is beginning to feel the first stirrings of her own power. She’s getting to take the magic at her own pace, and I’m happy for her. Just having it dumped in your lap can be tough.
You’re not going to believe this, but Aunt Fiona actually sent me a postcard. From Rio of all places. It seems she’s interested in a guy named “Ramone.” I chose not to mention that to Beau. I have no idea why Fiona decided to communicate through something as mundanely mortal as the post office, but her penmanship is fantastic.
As for me, I’ve learned my lesson. No more spells off the Internet. I’ve also decided that I need to be who I am. If Chase and Amity and I are going to be more or less working together — and if Chase and I are going to have a future — I have to tell them the truth about myself. I don’t quite know how I’m going to do that yet, but it’s on the short list.
Right now? All I really want to do is enjoy the rest of the summer in peace and quiet.
That’s not too much to ask, is it?
EPILOGUE
Betty Montague watched her out-of-town client slowly circle the empty building. The woman had walked into the real estate office that morning inquiring about commercial buildings for sale on the square. Betty had been lucky enough to be first in line for cold calls.
In a slightly foreign accent, the woman described her plans to open a “culinary shop and bakery.” Was a suitable building available? Was there ever! The old corner cafe was the perfect spot and the one piece of property her office hadn’t been able to move for five years — but, of course, Betty didn’t say that. If she managed to close this deal, she’d pick up her usual commission and a bonus for moving the office white elephant.
After Betty ran down all the features of the building, talked about the low local taxes, the seasonal tourist trade, and the wonderful “local ambience,” the client asked for a few minutes to just “feel the space.”
Now, as Betty watched, the woman moved to the large front window and stared at the row of stores directly across from the courthouse. Trying to read her mind, Betty said, “I don’t think you need to worry about George and Irma giving you much competition. They’re just running an old-fashioned little corner grocery store over there.”
“How lovely,” the woman muttered, still staring out the window.
“Right next door to them is Aggie’s dress shop,” she said, “and then you’ve got Amity Prescott’s art gallery, and Jinx Hamilton’s place. Jinx sells a little bit of everything, and they have just put in a coffee bar, but they’re doing real fancy stuff. If you just make regular coffee, I know folks will want it with their pastries.”
Betty knew she was trying too hard, but she couldn’t help babbling when she was nervous. In her mind she was already running through all the bills she could pay off with that bonus money.
“Then on the other side of Jinx there’s a cobbler shop,” she added. “They’ll all be great neighbors. And on the street over . . .”
“Who runs the cobbler shop?” the woman asked.
“Oh,” Betty said, “a real nice young man named Chase McGregor.”
“McGregor? Is that a Scottish name?”
“Don’t all names from Scotland start with ‘Mc’?” Betty asked, sounding perplexed.
The woman turned to face her, the light from the window throwing an odd halo around her deep red hair. “Not all of them,” the woman said. “I am of Scottish descent.”
“Really?” Betty said. “I thought Sinclair was an English name.”
“No,” the woman said, “it’s Scottish, and I will take the building. Can you get the papers drawn up today?”
Betty was so excited she could barely manage to answer. “Yes,” she stammered, “of course.”
“And I assume cash is an acceptable means of payment?”
“You mean cash as in cash money?” Betty asked, her eyes going wide.
The woman smiled tolerantly, “Yes, cash money.”
“Cash is good,” Betty said, her head bobbing up and down. “Cash is fine. Let me just call the office and tell them to get started on the contract.” She paused with the phone in her hand. “I’m sorry, this is so embarrassing, but did you say your first name is Brenda?”
The redhead fixed her with a dazzling smile. “No,” she said. “There is no ‘d.’ My name is Brenna, Brenna Sinclair.”
ALSO BY JULIETTE HARPER
This book is the second
in The Jinx Hamilton Mystery Series.
The next in the series will be Witch at Last
coming soon on Amazon.
Witch at Heart - Jinx Hamilton Book 1
Juliette Harper is also the author of The Lockwood Legacy.
Six full-length books are currently available in that series including:
Langston’s Daughters
Baxter’s Draw
Alice’s Portrait
Mandy’s Father
Irene’s Gift
Jenny’s Choice
These books may also be purchased
in two specially priced collections:
The Lockwood Legacy Books 1-3
The Lockwood Legacy Books 4-6
The Lockwood Legacy includes
a companion set of short stories.
The first two installments are:
Langston’s Ghost: Aftermath
Langston’s Ghost: From Limbo to Lust
Other works in Juliette Harper’s catalog include
the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries,
the Study Club Mysteries,
the Fermata Post-Apocalyptic Series,
and the Before Series of short-story romances.
Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries
Descendants of the Rose
The Study Club Mysteries
You Can’t Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet
The Before Series
Before Marriage
The Fermata Series
Fermata: The Winter
Fermata: The Spring
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Juliette Harper is the pen name used by the writing team of Patricia Pauletti and Rana K. Williamson. As a writer, Juliette's goal is to create strong female characters facing interesting, challenging, painful, and at times comical situations. Refusing to be bound by genre, her primary interest lies in telling good stories.
Six of Juliette's series are currently available. The best-selling Lockwood Legacy, is a nine-book chronicle of the lives of three sisters who inherit a ranch in Central Texas following their father's suicide. The first six novels appeared in 2015: Langston's Daughters, Baxter's Draw, Alice's Portrait, Mandy's Father, Irene’s Gift, and Jenny’s Choice. The seventh, Kate’s Journey, will be available early in 2016.
Descendants of the Rose is the first installment of the Selby Jensen Paranormal Mysteries. The second book, Lost in Room 636, will also be available in 2016. Selby's business card reads "Private Investigator," but to say the least, that downplays her real occupation where business as usual is anything but normal.
And don't miss the hilariously funny "cozy" Study Club Mysteries, a light-hearted spin off of The Lockwood Legacy. Set in the 1960s, this series takes on the often-absurd eccentrici
ties of small town life with good-natured, droll humor. The first book, You Can't Get Blood Out of Shag Carpet, is already listed in the Amazon store with You Can't Put a Corpse in a Parade coming soon.
Juliette has also made forays into the arena of short fiction arena with Before Marriage, a light, sweet romance and Langston’s Ghost, a short-story companion to The Lockwood Legacy books.
Fermata: The Winter is the first in a four-novella post-apocalyptic survival series. Five years after an unknown virus divided the world into the living and the dead, four survivors stumble into a winter sanctuary. Brought together by circumstance, but bound by the will to stay alive, a concert pianist and a girl from South Boston forge a friendship and a purpose to cope with their new reality.
Juliette’s newest series, The Jinx Hamilton Mysteries opens with Witch at Heart, a lighter paranormal tale featuring a heroine who possesses powers she never dreamed existed. Jinx has been minding her own business working as a waitress at Tom’s Cafe and keeping up with her four cats. Then she inherits her Aunt Fiona’s store in neighboring Briar Hollow, North Carolina and learns that her aunt has willed her special “powers” to Jinx as well. They say admitting you have a problem is the first step and Jinx has a major problem. She’s a new witch and she has no earthly clue what that means — until she’s given the opportunity to use her magic to do a good thing.
In Book 2, Witch at Odds, Jinx accepts her new life as a witch and is determined to make a success of both that and her new business. However, she has a great deal to learn. As the story unfolds, Jinx sets out to both study her craft and to get a real direction for her aunt’s haphazard approach to inventory. Although Jinx can call on Aunt Fiona’s ghost for help, the old lady is far too busy living a jet set afterlife to be worried about her niece’s learning curve. That sets Jinx up to make a major mistake and to figure out how to set things right again.
For more information . . .
@jharperbooks
www.JulietteHarper.com
[email protected]
By Juliette Harper
Copyright 2016, Juliette Harper
Skye House Publishing
License Notes
eBooks are not transferable. All rights are reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded, or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the author’s permission.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
ISBN: 978-1-943516-86-5
Created with Vellum
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Epilogue
Also by Juliette Harper
About the Author
Copyright
Witch at Odds: A Jinx Hamilton Mystery Book 2 (The Jinx Hamilton Mysteries) Page 20