Table of Contents
Title Page
Dedication:
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Also By Amanda A. Allen
Copyright
Banshees and Babysitters
by Amanda A. Allen
Mystic Cove Mysteries Book 3
This book is dedicated to Stefanie DeVoe. You’ve helped me so many times.
Is there thanks enough?
Chapter 1
“Hello, hello, hello,” Mr. Muscato said as he walked into the store. “Ladies…give me something amazing.”
He had hair growing out of his nose and ears. He leaned on a cane that experience told her he didn't need. He used it instead to poke people who irritated him. His hair was too orange to be real, and his nose was broad and red and spoke of far, far too much alcohol. His eyes were small, narrowed, and mean.
Scarlett sighed and glanced up, looked over at Belinda, and then walked forward. Her new barista had turned pale and was a bit green about her mouth. Even if she hadn’t seemed so sickly, Scarlett wouldn’t have made the kid wait on this fellow.
“Belinda?”
“I…I’m ok.”
“Go sit down,” Scarlett said and then turned a smile to Mr. Muscato. She despised him. He’d been coming into the store every single day for 3 weeks. He hadn’t done anything. Not ever. But her knowing—that druid sense of discernment and understanding—had been screaming at her. She’d debated time and again of barring him from the shop but decided not to.
“What can I get you?” She asked him. Her smile was as real as she could muster. She doubted he believed it.
“Something amazing.”
She turned, grabbed a to-go, and slapped a cherry cream cheese pastry on it. She poured him a cup of plain black coffee and said, “That’ll be $4.95.”
He smiled that smarmy smile at her and handed her a $5.00. “Keep the change, darlin’.”
Scarlett didn’t even bother smiling at him. She turned to check on Belinda but the girl had moved from the chair, through the kitchen, and into the little side bathroom.
“Belinda?” Scarlett followed and heard the sound of retching from the other side of the door.
Scarlett sighed and then adjusted her messy, mom bun before going back to the counter. She had gotten busier and busier since taking over the bakery and needed to consider another employee in addition to Belinda and losing the barista today would leave Scarlett a stressed out mess. It was nearly Halloween and the tourists had flooded the town for the fun. Scarlett had a tent running in the park for the events and that extra baking was killing her slowly while giving her money to save up for a new car.
She pulled out her cell phone and called her newly adopted sister, Maeve and the old bakery owner, Henna for help. There was something in the air that was haunting Scarlett. She’d feel better with extra eyes here especially given how her little girls would be home soon.
“I want,” Harper said as Scarlett’s sister burst through the back door, “something amazing.”
“Goodness,” Scarlett said, feeling her skin crawl. Did Harper eavesdrop or was she just naturally creepy?
“What the…” Harper cut off her exclamation and then said, “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know…” Scarlett glanced around and then said, “I’m going to walk and meet the girls. Would you please watch the shop? Henna will be here soon. Belinda’s puking in the bathroom.”
Harper glanced Scarlett over carefully and then nodded once. She crossed to the window, pulled herself out a cinnamon roll and dug in while she sat in the shop. Thankfully, it was slow in the bakery when school got out, so it was easy for her to pick up her daughters.
The grade school was only a 5-minute walk away, but Scarlett met her daughters and walked them home. After all, Luna was barely 5-years-old and just in Kindergarten while Ella was in third grade. They were awfully little to walk home alone. Plus, Scarlett was protective. She’d have been protective before they’d been drawn into two murder investigations, but they had been, and it had upped her protectiveness to lioness level.
She hated how quickly they were growing. And more hated the feeling that was haunting her. Just what was going on? Scarlett moved more quickly, almost running as she moved towards the girls. There was something. Something that demanded her attention. Something she was missing. Something obvious and important, but when she searched her mind and her heart…she couldn’t see what it was.
“Mommy!” Luna said, running towards Scarlett with her arms up.
Scarlett braced herself, swung her daughter high, and turned to look for Ella who was turned away from Scarlett. As she watched, Ella flipped her hair over her shoulder and whatever she said made the girl in front of her frown slightly before she laughed. There was very little humor in that little face though. Scarlett sighed and hoped—without faith—that Ella hadn’t said something mean.
“There you are,” another voice said, and Scarlett slowly turned, sick to her stomach. She hadn’t expected to hear that voice. She’d have preferred to never hear it again, except for her girls.
“Daddy!” Luna said, wriggling down to run to Grant. Behind him was a woman barely into her 20s carrying a baby seat. He hadn’t visited or paid child support since she and Grant had divorced. He barely called the girls. Worse, though, was that when he told her he was leaving, he described their daughters as freaks because they were druids and he didn’t have any abilities. She closed her eyes, took in a deep breath, and told herself that murdering her ex in front of her daughters would damage them for life.
“Fate you wench,” Scarlett muttered as she stepped forward. “Wha— Um— This isn’t Spokane.”
It was the lamest statement ever and by the stars, Scarlett needed to take a deep breath, whoosh it out, and then think puffy cloud thoughts. Maybe channel a quiet stream, but instead, the wind lifted up and rushed down the street.
Grant glanced around—that reaction was one that he’d experienced before. His face paled while his eyes burned with hotter fury. As if he even had the right to be furious when he showed up out of nowhere after the last year and how he’d treated their daughters.
Grant’s new wife, Jen, glanced at Grant and then at Scarlett and then stood straighter. She flipped her hair and then sniffed once. Scarlett examined Grant with an expressionless face—all of this was just TOO late. They'd been together for a long time before they split, so he knew she was hiding her fury, and his own anger rose even higher in competition.
“I knew if I said we were coming, you’d object.” The words were ground out but just a tiny bit defensive. As if she were the one who’d been in the wrong. As if she were the one who cheated. As if she were the one who insulted their daughters while the girls were eavesdropping. As if she were the one who’d disappeared. And abandoned the life he’d made with the girls. It was fine for him to treat Scarlett like a piece of trash discarded from his life. Not fine. But handleable. But their daughters? She couldn’t let that go.
“I am not arguing with you about the girls in front of them and Jen.” Scarlett’s voice was a study in evenness.
“She’s part of this equation now, Scarlett. She’s ready to be a mother to them too.”
Scarlett paused in sheer fury with utter and complete speechlessness.
“Grant,” Jen said, with a placating hand placed on his shoulder. “We should wait…”
“No,” Grant snapped, and Scarlett felt a smirk cross her face, but her girls…
She closed her eyes and took a d
eep breath. Puffy cloud thoughts, she told herself, feeling the fury rise to the point where the wind was howling down the street. Several who knew what she was were turning to see what had upset the druid so. They took in the man, the woman, the baby and turned to discuss it with anyone else who was seeing Scarlett’s drama unfold.
“Luna,” Scarlett said, “Go tell Ella that Daddy is here.”
Luna wriggled down and ran towards her sister and Scarlett stepped close to Grant. “You listen to me,” she said, glancing back to make sure Ella and Luna were out of earshot. “You don’t pay child support. You didn’t ask for visits. You don’t have rights. You didn’t even show up at court, and the last thing your daughters heard from your mouth was mean and cruel. A few random phone calls after that don’t count as parenting. I don’t give a flying…” Scarlett took a deep breath, closed her eyes and said, “I don’t care what Jen is ready for. She’s the least of my concerns. And quite frankly, she never should have been able to effect how you parented our daughters.”
“She cries over what happened now that she’s a mother, Scarlett. It was a mistake.”
“It was. But cry me a river,” Scarlett hissed as the girls walked up and then Scarlett snapped her mouth shut to keep herself from screaming at him until his ears bled.
“Hey, Ella,” Grant said brightly, holding out his arms.
Ella looked him over, her gaze flicked away and her face faded into sheer emotionless clay, and then she turned to Scarlett and said, “Are there cookies left?”
Given that Scarlett always saved cookies for the girls, Ella knew that answer. She just wanted to watch Grant flinch in the face of her disdain. She got what she wanted, and Grant stepped back in shock. That jack…Scarlett caught herself and thought, he should have expected it. There was a piece of Scarlett who felt like Grant deserved Ella’s reaction and a much, much larger piece that was dying inside for both of her daughters.
“Grant,” Scarlett said softly but with deadly threat. “You’ll need to call me before you show up anywhere again.” And then louder, “Let’s go girls.”
She took Ella and Luna by the hand and started to walk away.
“You can’t just…” Grant started, but as Scarlett looked back Jen said something and Grant stopped objecting.
“Ella why are you mad at Daddy?” Luna’s voice was a near whisper.
“Don’t you remember what he said?”
Luna’s eyes blinked rapidly but she didn’t answer.
“He picked that lady over us. Us and Mommy,” Ella said in a voice that was a whip.
Luna’s lips pressed together, but Scarlett could see the old pain rolling over her baby again. She wanted to drop to her knees, wrap her girls up, and steal their pain away, but she couldn’t.
“Mommy,” Ella said in a flat voice, “I want to go to Nana’s house.”
Scarlett blinked and started to reply before she thought, “I…”
“Please,” Ella said. There was a broken tone to her voice that hadn’t been there since she’d first heard her dad describe her as freak for being a druid.
“Ok,” Scarlett said, squeezing Ella’s fingers. A new height of helplessness was reached each and every time her babies were hurting, and she was floundering. Scarlett could track down a murderer and make her babies safe again. She could ask the east wind to break through a shop window and free her girls. She could do so many things, but none of that mattered at that moment.
“Will you call her now?” It was a mouse speaking from her vibrant, snotty, disdainful, perfect daughter.
If her girls wouldn’t witness it, Scarlett would stop and slam her fist into the side of the building over and over again, but they were there with big eyes and hurting faces and confusion. Luna—you could see how torn she felt. How difficult it was for her to be mad, but Ella’s pain was igniting Luna’s. Scarlett forced a smile and said, “Of course.”
Ella’s gaze didn’t move from Scarlett’s face, so she slipped her phone out of her back pocket and called her mother.
“Hello Scarlett,” her mother, Maye said.
“Hi…” Scarlett started, met her daughter’s eyes and flinched.
“What’s wrong? Is someone dead?”
“Goodness, I hope not. So…”
“Are you ok?”
“Um…”
Ella snapped out her hand and Scarlett hesitated before putting the phone in her daughter’s hand.
“Nana,” Ella said, and her voice was soft and a little broken.
Scarlett pressed her hand over her heart to tamp down the pain she was feeling for her baby before she even realized what she was doing.
“Can I come stay?”
Scarlett couldn’t hear exactly what her mom said, but she heard the tone, and she had no doubt that Maye was currently running to her car to come get Ella.
“Ok,” Ella said. “I’ll get my stuff. Can we camp in the grove?”
Scarlett’s eyes blinked rapidly as she realized that her baby was seeking out the grove to heal her little druid heart. It would, Scarlett knew. It would. Of course, it would. Thank goodness, she thought suddenly, thank goodness they were home and they had the grove, and her baby could curl up under the trees surrounded by people who loved her and heal from the crap her Dad had been pulling.
“Mommy?” Luna’s voice cracked.
Scarlett felt as if she’d been stabbed again and she said, “Baby?”
“Will you come to Nana’s?”
“Me and Harper will both be there tonight,” Scarlett said. “As soon as I’m done baking.”
“Ok,” Luna said, “Me, Max and the guys want to go too.”
Luna’s gift was talking to animals. She had their dog, 3 kittens, a squirrel, a parakeet, and most recently a frog.
Scarlett didn’t even blink as she nodded. “I’m sure Nana will rush over, so we should hurry back and get your things together.”
Chapter 2
Scarlett walked away from the bakery without explaining to Harper or Maeve. Scarlett should have told Harper what was happening, but instead, she loaded up the girls and pets into the back of her mom’s car and walked away.
She pulled out her phone and dialed a number that hadn’t answered her calls for months.
“Gus,” she said, hearing the crack in her voice. “You aren’t here and Grant is, and my girls are freaking out and I need to talk to someone, and I know it’s all my fault that you left, but I need you. And I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. Please come back. Or just answer the phone. Or maybe…don’t hate me?”
He wasn’t there and he wasn’t answering. And she kept going anyway.
“I’m sorry that I couldn’t be what you needed me to be.”
She cut off the string of curses she wanted to let loose. Her first instinct was to turn to Gus for everything, and he’d left. It wasn’t his fault. It was all hers. She’d left him and Mystic Cove and gone with Grant to explore the world, go to school, visit the groves. Then she’d come back and let herself just fall into the same old habits. She hadn’t thought how it would have been for Gus after she left him behind. She’d never even discovered that much about what he’d done with his life.
“I’m sorry I wasn’t a better friend,” she said. “I suck.”
She should have been a much, much better friend to him. Like he’d been to her. She should have been better at so many things.
“Puffy cloud thoughts,” Scarlett said, closing her eyes and realizing that she couldn’t hate herself for not being what he needed. “You did your best, Scarlett.”
She took a deep breath and then another. She took a deep long breath and submerged herself in the memories of a summer rain storm. She could hear the sound of it. She could smell it. She could feel the moist coolness in the air, on her skin.
“This is not your fault, Scarlett,” she said and took another deep breath only then realizing the phone was still on, and she was still connected to Gus’s voicemail.
“I’m sorry,” she said again. “I wa
s never what you needed, but I can’t take responsibility for that. But I’d like to maybe work our way into friendship again. On a more even ground. It’s not fair to tell you that I need you…but I need you. Sorry for babbling. I hope you’re having fun wherever you are.”
She sat down on the bench in the garden behind the building she owned with her sister. It had four shops on the ground floor with 4 apartments over the shops. The garden ran the length of the back of the building where most people would have a parking lot. Druids weren’t, however, most people.
She was tired of calling him and having him not answer. She was tired of feeling guilty. She set her face between her knees. She needed to go finish baking for the day and the fair, she needed to wash enough clothes to see herself through a few days and make her way to the Oaken family property where everyone but Harper, Scarlett, and her daughters lived. Harper and Scarlett were the rebels of the family with their apartments in the town.
“Your mom stealing your girls away?” Lex asked from behind her.
Scarlett jumped and yelped a little before she said, "Make a noise when you sneak up on someone.” After a moment she demanded, "“How did you know?”
She glanced him over. His uniform was pressed, the sheriff’s badge was shiny on his chest. If he were druid, she’d have thought he followed the knowing to her, but he wasn’t a druid—he was a warlock.
“Saw them drive away.”
“But that’s not why you were coming this way? How did you know?”
He paused and admitted, “Mr. Throdmore heard about your confrontation from Mabel at the diner who heard it from…I don’t know who.”
“What do you know?”
“Oh, you know…”
Her eyes narrowed on him, and he gave her one of those lazy shrugs that said he wasn’t going to expand. He knew that she’d caused a windstorm outside the grade school. He knew that it had been when she’d been talking to a man that Luna who had caught Luna when she’d thrown herself at him.
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