by Judith Post
A low chuckle escaped Girma. “And one week can easily become two.”
“Uncurse Marcel.”
Girma shifted his hands back and forth as words spilled from his lips. A few minutes passed and Marcel staggered out the front door. No more green. No more leaves or plant life. Rosita ran to him and threw her arms around his neck.
Girma shrugged. “Youth. We made mistakes at that age.”
Delphine walked to weave her arm through his. “Still do. You have a week. Make me happy.”
He led her to his car, helped her onto the passenger seat, and pulled away.
Babet swallowed hard and looked at Nadine. The voodoo priestess looked as stunned as she felt.
Dashika threw back her head and laughed. “Lord Almighty, if that isn’t romantic, I don’t know what is.”
The other women relaxed, too, and broke into talk.
Babet stared at Nadine. “Just so you know, I wouldn’t have let you curse Rosita, not when I brought her here.”
Nadine gave a knowing smile. “I knew I wouldn’t have to. So did Evangeline.”
Babet heaved a big sigh. Energy drained from her. It was a bluff, but they sure were convincing. She shook her head. “I’m tired. I’m going home. I’m sitting on my back patio and drinking wine.”
Nadine laughed. “Be good to yourself, friend. And thank you.”
On the drive back to the city, Babet thought about the word friend. She never, in her wildest thoughts, expected to become close to voodoo women. She didn’t expect to deal with Juju. And she certainly didn’t expect to miss Prosper.
Her house felt lonely that night. She carried her wine out to the courtyard, listened to the tinkling music of the fountain, and glared at the sunset. Her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t fixed supper. Had no appetite. Morgana was restless, too, until her head rose and bobbed up and down.
“Whatever you want, the answer is no,” Babet grumped.
The back gate opened. Prosper walked toward her, a pizza box in his hands. “I come bearing super supreme.”
Babet glanced inside at the clock on the kitchen wall. A little after ten. “I thought you couldn’t make it tonight.”
He shrugged. “I went home, couldn’t relax, and decided I missed you.”
Her heart did the happy, little hitch thing again. She shrugged. “It’s silly to pay for an apartment when you’re hardly ever there. Maybe it’s time you move in.”
His lips quirked at the corners as he sank onto the lawn chair next to hers. “Do I get a drawer?”
“You even get one side of the closet.”
He held the pizza box between them, offering to share. “I’m sort of big, but I don’t take up too much space.”
She bit into her first slice. “If you move in, everything’s fifty/fifty. The good and the bad.”
“Does this mean we’re a team?”
She went inside and brought out two beers. “More like partners.”
He gave a happy sigh. “I can live with that.”
So could she. For a long time.
Other Titles by Judith Post
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Don’t miss the second collection in the Babet & Prosper Novella Series,
including Beware the Bogeyman, Celt Secrets, and two brand-new novellas!
Ally& Dante Novella Series
Flesh & Stone
Gargoyle, Missing
Samuel Meets His Match
A Natural Affinity
Christian& Brina Novella Series
Uncommon Allies
Keeper of Dragons
Lone Drifter
Death & Loralei Novella Series
Destiny with Death
Death & Felice
All Hallow’s Eve
The Death & Loralei Collection
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Novels by Judith Post
Fabric of Life
Blood Battles
Empty Altars
Wolf’s Bane
Shadow Demon