Bewitching Bitters

by Annabel Chase

  “Pick them out,” Brett advised. “I’ll eat them.”

  Ava grimaced as she extracted each carrot with her fork like a med student wholly unprepared for what she’d witness during her first surgery.

  “Can we go out for ice cream?” Ava asked.

  “Not tonight,” Kate said. It was a school night and she was too tired for an excursion.

  Ava set down her glass of milk with righteous indignation. “But it’s fall. Places will be closing soon until July.”

  “May,” Gavin corrected her.

  “I’ll ask Daddy when he gets home,” Ava said.

  “He can’t take all three of you, remember? His car isn’t big enough.” Kate had silently cursed her husband the day he came home with a two-seater Audi without consulting her. It was typical Lucas, though. The sexy middle-aged man bought himself a sexy midlife crisis sports car, which meant Kate was the only one capable of driving the whole family anywhere. When she’d gently raised the issue, he’d expressed surprise. The thought hadn’t occurred to him.

  Of course it hadn’t. It was Kate’s job to think. To plan. To do. All Kate.

  Her phone vibrated on the table and Kate instinctively glanced at the screen.

  “Mom, no phones during dinner,” Gavin said. He relished pointing out her moments of hypocrisy. Ah, teenagers.

  “I have to take this. It’s Mrs. Nocella.” Gladys Nocella lived across the street and the recent death of her husband had taken everyone by surprise. Kurt Nocella had seemed fit and healthy for a seventy-two-year-old. You never know when your time is up, Kate thought, unless you plan it yourself. She dismissed the dark thought from her mind. Her past had a way of creeping into her mindset when she was tired. It was one reason she tried to get at least seven hours of sleep each night.

  “Poor Kurt,” Ava said with the voice of an eighty-year-old knitting partner.

  Gavin ducked his head, unwilling to argue under the circumstances. Kate was relieved her son showed signs of compassion. She knew some kids—hell, some adults—that viewed old people as relics to be stored away and ignored until they passed on. Women in particular. Kate felt that attitude was one of the great failures of modern society. That segment of the population could fuel every nuclear plant in the world with the power of their collective wisdom.

  Kate accepted the call. “Gladys, how are you?” She moved swiftly to the living room to continue the conversation in private. She wasn’t sure what state the older woman would be in.

  “I’m so sorry to interrupt your family time, dear, but would you mind coming over for a few minutes? There’s something I could use your help with.”

  “Of course. I’ll be there in five minutes.” Kate returned to the table and shoved a forkful of food into her mouth. She was hungry, but dinner would have to wait. Gladys wouldn’t call unless it was important.

  “Where will you be in five minutes?” Brett asked.

  “I need to help Mrs. Nocella with something. I’ll be back shortly.”

  Ava’s lower lip jutted out. “But Daddy isn’t home yet.”

  “Your brothers are here and I’ll only be across the street.”

  Ava still looked uncertain. “Can I have pudding for dessert if we can’t go for ice cream?”

  “Once you finish what’s on your plate,” Kate agreed. Ava was only six, but smart enough to seize an opportunity when it fell in her lap.

  The six-year-old offered a gap-toothed smile. “I promise to clear my plate.”

  Kate’s hand moved to her hip. “That means eating the food, not giving it to the cat.”

  Ava’s expression crumpled, her plan to exploit a loophole thwarted. Kate had to admire her daughter’s ability to identify technicalities. She’d make a fine Supreme Court Justice someday.

  “I’ll make sure she eats,” Brett said.

  “Traitor,” Ava hissed.

  “Thank you. I won’t be long.” Kate hurried out the door before an argument erupted. The sooner she could help Gladys, the sooner she could get back to keep her little soldiers in line.

  The Nocella house was a white clapboard cottage that managed to be both compact and charming. Kate knocked twice on the door before pushing it open. She didn’t want to make Gladys walk all the way to the door. The older woman had had knee surgery in June and still seemed to struggle.

  “Gladys, I’m here!” Kate walked through the entryway and into the kitchen. She found Gladys hunched over a laptop on the dining room table.

  “I’m so sorry to bother you.”

  Kate could see the woman’s eyes glistening with unshed tears. “It’s no bother. What do you need?”

  Gladys pointed to the screen. “I can’t log in to anything.”

  Kate pulled over a chair to sit beside her. “You’ve forgotten your passwords?”

  “I don’t know what they are. Kurt handled all the accounts. I’ve never logged in to anything, except my Facebook account. Oh, and Amazon.” She smiled. “I can use my Prime account like nobody’s business.”

  Kate glanced at the screen to see the logo for a local bank. “You need to access your bank account? Why not go into the branch?”

  “Everything is in Kurt’s name.” She wore a doleful expression. “I know that’s not the way a lot of women do things nowadays, but Kurt and I had a traditional marriage and we liked it that way.”

  “I’m not here to criticize you, Gladys. I’m here to help. I just need to understand the situation.”

  “There seems to be a delay with probate, so the bank can’t help me yet, but I don’t have any money. I’m trying to guess the password because then I can create a new account in my name and transfer the money into it once I link the accounts.” The lines in her brow deepened. “Or something like that.”

  That seemed overly complicated to Kate. “How much money do you need?”

  Gladys’s white eyebrows knitted together. “I don’t know exactly. Kurt took care of everything and gave me an allowance. Obviously, now that he’s gone, I’ve had to spend more than that. Some of the bills are being paid automatically from the account, but I can’t even go to the grocery store right now.”

  “What about a credit card?”

  Gladys chewed her lip. “It’s in his name and it’s maxed out. Kurt kept our spending limit low because he wanted us to be able to pay off the balance each month.”

  “That’s smart.” Kate encouraged her own clients to only buy what they could afford to pay off immediately, outside of one-off purchases like a car or a house. “Lucas and I would be happy to loan you however much you need until you can access your accounts.”

  Gladys sucked in a breath. “No. I couldn’t possibly take money from you. You have those three beautiful children to take care of.”

  Kate resisted a smile. Gladys clearly had no idea how much money she and Lucas had. “You don’t need to worry about them. They won’t be deprived. I promise.”

  “If you’re sure...I only want to buy groceries and maybe a cup of tea at the garden center. I like to sit there while I have my tea and look at all the plants and flowers. It’ll be too cold to sit outside soon.”

  “That sounds delightful.” Kate’s gaze flicked back to the laptop. “Are you sure your husband didn’t keep a book of passwords anywhere? Maybe in his office?”

  Gladys shook her head. “I’ve searched everywhere. If he did, I don’t know where he put it.”

  “What about your lawyer? Who’s handling the estate?”

  “Miriam Webber. Do you know her?”

  “I don’t, but if you’d like, we can give her a call together during business hours.”

  Gladys looked like she was about to burst into tears. “You don’t mind?”

  “Of course not. I’ll come back tomorrow and bring money with me.” Gladys wouldn’t be able to cash a check without access to a bank account. “It’ll have to be after school because I’m in charge of Ava’s Halloween party at school tomorrow.”

  “You’re a doll, Kate. Thank you so much
.”

  “It’s no trouble. If there’s anything else we can do, let me know.”

  Gladys wore a vacant expression. “I shouldn’t have let it happen, I realize that now, but it was easier to go along with things as they were. Life gets busy and, by the time it slows down, you don’t notice anymore and your habits are too ingrained to change them.”

  Kate had heard this excuse more times than she could count. “It’s never too late to shift from autopilot to manual, Gladys.”

  The woman’s lip peeled back to reveal tea-stained teeth. “Oh, you and your clever platitudes. That reminds me. I watched you on the YouTube the other day. Very inspiring. Made me feel like I wanted to run out and do something.”

  Kate smiled. “Thank you.”

  “All those comments.” She shook her head. “My eyes dried out trying to read them all. I had to dose myself with Visine.”

  “Interaction is part of the job.”

  “You really are a wonder, Kate.”

  She placed a comforting hand on the woman’s shoulder. “I can say the same to you with everything you’ve had to deal with lately. You’re an inspiration to us all.”

  Gladys grunted. “I wouldn’t go that far. An inspiration doesn’t need a handout in order to buy a cup of tea.”

  “Don’t be too hard on yourself. You and Kurt had a system that worked for you, but things have changed and you’ve shown you’re willing to change with them. That’s a good thing.”

  “I wouldn’t go so far as to say I’m willing. I don’t have much of a choice.”

  “Still, lots of people would crawl into bed and give up, but you’re sitting here in front of your laptop trying to figure out a solution. The next step is the key. In a challenging situation, you always want to ask yourself what the next step is. And, hey, you weren’t too proud to call me for help.”

  Gladys’s thin lips melded together in a tight smile. “Desperate times call for desperate measures, but I appreciate the support.”

  Kate returned to her house, glad that Gladys felt comfortable reaching out to her. She couldn’t imagine what the older woman was going through. It gave her comfort to know she and Lucas had equal access to all their accounts. On the other hand, if anything ever happened to her, Lucas would be up a river without a paddle. He relied on Kate far more than she relied on him. The only answer was to stay alive, which Kate had every intention of doing.

  Once the kids were squared away for the night and Lucas had been given a late dinner, Kate decided to squeeze in a few more replies to clients. There was an architect in Australia whose anxiety tended to get the better of her. She saw a therapist, but she also sought constant reassurance from Kate. Evenings were the best time to contact her due to the time difference.

  Kate dictated into the phone as she joined Lucas in the family room. “You have to remember, Fiona, only the present is real. The future is imagined and the past is fixed, you can’t change it.”

  Lucas waved a hand in front of her face. “This is supposed to be our time, remember?”

  Kate dropped the phone to her side. “Can you wait until I’m finished dictating to talk?”

  “If I did that, I’d be like the knight in Indiana Jones, guarding the carpenter’s cup. He waited so long, he crumbled to dust.”

  “He didn’t crumble to dust. He got crushed when the temple collapsed.”

  “Okay, but he still died. Anyway, you’re being deliberately obtuse. You’re not supposed to be working now. That’s our deal.”

  Kate knew he was right. She was the one who’d set the schedule and now she was ignoring it for her own purposes. “Sorry. No more client messages tonight.” She made a show of setting the phone on the end table.

  “How about an episode of The Walking Dead?” Lucas asked. “There’s enough time before bed.”

  Although Kate wasn’t a fan of the show, she was too tired to negotiate. She pulled her laptop off the floor and curled up on the sofa next to her husband.

  Lucas cast a sideline glance at her. “You don’t think this counts as work?”

  “They’re just notes for my next video. I’m not messaging anyone.”

  Lucas’s face flickered with annoyance. “If you’re not going to watch, why not work in your office?”

  “I thought I’d do both.” Kate prided herself on her multitasking skills.

  He frowned. “You know it’s distracting. I can hear the clickety clack of the keyboard.”

  “You’ve seen this episode before. What do you think you’ll miss? Same annoying people except the ones killed off. More gross zombies.” Kate would much rather watch a medical drama. At least the gross parts were medically necessary.

  “You could’ve just said ‘no thanks, Lucas. Why don’t we watch something with less gore?’”

  Kate twisted to look directly at him. “Since when do you care what I want to watch?”

  “Are you serious right now?”

  Kate shot to her feet with the laptop clutched against her chest. “You’re right. I should work in the office so you can enjoy your show in peace.”

  Before he could respond, she bolted for the stairs and retreated to her office to work on the talk for her next video. She only paused when she heard Lucas climb the steps to get ready for bed. He slept in the guest room most nights, which she knew contributed to their current life as roommates, living parallel lives. It had started innocently enough after Ava was born. Their youngest had been a difficult baby with sleep issues, so Lucas had decamped to the guest room in order to be spry for work each morning. By the time Ava grew out of that phase, Kate and Lucas had grown accustomed to the arrangement and neither made an effort to revert to the original setup.

  Kate remained in the office for another hour, checking emails and messages. She scrolled through all her social media accounts and clicked hearts below the comments. Lucas made fun of her ‘public persona’ as he called it. To some extent, he was right. In her non-virtual life, Kate wasn’t a heart-clicking kind of person, but people seemed to like it, so that’s what she did.

  She turned to see Cat-Cat curled into a ball at the top of the scratching post in the corner.

  “I didn’t even see you there,” she said.

  “Meow.” Cat-Cat jumped to the floor when she realized Kate was leaving the office.

  “You don’t have to follow me,” Kate said. She turned off the light and padded down the hall to her bedroom. She sensed the cat was still behind her. Sure enough, when she turned around, Cat-Cat was there. “I already have cyberstalkers. I don’t need a stalker in my own home.”

  Cat-Cat zipped past her and darted into the bedroom before Kate could shut her out.

  “Clever girl,” she muttered.

  Kate decided that if Cat-Cat could outsmart her, then she deserved to be rewarded by letting her stay.

  Kate brushed her teeth for the fourth time that day. Her average was three times, but she tended to brush an extra time on recording days, as though the subscribers could smell her breath through the screen.

  By the time Kate emerged from the bathroom in her pajamas, the cat was sound asleep on the neighboring pillow. Kate slipped beneath the sheet and turned away from the cat. It felt strange to share a bed with an animal. She laughed at the thought, realizing that she couldn’t even say that about Lucas in their younger years. He’d been considerate in the bedroom once upon a time.

  She tucked her hands under her cheek and sighed. She wouldn’t reminisce. There was no point. Instead, she decided to practice self-actualization. She closed her eyes and pictured herself signing a book contract.

  “That’s better,” she murmured, and drifted off to sleep.

  Chapter Three

  The alarm beeped at five-thirty and Kate shot to her feet, wide awake. She had a full day from start to finish. Today was Ava’s Halloween party at school and Kate was the head classroom parent. Although she’d participated many times before, she always made sure to have a new costume the kids hadn’t seen before. She love
d seeing the appreciation in their little eyes. If Gavin was any indication, she didn’t have many years of adoration left.

  Kate slipped the long black dress over her head. She’d found the witch costume online and thought it was too good to pass up. The only part of her she left untouched was her hair. She’d be wearing a hat, so there was no point in messing with her silky blond hair.

  “And the piece de resistance,” Kate said. She stuck the fake wart on her chin over the annoying blemish and leaned back to admire her reflection. “Hideous. It’s perfect.”

  Cat-Cat seemed to look at her with an air of approval.

  “I should take you with me as a prop,” Kate said. “The kids would go nuts.” And so would some of their allergies. Half the class seemed to suffer from one allergy or another. No nuts. No dairy. No animal visitors. No latex. At least she had experience thanks to the two older ones, so Kate had a list of recipes on hand that addressed the various allergies.

  Ava brightened when her mother entered the kitchen. “You’re a witch,” she said.

  “I certainly am.” Kate smiled and felt her skin tighten as a result of the green makeup.

  Ava’s expression crumpled. “Maybe I should’ve been a witch, too.”

  “There’s plenty of time for that transformation,” Kate said, thinking of her midlife entry into witchdom. “Besides, you make a beautiful fairy. Your rainbow hair is fantastic.”

  Ava’s smile returned. “It’s a little hot and itchy, but I love it. When I’m older, I want my real hair to look like this.” She slid off the chair and twirled around so Kate could see her costume. Kate’s gaze lowered from the wings to the shimmering green fin.

  “I’m confused,” Kate said.

  Ava glanced down at her costume. “I’m half mermaid, half fairy.”

  “That’s not a thing,” Kate said.

  Ava raised her chin a fraction. “It is today. I invented it.”

  “Go upstairs and put on the skirt that came with the fairy costume.”

  “You’re no fun.” Ava stomped upstairs. Well, she tried to stomp, but her fin kept getting in the way.