Page 2 of Witchy Chick

She always walked home with them since the twins’ elementary school was on the way home from the high school. I still couldn’t believe she was a freshman this year. How did time go so fast?

She texted back almost immediately, I have a study date with the guys.

You’ll have to take a raincheck.

I unlocked my white SUV and climbed in, aware of Catherine watching me from the sidewalk, concern in her eyes. I waved at her and smiled before putting the car in gear and pulling out. See? Everything was fine. I had everything under control.

When I got home, the realtor was already parked in front of the house, the beautiful two-story home with tall pillars on the front porch, and everything looking better than brand new. Lived-in. Loved in. I took a second to stare at the house, remembering the first time I’d pulled up with Clark, my handsome husband, looking at it and then at him.

“Can we afford it?” I asked, not wanting to sound too hopeful.

He raised my hands, blue eyes sweet as he pressed a kiss to my skin. “I think we can. Do you want it?”

I slowly nodded, and then I was in his arms, like I couldn’t resist him. Because I couldn’t. Thus the pregnancy I hadn’t wanted or expected. When I first found out I was pregnant, I’d gone to him to break up because the shock of being pregnant had made me realize that I’d let my grades slide, let everything fade away while I was consumed by loving this person. I couldn’t give someone else that much power over me. I knew what being powerless felt like, getting passed from one foster home to another, again and again. But Clark didn’t let me run away, made me tell him what was wrong, and then he got this look on his face, surprised and delighted, before he promptly dropped to his knee and proposed to me. He had a ring already, said he’d been wanting to propose but didn’t want me to feel pressured. And then we got a house and…fifteen years later, he cheated on me. A perfect fairytale home for the fairytale life.

And they lived happily ever after.

I took a deep breath, opened the door and climbed out, giving the realtor a gracious smile. “Esther, how good to see you.”

“I was so excited to get your message! Are you really putting this grand lady on the market? I thought you loved it to death.”

‘Til death do us part.

I shrugged. “It’s time to move on.”

She raised her brow. “And Clark? I mean Mr. Cooper? Will he be able to make it on the walk-through?”

I swallowed hard. Clark? I mean Mr. Cooper? Did she have an affair with him? This is why you shouldn’t marry handsome men. “No. He’s been detained. We’ll go ahead with the walk-through. I’d like to list it by the end of the week, if you don’t mind.”

She blinked at me. “Really? The end of the week?”

I shrugged. “We found this other house that’s just too perfect. It’s a for-sale-by-owner, so I can’t give you the information, but the sooner we can sell the better, before someone else buys it out from under us.”

She blinked a few times and nodded. “Oh, sure. Well, let’s get started.”

Giving Esther a tour of the house was like swallowing razors. Every object in every room was a memory, a barb in my heart that twisted the betrayal. When we got to the master bedroom, I couldn’t go in. I just stood outside and gestured to her in while my stomach roiled in tangled knots that squeezed my heart tighter and tighter.

“Wow! Look at that fireplace! And the master bath is just gorgeous! This is going to sell so fast. You really have kept the place immaculate. There are perks to being a perfectionist.”

I smiled at her. I knew her from the PTA, specifically the cupcake bake-off. My cupcakes were perfect, separated alphabetically by allergies. It was important for celiac kids to have options that didn’t taste like sawdust. She had store-bought cupcakes with number-seven food coloring.

I left her there and went to the kitchen to get myself a drink of water. I stared at the water running down the ceramic sink. My hands were shaking. Why would my hands be shaking? Something like this was bound to happen eventually. Life always came crashing down around your ears.

I drank the water, trying to calm down and maintain my smile. When I went back into the living room, Esther was talking on the phone.

“But her husband isn’t here. You know that when there’s a sudden sale like this, it usually indicates some trouble in paradise. Have you seen her husband? And she’s so incredibly uptight. I don’t know how anyone could live with that. You know her kids all have to be perfect, like him. So much stress. Just being here with her is stressing me out. But the commission’s going to be amazing. She really does keep her house incredibly well.”

I went to the piano and started packing up the kid’s piano books. Hopefully, we’d be able to keep the piano lessons. I needed to call the movers. And the storage place.

“Good news!” Esther said, coming into the music room, giving it a satisfied once-over before she bared her teeth at me in a vicious smile. “We’ll be able to get it on the market this week. The photographer can come in tomorrow morning.”

I smiled back at her, not trying to kill her with my piano, however much I wanted to. It was so unprofessional to gossip about the people you wanted to use for a commission. “Thank you so much. I really appreciate your efforts. I’ve been looking at expected market value and am hoping for a very generous return on my hard work.” I took her arm and led her to the door. “I’m having four other realtors by so I can get good comps.”

She blinked at me, nose wrinkling before she stepped out onto the porch. “Our rates are competitive.”

“I’m sure they are, but it’s always good to double check. You know how OCD I am about checking things.” I closed the door in her face then called the movers and the storage place. I’d just need to get the kids to pack up whatever they’d need between moving out and getting a house somewhere. In two days, the movers would be here. It was really happening. Really?

I hesitated and picked up the family photo on top of the piano, my husband smiling so warmly with his arm around me and Sage, while the twins James and Jerome beamed at the camera with their pale blonde hair and missing front teeth. We’d gone on a daytrip to the waterfall. It was stressful, as all vacations are, trying to keep the kids from destroying anything or killing each other. My smile looked fake, but I’d been happy, right? Hadn’t he been happy? He looked warm and steady, the comforting presence that chased away the loneliness I’d been so accustomed to.