I smiled at this woman who was so important to me. She was eighty, and I was thirty-five, yet our relationship wasn’t maternal in any way. We were sisters—family. The way Fennel and I were family. The way Cecil was.
The way Ronan was.
Kind of.
“I might not need a shower, but I definitely need breakfast. Let’s go inside. I want to pick your brain about something witch-related.” I snatched the radio off the porch. The batteries had run out sometime during the night and needed recharging.
“Okay. Fennel was out here earlier keeping watch, but he took Cecil home after I showed up. Guess he figured I was the next shift.” She followed me into the house, taking care not to spill hercoffee. “I gave them both some breakfast. You’ve got some good partners.”
“Yes, I do.” I popped the old transistor’s batteries into the charger and turned on the radio in the kitchen. The bouncy sound of “Crocodile Rock” perked up the kitchen.
“One of my favorites.” Ida shook her hips to the beat.
“No one does it like Sir Elton. I’m going to splash some water on my face. Be right back.”
“I’ll pour you a cup and set out some of Trini’s jam.”
Twenty minutes later, I’d plowed through three biscuits and was halfway through filling Ida in on the situation with Maya Reeves. She’d accompanied me on several jobs, so sharing things with her didn’t break my client confidentiality agreement.
“Thatbastard.”
“Yep.” I finished my second cup of coffee and went to pour another. I’d be shaking like a bobblehead on the dashboard of a tractor in an hour, but it was worth it. Ida’s coffee was superb.
“You want me to scare the hell out of him? I could raise some dead animals and walk them into his bathroom while he’s showering.” Her laugh was decidedly evil. I loved it.
“No, but I’m keeping that in my back pocket for the future.”
She grinned over the rim of her coffee mug.
“So, what do you think of all this?” I asked. “I know you have an opinion.”
“Desmond’s a small man with an eggshell ego, and Maya’s right to skedaddle her ass out of there.”
“I mean about Margaux.”
“Oh,her.” Ida set her mug down and leaned back in her chair. “I have concerns about Margaux Ramirez, but your mother trusted her. They were close. Lila wasn’t the sort of person to get close to people outside her inner circle, you know that.”
“True. Mom spent most of her life as a travel witch. Hard to make lasting connections when you’re only around for a short time.”
“And yet you’ve managed it.”
“Only you and the boys,” I said.
“And Trini, Gladys, the Brittons, Bronwyn. Beau from the head shop. The faeries at the coffee shop. The Desert Oasis seniors. Baek Ye-Joon. You brought that mage right into our circle of friends.”
“Joon’s a good guy.”
“I know it. And let’s not forget that sexy pub owner, Ronan Pallás.”
“Hard to forget him.” I took a sip of coffee.
“And, as much as I hate to bring it up, your demon grandfather,” she said.
“What?” Coffee went down the wrong pipe, and I coughed until my eyes watered.
Ida jumped up and whacked my back. “Sorry. I know this isn’t something you like to talk about. Let’s move on.” She retook her seat. “I know you think Margaux betrayed Lila, but I’m not so sure it wasn’t part of her plan all along.”
“Margaux’s plan?” I blinked the tears out of my eyes from my choking episode.
