Chapter 40
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE SISTERHOOD
Bonnie
If you’d asked Bonnie a few weeks earlier if there was any probability of her sitting down for dinner with Bobby, Effie and Effie’sboyfriend, she would have laughed in your face. It was all too preposterous and absurd. She and Effie had been navigating a rift more turbulent than the San Andreas Fault. And the prospect of either of them being partnered up certainly hadn’t been in any of the tarot readings or horoscopes that had come her way – and living in Yellowbrick Grove, there had been many.
And yet, here they were, gathered around the kitchen dining table, where no more than one person at a time had sat since Mom had died. Bonnie had topped the table with a pink floral tablecloth that Sabine had borrowed from Mom years before, and had found while clearing out her attic. The table setting was perfectly mismatched, with glass and ceramic crockery in all sorts of whimsical combinations, and the aroma of home-made pizza and carrot cake and eucalyptus candles warmed the air.
Over by the butcherblock counter, Bobby tossed an immense salad loaded with sliced pears and feta cheese, and Theo was industriously slicing a pizza.
‘So, when do you start, Theo?’ asked Bonnie, nibbling a hummus-dipped carrot. ‘Or should I say, Professor.’
‘Not quite professor. I’ll be an adjunct, starting next week,’he said, helping himself to a slice of pepperoni. ‘I’ve been knee-deep in lesson plans since they sent me the offer letter. Not to mention cramming every night so that I can get these last few classes for my master’s wrapped up.’
‘It must be a bit of a change of pace after the city,’ said Bobby, popping a square of feta into his mouth.
‘Which is precisely what I like about it.’ Theo leaned over to give Effie a kiss on the forehead. ‘Besides, I have a formidable librarian on speed dial. If anyone asks me a too-hard question, she’ll be straight off to the catalogue in search of an answer.’
‘I can hardly say no to the man who single-handedly created an endowment for the Friends of the Library group,’ said Effie with a tone imbued with...was that warmth?
Wow, Theo was a miracle worker.
‘And how’s the apartment going, Bobby?’ asked Theo, wiping down the pizza cutter.
‘Almost there. Hannah’s going through the tenant applications right now. Once we have someone in there, the rent will be enough to cover the overheads at the bar.’
Bonnie flushed. Who could have known that the answer to her money woes had been so simple all along?
‘And no one will mind that it’s possibly haunted?’ pressed Theo.
At that, Agatha meowed, sparking a grin from both Effie and Theo.
‘Are you kidding?’ Bobby chuckled. ‘They’ll pay a premium for it. Especially if we add some ghostly sound effects and—’
‘We absolutely will not,’ said Bonnie. ‘We’re doing it legit, or not at all. Besides, ghost hunters don’t actually want toseea ghost. The whole appeal is thewill they, won’t they. It’s like romance readers with a slow-burn book.’
‘See,’ said Effie. ‘One session at the romance book club, and Bonnie is steeped in tropes.’
‘Like friends to lovers?’ teased Bobby, stooping to give Agatha a gentle pat on the head. ‘I like that one.’
The fluffy black cat headbutted him gently, demanding more attention. As witches were wont to do, thought Bonnie with a wicked grin.
Never far from their mom, the tiny kittens tottered around beneath the table, mewling plaintively and batting at feet with their tiny paws. Bonnie and Effie had discussed what to do with the kittens once they were big enough to leave their mom – perhaps set them up as library cats or bar cats or yoga studio cats – but every proposal felt wrong. A mom and her kids deserved to be together for as long as possible. And if Bonnie and Effie could help make that happen, well, they would. There was plenty of room in the old Queen Anne, after all, even if the boys eventually decided to move in. Cat trees and cat beds and cat toys bristled all over, like a forest of fluffy feathered trees, and everywhere you went, huge eyes blinked up at you.
The house felt alive again, the way it had when Mom was here, sitting at the table making up nonsense answers to the crossword because her version was more poetic, or hunched over her desk, beading earrings to swap with Sabine, or humming golden oldies as she sat on the stairs folding the laundry and musing on the lonely existence of mismatched socks.
Theo uncorked a wine bottle, setting it down on the table as he reached for the glasses. One of the kittens chose just that moment to lunge up onto one of the dining chairs and then across the table with a caterwauling scream.
The wine bottle momentarily considered remaining upright, then decided that horizontal was the way to go. It teetered, wobbled, then angled itself towards the table, its contents sloshing from its open neck.
Bonnie didn’t even think – she just reacted. Her wrists sparkled with magic.
So did Effie’s.
Green and purple threads poured from the sisters’ wrists as they simultaneously reacted to the toppling bottle, unthinkingly trying to right it in the way that seemed completely natural to them.
The bottle wobbled, then came to rest upright.
