Page 61 of Bargain with Fate
“And we never would’ve known if it wasn’t for this game,” Bernice said, “so thank you for that.”
Meemaw struggled to keep a straight face. “You’re welcome. Should we tally our points?”
“I think we’re all winners tonight,” I said, eager to move along. “Who needs points?”
Bernice glanced around the living room. “Thank you so much for inviting me tonight. I know you like to keep a closed circle.”
“We don’t have a circle,” Margie said, her defensiveness on full display.
“Of course we do,” Louise said. “It’s called a coven, but there’s no reason we can’t expand our circle to include non-witches.”
Bernice beamed with gratitude. “As much fun as this has been, my social battery is on empty for the day.” Bernice glanced at Louise. “I guess I’ll see you at home.”
“I’m tired too. Why don’t we go together?”
We said good night and watched them leave.
“Mission accomplished?” I whispered to Meemaw.
The elderly witch nodded, wearing the hint of a smile.
“I think I like Bernice,” Catherine announced, then paused, uncertain. “Is that allowed?”
“You’re free to like anybody and everybody,” Meemaw said. “It shouldn’t matter what our opinion is. That being said, I like Bernice too. She’s a little fidgety, but that might change once she gets more comfortable with us.”
Margie glanced at the closed door. “Did you hear some of her answers? Who would’ve guessed she was such a force to be reckoned with in her youth? And we thought Louise had the market cornered on badass bitches.”
They never would’ve guessed it about me either, nor did I want them to.
Meemaw caught my eye. “How do you feel about the game, Maya?”
“It was fun. Joan was a good teammate.”
“Maya was homeschooled,” Joan said. “We should’ve figured that one out, right?”
Murmurs of assent followed her announcement. I was insulted, but not insulted enough to defend myself with actual facts.
“I should get home too,” I said. “Jinx has an appointment with Dr. Adam in the morning.”
“Jinx?” Margie asked. “You have an appointment for the cat you swear isn’t your cat?”
“Correct.”
Meemaw cleared off the table. “Have you ever taken a cat to the doctor’s before?”
“No.”
The witches exchanged amused looks. “I see,” Meemaw said. “Good luck with that.”
I didn’t see what the big deal was. Jinx attended the birthday party without a struggle. She was a cat. How would she know the difference?
As I drove home from Meemaw’s, my thoughts turned from Jinx to my parents. A part of me found it difficult to believe that a man as intelligent and insightful as my father could fall for a woman like my mother. Surely, he’d seen who she was at her core, but then that would mean my father was as responsible as she was for my adolescence. For years of servitude. For fashioning me into a weapon to be wielded by those who didn’t want to dirty their own pristine hands.
As much as I loved my father, I still wrestled with that. I’d accepted my mother’s failures a long time ago. If I had to accept that my father had failed me too…Maybe if he hadn’t died, he wouldn’t have been granted the luxury of sainthood.
But hehaddied, and I would never know for certain. I had to find a way to make peace with that.
I parked my golf cart outside the cottage and stepped onto the porch. Two shiny green eyes stared at me from the rocking chair.
