Prelude to a Witch, Amanda Lee [ebook reader web txt] 📗

should point out that Bay would’ve been well within her rights to kill them. I believe you owe her a thank you.”

Aunt Willa was incredulous. “Excuse me?”

“You heard me.” Aunt Tillie refused to back down. “Rosemary is only alive because of Bay. Her life is a freaking train wreck. You should recognize that, because your life has always been a train wreck.”

“I don’t think I like your tone,” Aunt Willa hissed.

“I don’t think I care.” For once, Aunt Tillie wasn’t in a joking mood. She was deadly serious. “Brian Kelly is at the very least going to be named a suspect in Paisley Gilmore’s murder. That will make him a pariah in this town. If Rosemary chooses to stay with him — which is a mistake — it will reflect badly on her and you. Do you want that?”

“He’s not a murderer,” Aunt Willa insisted. “I would know.”

“You can’t even see the truth of yourself,” Aunt Tillie fired back. “How can you see him when you’re oblivious about yourself?”

“I’m ... not.” Aunt Willa studied Rosemary’s profile. Her granddaughter was a disheveled, shaking mess. “I don’t understand how this happened.”

They were the same words Rosemary had spoken. “She allowed it to happen,” I snapped. “You helped it happen. There’s a lot for you two to break down. Just for the record, no matter what she says, she knows what occurred. She remembers. She was there. You can talk to each other about that, argue to your heart’s content, but we’re done with you.”

Aunt Willa rolled her eyes. “You’ve always been an ungrateful girl. It’s because you were raised by an ungrateful ass.” She gestured to Aunt Tillie. “I don’t believe a word you’ve said here today.”

“That’s your prerogative.” I turned my attention to the kitchen door as it swung open, smiling as my mother handed me a baggie full of bacon. “Thank you.”

“Terry called,” Mom said. “He’s on his way home. He said Landon is going straight to the guest house.”

That was my cue. I pushed myself to a standing position. “I need to get home.”

“We’re not done here,” Aunt Willa argued. “We’re nowhere near done.”

“Oh, we’re done.” I was fed up with her and everything she represented. “I have nothing left to say to you. As it is, it’s going to take days to clean up the mess your granddaughter left in our town. You need to go.”

“You can’t just kick me out of town.”

“I can, and that’s what I’m doing.” I started for the hallway. “You have three days. Pack up and get out.”

“Or what?”

“Or I’ll have every ghost in town haunt you.”

“Is that a threat?”

“It’s a promise.”

“She’ll make them sing show tunes,” Aunt Tillie warned. “Bad ones. You’ll never know peace again.”

Aunt Willa worked her jaw, searching for words. “This isn’t my fault,” she moaned. “I didn’t know.”

“You might not have known, but it is your fault,” I countered. “Now it’s time for you to do the right thing and fix what you broke. You can’t do it here, though. This is my town.”

Aunt Tillie smirked, but didn’t speak.

“Where are you going?” Aunt Willa demanded. “We’re nowhere near done.”

“I’m going home to feed my fiancé bacon and make wedding plans,” I replied. “He’s earned a mental break. It’s time you took responsibility. You’re just as much to blame for this as Brian and Rosemary are.”

“This is not my fault!”

I was too tired to keep pressing the issue. Instead, I met Aunt Tillie’s gaze. “Can you take it from here?”

She grinned and bobbed her head. “This is why two super witches are better than one. It would be my pleasure to finish this up.”

For once, I wholeheartedly agreed with her.

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About the Author

I want to thank everyone who takes the time to read my novels. I have a particular brand of humor that isn’t for everyone – and I know that.

If you liked the book, please take a few minutes and leave a review. An independent author does it all on their own, and the reviews are helpful. I understand that my characters aren’t for everyone, though. There’s a lot of snark and sarcasm in my world – and I know some people don’t like that.

Special thanks go out to Heidi Bitsoli and Phil VanHulle for correcting the (numerous) errors that creep into a work of fiction.

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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.

For more information:

author@amandamlee.net

Books by Amanda M. Lee

An Avery Shaw Mystery

Who, What, Where, When, Die

If it Bleeds, it Leads

Buried Leads

Shot Off The Presses

The Preditorial Page

Misquoted & Demoted

Headlines & Deadlines

Misprints & Mistakes

Bylines & Skylines

Off the Record

Unwritten & Underwater

Extra! Extra! Dead All About It

On Deadline & Under Fire

Above the Fold & Below the Belt

Oracles & Obituaries

New Media & Old Grudges

Mayhem & Mistletoe

Weddings & Whodunits

A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Mystery

Any Witch Way You Can

Every Witch Way But Wicked

Witching You Were Here

Witching on a Star

Something to Witch About

Witch Me Luck

Life’s a Witch

Charms & Witchdemeanors

The Trouble With Witches

Murder Most Witchy

A Witch Before Dying

A Breath of Witchy Air

Witch, Interrupted

Flip the Witch Switch

Witchin’ Around the Clock

To Love a Witch

The Witch is Back

A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Short

Careful What You Witch For

Wicked Brew

On a Witch and a Prayer

You Only Witch Once

The Christmas Witch

Bewitched

A Solstice Celebration

Witchdependence Day

Happy Witchgiving

Merry Witchmas

Four-Leaf Clover

Thistle While You Work

Landon Calling

I Dream of Twila

How Aunt Tillie Stole Christmas

A Wicked Witches of the Midwest Fantasy

Witchy Tales

A Witch In Time

Make A Witch

A Witchmas Carol

All My Witches

Close Encounters of the Witchy Kind

An Aisling Grimlock Mystery

Grim Tidings

Grim Offerings

Grim Discovery

Grim Reunion

Grim Expectations

Grim Holiday

Grim Rising

Grim Tempest

Grim