“You’re getting married. I’malreadymarried, and in college. You’ve got Shiloh and Kian to help run the bar.” We chose a booth, and Hannah slid into the opposite side while she concluded, “It would make sense. I know that Salem was never where you wanted to settle.”
“I used to think the same thing,” I admitted. “Then you came along and flipped my whole world on its head—and it turned out to be the best thing that ever happened to me. I’m exactly where I need to be. It really sucks that I missed out on so much of your life, and I’m going to do my best to make up for that. You’resuchan incredible person, Hannah.”
She drank in my words, her lips blossoming into a gentle smile.
After we ordered our drinks, I continued. “I’m sure your mom and your grandma told you plenty of stories about me as a teenager—I was a disaster. That weighed heavily on me when we first met. The last thing I wanted to do was disrupt your entire life.” I took a deep breath. “Which is why telling you this is so difficult.”
“Okay…”
“You’re a witch.”
“Well, that’s not very nice.”
Despite the seriousness of the conversation, I cracked a smile. Yeah, this smartass was my kid. “I wish I was joking.”
We fell silent again as the server set our glasses in front of us, then whisked away to give us time to decide on our main courses.
Hannah grabbed her soda, trailing her finger through the condensation beading on the glass. “You’re serious.”
I nodded, scrubbing the back of my neck. “I am. There’ssomuch more to the story, and I can explain how I found out if you want, but it all comes down to that.” I winced. That sounded blunt, didn’t it? “Sorry, you know I’m not exactly the best at talking about real stuff.”
She barely noticed my rambling. “A witch. As in, spells and cauldrons, black cats and herbs?”
“Yeah, that kind of witch.”
“Magick?”
“Yep.”
She shook her head in disbelief. “But… I can’t do magick. Trust me, cleaning my room growing up would’ve gone a lot easier if I could.”
“You don’t have your powers yet.” I tried to recall the information that Victoria had given me. Christ, I should have asked her to join us. It seemed like every word we’d spoken that night had vanished.
“It was a lot to take in, but Gabriel put me in contact with a witch named Victoria, who promised to help us figure out how to navigate our powers.”
Hannah watched me for a moment, swirling her straw in her drink. The sound of the ice against the glass seemed to echo around me. Seconds dragged on. All conversation in the restaurant faded away as I waited for my daughter’s reaction.
She just watched me. Wide, blue eyes scanned my features, just as they had months ago when I’d blurted out that James was a vampire. She tookthatwell, but I didn’t know how she would react to being swept up in the supernatural world herself.
Finally, she let go of the straw and shoved her drink to the side. “‘Us?’”
“Huh?”
“You said, ‘helpusfigure out how to navigate our powers.’ Meaning you’ll be there for me too?”
“Well, yeah.” I shrugged. “I’m not going to let you go through this alone.”
Thenher eyes filled with tears. She reached for a napkin, attempting to keep them from spilling over and smearing her mascara. “Didn’t I tell you not to get all sappy on me?”
Unsure of what to say, I waited while Hannah absorbed what I’d just told her. She set the black-smudged napkin aside, and the server returned for our food orders. Hannah had the “usual,” and I just selected something random. There were very few things Iwouldn’teat, so I knew I couldn’t go wrong.
Hannah waited for the server to walk out of earshot before she spoke again. “So… How long do I have to learn what it means to be a witch?”
“I’m not exactly sure. Victoria seems very helpful, though, and?—”
“Wait,” Hannah interrupted. “You don’t have powers, right? So does that mean… there are no male witches?”
I scrubbed my hands over my face. “Um. About that.”
