Chapter 1
There are some days when life throws a curveball at you and it’s easy to hit out of the park. Okay, maybe it’s not exactly easy, but you still manage to connect your bat with the ball.
Then there are other days when not only does life send about a dozen curveballs your way, but it also manages to send a tsunami of rain in your direction as well.
This was one of those days.
I stood in Malene Frederick’s living room, staring at her. Only seconds before, Malene had pulled the bun off her head, taken off her glasses and yanked off her housecoat, revealing much younger-looking clothing beneath the billowy dress.
“Why didn’t you ever tell me that you were my grandmother?” I whispered.
Yep, that was the tsunami and curveball I was facing. I’d known Malene for years and never had an inkling that this was the case—that she was my grandma.
Malene exhaled in disappointment. I don’t know who she was disappointed in—me or her. “I should have told you. I know that. It wasn’t easy keeping this a secret from you. So many times I wanted to reveal it. But you needed to come to terms with some things first.”
Sounded like a lame excuse to me. “Because I needed time to deal with my powers, you used that as an excuse to keep this secret?”
“Let’s face it, Clem, that’s true.” Lady, my talking dog, padded over from a corner that she’d been sniffing. “You never did like your magic. You appreciate it more now, but only because John’s been helping you with it. Of course, you’ve got to figure out if you’re sweet on John or not. He is pretty cute, and he seems like he’d do just about anything for you. But he might be one of those guys that once you sleep with him, he doesn’t care about you anymore. Let me think about that for a minute.” My dog shook her head. “Nah. I think John would still want you even if you gave him a piece.”
Shame licked up my neck in the form of heat. “Can we take one problem at a time?” I snarled.
I could talk to Malene about being my grandmother, but I did not want to even think about John—or Rufus, as I knew him. And I certainly didn’t want to think about what Lady,my dog,was suggesting. What in the world? Talking dogs should be limited on what they can talk about—food and birds. They absolutely should not, under any condition, be allowed to discuss someone’s private life.
Maybe Lady needed a muzzle.
“Why do you think that you ended up here, in Peachwood?” Malene asked.
“Coincidence?” I said.
She sat on the couch and pointed to the cookies and tea she’d prepared. “Please eat.”
“I’d rather stand,” I said sharply.
All right, I get it. I should be rejoicing to find a grandmother that I never knew existed. But y’all, I had known Malene for years.Years.She’d had every chance to tell me this secret ages ago. But she’s chosen not to.
Let me just say that I was a little ticked off about the whole situation.
She nibbled on a shortbread cookie. “After your parents died, I thought that you might come here then. But you were determined to get your education, so you had focus. It was when something else happened to you, something that left a traumatic wound, that you found yourself here, in Peachwood. That was how the call of magic worked. You would arrive here when you were ready and not a moment before.”
Tears brimmed my eyes. “I needed you when Mama and Daddy died. I needed someone then. It was the perfect opportunity for you to come to me. You needed me, too. Weren’t you hurting when you discovered what had happened?”
Her eyes flared with surprise. “Of course I was. Your mother meant everything to me.”
“Then why did you have a feud with her to begin with? Why did you let your differences make such a wedge between the two of you?”
Anger and frustration burned through my veins like lava. Malene could have been part of my life years ago, but she chose not to be. When I was bruised and broken over both of my parents’ deaths, I could have used a grandmother to ease some of the pain.
She wrung her hands. “I should have told you. I’m sorry that I didn’t. But I was worried that meeting me would be too much. That it would have sent you into shock. I kept watch over you. I had people check in and tell me how you were doing.”
“So you kept tabs on me,” I said bitterly. “Wow. That makes me feel so much better.”
My attitude was disgusting even to me. It wasn’t right to be this angry and take it out on Malene. She’d never been anything but kind.
I exhaled a deep shot of air and knuckled a tear from my eyes. “I’m sorry that I’m acting like a child.”
“You ain’t acting like a child,” Lady quipped. “You’re acting like Clem.”
“Thank you, Lady.”
