Witch Is When the Bubble Burst by Adele Abbott Read Free Book Online Page A

case early so was able to squeeze him in.
    I couldn’t focus on work because all I could think about was all of the things I wanted to do to Jack Maxwell. No! Not that kind of thing. My romantic interest in that man was over. I refused to date an asshat. Turn him into a rat? Maybe—I could get on board with that idea.
    It was a beautiful afternoon, so I decided a walk might calm me down and clear my head. I deliberately headed in the opposite direction from Ever A Wool Moment. I couldn’t handle Grandma and her stupid one-size fits all needles. Instead I headed out towards the common where I’d be able to sit on a bench and try to chill out.
    So there I sat, minding my own business, and ignoring the ducks which had gathered around my legs. I was obviously sitting on the bench reserved for the professional duck feeders. You know the type: trainers, odd socks and a bag full of bread.
    “Billy! Don’t kick the ball near that lady.” The woman’s voice came from behind me. “Don’t kick—”
    The ball hit me on the back of the head with a thud.
    “Sorry about that,” she said, but she didn’t look particularly sorry. “Boys will be boys.”
    I smiled and went back to ignoring the ducks.
    “Billy! Be careful where you kick it.”
    Thud. Right on the back of the head again. Now, I realise that I have no parenting experience, but even I could see that little Billy was doing it deliberately.
    “Billy. Be careful of the lady.”
    He’d better be careful.
    Thud. Okay, enough was enough.
    I picked up the ball and threw it towards darling Billy. As I did so I cast the ‘move’ spell which gave me control of the ball as it floated towards him. Billy had his arms stretched up in the air as he followed the ball’s trajectory.
    “Billy, be careful!” his mother yelled.
    It was floating inches above his fingertips. So near, yet so far.
    “Billy! Be careful of the—”
    Splash!
    Billy fell into the pond scattering the ducks in all directions. It wasn’t deep, and within seconds his mother had waded in and pulled him out. The little angel was covered with mud and soaked to the skin. Shame. I waited until the ball was over the centre of the pond, and then let it drop into the water.
    “Is he okay?” I shouted, doing my best to sound concerned. “Boys will be boys.”
     
    ***
     
    Curiously, I felt a whole lot better. The sound of Billy and his mother squelching their way out of the park had taken my mind off Maxwell. I was so over that man now it wasn’t even funny. Just let him say one wrong word to me, and I’d set his butt on fire with a ‘burn’ spell. The Bugle regularly suggested that the police needed a fire lit under them. Well, I’d be more than happy to help with that.
    My phone rang. If that was Maxwell coming back for more, I wouldn’t be responsible for my actions.
    “Jill!” Pearl screamed down the phone. “It’s Pearl.”
    “And Amber.”
    “Let me do the talking,” Pearl said.
    “Why? She’s my cousin too.”
    “Girls, what’s wrong?”
    I could tell by their voices that all was not well.
    “Miles Best!” Amber yelled.
    “We’re going to kill him!”
    Miles Best had been at school with the twins. They’d both secretly had a crush on him, and had been hoping to rekindle the flame at a recent school reunion. Needless to say their fiancés had been unaware of all this. Anyway, as it turned out, the years had not been kind to Miles Best, and neither of the twins was now interested in him. He hadn’t taken ‘no’ for an answer until I’d stepped in and warned him off. I had thought that was an end to the matter, but apparently not.
    “Is he stalking you again?”
    “No. Much worse than that. It’s his shop.”
    “What’s his shop?”
    “The new cake shop across the road from Cuppy C. It’s his shop.”
    “Best Cakes is Miles Best? Are you sure? Have you spoken to him?”
    “No, but we saw him, and that new girlfriend of his, in there today. It has to be his shop. What are