You're a Witch Haley

HALEY

“Oh my God!” I exclaimed.

“Yeah, it’s horrible and seems that’s falling apart as well.” Luke said scoffing.

“No! It’s beautiful! It’s--”

“It’s crap, Hales. It’s falling apart and you will be lucky if you can save it, at all.” He sighed. ” I knew we should have booked a hotel.” Luke sighed impatiently again and started walking towards the front porch steps.

“Come on, Luke! It has character! I like it.” I stated it, and it was true.

I already loved my new home even if the roof clearly needed some work and had some big holes in it. The manor was a bit old, maybe, but I loved Victorian styled houses, and I already had a bunch of ideas running through my head to what I could expect in the inside. Even more ideas of what I wanted to do with it and how it would look like after a good renovation and restauration work. New life, new home - sort of - so new paint and work done sounded just perfect. I let out an excited screech - that obviously made my best friend flinch - and ran up the stairs. I fumbled in my purse to get my keys and finally open my new home.

I was stunned. It was so beautiful, with wide open spaces and high ceilings. I noticed what looked like the original wood in the details on the walls and windows. The foyer was big, I could see what looked like a powder room or a closet by my left, followed by the stairs they would go to the second floor and attic. On my right side there was a wooden arch that led to a cozy living room area, or a parlor if you will. The furniture was all covered with white sheets, giving it an odd vibe to the space. Ahead of the foyer there was a spacious dining room with a big dining table, I could count ten comfortable looking chairs poised by the table. All covered in white sheets. There was another seating area on my right, making the open space useful. What caught my eye was what looked like a big and wonderful solarium. I went back to the dining room, and I found the kitchen to the left. It was a very big kitchen. It had two doors by the far-left corner end. I assumed one must be the mud room and the other probably led to the basement.

I jumped and squealed again. I was so in love with my new house. It was so big and full of character; I just knew that it was also full of happy memories from my grandma’s family here. It filled my heart with ache and happiness to know that my mom had grown up here. I didn’t really remember much of her, most feelings and the hum of her voice signing me to sleep. My dad didn’t like talking about her, it made him too sad to think she had been robbed of her life and left him with a little girl to take care all by himself. Not really, I mean, yeah, he did raise me all by himself, but I remember grannie Piper saying he didn’t want anything to do with my mom’s family and we had moved far away from them to keep me safe.

He blamed my mom’s family for her death, and I had no idea why. I didn’t even know how she died. Every time I tried to ask him, he would shut me down and say it was for my own safety that I shouldn’t know or get involved. How the hell would I get involved in something that happened more than twenty years ago? Dad could be over dramatic sometimes. Regardless, he did raise me to the best of his abilities, and I was so very grateful to him for all the happy moments he gave me. But I would be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about my mother and what happened to her. Why my dad wouldn’t let me get to know my grandma and aunt. Whatever happened, it couldn’t be that bad for him to keep this grudge all these years, right?

So, when I got the letter from my grandmother Helen’s lawyer saying I needed to contact him so he could talk more about the inheritance I had just gotten, I jumped in in the chance to know anything about my mom’s family. I hadn’t told my dad to this day what I was really doing here in Green Grover city. He didn’t even know I had moved here, just that I had gotten a great job offer overseas and I had taken it. I knew that I would have to tell him at some point, and probably sooner rather than later, but I didn’t want him trying to stop me, saying I was making a mistake and that I should stay away from the Warren family.

I had to know. I had to know something about my mother, about that side of my life that I had never had the chance to know. I had lost a grandmother that I didn’t get to meet, and it killed me already. I didn’t want to lose any more opportunities or family members without getting the chance to meet them. If my dad was right and mom’s family wasn’t good for me, I would keep my distance. But I would be the one making those decisions now, I wasn’t a toddler, and I could judge by myself.

“I’m assuming you’ll get the master bedroom, right?” Luke came to me at kitchen, looking around. “I already put your bags in there. Nice kitchen, big enough to take your wild cooking.”

“Heeey!” I scoffed at him and hit his arm. “I’m not a bad cook.” I protested and pouted.

“I never said you were. I just said wild.” He chuckled and hugged me with one arm. “How about we go to town to get some groceries and toiletries, so we are sure we have everything we need for the next few days. This way we can assess what needs to be done before we need to get more stuff.”

“Sounds good to me, I’m starving.”

***

“Not sure we need that much ice cream, Luke.”

While I had done the responsible shop around the little groceries’ store, my dear old friend opted for the fun stuff. His cart was full of snacks, candies, sodas, and ice cream. I guess some people just don’t change, doesn’t matter the age.

“You kidding me? I’m almost going back for more, this town can be small, but they have a wonderful variety of ice cream flavors. Some even I haven’t tried it yet.” His eyes were wide, and I could see his internal battle about going back for more. The guy was nuts over ice cream.

“How about we try these ones first and we can come back for more in a couple of days?”

He debated himself a little more but finally nodded and we made our way to the cashier. The woman was on her phone scrolling down on something, when we approach, she quickly put her phone down and looked at us with a big friendly smile plastered on her face. I liked small towns, people always seemed so nice and approachable. The cashier was probably about my age, maybe a few years older. She had jet-black shoulder length wavy hair framing her heart shaped delicate face. She had big green eyes, tiny nose and plump red painted lips. She looked like a porcelain doll.

“Hey, there, new faces. Are you staying in town for business or pleasure?” Her name tag read Lizzy.

“Hi, Lizzy.” I greeted her while passing some of the groceries so she could scan it. “A bit of both, actually. I’ve just moved in. And I’m super excited! It’s the first time I’m that far away from my family. You see, my dad is a little overprotective and all, so I had to move without really telling to where. He would be pissed if he knew the truth.” Luke rolled his eyes at my chirpy voice and attitude. I was happy, what could I do.

“Oh.” Lizzy frowned a little, but quickly shook her head and smiled brightly again. “Welcome to Green Grover. I hope you like it here.”

“She already loves it. I’m Luke, by the way.” Luke introduced himself while unloading the ice cream and snacks out of his cart.

“This is Haley. She sometimes forgets basics, like names and such.”

I narrowed my eyes at him and shoved him a little in protest. I’m sure she didn’t notice my lack of decorum, even if she did, she wouldn’t have said anything. Yet, my so-called friend had to embarrass me for no reason. Okay, maybe I rambled on a little, but I was excited to start my new life. Was it so bad? Don’t get me wrong, I was comfortable with my life before I moved here. I’m a writer, so I can basically work from anywhere. I used to work for a cooking magazine, but now I would have the time to work on my own stuff. I was living with my grannie Piper, she was a retired chef, so my love for cooking came from her for sure. But I felt I was ready to start working on my own novel, like I always dreamed about. It all just fit perfectly.

“She will fit right in, then.” Lizzy said and chuckled. “What side of town are you staying at, Haley?”

“Southeast side, almost outside town, really.” I smiled at her. Being a small town, I imagined she knew the area well enough to know where I was referring to. “About that, do you know any contractors I can hire? I’ll need some help in the manor.” I might be wrong, but I could swear I saw Lizzy go pale for a second. She was staring at her computer, processing the rest of the groceries and shrugged her shoulders.

“You can try Morris Construction, they’re located a few blocks ahead, down the main street.” She pointed down the street through the window. “So, you’re related to the Warrens?” Lizzy asked nonchalantly side eyeing me.

“Helen was my grandmother, but to be honest I didn’t know her. I moved away when I was four.” So, my family had some history here. Well, I suppose that was expected, since I knew that my mom’s family lived here for a few generations already. Still, something about the way Lizzy asked me about it told me that there was more to the story than what I knew.

“You’re Hannah’s daughter?” She gasped and looked at me wide eyed.

“Hm, yes?” I was confirming her assumption, but it sounded more like a question of my own. So people around town knew about my mother. Did they know about her death and my dad leaving? They must have. I gazed at Luke, and he was staring at Lizzy with a serious expression, like he didn’t like her line of questioning or something. He was a little overprotective with me, had always been. Whenever someone at school would make cry or sad, he would give them hell about it. He even punched my first boyfriend after he cheated on me. We were ten, he got into a lot of trouble for defending me. I knew he was about to say something not so nice to Lizzy.

“Thanks, Lizzy. I’ll see about going to Morris Constructions as soon as possible. How much do I owe you for the groceries?”

Better end things here instead of getting into trouble already.

Back at the manor, Luke was helping make dinner after we put away all the groceries and unpacked a few boxes. My room was almost done, I had unpacked most of my clothes and personal items. I was already feeling at home. We hadn’t uncovered all the furniture yet, just what we were really using. After all, we still needed a contractor to come here and see what needed to be done. There was no rush to get everything unpacked and uncovered. So far all the furniture I had inspected were in perfect conditions. It seemed that only the structure of the house was a bit compromised. That was better than what I expected, so yeah to small victories. Hopefully Morris Construction would be able to help me, and in a short time. That hole in the roof was pretty bad and needed to be fixed yesterday.

“I need your breast.” Luke interrupted my thoughts.

It took me a few seconds to process what he had just said. But that was Luke in a nutshell. He would make jokes and say something out of context just to pull me from the depths of my mind. I playfully glared at him and hit his outstretch hand. Even though he would make some inappropriate jokes here and there, Luke had never tried anything with me before. Sure, he would kiss my cheek and hug me. But we knew it was in a friendly way. We never saw each other any different. In high school everybody would whisper about us, saying we were blind, and we were clearly in love with each other. The joke was on them, they were the blind ones. We never had those kinds of feelings towards one another. Still, he would joke about it.

“My chicken breast, you mean.” I retorted.

“Well, for the grill, yes. But I’m not opposed if you want to offer me something different.” He winked and took the seasoned chicken breast I offered him.

“Oh yeah?” I purred at him. I knew he was bluffing, so why not poke fun at him. I turned to him with sultry eyes and started unbuttoning my blouse slowly. “Come and get it, tiger.” I husked out, exposing my cleavage. Luke made a double take when he glanced at me. His cheeks immediately heated up and he averted his eyes.

“What are you doing?” He asked agitated.

I walked to him, invading his personal space, and put my hands on his chest. “You look so sexy cooking. It’s making me hungry for something other than food, Lu.” I got on my tiptoes to whisper that on his ear. He firmly took me in his arms and created some distance between us.

“Stop that, Haley.” He begged me. His eyes searching mine to see if I was being serious. I couldn’t contain it anymore and started laughing. “You’re so mean.” He pouted.

“I’m sorry, Luke. I just couldn’t resist.” I said between laughs. He scoffed my way and returned to his task at hand. “Oh, come on. It wasn’t that bad.” Now was my time to pout.

“Your shirt. Can you fix that, please?” He said without lookng at me.

Oops.

“Oh, prude. You’ve seen me in a bikini, Luke. It’s nothing new to you.” I said and buttoned up my blouse again.

The guy could get really intimidated by some exposed skin. Well, not any exposed skin. Mine. He didn’t like me to show my assets around and would get pissed at any guy that looked my way. Not true, even some girls too. Drunk I asked him about that once and his response was that he was there to protect me from any harm and that included the guys that weren’t good enough for me. Good enough according to him, at least. I knew he didn’t like me that way, but sometimes it bothered me that I had never seen him with a girl or guy. He always brushed me off, and after a few years I stopped pestering him about it.

Come to think of it, it wasn’t such a bad thing. I knew it was selfish to think like that, but the fact that he was unattached, meant he could move with me here. It meant I didn’t have to start a new life totally alone. I would always have my best friend.