Page 79 of The Glittering Edge

Penny smiles, grabbing her mom’s hand. She came to the hospital after her fateful adventure at the library, her head spinning. Even now, a picture of the microfilm is pulled up on her phone and Penny quickly locks her screen.

Naomi purses her lips. “You haven’t been calling me back.”

“What?” It hits her. “Oh, wait. You called me yesterday.”

“Three times this week, actually.”

Penny groans, putting her face in her hands. “What’s wrong with me?”

“It’s probably all thedissociating.” Naomi says it as a joke, but there’s an undertone of hurt.

Shame blooms in Penny’s chest. “I’m sorry.”

Naomi’s features soften. “Ron called me this morning, actually. Said you haven’t been yourself lately.”

“Oh,” Penny says quietly. She’s a homebody under normal circumstances, and she wondered if her godfather was noticing how little she’s been around.

“He said you’ve been kind of frazzled, and you need a distraction. So! We’re going to that fancy movie theater in Indianapolis. They’re doing a special screening ofMean Girls, and I know one of the bartenders through the makeup community. She won’t card us.”

It’s as if Naomi wrapped her in a warm blanket. The two of them have had so many evenings at the movies, shoulders touching as they laughed behind their hands. It’s a chance to forget the curse, to forget the strange photo she discovered, to numb at least some of Penny’s anxiety. “That sounds perfect.”

For a second, it feels like everything is okay between them again. They’ve been spending time apart, but they can get back to where they were with the help of Regina George.

Naomi’s smile fades. “I need this, too. You know, Kyla and I—”

Penny’s phone vibrates with a text. “Oh sorry, one second.”

It’s the Cozy Mystery Book Club chat.

JULY 18 3:22 PM

CB

Corey Barrion

Can we meet?

AD

Alonso De Luca

why

Are you okay?

CB

Corey Barrion

Milton called. There’s still another coven in Idlewood.

AD

Alonso De Luca

WHAT

who??

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