Page 1 of Returning to Everton

1

Rowen

I’m walking around my house in a daze. It seems I’ve been doing that a lot lately. I’ve felt like I’ve been coming out of a fog since my husband got sick a few months before he died. I just feel like something is missing in my life.

I hear Violet playing when I walk by her room. That brings me back to myself a little. I stop in front of her door and just listen. Sounds like she’s having a tea party with her dolls. I hear her talking in a different voice like she’s speaking for one of her dolls, and she asks herself for a cookie to go with her tea.

She switches back to her normal voice and says, “Oh no. We have no cookies for our tea party! You girls wait right there. I’m gonna ask Mommy for some cookies.”

I smile and back away from her door before she comes out and catches me listening to her. By the time she comes out looking for me, I’m already in the kitchen attempting to look busy.

She rushes over to me and asks, “Mommy, can we make some cookies for my tea party?” She’s got her big blue eyes opened wide and sticks out her lower lip as she begs me for more baking time. It amazes me sometimes how much she resembles me. She’s seriously my mini-me. The only real difference is her long blonde hair has cute little ringlets, where mine is straight. I wish I had her curls.

I chuckle. She knows she doesn’t have to beg for baking time. I love to bake with her. Before I can answer her, my phone rings. I check the screen to see my best friend calling.

“I’ll tell you what, Bug, let me talk to Aunt Quinn for a little bit, and then we’ll make some cookies. Okay?”

“Okay, Mommy! Tell Aunt Quinn, I said hi! I’m gonna go play with my dollies.” With that, she runs back to her bedroom and slams the door as I answer my phone.

“Hey, Quinn. What’s up?” I greet my best friend as I walk to the living room and get comfortable on the couch. Our calls tend to go on for a while. Plus, I don’t really have anything else to do, so I might as well relax while Quinn tries to get me to talk about my feelings… again.

“Oh, not much. I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”

I sigh. She asks me this all the time. Even before Harris died, but more so since. I can understand why; I haven’t exactly been the girl she knew and loved growing up. Something in me changed when I got with Harris.

“I’ve felt different since Harris died, Quinn. I don’t know... I just feel so lost. I’ve been living on autopilot since the funeral. Like I don’t know what to do with myself now that I’m not trying to be the perfect wife all the time. I can hardly remember the person I was before Harris. Luckily, Violet hasn’t seemed to notice me acting any different. It helps that she’s always been able to pull me out of a funk. When she’s around, I’m not really hiding how I’m feeling, she completely changes my demeanor.”

I was with Harris for ten years. We met during our freshman year of college. I thought he was cute, with his polished preppy look. He was the classic pretty boy, blue eyes and blonde hair that he kept short, like any respectable man. He just really wasn’t my type. I liked my guys a little more real, with a sense of humor and a romantic side. That was not Harris. If anything, that described my best guy friends back home; Hudson, Nate, Ayden, and Kayden. Besides, I didn’t have time for a relationship even if Ididlike him. I turned him down every time he asked me out. He never gave up, but I just wasn’t interested. All I wanted was to get my business degree, go back home to my guys, and open a bakery with Hudson.

Everything was going according to plan. I was doing great in school, staying focused on my studies and away from the party scene. Then one day, my senior year, something changed. It was like I really noticed Harris for the first time. Suddenly it didn’t seem like such a bad idea to give him a chance. I mean, it wasn’t like I had a boyfriend. The guys were just my friends. Even though I had planned on telling them all how I felt about them after graduating, I’m sure they didn’t feel the same. Why shouldn’t I give Harris a chance?

“I know, honey. I’m so sorry. I wish there were something I could do to help you,” Quinn’s voice cuts into my thoughts.

“I was just thinking about when I started dating Harris. Sometimes it’s hard to remember what brought us together in the first place. I had turned him down on multiple occasions before I finally agreed. I just can’t for the life of me recall what made me change my mind about him. All I wanted in life was to run a bakery with Hudson and raise a little family in our hometown. Now, look at me. What happened to me, Quinn? I let some guy take me away from my home, from my friends. If it weren’t for you, I would have completely lost myself over the last ten years. And you know Harris tried to get me to stop talking to you too.”

“Trust me, I know he did, Rowe. Unfortunately for him, I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

I laugh at that. Ain't that the truth. Harris used to hound me about Quinn constantly. He said she was a bad influence on me. That having that connection to my old life, my magical life, was holding me back. Holdingusback, he would say.

At first, he liked that I had magic, but after a while, I think he started resenting me for having something that he didn’t. He told me his family didn’t like magic users, so I had to make sure I didn’t use my magic around them. Yet, for some reason, I never once thought we shouldn’t be together. Even though we clearly had problems. Even knowing I would have to hide who I was for the rest of my life if I stayed with him, I still married him.

Then we were married, and it didn’t really matter anymore. I was stuck. I did everything I could to make him happy, trying to get back to how we were before the wedding. I didn’t use magic around him. I stopped asking to visit my family. He didn’t want me to have anything to do with magic, which meant my hometown was a no-go. He couldn’t separate me from my parents or Quinn, but he did make sure they had to visit us and didn’t use any magic while they were here.

“Quinn, I think I’m ready to come home,” I finally admit what I’ve been thinking for months. “I think it would be good for both Violet and me. I hate that she’s had to hide who she is here. I want her to be proud of who she is. I want her to know it’s okay that she has magic. It doesn’t make her less than, like Harris made us feel.”

“I think you’re right, Rowe. I think you both need a little more magic in your life,” Quinn wholeheartedly agrees.

I laugh at that and roll my eyes. I knew she would agree, but that was a very diplomatic way of saying so, especially for her. “Well, I will say, even though I’ve been a little out of sorts lately, we have been using magic at home a lot more. Violet’s not keeping her magic use contained to her bedroom anymore, and I’ve actually started using my magic when I bake again. Violet loves magic baking time with mommy now.”

“That’s great, Rowe! I remember how much you loved to bake. It’s good that you and Violet have a common interest. I think that will make it even easier to pull her out of the shell Harris forced her into.”

She’s right, Harris did try to stifle her. Fortunately, my little girl is as stubborn as I was at that age. She may have accepted that her daddy didn’t want her to use magic around him, but that wouldn’t stop her from using it when he wasn’t around.

“Violet is going to be starting school this year, and I remember how much we loved Everton Elementary. If we stay here, she’ll have to go to a normal school,” I groan. “I don’t want her to keep pretending to be someone she’s not. She has magic. She needs to learn how to use it. Plus, I want her to be able to start school there and develop close friendships like we did. Can you believe we’ve been best friends since we were her age?”

“I know! We’ve been through a lot of shit together, Rowe. I thank god every day that you came along and got those girls to leave me alone, and we became such good friends. I still can’t believe you could do such advanced spells that young. Britney was not expecting you to be able to beat her at her own game!” Quinn laughs.

“I remember the day we met, Britney was teasing me, flying my lunchbox around so I couldn’t get it. Then you came over and cast this spell on her, and no one could undo it. Your mom had to make you change her back. But she was so proud that you could do such an advanced spell that you didn’t even get in trouble!”

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