Free Quit Your Witchin' by Dakota Cassidy Page B

family shame!”
    Bianca didn’t even blink an eye. Instead, she crossed her arms over her perky chest and rolled her head on her neck in indignation. “ I’m bringing shame to the family? Me, Mama? How much more shame can I bring after what Papa did? What he’s been doing to you all your married life?”
    Maggie’s hand snaked out, connecting with Bianca’s cheek before Juan Felipe could stop it. “Do not speak of the dead this way!”
    Bianca was only shocked for a fleeting moment before she turned and ran for the front door, yanking it open and flying out into the night.
    And then Maggie collapsed against Juan Felipe, her shoulders shaking beneath her shawl. “I need to talk to my Taco, Juan Felipe. I must make this right! I must tell him about his son!” she cried, collapsing against him as he led her out of the store before I could offer my apologies.
    “His son?” Win asked what I was thinking.
    Mateo’s jaw tightened with a pulsing tic, his previously slicked-back ebony hair falling over his forehead, limp and damp. “Please let me pay you for your time…Miss Cartwright, is it? And let me apologize for my sister. She’s pretty angry with my father.”
    “Because of this son your mother was talking about?” I clamped my hand over my mouth. “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be intrusive. Don’t answer that.”
    “No, I want Rico Suave to answer. Things just got interesting,” Win said.
    Mateo’s eyes fell to the mess on the floor. “Yes. We found out recently Papa fathered another child—we’re looking into it. Mama was going to confront him about it today, but…”
    But he’d died. Oh, how awful. But then I thought of the picture in Tito’s truck stuck in the cheese.
    “Have you ever seen what this, um, other child looks like?” I asked on a wince.
    Mateo shook his head, his face going dark. “No. We know little other than his existence right now.”
    Which meant shut up, Stevie and mind your beeswax. Hint taken.
    “I’m sorry, Mateo. So sorry about Tito and your mother and Bianca.” To leave this world with unfinished business is agony for the people you leave behind.
    He reached in his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “Please, let me pay you for your time.”
    I waved him off. “Are you kidding me? Look at this place. Absolutely not. I wasn’t able to contact your father and you almost lost an eye. Please, Mateo, go be with your mother. Talk to Bianca. She’s hurting and she needs all of you.” I held out my hand to him and when he took it, I squeezed before letting go.
    “Do you think whatever that was—whoever that was—was talking about my father?”
    His question was so raw, so charged with emotion, I wanted to address it carefully. “Pig” and “affair” were certainly words one would attribute to a situation like Tito’s, but I couldn’t bring myself to say as much. Not after all the other heartache they had to deal with.
    “I wish I had a better answer for you. For all I know, it could be some dead farmer, acting out from the afterlife.”
    The corner of Mateo’s lip lifted and he snickered. “Thank you again. Good night, Miss Cartwright.”
    “Night, Mateo,” I whispered, bereft at the turn of tonight’s events.
    As he exited, I followed behind him, locking the door. Bel rose up, flying toward me to land on my shoulder, snuggling his head against my ear. “You okay, Boss?”
    I stroked his tiny head. “A little shook up, for sure. You okay?”
    Belfry purred in my ear. “Yeah. I took cover under the cash register. Dang, girl. When was the last time we had an entity that angry?”
    “You’ve had entities behave like that before?” Win asked.
    I grabbed the broom from the corner and began to sweep up the mess. “Only a couple of times, if you don’t count the time I had the witch slapped out of me.”
    “Why don’t we ever talk about that, Stevie? As in, the actual event? The night it happened?”
    “Why don’t we ever talk about how you