Taking a seat at my desk, I stared out the window. My mind had not settled down after the two-pronged confession from Tabitha. One she had always been interested in me and two she knew my secret. Obviously, she had been involved in the ritual to turn me into a girl. I had a sneaking suspicion that most of Kaylee’s female relatives were most likely witches.

Lost in through, the sound of my cell phone ringing made me jump. Instantly recognizing the number, I stared at it before picking it up. For some reason, I knew she would be calling. For a second I thought about letting it go to voice mail, I really needed to sort out my feelings first.

“Hi, Kaylee.”

“Hi Erin, sorry, I wanted to take you out to lunch again but got busy with work.”

She sounded a lot more upset than necessary for someone who forgot a lunch date. Not that we had anything planned but I am guessing Kaylee did.

“Don’t feel like you need to take me out every day, you also have a business to run. “

“No, I feel bad. I miss our lunches together.”

Now that she mentioned it so did I. We use to go to lunch pretty regularly, that was until Lori and I started to date. After that, Kaylee said she felt uncomfortable, feeling like a third wheel.

“I’ll take you out tonight to make it up to you. You’ll probably be starved by then.”

“I did get some lunch, so I’ll be OK. Dinner sounds great though.”

“Oh, good….Eric, can I ask who you went to lunch with today?”

Why did I feel guilty about going to lunch with her cousin? Did I feel guilty about the kiss, which was nice or the fact that Tabitha had feelings for me?

“You cousin came by and took me out to lunch.”

Dead silence on the line. For a moment, I thought I heard her whisper something about Tabitha coming by her store earlier. On the other hand, maybe she was cursing her cousin, hard to tell.

“That’s good; you two haven’t seen one another in a while. What did the two of you talk about?”

I could tell that Kaylee wasn’t pleased. “School mostly, people we used to know where they are now, things like that. We also talked a little about her divorce. Although she doesn’t show it, I could tell that she isn’t taking it well.”

“How very perceptive of you.” Her voice dripped with sarcasm. Where did that come from? Was she angry with me? Before I could say anything else, Kaylee said. “You know Tabitha has always liked you.”

That took me by surprise, so she knew as well. Why was I always the last one to know such things? Thinking about on it, maybe part of me did know. Tabitha used to come over during the summer with Kaylee to hang out at my pool.

For the last two summers before we graduated, Nichole had been over at the house most of the time as well. Eric thought Tabitha only came over because of his parent’s pool, not because she might actually have feelings for him.

“She never said anything back then.”

“It’s because you were already taken. She might be a pain in the ass but she isn’t the type of person to steal another’s boyfriend. She told you that she liked you, didn’t she.”

“Yes.”

Silence on the phone once again, this wasn’t going to end well. Kaylee and I never kept secrets from one another, well except for the whole Witch thing but I understood the reason why.

“So when she asked you if we were a couple what did you say?”

Wait, how did she know what Tabitha asked? Didn’t matter, although I had a sneaking suspicion it had nothing to do with her gifts.

“I told her that we were going to the dance together.”

“That’s not much of an answer, Erin.” She didn’t sound happy with my answer but I expected that. Tabitha didn’t like it either.

“That’s the only one I can give you right now, Kaylee.” I said truthfully.

“Well, I’m sure you two will be happy.”

“What do you mean by that?” I knew she didn’t hear me.

“I mean you’ve always been interested in girls with big tits, just like Candy.”

Nichole’s middle name was Candice. And yes, she was big chested, so much that we talked about getting them reduced once we had real medical insurance. Kaylee said that Candy was my ex-wife’s stripper name.

“Anyway, I have to go back to work. Oh, sorry, it seems I have to work late tonight. Why don’t you just ask Tabitha to have dinner with you?”

“Kaylee.”

Suddenly the line went dead. Without another thought, I grabbed my things and went back home.

Sitting in my house didn’t make things any better. When did being alone become something I no longer enjoyed? During the last couple of years with Lori, I had come to enjoy time by myself. Sitting in my office, working on the computer and listening to the music, I felt at peace.

Unhappily, I could not find that peace. After being unable to eat one of those low calories frozen dinners, not being in the mood to cook, I thought about calling Tabitha. I needed someone to talk to but perhaps she wasn’t the best choice.

Since this week began, I felt like someone had just torn a bandage off an old wound over my heart, only to find it had never healed. Did I have the strength to revisit those feelings I had for Kaylee? The magic wasn’t any help; it had allowed me to walk in the world comfortably as a woman, nothing more.

I wasn’t stupid; I knew Kaylee wanted me to be a woman full time to be with her. How could I make that choice in such a small amount of time? No one seemed to want to give me the time to sort out those feelings either. Did Kaylee really think that once I magically turned into a woman I would happily turn my back on my old life? Maybe she did.

The next day I worked, without really working, going through the motions. Rika kept checking on me, knowing that something was wrong. If I turned back to Eric, her hiring would be on the top of my list.

Did I just say if? Before I could delve into that further, I looked up to find a a familiar face standing in front of my desk.

“I sort of expected the ghost of Christmas future.” I grinned happily.

Although I’m sure she didn’t understand what I just said, she gave me an amused smile. “Hi, Erin.”

Coming around the desk, I fell into her arms. “”Hi, mom.” I sniffled.

No, it wasn’t my mom but Kaylee’s. With my parents working late every night, I spent my afternoons at their house after school. Una became a second mom to me, actually more of a mom than my own.

As her arms wrapped around me, I began to cry. Eric never cried even after both women in his life left him. However, as Erin it seemed the right thing to do.

Leading me over to the couch, I continued to cry for I’m not sure how long. All I know, that when I stopped I felt a lot better. Perhaps if guys did this more, they wouldn’t be dropping dead from heart attacks so often.

“Feeling better.”

Nodding, I grabbed the tissue she handed me. I must look frightful. Giggling at the thought, I said. “Thank you.”

“Of course.” Reaching over, Una brushed my hair out of my face. “Come on, let’s get some fresh air.”

Coming out of the bathroom, after checking on how I looked, I’m such a girl now, we headed to her car. Our destination surprised me as we pulled in front of one of the small parks across from the bay. When I was young, we used to come out here and watch the large freighters leave for destinations unknown.

“I made your favorite.” She said, setting on the picnic table a number of sandwiches. Peanut butter with homemade apple butter, something I haven’t eaten in years.

“I missed these.” I said between bites. We talked about nothing for a little while, enjoying the breeze watching the large boats disappear over the horizon.

“So Erin, how are you.”

I stopped and looked out towards the bay. “I’m OK, Una, I guess.”

“Not from what I could see, you have been holding that in for a long time.”

I looked back at her and nodded.

She smiled setting down a small container of homemade peanut butter and chocolate cookies. I expected that Una’s cookie therapy was almost as good as retail therapy.

“Here, my little princess, this is my way of saying thanks.”

Little princess, I giggled. She used to call me her little prince. Reaching down, I happily took a cookie and started to nibble on it.

“Thank you for what?”

“Becoming a girl, of course.”

Another family Witch, quite the secret Kaylee had kept from me all of these years. I tried not to be angry about it, but a small part of me wanted to know what else I didn’t know about Kaylee. Perhaps, I didn’t know her as much as I thought.

A flash of real sadness crossed Una’s eyes. “As you’re aware, she had a terribly difficult time after Meredith.”

My growing anger instantly evaporated. Kaylee had not taken the break up well, at all. I actually felt afraid for her at the time.

“So when she came to me with this request, I knew I couldn’t say no.”

“Kaylee mentioned that the ritual could only be done once every decade or so.”

Kaylee’s mom nodded while reaching for a cookie. “We petitioned two other Covens for assistance as well. I ended up pulling in quite a number of favors for us to finish it in time. I even asked Tabitha to come back home. However, as I was saying most men would never have made the change.”

“I guess so but the magic has helped a lot.”

“Yes, but magic didn’t force you to complete the ritual. You did it because of the love you have for my daughter.”

“Of course, how could I say no? Although I have a sneaking suspicion she expected me to instantly proclaim how wonderful it was to be a woman and stay as one.”

Una grinned. “Yes, well I warned her about that.”

Admittedly, being a woman hadn’t been all that bad, it had its own good points and bad points, like everything else in life. However, did I really want to become one permanently?

“Still you have to do what makes you happy, not her.”

“What makes me happy?” Looking down, I tried to come to terms with that. I hadn’t really been happy for some time.

“What other decision is there, Erin? Oh, in the short term Kaylee would be ecstatic but eventually it would poison whatever relationship the two of you might have.”

As we started to clean up, she asked. “Do you like Tabitha?”

“Do I like Tabitha? I do, I guess.”

“She went along with the ritual under protest, although the two of them fight like cats and dogs, they do love one another. Tabitha didn’t want to see Kaylee get hurt again.”

“She said she liked me.”

“Oh, don’t get me wrong, Erin, Tabitha likes you very much. She just wants to make sure that you’re picking Kaylee for all of the right reasons.”

Reaching up to rub the tears from my eyes, I said. “Well doesn’t matter anyway, Kaylee isn’t speaking to me.” I felt like crying again. I hated fighting with her.

“She isn’t mad at you sweetie, she isn’t mad at Tabitha either. Although from the way she screamed at me after the call you two had, it was hard to tell.”

“Then what.”

“She is afraid.”

Standing up, Una came around the picnic table and enclosed me in her arms one more. “She wants you to be happy as well, Erin. She also saw how difficult this last divorce was on you. This is as much for you as it is for her. Trust me, she loves you very much but she also doesn’t want to lose you or be hated by you.”

“I could never hate her.”

“Yes you could, if you don’t make your decision based on your own happiness. Think about it sweetie, take your time. You have until Saturday night.”

I looked up at her and started to giggle. Right, three days seemed like plenty of time to make life-changing decisions.