The next day, Trev’s response was everywhere, courtesy of Clem and Danica’s spell. In addition, two Zoomers—maybe the ones who volunteered for her campaign—got inspired in the wee hours and filmed themselves writing DO YOU KISS YOUR MOTHER WITH THAT MOUTH in chalk on the parking lot at Rutherford’s Reliable Auto Sales, and now that video had taken off without the benefit of a spell. Dan Rutherford couldn’t hope to harness the might of the internet when he was still trying to do uber-serious “she’s a threat to your way of life” nonsense. Trev had the right idea, being irreverent and mocking the shit out of him. Rutherford would probably retain the conservative vote, but online seniors with a sense of humor and younger voters? Leanne nodded.

They’re mine.

By that afternoon, she also noticed Vanessa wasn’t responding to coven chats like she used to, and that growing distance troubled her. While she waited to see how their counterattack would be received, she messaged Vanessa. Everything okay?

Vanessa: I have other friends, you know.

Ouch.

Clearly, things weren’t all good, but she couldn’t make Vanessa talk to her. On the surface, they looked fine, and they joked around at coven meetings, but her friend didn’t reach out like she used to. It was easy to drift, and Leanne didn’t want that to happen, but she had so much shit going on that she just couldn’t drop it all and force a confrontation, if that was even a good idea. If she’d learned one thing from Junie, it was that she had to give other people space. Life didn’t happen on Leanne’s timetable.

So she did her best to stay in Vanessa’s life over the next few weeks while working on the campaign, sending check-in texts and memes she found funny. Vanessa responded, but she still wasn’t opening up. Dammit.

In the meantime, Leanne did everything she could to win the election.

***

Waiting didn’t come easy to Leanne.

Somehow, it was worse waiting for the results of the election than anything she’d ever tried before. In the past six weeks, she’d given the campaign her all while shoving the issue of her rich witch father to the back burner. If the old man survived until after the polls closed, then she’d consider meeting him. Though it was self-serving as hell, she’d need funding to run for mayor later on. She’d managed the city council race on a shoestring, but it wouldn’t be possible on a larger scale.