It's A Wonderful Midlife Crisis (Good To The Last Death #1) - Robyn Peterman Page 0,64
were slightly swollen this morning and hurt like hell. I could only hope Gideon’s nose and nuts were faring better. The class at the Y didn’t teach me that punching someone in the face could result in personal injury.
What had happened last night would not happen again. Not the punching or the kissing. It was far too dangerous to my emotional health. Since my regular sanity was tenuous, I didn’t need to push myself into a complete nervous breakdown.
I wasn’t deluded enough to believe I was cheating on my dead husband by kissing Gideon. That would be pathetic. It was just the guilt of feeling such strong emotions that threw me off my game. It was too much to handle with everything in my life changing so fast. I’d lived long enough to know how to protect myself.
“Who’s at my house?” I muttered as I heard the sound of a truck driving up. None of my friends drove a truck and they were at work anyway. Heather had an SUV, but she was at the bar exam. And her muffler didn’t sound at all like what had just driven up. Heather took excellent care of her car. I had no clue what Gideon drove, but if I had to guess, I’d say he was a fast sports car kind of Grim Reaper.
Peeking out, I saw it was Tim, the postman. Tim took his job as a mail deliverer very seriously. Opening the door so the dogs didn’t freak out when he knocked, I waved.
“Hi, Tim,” I said with a tired smile as I stretched my sore limbs. Sleeping on the floor had not been the wisest move. “You have a package for me?”
I couldn’t remember ordering anything except the Ouija board, and that was just yesterday. Maybe someone had sent something.
“Sure do, Daisy,” Tim said, sounding official and nerdy. “Need you to sign right here, please.”
He held the package protectively against his chest like I was going to steal it from him. I refrained from rolling my eyes and signed on the dotted line. He checked my signature twice before he begrudgingly handed me the package. I was surprised he didn’t ask for my freaking driver’s license. Tim was a little too official for me this morning. I was curious about the delivery, but if he was that attached to it, he could keep the damn thing. Not to mention I’d known him for at least twenty years.
“Thank you,” I said, taking the package as he eyed it like he was going to snatch it back.
He usually didn’t get this possessive about packages until around Christmas. Half the people in town were sure he x-rayed all the packages that came in and he kept what he liked. I didn’t believe Tim would actually steal other people’s stuff, but his behavior today was definitely odder than usual.
“Welcome,” Tim said, giving me a salute and marching back to his truck.
“Weird comes in droves,” I muttered as I closed the front door and locked it just in case Tim had a change of heart about the delivery. He was harmless, but I wasn’t in the mood for a strange debate about mail.
The south had its own kind of nutty and wore it loud and proud.
Coffee. I needed coffee.
Tossing the package on the kitchen table, I made my special drink. I added two squirts of chocolate syrup this morning. I needed it. Even though I’d slept for eight hours, it was crappy sleep.
The squatters didn’t seem any worse for the wear. They floated around the kitchen with rabid excitement. I wasn’t sure if it was left over from Gideon’s visit last night or if there was a Big Brother marathon on TV. Honestly, I didn’t care.
I simply needed caffeine and to do some of the boring paperwork that was piled up next to the mysterious package. I’d procrastinated long enough. It wasn’t fair to my friends to be left with their work plus mine. I did need to get some more work to do, but running into Gideon wasn’t the best idea right now.
“What the heck is going on?” I asked my dead roommates, sitting down at the table and grabbing the pile from the office.
The ghosts were going nuts—chattering and pointing at the package. The first thing I’d done when I woke up was to glue everyone back together. Heads took a tremendous amount of superglue. I was going to have to buy some more very soon.