A Ghoulish Midlife (Witching After Forty #1) - Lia Davis Page 0,37

shrugged. “I’m handy with a duster.” Maybe I shouldn’t have magicked the dust out of the entire store at once. It would’ve taken hours to do it by hand. Clint shrugged and came back to the counter. “Well, looks great.”

“Let me ask you…” I held out my phone. “Have you ever seen this woman before?”

Clint took my phone and peered at it.

“There’s a couple more,” I said. “Swipe right.”

He slid his finger across the screen and peered down at the phone. “No, I don’t recognize this woman. She’s pretty though.” He handed it back to me. “Why?”

I shrugged. “She came in and bought a book, and I thought she looked familiar.

He shook his head. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her in town before.”

Clint let me take off a little while after that. By the time I slipped into the grocery store and got a few things and then made it home, all the construction trucks were gone from the driveway. Thank goodness. As much as I wanted them to be done, I was already tired of hearing the sounds of construction in the house.

Olivia’s car was parked on the road in front of the house, though. I should’ve known she’d be here after seeing those pictures. I wasn’t sure what we could do about the situation. It wasn’t like the woman broke into my house.

I walked in the house to find Olivia sitting at the kitchen table sipping a cup of tea. Alfred walked over to the table with a plate of cookies. I froze in the doorway, shocked to see my ghoul serving my friend. “What’s going on?” I whispered.

“Ava, why didn’t you tell me you had such a lovely friend?” Olivia asked and gave me an exaggerated wink. “He’s been ever so helpful since I came in.”

Little Sammie came running in the back door. “Mom, you said he could play with me!”

Alfred looked at me with his eyebrows raised.

“Alfred, do you want to go play with Sammie?”

Alfred nodded his head rigorously.

“Um, I mean, it’s okay with me.” The backyard was pretty secluded and led up to a fence at the edge of the cliff that overlooked the ocean.

“Stay away from the fence, sweetie,” Olivia called as Sammie ran out the back door with Alfred on his heels.

Snoozles came streaking out of the living room and followed them out. Crazy ass cat.

I set my purse and bag of groceries on the kitchen table and walked over to the back door to look out at Sammie and Alfred playing tag with Snooze.

“You’ve been holding out on me,” Olivia said. “Where can I get an Alfred?”

I gaped at my friend and watched her son play with my ghoul. Was she serious? Then a thought entered my mind. How much could one make selling ghouls? Okay, stop right there, Ava Harper. You can’t create and sell ghouls. It was wrong. Besides, ghouls needed a necromancer to control them.

“You know Alfred is a ghoul, right?” I glanced at her, watching for her reaction.

She shrugged. “Of course.”

“And you’re not surprised to see one in my house.”

A frown dimmed her features, but it vanished almost as fast as it appeared. “Sam told me you are more than a witch.”

Her tone was low as if she wasn’t sure I’d approve of Sam sharing my secret. They were married, so Sam would tell his wife things. Since no one was knocking on my door with a lynch mob, I assume Olivia hadn’t shared it with anyone. “What did he tell you?”

“You are a necromancer.” She peered out the window watching Sammie run around the yard with a ghoul. “I wasn’t sure if he was teasing me or not. But when we walked in Alfred was descending the stairs. I knew he wasn’t really alive. I mean look at him. That was when I realized Sam wasn’t joking. Did you create Alfred?”

I shook my head. “I inherited him.”

“Ah, from William.”

When I jerked my gaze to her, she laughed. “I’ve known the Combs for a long time. Penny babysat for me when the asshole went on his weekly ‘business meetings.’” She used air quotes as she spoke. “I knew William was a necromancer. Is that why he was killed?”

I sighed. “Penny thinks so.”

Sammie's squeal of excitement drew my attention back out the window. “Maybe I can glamour Alfred to look like a dog,” I said weakly.

We both burst out laughing. How was my life this crazy now?

Chapter Thirteen

A knock at the front door pulled me from watching Alfred play with Sammie. Who