A Ghoulish Midlife (Witching After Forty #1) - Lia Davis Page 0,7

out on the floor as if seeing the humongous beast for the first time. “How is that cat still alive? Isn’t he like a hundred?”

“No.” How old was Snooze? Winnie got him as a baby when I was sixteen. And I’m forty-three… “Damn, that cat is twenty-seven years old.”

I studied him for a long moment. Snooze didn’t look any older than the last time I saw him, which was a picture Auntie sent me a few months before she passed. His coat was perfectly groomed and shiny. There were no signs of grey hairs or any other signs of aging like most elderly cats get.

It was a total mystery.

“Do you think that time you healed him after he fell from the top of the stairs did something to him?”

I jerked my attention back to Sam. We were in our senior year in high school and Snooze was a little over a year old and not as big as he was at the current moment. Clay and I had just started dating a few weeks before. I tried to put that memory out of my mind because that was the day Clay found out I’m a witch with not so normal witchy powers.

Snooze had chased the three of us, Sam, Clay, and me, through the house, playing like we always had. The darn cat was a force and so energetic when he was in his younger years. Clay and I ran down the stairs and the crazy cat leapt off the top. The landing was rough, and I was sure he broke a lot of bones.

Shock and fear that I’d lost my pet flooded me, making me shake and my magic run wild in my veins. I hadn’t had as much control over the necromancer part of myself, like I wanted to believe. Not like I do now. I didn’t think of what I was doing as I laid my hands on Snooze and pushed magic into him. All I thought was how much I loved that cat and wanted him to live.

Shaking out of the memory, I frowned down at Snooze. “That would have only added a year to his life.”

Surely I hadn’t made him immortal. I wasn’t sure that was possible.

Sam shrugged. “I’ve got nothing. Then again, I don’t understand how a house can come to life either. I just roll with it because your family is way cooler than mine.”

A laugh escaped me. Sam had always told me that. He teased that it was the reason he was my best friend. To be cool. Only I wasn’t the cool kid in school. Olivia made sure of that.

Speaking of the she-devil.

“So, Olivia.”

Shaking his head, Sam pointed to the coffee pot that was sputtering the last drops of the rich liquid into the pot. “Olivia is not the same person she was in high school.”

I poured the coffee and made a noise of disbelief. “She’s not a busy-body?”

“Yes, but not as bad.” He took the cup I offered as I sat in the chair across from him. “Her first marriage was really rough on her. It changed her.”

For the first time in my life, I felt rage roll off my best friend. Sam was a gentle alpha male. Yes, he was protective over those he called family and would do what it took to keep them, me included, safe. He was also a compassionate, gentle, caring soul. The word hate wasn’t in his vocabulary.

“What happened?”

He seemed to snap out of his rage induced mood and held my stare for a long few seconds. “I’ll let Olivia tell you when she’s ready.”

It took everything in me not to roll my eyes or groan aloud. I didn’t want to be friends with Olivia. “I might not be in town long enough to get that story.”

Once the coffee pot was empty, I realized it was morning. Sam and I had talked all night. Or was that all morning since it was after midnight when he stopped by. Now it was… 7:00 a.m. “Wow, I totally made you skip out on work.”

Chuckling, Sam rose to his feet and stretched. “I told Drew I was stopping by.”

“Drew?”

“The new sheriff.” Sam’s smile widened and his eyes sparked like they did when he had a plan. I was ignoring all the possible plans he would cook up that involved the new sheriff. I wasn’t dating anyone. Ever. Again. Clay was it for me. Now it’s me and Snooze.

“I’m sure I’ll run into him sooner or later.” I