Muffins and Mediums

Book 5: Mixing Up Magic

by Rosie Pease

Genres: Mystery; Culinary Cozy Mysteries; Supernatural suspense

Synopsis

After being courted by the local coven, my anticipation over meeting others who could be like me builds. But that person is even closer than I think when someone comes into my bakery asking me for help in finding her grandmother. Or more specifically, her grandmother's ghost, who's gone missing.

Book 5 in the Mixing Up Magic series is coming soon!

Release date: December 20, 2022

Publisher: Paisley Press Books

Print pages: 378

Sample

Chapter 1

Ivy shook her head, the end of her ponytail gliding across her shoulders as it swished back and forth. “It’s missing something. I like it, but it’s not quite there.”

I looked down at the pint-sized sous chef. “What are you thinking?”

She grinned mischievously. “More sugar.”

A laugh bubbled out of me. What seven-year-old didn’t want more sugar? Then again, it was candy, so maybe she had a point. I tried a piece myself—okay, a second piece—and agreed with her. “Hear that, Bryan? More sugar.”

“You got it.” He scooped out another quarter cup.

Ever since Trudy, Sam’s grandmother, had given me the recipes for all the candies she used to make in her shop, I’d been regularly experimenting on Wednesday afternoons, our slowest day in the bakery. Each of the bakers on my team, including the newest, Brittni, had been rotating one late shift to try their hand at candy-making. Although I still planned on hiring someone whose everyday responsibility would be making candy, I wanted everyone to see how they liked it and also to gain some understanding of the various confectionary processes. I’d made it a point to have everyone in the kitchen trained across disciplines, from decorating cakes to folding pastry dough to making the simplest cookie recipe. Candy would be no different. Besides, what if someone here excelled at candy far greater than someone I could hire? So far, it hadn’t happened, but the experiment in rotating candy shifts had been worth doing.

Today we were attempting a recipe for peppermint wafers, and we had to add sugar “to taste.” But whose taste?

That’s where Ivy came in. One of Trudy’s favorite things had been seeing the kids in town come into the shop and delight at her treats. Ivy certainly would have been among them back then. So on Wednesdays, she got dropped off by her babysitter after lunch to hang out with me, Sarah, and whoever else was working. Ivy would then be our taste tester and helper until her dad, Ken, arrived to pick her up. It had started out of necessity as her babysitter’s sports practice had picked back up in anticipation of the school year starting, and Ken needed someone to fill in for a few hours as a result. Ivy and I had been getting along great since our initial misunderstanding when they moved here in April, so I was happy to offer Ken the bakery as an option. He’d agreed to it as a temporary measure, and although this was only our second week doing it, Ivy coming here had been working out so great that we’d decided to keep the arrangement even after Ivy went back to school on an as-needed basis.

Sarah popped her head into the kitchen. “Ken’s here.”

I glanced at the clock on the wall. “He’s early.” Although he was working shorter days for the summer to enjoy more time with Ivy, a trade-off of having to work events on some weekends, he was nearly a half hour earlier than expected.

“But we haven’t perfected the recipe yet!” Ivy half-whined.

Not wanting to disappoint Ivy—or worse, have her go into a tantrum over that disappointment—I gave Sarah a small shrug before looking back at Ivy. “Send him on back. We can have two taste testers today.”

Ivy bounced up and down, cheering, and didn’t settle until her dad walked in.

He headed over to me and kissed my cheek. “Meeting finished early, so I figured I’d surprise you both.” Then he mussed Ivy’s hair. “How was your day, kiddo?”

“Good!” she chirped and took a deep breath.

Before she launched into a play-by-play, I told Ken to grab an apron. Although I was used to getting all sorts of things on my clothes when I baked, I’d hate to see his button-up and slacks get ruined by an errant drop of chocolate or caramel.

As he headed for the closet, Ivy started in on her description of the day’s events as Bryan and I whipped up our next batch of peppermints. Usually Ivy would add an ingredient or two, but she was so thrilled to have the extra time with her dad that I didn’t interrupt until it was time to taste test.

“Here you both go,” I said dropping a chocolate-coated peppermint wafer into each of their hands. “On the count of three.”

The four of us lifted the candies to our mouths and then each took a bite.

Through a chorus of mmms, Ivy said, “Much better. I think you’ve gotten it to taste now.”

“I agree,” Ken said, popping the rest of his peppermint into his mouth.

I clapped my hands together in excitement. “Great! It’s settled. We can let everyone know tomorrow morning that there will be a new item on the menu.”

Bryan nodded, then began cleaning up the candy-making station we’d set up not too long ago. It made things even tighter back here, particularly in the morning with everyone in the kitchen while Brittni was training with everyone. Once Sam left for school, we’d get some room back. But if the candy-making continued to do as well as it had been, I’d have to consider some sort of alternative spacing.

I jotted the sugar amount we’d settled on in the margins of Trudy’s grimoire. Now that things had quieted down with all the ghosts, I’d pored over the book. In the last few weeks, I’d written several notes in the cookbook, adding my handwriting to at least three others contained within the pages.

Since Chelsea and David’s wedding, my run-ins with wayward spirits had been mostly routine, like seeing Arthur Miller in the park when I sat outside for lunch. The only surprise encounter with a spirit had been learning Cindy at the cider mill in Bug Creek had been a ghost the entire time I’d known her. But fortunately that discovery hadn’t resulted in my needing to solve any great mystery. In fact, it had probably been my easiest one since all of this started, and I’d even gained a new community partner out of it, although we hadn’t formally announced the business relationship.

That reminded me...

I slid the cookbook back onto the shelf of my workstation, where I kept it during the times we weren’t actively using it. For weeks I’d been bringing it back and forth from my house to the bakery, feeling it too precious a gift to leave behind, but lately it seemed to belong here more than at home. Especially now that we were selling candy to our customers. So today I was going to leave it here overnight and see how things went.

“Back in a moment,” I told the three in the kitchen as I wiped my hands on my apron. Already deep in cleaning, Bryan grunted in acknowledgment.

Ken glanced up at me as I passed by. “Are we all done for the afternoon?”

“Just about. If you want, you two can take off your aprons and follow me.” I continued into the bakeshop, followed a moment later by Ken and Ivy.

“How’d it go?” Sarah asked once we were all together.

“It was great!” Ivy chirped. “It’s going to be on the menu tomorrow!”

“Wonderful!” Sarah’s enthusiasm matched Ivy’s. It was hard not to be swayed by the little girl’s emotions. “I’ll make sure to try one then.” Although Sarah had been my original taste tester, she gladly gave the title to Ivy once she started hanging out here on Wednesday afternoons. Sarah had told me that she was worried about what all of the extra calories were doing to her figure and preferred to give up the trial sweets instead of her specialty drinks from Leafs and Grounds. Getting a tasty coffee had become a near-daily treat for her. And to think she’d once been avoiding them because the owner of the coffee shop, Gary, had a crush on her. I was pretty sure she had one on him too.

“I think we’re finally getting the hang of this whole candy-making thing,” I said.

Sarah nodded. “You’re starting to get as much of a reputation for your peanut butter cups as your cookies.”

It probably helped that my peanut butter cups were four inches in diameter, only a little smaller than my typical cookie. They were not your average peanut butter cups that came wrapped in a two-pack.

“And I don’t mean just because of their size,” Sarah added as if knowing what I’d been thinking, one eyebrow raised to hint at what she was insinuating. It made me wonder if her being my familiar created some sort of a psychic connection to what I was thinking so we could be a more efficient team. This wasn’t the first time she’d practically responded to my thoughts.

Had it been anyone other than Ken and Ivy or my baking team in here with us, I would have rolled my eyes at Sarah’s veiled comment. But everyone currently in the bakery knew what I was and what I could do. Ken had known since April. Ivy since May. I told the rest of my staff right after my gram visited in July. But Sarah had known all along, since before I even met her, although we had only formally been a witch and her familiar since the last full moon.

“Well, let me know if it goes beyond the usual.” Rumors about me and my abilities were nothing new. They’d started almost as soon as I arrived. Partially because the small town always talked about its newest residents—Ken had quickly earned the moniker of “hot doc” when he first arrived because he worked at the hospital despite not being a doctor—and partly because my first match struck within a week of being here. By the end of my first year in Heartwood Hollow, two of my couples were engaged. That, plus the way my baked goods made people feel after eating them, gave people a lot to talk about.

Who knew the rumors about my being a witch would turn out to be true?

I sure didn’t.

At least no one was talking about my ability to see ghosts. Then again, I kept that secret to myself as much as possible. Outside of Sarah, Lily, Ken, and Ivy, no one here knew. I hadn’t even told the paranormal support group about that particular skill.

“So dinner tonight?” Ken asked, casting me from my thoughts. Behind him, Ivy pressed her hands together. I smiled as warmth spread into my cheeks at the sight. How could I say no to that?

“I don’t see why not. I’ll meet you at your place when I get done here, and then we can figure something out.”

“All right.” Ken put his hand on Ivy’s shoulder. “How about we get out of here so Joanie can start wrapping up?”

Ivy grabbed her bag from underneath one of the tables, where she had tossed it when she got here. “Okay, Daddy. Bye, Joanie! Bye, Sarah!”

The two headed out the door, and once it was closed, Sarah turned to me. “Did you ever ask her about the missing crystal from your yard?”

I shook my head. “I haven’t given it much thought, actually. It kind of went out of my head that night after getting the coven’s invitation. I’ll ask her tonight and get it while I’m there.” The smoky quartz sphere was one I had buried in the front yard to cleanse and charge over the week after the full moon, per my gram’s instructions. But when Sarah and I went to dig up all of the crystals, that one had been missing. Ivy finding it seemed like the most logical explanation. Who else would take it?

“Oh, Zeke called earlier when you were making the peppermints. I figured you wouldn’t want to interrupt what you were doing with Ivy.”

She was right about that. Wednesday afternoons were our time now. “Thanks. Did he say what he wanted?”

She shook her head, then ducked into the kitchen.

I grabbed the phone, realizing I likely already knew what he had to say. He’d been worried about not being able to find someone to help him at the Corner Bakery. His nephew, Tyler, still made an appearance occasionally, but he, like many others in town, would be going off to college soon.

Zeke picked up on the third ring while trying to stifle a yawn. “Corner Bakery. Zeke speaking.”

His phone mannerisms had improved greatly since I’d been forced to work there as my bakery underwent renovations. Before he’d just say hello, leaving a customer questioning if they’d reached the right place. “Hi, Zeke. It’s Joanie.”

“Wondered when you’d return my call.” Clearly he wasn’t fully reformed on his phone etiquette, but tired Zeke wasn’t the Zeke I’d enjoyed working with and who would turn his bakery around.

I tried to sound cheerful. “How are you doing today?”

“Would be better if my only help wasn’t leaving in two weeks.”

“I hear ya. I’m losing Sam soon.” And I still had to figure out a going away party for him.

Zeke let out a small snort. “But you’ve already gone and found someone else.” He had me there. “And I’m sure with your candy expansion, you’ll be looking to add more people to your staff.”

Also right, but I wasn’t going to pile onto his stress by confirming that I’d have another opening soon. “Well, Brittni was a special case. She came to a cookout at my house with cookies.”

“That’s a bold move.” I could easily hear how impressed he was.

“So why were you calling?” Normally I wouldn’t mind chatting with the other baker in town now that we were on friendly terms, but I wanted to start my closing routine so I could go have dinner with Ken and Ivy.

“You already answered my question. I was trying to figure out about your new girl. Find out if she applied and if maybe you had other applicants who you could let know I was looking. But since she magically fell into your lap, then I guess that’s not in the cards for me.”

“I wouldn’t say magical...” And I knew a thing or two about magic now. “She’s one of Sam’s friends, so he set up the whole thing.”

“Well, if you do hear of anyone—”

“I’ll send them your way. Have you thought about putting out a Help Wanted sign?”

“Bah! That’s just one more thing I have to do. And I hate how those things look in a window. But I’ll think about it.”

“You have a good night now, Zeke.”

Zeke mumbled a reply that I couldn’t quite make out but thought I might have heard “you too” amongst whatever else he’d said.

As I hung up the phone, the door opened to who I hoped would be my last customer for the day.

The girl approached me with an uneasy look, her eyebrows pinched softly, and it appeared she was biting the inside of her lower lip.

I gave her what I hoped was a comforting smile. “Hi, can I help you?”

In a quiet voice that matched her nervous expression, she asked, “Are you Joanie?”

“I am.” My gut was telling me that she wasn’t here for cookies, although having one might make her feel better. I didn’t recognize her from the paranormal support group meetings, but that didn’t mean she was unaware of who I was thanks to the rumors that had circulated about me since moving here. “Are you okay?”

She nodded in short, quick movements before stopping herself and shaking her head. “I need help. My ghost is missing. Can you find her?”

Chapter 2

My heart stuttered, and I lifted my hand to my chest. “I’m sorry?” I’d guessed that she was here for some sort of paranormal reason by the way she’d acted upon coming in, but I hadn’t expected it to be ghost related. Few people knew about my ability to see ghosts, and I would never have thought that they’d tell other people. It was my deepest secret, one that had cost me my best friend when I was a teenager after she refused to believe me. I swore then that I’d not tell other people and hadn’t until recently when ghosts started interfering with my matched couples. “You said your ghost?”

“Well, not my ghost,” she corrected, a nervous edge still evident in her voice. “It’s my nonni’s, my grandmother’s. It’s her ghost. She’s dead.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.”

She gave me a small smile. “It’s all right. She died several years ago, but now her ghost is gone, and I’m hoping you can help me find her.”

I had two options here. Say I couldn’t help her or see if there was something I could do to actually help her. But unlike everyone else who knew my secret, I didn’t know this young woman. Could I trust her? But it wasn’t like me to tell someone in need no. “What were you told I could do, exactly?”

“That you’re special.” She leaned in as if trying to tell me a secret. “That you’re a witch.”

I took a deep breath, feeling a bit better that my being a witch was all she knew. Since starting the paranormal support group here in town, I’d become more comfortable with the idea of people knowing I’m a witch. The people in the PSG all knew. So did everyone here at the bakery. Ken and Ivy too. And anyone else who wondered . . . well, I wouldn’t deny it if they confronted me. Not that people did.

“Are you from the PSG? If you are, I’m sorry I don’t recognize you.” She could be new. We gained new members every meeting.

She shook her head. “I don’t know what that is.”

“That’s all right, although maybe you’d like to come with me sometime.” If she saw ghosts like me, she was as paranormal as they come. “But if not from there, then who told you about me?”

At that moment, the door from the kitchen opened, and Sarah poked her head through the opening. “Just checking in.”

“We’re good. I’m just chatting with . . .” I looked back at the girl. “Sorry. I never asked you what your name is.”

“Erin.”

Something in the kitchen clattered, causing Sarah to jump, and the scuffling of feet signaled Bryan’s approach. But that wasn’t the only thing that told me he was coming. A shockwave of vibrations coursed through me as if the noise was more like a sonic boom rattling up my toes and into my stomach.

Bryan pushed the door separating the kitchen and the bakeshop all the way open. “Rin? What are you doing here?”

Erin stifled a cry as they rushed to one another. I had no doubt the two were a match, and I wondered why they weren’t together already. Bryan stroked Erin’s hair with one hand, and she pressed her face against his chest as she held on to his shirt. “I couldn’t take it anymore. I want Nonni back, and you told me if anyone could help, it would be your boss.”

Well, that answered the question of who had told her my secret. At least the one he knew, anyway.

Bryan looked at me, an apologetic look on his face. “Joanie, I’m sorry. I know you trusted us with what you told us, but I’ve known Rin practically my whole life, and she’s got this thing going on with her grandma’s ghost. I didn’t know who else to send her to, but I never expected that she’d come rushing on in here like this. I was going to talk to you about it myself. Introduce the two of you properly.”

Despite knowing him for years, he surprised me sometimes. He had witty humor that didn’t come out often, but he was good with one-liners and inside jokes. So much so that I wasn’t sure exactly what his reaction was when I first confessed I was a witch and that the baked goods we sold had magic in them.

“I know you mean well,” I began, addressing Bryan, “and what’s done is done. I wouldn’t have said no to helping, but I would have appreciated you coming to me first before you even mentioned it to her.” I focused on Erin. She’d stiffened, and although she was still in Bryan’s arms, she’d turned to give me her full attention. “That being said, I’m not one to refuse people who need help, especially in this area where I am uniquely qualified.”

Erin’s mouth parted, and her shoulders relaxed substantially. “Thank you. And I’m sorry. I didn’t know who to turn to, and I’ve been grasping at straws for so long, and with the wedding around the corner, I had to do something. I can’t not have my grandmother there on my wedding day.”

“Wedding? You’re getting married.” My gaze shot to Bryan.

He held up a hand. “No, not us.”

Erin laughed for the first time since entering the bakery. “Me? Marry Bryan? Oh, no. I’ve known him forever, and I love him, but no.”

Bryan’s eyes seemed to dim a little. It was obvious he cared for her, but I doubted she realized that. “She’s marrying Travis Ellison in a few weeks.”

Something about that name felt familiar, but I didn’t know how. They weren’t one of my cake customers, at least not that I was aware of. There were a few wedding planners I worked with and dealt with directly, so I wouldn’t necessarily know who the couple was until the wedding day, but they usually came from out of town. Maybe Sarah would know. She handled the paperwork while I focused on flavor and design.

I nodded, catching sight of the clock as I did. Fortunately it wasn’t time for me to meet Ken and Ivy yet. “Erin, why don’t we go sit down and you can tell me about your grandmother and your ability to see her.”

She pulled away from Bryan and walked to the tables, a bit more confidence in her step than had been there when she first walked in. Bryan moved to follow her, but I stopped him.

“Are you all set in the kitchen?”

“Uh, yeah. Just one last thing to clean up.” No doubt it was whatever that had fallen when he realized Erin was out here.

“Can you head on back and let Sarah know she can leave early today?” If I wasn’t going to get out of here early, there was no need to keep Sarah late. I could easily clean up after my conversation with Erin. “I promise Erin and her secret will be safe with me.”

“Oh, okay,” he mumbled. He likely hadn’t expected me to ask him to leave, but I wanted Erin to be free to talk without another’s influence. And Bryan and their match were two major influences on her. He placed a hand on her arm and said something I couldn’t make out.

She nodded. “I’ll call you later.”

He turned away from her and headed toward the kitchen, giving me a quick thanks as he passed. He may not have been happy with me at that moment, but he was glad that I was helping his friend—his match.

I pointed toward a seat with my hand as I returned my focus to Erin. “Please, sit.” I pulled out a chair for myself as she sat down.

“Let’s start at the beginning. Tell me about you and your grandmother. What’s her name?” I hoped that mentioning her by name would cause the grandmother to appear. If Erin couldn’t see her, maybe I still could. That would at least give us a starting point.

“Her name is Anita Esposito.”

I glanced around the room, but nothing. She wasn’t here.

“Now, before we get too far, I have to ask. Is it possible she decided to cross over and you’re just not wanting to accept it? It can be—”

“Absolutely not.” She shook her head vehemently. “She promised me that she wouldn’t go anywhere until after the wedding.”

“Okay. So she didn’t go to the other side. Is there anyone else she could be visiting? Ghosts tend to go to whoever needs them at the moment. She may not have been able to tell you.”

Again, she shook her head. “I mean, there’s my mom. She’s not in Heartwood Hollow anymore, but I see her often enough that if Nonni was around her instead, I’d have seen her. My grandpa and their son, my uncle, have both passed. I was her only grandchild. There’s no one else, and I need her. I’m getting married. She’s supposed to be here.”

I nodded. “I understand it’s very important to you. Weddings are a big deal. Trust me, I happen to know a thing or two about weddings.”

That made her smile and seemed to ease the tension that had built up at my earlier suggestion of her grandmother having willingly crossed over.

“When did she die?”

“When I was thirteen.”

“And did she become a ghost right away or did she come back during a time of need for you? What I mean is, were you always able to see her?”

She contemplated this for a moment. “Soon after. I kept seeing her out of the corner of my eye. At first I thought it was my grief playing a trick on me. Like a hallucination or something. It wasn’t until I finally decided to acknowledge her standing there one day that she talked back and I realized she’d been there all along. It wasn’t grief. And it wasn’t my imagination. Nonni was a ghost.”

“Did you ask her why she was there?”

“Of course I did. She said she didn’t want to go. That she wasn’t ready to cross over.”

That wasn’t uncommon. Back when I spoke to ghosts regularly, several had given me that reason. Most eventually came around.

“So that was how long ago now?”

“I’m twenty-five, so twelve years?”

I nodded. Although I’d always been able to see spirits, thirteen was when the ghost activity had really picked up in my life, causing me to confide in my best friend about my abilities. But when she refused to believe me even though I’d given her proof, or maybe because of it, she stopped being my friend. Once that happened, I went to my mom for help. She then turned to my gram. The two of them did something to me that stopped the bad ghosts from being able to reach me, but my ability hadn’t gone away completely. I still saw ghosts wherever they were. But only the good ones. And for the most part, they left me alone.

Talking to someone else who could see ghosts was a brand-new experience for me. I didn’t know anyone else who could. At least no one I could talk to. One of my grandmother’s older sisters, Pegee, had been able to see them too, but one day, she left. No one knew where she was. But that was how Gram knew as much as she did about my ability. What I wouldn’t have given to talk to Aunt Pegee at the time.

But now, sitting in front of me was Erin. The first person who could do at least some of what I could. It was time to find out more.

Leaning in slightly, I laid my hands flat on the table. “Now, Erin, I have to ask. Do you see other ghosts?”

“Only my grandmother. Why?”

“Just curious. Wanted to see how strong your skill was.”

She scoffed. “You think this is a skill?”

“Sure do.”

“Well, I stink at it. If I didn’t, I’d not be in this situation.”

“You never know with ghosts.”

“You sound pretty sure of that.”

I smiled. “I’d like to think that I know what I’m doing.” Something was holding me back from outright telling her that I saw ghosts too. “Helps give others a bit of confidence. Is it working?”

“A little.” The corner of her mouth ticked upward. “I’m desperate to see my grandmother again. You could tell me she decided to possess the porcelain doll in my room and I would probably believe you because it would make me feel better.”

I shook away the thought of a possessed doll. Creepy. Thank goodness that hadn’t happened to me. “No dolls. I promise. And I wouldn’t make something up just because. We’ll get to the bottom of this. So, does anyone else know what you can do?”

She raised an eyebrow at me in an are you serious look. I understood perfectly. Seeing ghosts wasn’t an everyday subject of conversation. More like the opposite.

Just then, Sarah opened the door between the shop and the kitchen to say goodnight. A moment later, the tingling sensation I’d felt since the moment Bryan realized Erin was in here began to fade. He must have left with Sarah, or Sarah was making sure that he was actually leaving. But back to the matter at hand . . .

“Well, Bryan obviously knows what you can do since he told you to come see me. But what about anyone else? Your fiancé? Your mom?”

“I told my mom when I first realized it was all real. It only made her sad because she couldn’t see Nonni.”

“The three of you were very close, weren’t you?”

She sat back in her seat a little bit, seemingly comfortable with this topic. “We all lived together before she died. Mom and I moved into her house after my nonno, my grandfather, passed away. My dad had left my mom, and we’d been living in an apartment on Main Street. Nonni’s house was big enough for all of us, and Mom got to save the money that had been going to rent. When Nonni died, she and I became even closer since I was the only one who could see her. Once Mom accepted what I could do, I was the go-between for them so they could talk.”

“You said you’re getting married soon. Did the relationship between the three of you change at all as a result of your relationship?”

“Well, sure. But I’d left for college first. Then Mom downsized, selling Nonni’s house. Nonni followed me because, like I said, I’m the only one she can interact with. When Travis and I started dating, Nonni tagged along.”

I could imagine. “So, does Travis know what you can do?”

“It’s come up once or twice. I wanted to share that part of my life and my grandmother because she’s such a presence. Or was . . .”

“Let’s talk about that. When did she disappear?”

“I’ve been trying to get her back since the start of the summer. She stopped in briefly at my engagement party, and I haven’t seen her since.”

“Stopped in? I thought you said she was pretty much always with you.”

“She used to be. But the more serious Travis and I became, the more privacy she gave us. There were some things I didn’t want my grandmother there for, you know?”

“Let me guess. He’s not into the ghost thing?”

“Well, it didn’t send him running, which is good. Gosh, that makes him sound horrible. I promise he isn’t. But you have to admit . . . it’s a lot to accept, never mind understand it. So I stopped bringing it up, and Nonni stopped coming along.”

“So overall, she was coming less and less frequently from the time you started dating Travis up until your engagement party.”

“Well, yeah, but still regularly, and she always promised to come for the wedding. That never changed. She even told me that on the day of the party.”

“Why not just take her at her word? That she’ll be there.”

“I wish I could, but she’s been gone so long, longer than ever before, and she’s missed so much. I need to know.”

Part of me thought that perhaps Erin’s grandmother could have been saving her energy for the big day. Another part of me wasn’t so sure. Could she have crossed over? It was possible, but why leave right before a loved one’s wedding after remaining here for so long?

Some might say it was a coincidence, the timing. And that didn’t sit right with me. If I’d learned anything lately, there was no such thing as coincidences.

Chapter 3

“So you’ll help me?”

“Of course, I will.” I tried to give her a reassuring smile. “Might mean you need to hang out here at the bakery a bit more, though, give me time to get to know you and see if I can get anything from that.”

Bryan would probably love the idea of her being around some more too, although if I couldn’t fix her ghost problem, Erin would end up ghostless and marrying the wrong man. Not that Travis was a bad guy. I didn’t know him. But I did know that he and Erin weren’t meant to be together. My matchmaking tingle didn’t lie, and it was never wrong.

She reached out and placed her hand over mine. Her eyes were rimmed with tears. “Thank you.”

I flipped my hand over, allowing me to give hers a small squeeze. “We’ll get this sorted. I promise.”

She stood, letting her hand that had been on mine fall to her side. She pulled her purse over her shoulder. “You aren’t mad at Bryan, right? I really didn’t mean for him to get in trouble.”

Shaking my head, I stood to meet her gaze. “Mad? No. But I did trust him with a secret and within a short time, he went and told someone who I don’t know.” It had only been a couple weeks since my confession to everyone here in the shop as we discussed how the Monday muffins they had made without me were different than those that got made while I was here.

“If it helps any, I haven’t told anyone.”

I smiled at her. “I appreciate that. And he’s not in trouble—”

She let out an audible sigh. “Oh, good. He might not always be the best at showing it, but he really loves this job. Like we explained, we’ve known each other for years, and I can see the good it’s done him. Settled him a bit.”

“I’m glad to hear it, but I will have to talk to him about this.”

Her shoulders dropped slightly. “Understandable.” She took a step toward the door.

“Helps that he did what he did to help a friend.” His match. But I couldn’t say that.

She nodded, a small smile forming across her face. “I’ll see you again soon.” She seemed much calmer as she walked toward the door and left the shop.

I locked the door behind her. The bakery had officially closed ten minutes ago. All I had to do was finish cleaning and I could go grab dinner with Ken and Ivy.

***

I’d confided in Ken as much as I could over dinner and after Ivy had gone to bed. The conversation quickly morphed into one about how I felt about finding someone who also saw ghosts. We weren’t exactly alike, Erin and I, but this was the closest I had ever been to someone who could remotely understand what I could do.

When I returned home after our meal, my answering machine was blinking with a message. I pressed play to listen to it as I made myself a cup of tea.

“Hey, it’s Sarah. I know you’re out right now and that you never check your cell anyway, so I am leaving you a message here. Wanted to check in on you after your chat with Erin. I swear I wasn’t purposefully listening. She was a little loud when she first asked about her grandma. Hope it went well, but I’m more curious about how you are. Give me a call.”

As I waited for the water to boil, I called my shop manager turned familiar. She picked up on the second ring.

“Hey,” she said. “How are you doing with this whole ghost thing?”

“Honestly? It feels a little weird to not be the only one anymore. And I was just getting used to, well, everything else.”

“I can imagine. It would be a little like me running into another familiar who wasn’t someone in my family. I’ve never met another outside of my uncle and my grandfather. The rest of my family never got activated as it were.”

“Did you know?” Sarah had grown up learning about the paranormal life in Heartwood Hollow as well as witchcraft so she could be a familiar if her witch—me—ever came along.

“About Erin? No. She probably never talked about it much beyond her mom and to Bryan.”

“What about others?” In our few weeks of being witch and familiar, it wasn’t information she had offered, and it wasn’t anything I had ever asked, but now the timing was right.

“It’s always been a possibility. Every once in a while, someone who claims to be able to will come along. A psychic medium. A ghost hunter.”

“Like those shows on TV?” Most of those seemed so fake, but I was open to being proven wrong. Occasionally one of the episodes seemed to yield something real.

“Yeah.” The word had come out as a half-scoff. Seemed she didn’t fully believe in them either. “Knoll’s Grove had a paranormal investigation group for a while. Might still.”

“Any good?”

“I don’t put much stock in things done for entertainment value. One of them is Travis’s sister, actually. She seemed cool back when we were in high school.”

“Travis as in Erin’s fiancé?”

“Yeah. You can probably catch their videos on their website if you’re interested.”

The kettle started to whistle, and I switched the burner off. As I poured the water into my teacup, I said, “I’ll take your word for it. I still don’t have the internet in the house.”

“But I thought you took care of that with the crystals.”

I jiggled the infuser basket inside the cup, catching the lavender aroma of the steeping brew. “Decided against it. I like my unplugged life here. It’s nice. Quiet. I don’t want to be connected all the time. Although you shouldn’t have a problem if people call or text you. Or anyone else who stops by for that matter. Even Ivy should be able to do homework here with no problem.”

The line went silent a moment. “You put all of that into the crystals when your gram came?”

“Yeah. She didn’t say not to. Should I not have?”

“That’s some pretty advanced stuff. Specific. You’re doing way more than tapping into the usual energies of the crystals like protection or fortune.”

I brought the teacup with me into the living room, steeping leaves and all. “Figured I should ask for what I want. I didn’t think about something being easy or difficult.”

“Have you tried seeing if you get a cell signal?”

As I sat down on the couch, I raised my eyebrow at her skepticism even though she wasn’t here. “You doubting my abilities?”

She chuckled. “Curious is all. It’s always good to check your results.”

“No one has bothered to call me, so I haven’t tried.” I set the teacup on the coffee table and stood back up, then walked around the end of the couch to the coat tree where I hung my purse. I pulled my phone out of the pocket where I kept it. “Battery’s dead. Guess I’ll have to check in the morning. Ken can get texts now, though.” I plugged my phone into the charger cord sitting on the end table next to the couch.

“That’s something, at least.”

When I sat back down, Saffy jumped down from her perch on the cat tree Lily and her boyfriend John had made for her. She hurried over to join me on the couch.

“You want to hear what’s really something?” I shifted my legs slightly to give Saffy more room to lie down once she finished circling.

“Something more than you’ve met someone else who can see at least one ghost?”

“Yeah. Erin and Bryan are a match.”

This time Sarah was quiet long enough for me to think the call had disconnected. “You’re kidding.”

“I’d never kid about this.” I blew across my cup, then took a sip of my tea.

“But she’s getting married to someone who isn’t Bryan.”

“I know. This may be my hardest match yet.”