Spell Booked (Retired Witches Mysteries Series Book 1) by Joyce Lavene

place. She believed the world was essentially bad. I could never agree with her, even though it would’ve been impossible for two women to be any closer than we were.
    I went home and dropped down into a chair, leaning my head back as Isabelle came to sit on my lap. My hand stroked her without thinking, her soft fur and calming presence making me feel a little better.
    I closed my eyes and thought about Olivia. There was no time to mourn her properly, not right now. Too much was going on that threatened the foundation of my entire life. I had to focus on moving forward, working my plan as I saw it.
    Isabelle’s hiss alerted me to something in the house that wasn’t right. I opened my eyes, and there was the ghost ball I had followed before finding out about Olivia’s death.
    I stared at the glowing presence right in front of my face. I knew this was Olivia. Ghosts weren’t my specialty, but I could
feel
her presence—I could almost smell her perfume.
    She’d wanted to let me know what had happened to her in the alley, and she had something she wanted to tell me.
    Isabelle jumped down with another hiss at the ghost ball. She didn’t care if it was Olivia or not, ghosts didn’t belong in
her
house.
    “Olivia? Is that you?” I stuck my hand forward with the intention of touching the ball of energy.
    The front door opened quickly and slammed shut. “Mom? Are you here?”
    It was Mike, home unexpectedly, probably with six loads of dirty clothes.
    I glanced away for an instant, and when I looked back, the ghost ball was gone. I was disappointed. I guess I’d hoped Olivia had some answers for me. Instead, I was left with the same bitter feeling of frustration. This day just needed to end.
    “Michael!” I rushed to his side, almost tripping over his duffel bags. “I’m so glad to see you.”
    I hugged him. He
let
me hug him, with a small pat on the back. It used to be much better when he was ten. Those years were long gone. I was looking forward to grandchildren who wouldn’t mind being cuddled.
    “This is a surprise,” I told him. “You’re home a few weeks early.”
    My son looked more like his father—tall and lanky but with my blue eyes. He had a quick sense of humor and more curiosity than most people about how things worked. That was why he’d decided to become an engineer.
    I’d long ago released any lingering disappointment that he hadn’t inherited my abilities. I didn’t love him any less for it. It was my choice to marry someone with no magic. I knew it was a good chance that my children wouldn’t have magic either.
    “I know!” He didn’t seem happy to be there. “I left school. I’m done, Mom. I don’t need it anymore. I hope you and Dad aren’t too disappointed.”

    “Has the whole world gone insane?” Joe asked that night as we were getting dressed to take our son out for dinner at his favorite restaurant. “Are we supposed to be
happy
that Mike isn’t going to be an engineer after that’s all he wanted to be from the time he was five years old?”
    I was looking in the mirror, trying to make my fine brown hair do something besides lie there limply. “I don’t know what to tell you. He’s an adult. There’s not much we can do about it.”
    Joe’s frown in the mirror behind me was like a thundercloud. “There’s plenty we can do about it. Instead, we’re going out to celebrate this stupid idea. We should tell him to go back to school right now!”
    “Don’t you think we should hear him out before we pass judgment? He’s dealing with some problem, Joe. We can still talk him around once we understand what’s wrong.”
    “It doesn’t matter what’s wrong, Molly. Whatever made him drop out of college is a bad idea.”
    I got up and put my arms around his neck, looking deep into his troubled eyes. “He’s here. Let’s have dinner and find out what’s going on. Let’s not alienate him when he needs us.”
    He kissed me quickly and turned away. “I guess we don’t