Unfinished Business An Angela Panther Novel (A Chick-lit Paranormal book) (The Angela Panther Series) by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson

different reasons. Right now, I’m assuming your mother is choosing not to reveal herself to you for a reason, though she hasn’t actually told me that.”
    She paused and shifted her eyes to the side of the room, then laughed. “Your mother is a character, isn’t she? She just said she’d tell me if I’d shut up and let her talk.”
    Mel’s eyes went wide, and she let out a loud snort. I couldn’t blame her for that one, so I didn’t kick her this time.
    “That sounds very much like my mother.”
    Linda shifted her eyes again and was silent for a second. “She’s telling me she has unfinished business.”
    I felt agitated. “What the heck does that mean, unfinished business? Ask her that.”
    I was certain we’d finished up everything she wanted handled before she died, so this unfinished business crap, if you asked me, was just that, crap.
    Linda held up her hand and I waited. “Okay." She giggled. “She’s so funny. She said stop being like your stubborn German father and let her talk. She said she’s been waiting for the right time to tell you this.”
    “Tell her I’m just like my dad, and proud of it, too.” I stuck my tongue out and looked up to the ceiling, hoping my mother could see my defiance.
    Linda smirked. “She says don’t be rude. Angela, your mother tells me her unfinished business is you. You’re the reason she’s not staying in the light.”
    “Huh? Because of me? She told me she’s been to the light and can come and go in it but that’s a little over my head. I don't get it.”
    Linda took a water bottle from the mini-fridge behind her, unscrewed the cap and took a sip. “Would either of you like a bottle of water?"
    We shook our heads, no.
    She took another sip, then screwed the cap back on. “Angela, your mother said she’s not here because you still need her, though she wants to make sure I tell you that you’ll always need your mother. She’s here because of your gift and a few other things.” She paused again, and I realized she was listening to Ma.
    “She said it’s her fault, what’s happening to you.”
    Mel was surprised but I wasn't. The connection was easy to make. Ma died. Ma came back. I saw Ma. Ma’s fault. Made sense to me.
    Psychic Linda talked more. “As a child you had experiences...experiences different than other children. You had an imaginary friend named Bob, she said. Do you remember Bob?”
    Mel glanced at me and raised her eyebrows. I knew she was thinking that only I would have an imaginary male friend and of course, was he hot.
    “Stop it. I know what you’re thinking,” I kicked her under the table for good measure.
    “Ouch, that one hurt.”
    I told Linda, “I don’t remember, no.”
    “Your mother said you were about three and that while she cleaned, you would play with Bob in the family room. She said one time while you were playing, you got up and asked her to take you to the bakery. She said no, she was busy, but you insisted.”
    She paused for a moment. “She kept telling you no, but you threw a fit and told her you had to go because Bob wanted you to tell his wife he was sorry. Your mother said she told you Bob was imaginary, but that just upset you more. You told her that Bob worked at the bakery with his wife, but he went out one night with the boys – she said you used those words – and drank too many beers and wrecked the car down the street from his house. She said his wife needed to know he was sorry he left her.” Linda stopped again to listen to my mother.
    I glanced at Mel, who had stopped taking notes and was sitting in her chair, ramrod straight, eyes wide opened, mouth shaped like a capital O. I was kind shocked too, and I realized this when I tried to tell Mel to close her mouth or she’d catch flies and the words wouldn’t come.
    “Your mother said she finally believed you when you described how Bob hit the tree in the yard four houses away from his and killed the neighbor’s dog in the process. She