Page 2 of My Blind Date is a Demon

“I’d have to have a fiancé first,” I say.

“Seems pretty easy to get one online,” she says.

“That’s true,” I say. “But how would I explain to him that my daughter is a witch?”

“Oh, right,” she says. “You’d need to marry a local man, I guess. Can you meet a local man online?”

I had only been half listening to her as I drove. It suddenly dawns on me what she is saying. “You…want me to get married again?”

“I don’t know,” she says, then she clams up. I’m not sure what to say to this. It’s the most she has said to me on the subject since her dad died. And I’m not ready to get married again. I can’t even imagine what that would look like. I’m a mess! Even now, I’m just waiting to get Bella into school so I can burst into tears. And I don’t want to upset Bella before she goes to school. I want her to have a good day and be on her best behavior. When she gets upset, she tends to lash out, usually by using magic in ways she shouldn’t.

I park the car in the drop-off line since no one else is here to drop off their kids since they should all be in school already and usher Bella inside.

“Hi, Cathy,” I say to the school secretary. She looks over her glasses at me and gives me the sign-in sheet.

“Third time this month, Ms. Jones,” she says, chewing her gum.

“Yeah, I know,” I say as I scribble Bella’s name down. Under “reason for tardiness,” I just put “life.” I know it’s mainly my fault. I hit the snooze button four times instead of the usual three.

“And it’s only the second week of the month,” Cathy prods.

“Yeah…I know,” I say, letting my annoyance show.

“One more tardy this month and it will count as an absence, young lady,” she says to Bella.

“Hey,” I say, putting myself between Cathy and Bella. “I know. It happens, alright?”

Cathy gives a little humph as she takes the sign-in sheet from me.

“Go on to class, okay?” I say to Bella. She starts to go, but I grab her and give her a hug, kissing her on the top of her head. “Have a great day, okay?”

“Yeah,” she says a little glumly as she walks off without much pep in her step.

“Thanks,” I say to Cathy as I leave, just because it’s one of those things you are supposed to say to other people even if you don’t really mean it. And I really don’t mean it. I don’t know who Cathy thinks she’s helping by pointing out my parenting flaws, of which I am more than well aware.

When I get back to the car, I take a moment to cry. I know I don’t have much reason to cry, but I just need to. I haven’t cried in, like, three days, which is probably a record for me. I really don’t want to go workout. But I know I need to. The endorphins and talking with a friend usually do make me feel better, more ready to face the day. Isn’t that what a workout buddy is for, anyway?

I pull into the gym’s parking lot and grab my water bottle. Cora is waiting for me in the lobby.

“Hey!” she says with a wave. “So, just ellipticals today?”

“Sure,” I say.

“Are you okay?” she asks as we climb the stairs to the machine room.

“Oh, you know, life,” I tell her.

“Don’t I know it,” she says. Cora and I met a few months ago at Jumpin’ Beans coffee and pastry shop. She’s a ghost. Or, well, she was a ghost. For like two hundred years! But something happened, some magic spell went awry, and now she’s here. We sort of bonded over the fact that we both love Jumpin’ Beans but weren’t fans of our expanding hips, so we decided to work out together so we could eat more pastries and drink more coffee.

We both jump onto machines next to each other and set the timers for one hour. No more, no less.

“How did your weekend go?” I ask her.

“Pretty good,” she says. “Beckett talked about introducing me to his family, but I’m not sure I’m ready for that.”

“It’s a big step,” I say, remembering when I met Mark’s family for the first time. They were…less than pleased. They were a very traditional family, especially his mother. She had wanted Mark to marry a nice Mexican Catholic girl from their community. Not a blonde pagan he met at college.

“I’m just not sure what to say when they ask about my past, my own family,” Cora says. “What do I say when they ask if I have any children?”

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