Page 1 of My Blind Date is a Demon

CHAPTER 1

“Come on, honey. Let’s go!” I call up the stairs to my ten-year-old daughter, Bella. We were going to be late—again.

“I can’t find my shoes!” she says.

“They shouldn’t be upstairs anyway!” I call back. “What’s the rule? No shoes in the house.” I put my purse and Bella’s lunchbox on the floor as I pick through the pile of shoes that should be in the closet but only seem to make it there once a week. Okay, who am I kidding? It’s like once a month that I actually bother to put them away. Of course, Bella should be putting away her own shoes, but I’m not the disciplinarian I should be, and we both know it.

Dash, our hyper Papillion dog, runs over and tries to lick my face.

“No, down, girl,” I say, trying to shield myself.

Our fat cat, Mr. Darcy, joins in, crying to be fed even though I have already fed him and know his bowl is full of food.

“Bella!” I call out again after I find one of her shoes but not the other. “What are you doing up there? Hurry up. I found one shoe. Get down here and find the other.”

Bella thumps down the stairs, one shoe on, dragging her backpack behind her. “I was trying to do a spell to make my shoe appear.”

I groan. “Did you accidentally make it disappear?”

“Oh,” she says, her face dropping. “Maybe.”

“Maybe that’s why one is down here and one was up there?” I ask, holding out her shoe to her.

“I don’t know,” she says. “I’ll have to ask Beverly.”

My daughter is a budding witch, and I definitely am not, so I can’t train her. My grandmother on my father’s side was a witch, so I knew it was a possibility that she could be born a witch. Still, even growing up in Mystic Cove with lots of witch and werewolf friends, I was not prepared to raise a witch of my own, especially not alone.

“Look what I learned!” Bella says. She waves her hand and says a magical phrase and poor Dash starts levitating. Mr. Darcy hisses and runs away while Dash yelps in fear.

“Bella!” I say, jumping up and grabbing the poor pup. “Don’t do that. She’s scared.”

“It’s cool!” Bella says, finally putting her shoe on.

“Yes, but only to people and animals that actually want to fly, right?” I say. “How would you like it if you were suddenly flipped on your head? You can only do magic on other people if they consent, right? Remember how we talked about consent?”

“But she can’t talk,” Bella groans. “How can she consent? She will learn to like it, I’m sure.”

I sigh as I grab my bag and Bella’s lunchbox, remembering I left my water bottle on the counter. “Go to the car. I’ll be right there.”

“I thought you were ready,” she says as she opens the door to go outside.

“Look out for the—” I grunt as I see Mr. Darcy bolt out the door. I grab my water and run out after him. I grab him, getting fur and now lawn clippings on my shirt as I take him back into the house and shut the door. I find my keys in my purse, miraculously, but realize I don’t have my phone. I slip back inside, grab my phone, do a quick check to ensure I haven’t forgotten anything else, and then slip back out the door, locking it behind me, and then rushing to the car. Bella is already in the back seat, buckled in.

I check the time on the dashboard as I start the car. “Dang it. You’re going to be late. I’ll have to go sign you in.”

“Sorry,” she says.

“It’s fine,” I say because it’s annoying but nothing to fight over. At the light, I text my friend, Cora, and let her know I’ll be late to the gym.

“I have a class with Beverly today,” Bella reminds me.

“Yeah, I know,” I say. “Tonight, we need to walk the dog, do your homework, do some gardening, have dinner, watch 90-Day Fiancé, and then go to bed, right?” I don’t know why both of us love 90-Day Fiancé, but we do. I guess seeing people with much worse lives is comforting, somehow. Not that my life is terrible. It’s just…not great. My guilt, sadness, and depression over the death of my husband just weigh on me, even after four years, and I know it means I’m not mentally and emotionally always there for Bella, and she carries her own grief around too. We are both in therapy, but I feel like we’ve hit a wall. Maybe we need to find new therapists. Get a fresh perspective. But living in a small town, we don’t have a lot of options. And I can’t get a therapist in another town or online because I need someone I can trust with the fact that Bella is a witch. It’s a big part of our lives, so I don’t think I could work with a therapist I have to keep that a secret from.

“Do you think Kim and Usman are going to get married this season?” she asks.

“I have no idea,” I say, leaning over the steering wheel to make a turn.

“Maybe you should go on that show,” she says.

---