Page 5 of My Blind Date is a Demon

“Ugh. Sorry to hear that. I just can’t believe Bella would bully anyone. She’s such a sweet kid.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want to be one of those parents that’s all ‘oh, my kid would never do that.’ If her teacher has concerns, I need to listen to them, right?”

“Sure. But hopefully it’s not as bad as you think.”

“Can we talk about literally anything else?” I ask, taking my first sip of coffee.

“Of course. How was work today?”

“Ugh, okay, anything but that.”

Cora laughs and I feel a bit of the tension melt away. I’m a graphic designer, so I work from home. At least, I do when I’m in the right frame of mind. My mind was all over the place today. I just couldn’t concentrate. But I have a few deadlines coming up, so I need to focus.

A couple of customers come in, so Cora goes to see if she can help them. I sip on my coffee and tap around on my phone. I decide to walk around and see if any books pique my interest. I don’t usually read romances, but when I find A Lady's Guide to Mischief and Mayhem, it seems quirkier than most Regency romances and decide to give it a shot.

When I turn to go back to the front of the store, I see…something out of the corner of my eye. I blink, sure it was nothing. But as I take another step, I see it again…whatever it was.

“Cora!” I call out.

“Yeah?” she calls back.

“Can you come here?”

“Just a second.” I can hear her talking to someone. Probably checking out the customers.

I exhale, trying to calm my racing heart. What do I think I see, anyway? I can’t really explain it since I can’t see it straight on. But every time I turn my head, I see, like, smoke. Like, a shadow.

“Is something there?” I say. In Mystic Cove, we have witches and warlocks, vampires, werewolves, zombies, ghosts, and probably aliens, at least Cora’s boyfriend, Beckett, seems to think so. But really, who knows what else is out there? Shadow people are probably a thing.

“Tamzin?” I turn around a see Cora looking at me strangely. “Are you okay?”

“Do you see anything?” I ask her. Cora can see ghosts. She can even talk to them.

“Like what?” she asks.

“Like, you know, a ghost or something?”

Cora looks around, then she shakes her head. “Why? What did you see?”

I let out a relieved sigh. “Okay. Maybe it was nothing. But I thought I saw a shadow or something moving around out of the corner of my eye.”

She shrugs and heads back to the front of the store like it’s no big deal. “Well, it’s darker here in the back of the shop.”

I start to follow her and involuntarily shudder. Goosebumps even break out on my arms. I trot to catch up with Cora, not wanting to be left alone.

“Oh, I read this,” Cora says, looking at my book. “It’s so cute.”

“Yeah? It’s a little out of my normal reading routine. I’m hoping it will break me out of my funk.”

“I was thinking of having a little girls’ night this weekend,” Cora says. “Sophia and Piper will be there, Rachel, Olivia.”

“Maybe,” I say. “If I can get Mom to watch Bella. Well, if I can leave Bella at all. I need to see what her teacher has to say. We might be stuck indoors catching up on homework and watching something like Hey, Don’t Push Me: A Bully’s Tale.”

“Is that a real thing?”

“God, I hope not.”

Bella comes out from the back of the shop, skipping and in clearly a better mood than when I picked her up from school.

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