Page 41 of A Spell of Midlife Mayhem

I narrowed my eyes. ‘You won’t disappear and leave me to pay again?’

He hung his head. ‘I’ll try not to let that happen. Look, it’s not always easy...’

‘Yeah. You said it’s complicated. What are you, some kind of undercover detective or spy pretending to be a student?’

He folded his arms over his massive chest. ‘No.’

‘Of course, you’d say that even if you were.’

Raven gave a wry smile. ‘I guess I would. But you haven’t answered my question. Will you go out to dinner with me?’

‘I can try it. But let’s be clear about this. Is it an apology-for-being-rude dinner, or is it a second-chance date dinner?’

‘How about both?’

I beamed. ‘That’s what I hoped you’d say.’

Relief swept over his face. ‘Great! When shall we go? Tomorrow? Tonight?’

‘Why wait? Give me an hour to cook dinner for Aunt Ruth and spend some time with her first.’

‘Sure thing.’

I brushed past him to get through the door, smiling, and went in search of Aunt Ruth.

I found her in her new bedroom downstairs, folding and rearranging clothes in the dresser. We exchanged pleasantries.

‘Heather, I need your help with a couple of things, dear.’ Her eyes were wide. She wasn’t the type of woman to ask for help. Whatever she was going to ask was important to her.

‘Of course, Aunt Ruth. What can I do?’

‘In my old room upstairs, there’s a large mirror. I would like it in this room, please. You can take the smaller mirror from here if you like.’

‘The large mirror?’ The breath caught in my throat.

‘Yes. You must have noticed it. It’s essential for me. Ask Raven to help you move it. I’m sure he won’t mind.’

‘Ah... can it wait a few days?’ Shit, I need to get it repaired pronto!

Aunt Ruth fixed me with her notorious interrogation stare. ‘Why the delay?’

I had to come clean. I couldn’t lie to Aunt Ruth. ‘I already tried to move it, but it smashed,’ I blurted out. ‘I’ll get it fixed, I promise, as soon as I get paid.’

‘It smashed?’ Aunt Ruth’s head went back, her eyes wide. She stared at me as if I’d confessed to writing off her car.

‘I meant it disintegrated. I kept the frame, though. That solid thing didn’t break, but the glass went everywhere.’

‘Oh, Heather, you don’t realise what you’ve done. You kept the glass, didn’t you? Please tell me you did.’

‘No, I put it out in the rubbish.’ Which had been collected this morning.

‘Witchy creepers. Stink and putrid blowholes!’ Aunt Ruth’s cursing was mild but descriptive.

‘I’m really sorry. Was it a family heirloom?’

Aunt Ruth’s lips tightened. ‘You might say that. It’s been passed down from witch to witch in our family. It’s a conduit for magic.’

Shit, shit and damned shit. I swallowed. ‘So, it was valuable, then?’

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