A Haunting Midlife (Witching After Forty #3) - Lia Davis Page 0,2

the dead. Something as yet unheard of, or only heard in rumor. I'd given it a shot on Larry, a skeleton I'd accidentally animated over the winter.

And he'd grown his flesh back. All of it. To the point that now he looked perfectly human. Alive. And according to Zoey, 'freaking hot.' “And don’t forget two immortal cats. One of which can talk quite well.” I frowned. “Maybe I’ll call Wade and just have him pack up the house.” Leaving this chaotic menagerie to Owen suddenly seemed insane.

Owen broke his unspoken rule of not entering my room and crossed over to me. "Ava. Stop." He took my hands, forcing me to look at him. “You are going. Everything here will be fine. Not to mention, Sam will be here if I need anything, and the coven said they'll help if anything weird happens.”

I snorted. The coven—my coven because I was the High Witch in charge—loved all the weird stuff that happened in my life. They'd probably be all over it with glee. Not that I blamed them. The insanity that was my life was, most of the time, pretty damn cool.

Owen let go of my hands and moved to the door. “You’ve put this off long enough. It’s time to let go.” His words reflected my earlier thoughts almost exactly. That had to mean something. And he was right. I could do this, but boy did I need a nap. And I didn't think I'd be getting one any time soon.

After saying goodbye to everyone in my house—two humans, one small human, one ghoul, one animated dead person, who may or may not be a ghoul now, I wasn't sure, two immortal cats, one devil, who had appeared... I wasn't sure when, but there he was, and one self-aware house—Owen drove Wallie, Zoey, and me to the airport. When he pulled through the drop-off lanes, I spotted Drew and my heart did a little dance while my eyes drank in the sight of how sexy he was in his sheriff’s uniform. I'd been planning on sending him a sweet text right before I put my phone on airplane mode, but this was so very much way better.

Heart soaring, I got out of the car, and Drew quickly pulled me into his arms. His mouth claimed mine, and I melted into him like I was meant to be there. Like I'd always been meant to be there. Pulling back, I smiled up at him. “I thought you weren’t able to come.”

He shook his head and traced my jaw with his fingertips. “I still can’t. I've got to run, but I wanted to see you off.”

Laughing, I tucked my arms around his waist and hugged him tightly, relishing how much taller Drew was. And bigger. I liked feeling small as I hugged him.

Drew had been with me when I'd gotten the call from Clay's Uncle Wade that the house had sold. Drew had insisted that he would come with me and wouldn’t hear any arguing from me. However, plans changed. He had to help out with a case in Acadia National Park and couldn't leave town. There'd been a murder, so he was assisting the Rangers.

Pulling back, I smiled up at him. “I’ll only be gone a week.” But that felt like forever, knowing Drew wouldn’t be there. Or maybe I just dreaded the coming job. How strange to feel so lost without Drew. I hadn't felt that way in a long time. I'd learned to be pretty self-sufficient.

He eyed me closely and frowned. “Have you been up all night?”

I gasped dramatically. “Who, me?” I looked around at the people milling about the drop-off area. "Surely not."

A crooked grin formed on his handsome face. “You finished the book.”

I flashed him a brilliant smile, beaming with excitement. “I did. And I’ll sleep on the flight, then again when I get to Philly.” The flight would be way too short to sleep long. It wasn’t even two hours.

I wasn’t meeting the new owner, Hailey, for a couple of days so I'd have time to nap, pack, and get my emotions in check before letting a stranger into the house. Into her house, now.

“Make sure you get some sleep. After you've rested, call me.” He kissed my forehead.

I wrapped my arms around him again and held him for a moment. “I will. I promise."

Wallie stuck his head out of the automatic door. "Hey, Drew." He raised his eyebrows at me. "There's not a big line at