Free Charmed & Ready by Candace Havens

morning. She made tea, brought pastries. Man, I love chocolate-filled croissants.
    We talked about everything that happened in Sweet over the last few weeks. It wasn't much. Sweet's a small town.
    "Let's see. Well, Ms. Johnnie checked out
The Joy of Sex
for the thirty-sixth time," laughed Kira. "I want to buy her a copy and just leave it at the diner but I don't want to embarass her."
    I snorted. "I don't know what that book is going to teach her. Between the men she and Ms. Helen have either dated or married she's got to know all there is."
    Kira laughed so hard her tea came through her nose. "No joke. Ouch, that hurt," she said wiping her nose with a tissue.
    "Billy Carlton's been trying to get Margie to go out with him. He asked her out in the produce section of the Piggly Wiggly. She's been sweet on him forever, but she told him no. Then he asked her out after church last Sunday. She said she'd think about it.
    "She's trying to play hard to get, and it must be working. Friday he showed up at the nursing home with three dozen roses. She finally said yes. They're coming to the party tomorrow night."
    "What party?" I put down my croissant. "You're having a party without me?"
    "Of course not. It's kind of a party for you. Just a few people. All you have to do is show up. You sit on the couch and let us all adore you and then we make an early night of it. It is a week-night.
    "Everyone misses you and I thought we could do enchiladas, beans and rice if you are up to it. I got instructions from your mom that there is no drinking allowed for a few weeks, so—"
    I sat up on the couch. "My mom called you?"
    "No, I called her every day to check on you and to make sure you had everything you needed when you came back to Sweet. Sometimes at first, we called a couple of times a day. We were all really worried about you." Her eyes became shiny.
    I reached out and touched her arm.
    "Kira, I'm okay."
    She waved her hand in front of her face to stop from crying. "I know, I'm being silly, but we were so worried about you, Bron. Caleb and I both wanted to come to New York, but your mom told us to stay put. That first night it was all I could do to just sit by the phone and wait for your parents to call." A tiny sob snuck out.
    Her sincerity brought tears to my eyes.
    "You guys—"
    She got up and hugged me. "We love you so much, and we just couldn't imagine this place without you."
    It must have been because I've been so sick, but I broke down.
    I couldn't stop crying. Everything came out. My anger with Sam, the demons and just the emotion of realizing I'm not indestructible. I forget sometimes.
    She cried too for a few minutes, and then we suddenly stopped and giggled.
    "Hmmm, well." I tried to catch my breath. "Let's hope that's the end of that."
    "Hey, crying is good for you. Or so I've read. It gets some kind of healing endorphins going. So you obviously needed it." She smiled. "Hell, so did I. I've been tied up in knots since you left."
    I crossed my legs underneath me and grabbed my tea. The chamomile filled my senses.
    "Bron, I've wanted to tell you something for some time, but I can't. I haven't been able to tell anyone. It's so weird." She crossed her arms in front of her chest.
    Her tone worried me. She was upset. "What? You know you can tell me anything, Kira. Whatever it is, I'll help you."
    She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. When she opened them again she stared right at me.
    "I see dead people." She said it so deadpan I couldn't tell if she was joking.
    I smiled.
    "No, I mean I see dead people for real, Bron. It began when I took over at the library. I'd feel things in that old building. A cold rush of air in certain spots. Something touching the back of my neck." She shivered.
    "I thought at first it was just a drafty old place. Then I saw a wisp of something out of the corner of my eye one afternoon. When I turned to look it disappeared. It happened so fast, I wrote it off."
    I wanted to interrupt her. I'd known for