Free Enchanting Lily by Anjali Banerjee Page A

I’m going to try to cut this dress right off you.”

Chapter Fourteen
    Kitty
    “That went well,” Lily says as we watch Ida hurry off down the path. “She’ll never come in here again. Everyone in town will hear about how I had to cut the dress off her, and my shop will be closed in no time.” Her eyes brighten with tears.
    What can I tell her? That an unhappy spirit may have been responsible for this small disaster? As Ida hummed in the dressing room, an inky presence, the one that has been here a long time, seeped under the door and cast its spellon her. When she came out, the dress was too tight. The dark spirit lingered, then slipped away into the ether.
    Now the other ghosts grow restless in the gray evening as Lily rearranges her shop. “I really tried to help Ida in a way that she could never be helped in The Newest Thing. You know, kitty? Now all I’ve got are scraps of cloth on the alterations table. No more chiffon dress. But I’m not giving up.”
    Fine with me.
    She carries piles of clothes from one place to another, hangs up dresses, adjusts the statues in the window. I’m content to sit on a pile of men’s neckties, absorbing the layers of life and death shifting through the room.
    Finally, Lily goes off to bed, and when the house is quiet and dark, my world comes alive. My legs begin to itch. I tear around, my claws scrabbling on the hardwood floor. I bat at dust motes and leap at moths flitting outside beneath the porch lights.
    “Kitty! What are you doing?” Lily is up now, coming after me. She’s nearly tripping over the cuffs of her pajamas. Interesting hairdo, as well. “I can’t believe you woke me up at this hour.”
    I tumble down the stairs and veer into her office, jump onto the desk, and knock some paper onto the floor.
    “Are you crazy? What’s wrong with you?” She follows me into the kitchen. She flips on the light, and I squint in the sudden brightness. A ball of dust requires my attention—
    “Kitty, no! Don’t eat that.” Lily is bending down to pull the dust from my mouth. She throws the clump in the garbage. Then she sits in the breakfast nook, head in her hands.
    My insides feel funny; oh no.
    “Are you throwing up? Oh, kitty!”
    Can’t help it, I’m heaving, but I feel better now.
    “I can’t believe this is happening.” She’s flipping open her cell phone, pressing buttons. “Oh, Dr. Cole. I’m so sorry I woke you. I thought I would get the emergency…This is Lily Byrne. It’s the cat. She threw up. What should I do?”
    I’m hiding under the table.
    Lily is listening, then she says, “Tomorrow? But I’m afraid she’s ill, and I can’t have anything else die on me.”
    I can almost feel his surprise. I’m a bit surprised, too. He says something, and then Lily says, “You’re coming here? I’m on Harborside Road. I’m sorry, I know—thank you.”
    She hangs up and bends to pet me. “Don’t throw up again, please.” In her eyes, I see the reflection of my facestaring back at me, my elegant whiskers, tufted ears. I also see the depth of her worry. I feel her soul softening, her face close to mine. I can’t help lifting my chin and then just barely, I touch my nose to hers.

Chapter Fifteen
    Lily
    When had Lily last entertained a guest? Before Josh’s death, and never so late at night. She barely had time to put on a robe and slippers, brush her hair, and wipe up the vomit before she heard a knock on the back door. How had Dr. Cole arrived so quickly?
    The cat ran to the door, but when Lily opened it, the poor thing took one look at the vet and dashed away.
    “She wasn’t scared of you at the clinic,” Lily said, shaking her head. “Maybe she senses something different.”
    Dr. Cole stood on the porch, unsmiling, a black veterinary bag in hand. He looked almost human in an open windbreaker, blue sweater, jeans, and hiking boots—the way he’d looked in the bookstore. Except for the scowl.
    Lily stepped back and ushered him inside.