Christmas Spirit (The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer Book 1): (Ghost Cozy Mystery series) by Morgana Best Read Free Book Online

to keep you away quite a lot, Prudence,” Iris said. “You really should spend more time at home and leave all that travel to the younger generation.”
    Alum stared at Iris and then at me, raising his brow. “I thought women lied about their age to appear younger, not to qualify for a senior discount.”
    “Oh shush!” I said, laughing. I caught myself when all three friends stared at me. I turned to Iris. “There are people twice my age who do this all the time.”
    “But most have husbands to help them,” Iris pointed out.
    “Iris!” Barbara exclaimed.
    “I’m just saying that it’s not fair for Prudence to have to do all this alone.” Iris frowned. “We worry about you out there. We’d be able to help you more if you were closer to home.”
    “I appreciate that,” I said in a strained voice. Iris was Iris. Her words were not always as kind as her intentions, but I dearly wished she didn’t always harp about age. It was as irritating as it was depressing. “I’ll be okay.”
    “If it weren’t for your guests, you’d be spending Christmas alone, and that’s about as not-okay as it gets,” Constance stated in her usual superior tone. “It’s a well known fact that people who spend Christmas alone get wrinkles faster and even get depressed. I did a college degree on depression when I was younger. If you were to spend Christmas alone, you’d be sorry. Mark my words!”
    Barbara snickered, and I fought the urge to say something I would regret later. Iris rolled her eyes and sighed loudly.
    Constance kept talking, oblivious to the reactions her words were causing. “You should have brought back a handsome stranger for the holidays.”
    “Like that would ever happen!” Iris said.
    “Why not?” I asked as a reflex.
    Iris patted my hand. “You’d never be that irresponsible. You’d never bring home a stranger.”
    I forced a smile. Technically, I had brought home a stranger, albeit not deliberately. And based on Alum’s amused grin, the same thought had crossed his mind.
    “Yes, unless she got tailed by a creepy stalker,” Constance said. “I studied stalkers, and they do follow women home. My professors at college said I was good at psychology. They wanted me to help people.”
    Alum spoke up. “For the record, I’m not stalking you. I swear on my own grave that something keeps drawing me back to you. I would never stalk a woman!”
    I smiled. His words did sound like something a stalker would say. Unknown forces compelling someone to follow a lone woman wherever she went? If I didn’t have an audience, I would have delighted in teasing him about it.
    “So Mark can’t come home for Christmas?” Iris asked me.
    “No, but I had a video call from Mark and his wife, Victoria this morning.” I took a small sip of my wine.
    Iris clucked her tongue. “It’s a shame that Mark and Victoria couldn’t come for Christmas. You really shouldn’t spend the holidays alone, Prudence. When your guests leave, why don’t you come to my house? You can stay in the guest bedroom with my dog.”
    “Thanks, but it’s fine, really!” I had absolutely no desire to take any of them up on such an offer, as kind as it was. I couldn’t imagine myself hovering around while Iris was busy entertaining her family. I would be an interloper. Worse still, I’d have to deal with questioning or pitying eyes. I would see the question on their faces as to why I was not spending the holidays with my own family.
    None of them seemed convinced. Christmas was a bittersweet holiday for me, and in fact, it had been a long time since I had enjoyed Christmas. I missed the days when we were still a family, before everything went wrong.
    After the divorce, each holiday seemed to become more strained with the passing years. People always encouraged me to ‘make things right’ with my ex-husband over the holidays, as if by magic the tinsel and carols would make the resentment and nastiness fade from his heart, and the wounds