Unfinished Business An Angela Panther Novel (A Chick-lit Paranormal book) (The Angela Panther Series) by Carolyn Ridder Aspenson Read Free Book Online

“Whoops. I shoulda told him to tell you in private.”
    “Ma, did you talk to Emily, too?”
    “No, I didn’t talk to her. I didn’t even let her see me. That girl gets so worked up about the silliest things, I was afraid she’d pass out if I showed myself.”
    “Well, thank God,” I told her.  “Why do you think I need to keep an eye on Taylor? What do you mean, she’s bad news?”
    “I’m good at sensing things about people, Angela. You know that. Remember when you dated that guy with the eye? You know, the one who looked at two different people at the same time? I told you he was bad news and I was right.”
    “Ma, he had amblyopia, just like Paul did."
    “Yeah, but your father and I were good parents and got it fixed so he could look people in the eye with both eyes, unlike that boyfriend of yours. He was creepy, that one.”
    “He wasn’t really a boyfriend, Ma and stop changing the subject. What is it about Taylor that you don’t like?”
    “I don’t know just yet, but I’m keeping my eye on her and you should, too.”
    “Ma, please, just stay away from her. Let me deal with my kids my way, okay?”
    Ma glared at me, with both eyes, mind you, and huffed.
    “And hey, can you do me a favor?”
    “It depends."
    “Ma.”
    “Oh, fine. What?”
    “Can you not appear to anyone here today, please? I don’t want some old person passing out and being taken to the hospital because they think they’ve seen your ghost.”
    “Spoilsport." She shimmered away and I went back to the memorial room.
    Several people had arrived and were standing around, chatting. Josh walked up to a group of my cousins, none whom he’d ever met, and handed them cups of coffee with napkins.
    “Whatcha doing, little man?” I asked him.
    “Just getting people coffee and stuff. I figured people will be thirsty and I could bring them coffee and stuff and maybe stop and have a cookie while I’m there. Is that okay?”
    I hugged him tightly and told him how much I appreciated his help and to save me a cookie.
    He pulled my ear to his mouth. “I saw Grandma, again."
    “Yeah?”
    “Yeah, but she didn’t talk to me. She was over there.” He pointed to the corner of the room, near the big TV. “She winked at me and then she was gone. I think she just wanted us to know she’s here.”
    “Maybe. I read somewhere that sometimes, when a person dies, they come back to their funeral so that they can say goodbye to the people they love. So I wouldn’t be surprised if you did see Grandma today.”
    “Yeah, I remember that from that episode of Ghost Whisperer when the husband dies. When I die, I want to do that too. I want to see who shows up and then I’ll go to the light.”
    I couldn’t go there. “Josh, honey, you have a long, long time before you have to worry about that.”
    “Oh, I know but like you always say, it’s good to have a plan.”
    I did always say that, but I meant something like a plan for completing his homework, not to haunt his own funeral. This ghost stuff was so not my area of expertise – not that I actually had an area of expertise, but if I did, this wasn’t it.
    Josh and I listened as our cousins shared memories about Ma, but it was hard to focus on what they said when she was floating next to them and commenting on their choice of memorial attire.
    “Your cousin should not be wearing that dress. Lord, does she not see how big her thighs look? And it doesn’t even cover half of her legs. She looks like a tart. Tell her to go home and change into something respectable. It’s a memorial, for crying out loud. Her mother would be ashamed, wearing that to a memorial service for her aunt. And that color? You don’t want to know what I think about pink at funerals, Angela, you do not want to know.”
    Josh walked away, giggling. I was getting good at ignoring my mother’s ghost.
    I ended up sitting with my cousin Ray and listened to him spend way too much time talking about the boil on his foot.