Page 26 of Ghostly

“Then we must save it for Dina,” Jason mused.

Gabriel invited them to sit on the sofa, then went to the kitchen for drinks. He caught Ida waving at the two guests.

“I might as well try,” she said.

“I think if they could see you, they would’ve reacted by now.”

“What?” Jason asked.

Oh. Fuck.

“Uh, nothing. Phone call.” Gabriel tapped his ear. “Later, Ernest. Yeah, yeah, I’ll go over the contract.” He pretended to pull out an earbud and deposit it on the counter. By the time he came back with the drinks, more knocking came from the door. Still high-strung, Gabriel twitched.

Relax. It’s only theintendedguests.

“The witches are here,” Jason said.

“You said you’d behave,” Mark gently admonished.

Jason huffed. “We’ll see how they start.”

The three women had some serious color-coding going on. Marge was again wearing yellow, Janice peach, and Dina blue. It was as if someone waved a magic wand over their dresses and made them formal.

“Oh, it is lovely,” Janice said, the first to wade into the living room.

“How quaint.”

“Careful with the statues,” Gabriel warned, as Dina almost swept the deer-hog with her purse, and followed the other two.

“Don’t sit there,” Jason said as Marge headed toward the armchair. “You’ll ruin the Feng Shui.”

“A leg has broken,” Gabriel explained with an apologetic smile.

The women took seats in the remaining armchair and the dining chairs.

“Thank you for inviting us, Mr. Buren,” Dina said. “Very gracious of you.” She looked around the room, examining the decor.

“Who’s Mr. Buren?” Ida asked.

Gabriel ignored her and smiled at Dina. “My pleasure.”

“It’s good to have some new blood in town,” Marge remarked.

“She means that in a completely non-witchy way,” Jason added.

“Clearly, because we’re not witches,” Marge bit at him.

“They’re not,” Ida said in complete seriousness. “Witches don’t exist.”

“Oh, right. I forgot.” Jason tilted his head. “You use the combined power of friendship to ruin other people’s lives.”

“I don’t think our guests are getting along too well,” Ida said.

Gabriel gave her a barely perceptible nod of acknowledgment. Luckily, bickering clients was a situation easy to diffuse. “So! Tell me about this town. And the house. I’m afraid I’m still a stranger to most of it.” He sat down by Jason and Mark on the sofa and leaned on the armrest in a relaxed manner.

“You mean you don’t know?” Jason said, abandoning the quarrel.

Gabriel smiled inwardly—works like a charm—before he truly realized the meaning of the words. “I don’t know what?”