CHAPTER 1
I was in shock. Not only had Basil Sandalwood, my accountant and my crush, just tried to kiss me, but he had clearly seen Ernie, the cranky old ghost who haunted the funeral home.
In fact, Basil would have kissed me if Ernie had not interrupted us. Right now, as strange as it might sound, I was not focusing on Basil kissing me. No, I was taken aback that Basil had seen Ernie.
I stared at Basil with a mixture of longing and accusation. He held his hands up in front of him. “Look, Laurel, I wanted to tell you that I can see ghosts, but I thought you’d think I was crazy. And you can see them too?”
I frowned. I supposed I couldn’t be cross with him for not telling me that he could see ghosts, when I was guilty of the same omission.
Ernie chose that point to rematerialise. “Imagine not knowing that your friend here could see ghosts, too,” he said, winking as he said the word friend.
“What, did you know he could?” I asked him, forgetting about Basil for the moment.
“Of course!” Ernie exclaimed.
I was annoyed. “Well, why didn’t you tell me?”
Ernie shrugged. “You didn’t ask.”
I frowned at him before turning my attention back to Basil. “I’ve been able to see ghosts since I was a child. As you can imagine, it didn’t go down well with my overly religious mother. My father seemed okay with it though, but he was never allowed to express his opinion. And you?”
Basil nodded. “I’ve been able to see ghosts for as long as I can remember. I figure my parents thought I had a lot of imaginary friends. Anyway, how are you feeling now? That must’ve been a horrible shock, that Anna Stiles trying to kill you. You must’ve been so afraid.” He put his arm around my shoulders and drew me close.
Just as I was enjoying Basil’s proximity, my mother burst into the room. “Fear is not of God!” she declared. “Laurel, you’re late for dinner. Go home and make yourself some now. Stop inconveniencing people.”
I was furious, more than furious. I had somehow managed to put up with my mother since I had moved back to the little town of Witch Woods to run the funeral home. At first, I had missed the bustling city of Melbourne, but I had grown accustomed to the quiet life here. However, nothing would ever make me grow accustomed to my mother.
I put my hands on my hips. “Now, Mum, listen to me. This is my funeral home. I will go back to your house and collect my things, but I’m not living with you any longer. You have to learn to speak to me politely. I’m an adult now, and you need to respect me. This is also my business. If you can’t speak politely to me within the walls of my own business, then you must leave. Do you understand?”
She didn’t speak, but stood there, her face growing redder by the second. I pushed on. “I’m going to live in the apartment above the funeral home from now on.”
My mother sputtered, and it took her a few moments to find her voice. “But it’s not fit to live in!”
“That’s my problem, Mum, not yours,” I said firmly.
“Why, you always were a little…”
Fortunately, she never had the opportunity to finish her words, because Basil cut her off. “Mrs Bay, please do not attempt to speak rudely to Laurel again, especially not in my presence. I take a very dim view of verbal abuse.”
I could see that Mum was caught between a rock and a hard place. As much as she liked to speak rudely to me, she was a people pleaser, so she clearly had no idea how to respond. “Yes, Basil,” she said politely. “Of course, you’re right.” She shot him a winning smile, and then shot a glare at me before vanishing through the door.
Basil jabbed his finger at the ceiling. “Can you really live in the apartment up there?”
“It’s not in the best of condition,” I said, “but it’s got one thing going for it.”
Basil looked puzzled. “What’s that?”
“Mum’s not in it.”
Basil smiled.
