Karma’s Spell
Magical Midlife in Mystic Hollow: Book 1 Lacey Carter Andersen Helen Scott L.A. Boruff
Contents
Chapter 1
Emma
Chapter 2
Emma
Chapter 3
Emma
Chapter 4
Emma
Chapter 5
Emma
Chapter 6
Emma
Chapter 7
Emma
Chapter 8
Emma
Chapter 9
Emma
Chapter 10
Emma
Chapter 11
Daniel
Chapter 12
Emma
Chapter 13
Emma
Chapter 14
Emma
Chapter 15
Emma
Chapter 16
Daniel
Chapter 17
Emma
Chapter 18
Emma
Chapter 19
Emma
Chapter 20
Emma
Chapter 21
Emma
Chapter 22
Daniel
Chapter 23
Emma
Also By Helen Scott
Also By Lacey Carter Andersen
Also By L.A. Boruff
About the Author
About the Author
About the Author
1 Emma
My phone started ringing and I groaned, reaching for where it should’ve been on the nightstand. Instead, I lost my balance, rolled off the bed, and hit the floor, knocking the air from my lungs. When I could manage to make a sound, it came out something like a sad cow, and my eyes flew open.
Okay. I wasn’t in my bedroom. I was lying on my normally neat living room floor, but underneath me was the unmistakable crunch of chips that had fallen on the floor and been forgotten. And above me, I saw through the glass table well enough to spot three empty wine bottles and an almost empty overturned ice cream carton that had leaked onto the table.
A headache unlike anything I’d felt in years blazed to life, and I groaned at the memory of my night of binge-watching. Yeah, sure, I’d finally watched that show with the hottie everyone was always talking about. And yeah, maybe when I was halfway through my second bottle I’d started shouting, “I’ll throw a coin to you, you hot fox you!” But no, I wasn’t proud of myself.
I realized the phone was still ringing and groaned as I sat up and snatched it.
Seeing my little brother’s name, I swiped the screen and meant to say, “Hello,” but instead my voice trailed off as I said, “Hell--.”
Well, that about summed things up, didn’t it?
There was a pause on the other end of the line. “You okay, Emma?”
I crawled to the couch. “Yeah, never better.”
“You sure? Because last night you called me. A lot.”
I cringed and pressed a throw pillow to my face and screamed into it for a second, then dropped the pillow onto the chips. “Yeah? What did I say?”
He was quiet for a long minute, and I wondered what he was thinking. He couldn’t exactly say I was too old for this. In my forty-two long years I’d managed to live a responsible life. I’d always done the right thing. I’d always made the smartest choices.
While Henry? I had no doubt he’d be dead if I wasn’t constantly bailing him out.
“Are you and Rick getting a divorce?”
My stomach dropped. I hadn’t actually said the words out loud, not to anyone. But I guess all I needed to do was get drunk for the first time since college, and who knew what I’d done?
I released a slow breath and let my hand fall back. It crunched, and I looked on the end table to find an open bag of chips. Unable to help myself, I reached in and stuffed some in my face. I was a mess. And if I was going to be a mess, then I might as well be a mess while I slid down screaming into all the carbs I’d denied myself for years.
“Yeah,” I said, mouth full. “Rick was cheating on me with his secretary.”
“With Bella? I thought you said that girl was like a daughter to him. Didn’t he even help her pay for college?”
“He did. With money from my 401k. But I was a moron and really believed him when he said nothing was going on.”
My brother cursed under his breath. “You okay?”
“Sure.” I reached for another handful of chips. “I’m not going to help run his company anymore though. The company I’ve sunk years and years into. The company I made into a successful business when he was paying his employees with cash advances from his credit card.” A laugh that didn’t sound like my own exploded from my lips. “So there’s that! There’s that shining nugget of fun that I can toss in the air like confetti along with twenty years of marriage.” Another slightly crazy laugh came, and this time I coughed out some chips.
“No offense, but you don’t sound like you’re doing well. Need me to come there?” There was legitimate concern in my brother’s voice. And my brother wasn’t exactly good with empathy, or even picking up on other people’s emotions.
I swallowed the rest of my chips and slowly sat up. Around me, the living room was trashed, and the screen was paused on a view of my new celebrity crush sitting in what was supposed to be something like a hot tub. How many times had I replayed him in that hot tub last night? I cringed. Too many. Way too many. I think I was one more drink away from kissing the screen.
No more alcohol for me. Alcoholic drinks and I didn’t mix well.
I sighed. “No, I don’t need you to come here. I’ll figure it out. I promise. I’ll be okay.”
“If you’re sure.” He sounded like he didn't believe me.
I stood and started gathering the party-size load of empty bags of chips. Frowning, I looked around myself, then decided to stack it all on the box of pizza. A box that was empty too.
“So, Henry, what do you need?”
“Actually, uh, some stuff came up and--”
“How much do you need?”
“Maybe like five hundred.”
I sighed. It wasn’t exactly the best time to be giving away money, now that I was newly unemployed and had no idea what my life was going to be like. But Henry always came first. He was my only sibling, my little brother by five years, and he needed me.
“I’ll send it over.”
“Thanks, sis,” he said, then hung up.
Henry was never good at saying goodbye, but then when he was younger a lot of people never thought he’d go on to get a job, have a relationship, or anything. It was a testament to how much my parents loved him that
