Pumpkin Spice & Poltergeist (Maple Hollow #1)

“Just like you said.” Lou looked me over, arching one slender brow. “I’m here to help you move on.”

“What?” I spluttered, knocking over the wine bottle and bolting to a stand. “That’s not what I meant at all. I take it back!”

Lou stood too, walking straight through my armchair and toward the window like the phantom she was. She folded her arms and grinned at me in that delightfully mischievous way of hers. “I’m going to help you find a date, Jordyn. And I’m not going to let you mess it up like you did with me.”

“Oh no. Nope.” I popped my P. “Absolutely not.”

I dropped to my spell book and rapidly flipped through the pages, trying to find a way to send her back. I was not going to consent to the ghost of my ex-girlfriend playing matchmaker like some reality TV host. I thumbed through page after page, but the right spell didn’t catch my eye.

Lou’s loafer kicked the book out of my hands.

“What the hell, Lou! You can touch things?” My eyebrows shot up. “How did you master that so quickly?”

The only spirits I knew who would purposefully move solid objects had spent years stewing in their rage. Lou wasn’t a vengeful spirit and had only been gone a relatively short amount of time.

“You summoned me here to help you, whether you meant to or not.” She bounced on the balls of her feet and smiled again. “And I can’t leave until I fulfill that wish.”

“I made no wish!”

“You did.”

“No, no, no.” My eyes frantically searched the room. “I just wanted to clear the air, not have you become some fucked-up otherworldly dating service!”

Her grin turned foxlike as she looked me over. “This is going to be fun.”

2

HARLOW

Istared up at the swinging burgundy sign emblazoned with an orange maple leaf and a black witch’s hat. Shimmering golden lettering over the top read Witch’s Brew Café.

“Well, this must be the place,” I mumbled to myself.

Shifting my backpack strap on my shoulders, I took in my older sister’s café. It was impressive, larger than I thought it would be, with grand bay windows that looked out over the town square. She’d owned the place for years and yet this was the first time I’d seen it for myself.

Like everything in Maple Hollow, the café had kept with the spooky, autumnal colors of black, orange, burgundy, and gold.

The town apparently swelled with tourists in the fall and boomed in the weeks leading up to the Halloween Festival. But Maple Hollow and its townspeople were clearly committed to the bit year-round, given there was a dried-flower florist, an old-timey candy shoppe, an apothecary, and a vintage bookstore all circling the town square, in the middle of which stood a black gazebo surrounded by crooked trees.

Part of me wanted to wander around, but there would be plenty of time for me to explore the kitschy little town after I settled in.

The café door chimed as it opened.

“Harlow!” Willow called while she ran toward me, dusting her hands down her mustard-colored apron.

I ran forward and wrapped my sister in a big hug. “Hey, Wills.”

“Come on in,” Willow said, ushering me through the door. “I’ve just closed up shop for the night, but I’ve got a few cinnamon rolls left over. You want a coffee? Or a tea? How about a chai?”

I noted the time, just after six. I’d been traveling all day and with the sun setting over an hour ago, I was ready to fall into whatever bed Willow had waiting for me.

“Peppermint tea would be perfect, thanks.” I hung my backpack on the coatrack made of gnarled broomsticks by the door. “This place is incredible,” I said, taking in the space. “The whole town is like something out of a fall fever dream.”

Booths ran along the wall to the right. Cushy armchairs and low tables dotted the rest of the space, making it seem like a cozy place to read on a gloomy fall evening.

“It’s a little eccentric.” Willow laughed as she pulled out a plate and used a set of long tongs to grab a cinnamon roll from the cabinet.

“Just a little.” I shifted my weight as I lingered in the doorway.