Read Online Girl's Guide to Witchcraft by Mindy Klasky - Free Book Online

realized you were being sarcastic?”
    “What was the worst that would happen? He’d refuse to see me again?”
    “And what did he say? What was his mother’s ideal?”
    Melissa shook her head. “A woman who could cook and clean and manage a household’s finances, all the while popping out babies as if the pill had never been invented.” She put coffee into the brewing baskets, getting ready for the next morning’s rush. “That last bit was my editorial. He didn’t actually mention the pill.”
    “What did you talk about after that?”
    “Nothing.”
    “Nothing?” I was fascinated by this tale of dating disaster. It was like a giant bruise, and I couldn’t keep from poking it.
    “I decided not to waste any more topics. Five’s my limit.” She shrugged. “Even dessert was the pits—molten chocolate cakes. I make better stuff in my sleep.”
    I started to challenge that harsh judgment. After all, molten chocolate cakes were molten chocolate cakes. They couldn’t be all bad, even if the date had been a complete disaster. Loyalty made me shake my head, though, and I clicked my tongue in disapproval. “Another wasted night.”
    Melissa turned to the calendar that hung over the phone. She burrowed around in the mug of pens on the counter until she found her red felt-tip pen. Red for date nights. It was supposed to be a sign of romance, but it had become more like blood. She drew a giant X across the previous day and then switched to a black ballpoint to cross off the current square.
    I sympathized with her. I really did. But a little voice nagged at the back of my mind: Twenty-six first dates in a year? That could drive anyone crazy. And what would happen if she actually did like one of these guys? Would she have to fit a second date in before the next competitor’s slot? Or would she skip one of the first dates? And if skipping became the answer, then what would she do about her rotation of sources—push it back, as well, to keep the sequence between FranticDate, Dedicated Metro, etc.?
    I was much better off, really. I’d already decided which man to target—Jason. I could invest all of my thoughts and energy into figuring him out. In fact, I’d sketched out a perfect conversation just that morning, ready to ferret out specific information on Ekaterina Ivanova.
    I’d waited until I was shelving books near him. When he looked up, I said, “Things are really busy around here. Lots of new users. I guess grad students must be getting really busy, with the end of the term so close.”
    Okay, so it wasn’t my most graceful conversational gambit. It sounded a bit like one of those games where you have to get your teammate to say a key word— Password, or Taboo, or one of those things. Still, I had his attention.
    “Nice dress,” he said, and I almost melted in front of his grin. “Is the library having a costume party?”
    I tugged at my lace cuffs and cursed Evelyn under my breath. “This is something new we’re trying. To make the collection come alive.”
    Before he could reply, someone rang the bell at the coffee counter. It was probably just as well. I’d seen the look in his eyes. There was confusion there. Confusion, and just a spark of pity. Great foundation for a romance.
    But better than a mama’s boy who needed to be surgically separated from his cell phone. “I’m sorry,” I said to Melissa. “Better luck next time.”
    She sighed. “Yep. I’ll have to start reviewing the next candidates.” She had a stack of responses to her most recent Washington Today ad. She brushed her hands, as if she were shaking off excess flour. “Enough about that, though. Are we still on for yoga tomorrow?”
    “I don’t know,” I said. I hated going to yoga with Melissa. She was a lot more flexible than I was, and she was somehow able to listen to the instructor at the same time that she levered her body into impossible twists and turns.
    “You know you’ll feel better after you go to