Read Online Single Witch's Survival Guide by Mindy Klasky - Free Book Online

a London night. He let down his guard when he sat on this dock. For whatever short time he spent on the lake, he wasn’t a warder, wasn’t responsible for anyone or anything. He was himself.
    And he was talking about giving up all of that for me.
    “I can’t let you do it, David.”
    “We don’t have any other choice.” Frustration sparked beneath his words.
    We , he’d said. This was a problem for us to solve together, not as witch and warder, where I had absolute say about magical goals, where he could issue fiats about my safety. We needed to work together to make the magicarium a success. We needed to function as a couple.
    “There are always other choices.” Frantic, I tried to come up with one of them. “What about the southern part of the property? The land closest to Parkersville.”
    “What about it?”
    “If we have to sell something, why not sell it instead of the lake? Proximity to town should make it valuable.”
    “Not as valuable as waterfront.”
    “But there’s more of it!” The force of my argument was growing. “We could sell more acres. We could harvest timber first, then put the property up for sale. Townhouses, condos, your Jonathan can build an entire planned community there!”
    I knew I should feel a kinship for all of the land. There were trees on the southern point—some massive oaks. Animals made their homes in the forest, birds and a whole host of mammals—foxes, raccoon, a lot of deer. There was power in the woods.
    But there was also an old logging road that cut between the main property and the southern portion. And there was a deep ravine, too, the bed of a creek that ran dry every summer. The southern woods were beautiful, but they were already cut off from the land we called home.
    Desperate times. Desperate measures. And if sacrificing those acres could save the delicate ecosystem of the lake, it would all be worthwhile.
    I could feel David turning over the idea inside his head. He had already steeled himself to forfeit something he loved. He clearly hadn’t considered that there might be another path, another way. “We’d have to give up at least twenty acres,” he said. “Maybe more, depending on the value of the timber.”
    I nodded. “And we can look at the magicarium. Figure out ways to scale back before we enroll a full class.”
    “You’re not going to limit yourself there,” David warned.
    “Not limit,” I said. “But structure . I don’t have to accept every student who finds her way to our doorstep. I can have standards. I have to.” I sounded so determined I knew I would have fooled any other person in the world. But my warder—my boyfriend—knew me better than that.
    “Isn’t it pretty to think so?” David asked, but there was a smile behind the words as he delivered the bittersweet Hemingway quote.
    “I know you don’t believe me now,” I countered. “And it doesn’t seem like having too many students is something we’re ever going to worry about. But I’m planning for the future. At least Clara is paying for Raven and Emma.”
    David looked at me as if he feared I’d suddenly gone insane.
    “I know,” I laughed. “Betting on Clara isn’t a good idea. But I’m going to make her follow through this time. She cared enough to send Raven and Emma here in the first place!”
    “She’s probably already forgotten they’re here.”
    That’s right. David knew my mother. He was fully aware how irresponsible she could be. I dug my elbow into his side. “You can make her pay up. You’re her warder after all.”
    “Right,” David said dryly. “Like I can demand anything from one of my witches.”
    I blushed. Clara was just as headstrong as I. David’s warder magic would never turn my mother into a responsible, attentive woman, just as his unique astral skills had never tamed my own personal brand of insanity. “You’ve got a point there,” I conceded.
    He laughed, clearly relishing the victory. I leaned in close, pleased to