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Well, that was just great.

“Get out and see if there’s any damage,” I told Ryan.

I kept my head resolutely forward, not wanting to get into a confrontation with a Karen when I was already late for work.

“Now I’m your errand boy?” he asked.

But he did poof out of the car and reappeared a few seconds later. “There’s no damage. Not even a scratch.”

“Good. Then I’m going to pretend it didn’t happen.”

“She was looking at her phone so I’m not sure she even noticed.”

“That seems safe.” I rolled my eyes.

Once I was finally out of the log jam of grade school kids, while listening to Ryan complain that his parents never once drove him to school, I was five minutes late to work,which meant I only had ten minutes before my first client appointment.

Ryan was strolling next to me, talking the entire time.

“Hi,” I said to my boss, Claudia. “Sorry I’m late. I went down a street that has a school zone in it, not thinking.”

Claudia just smiled, briefly glancing up from her phone. “No worries. You ready for the Fishers?”

Ryan was standing behind Claudia looking down at her phone. “She’s reading TMZ,” he told me.

“Yes, yes, I am,” I said with assurance. “New kitchen. It’s going to be amazing. I’m going to go pull their samples now.”

“Great. Let me know if you need anything. We have a team meeting at two. It should be on your calendar.”

“Excellent. I’ll be there.” I rolled my eyes at myself as I walked away. “You’re very distracting,” I murmured to Ryan.

“What’s that?” Claudia asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just talking to myself.”

As I went into the showroom, I opened my notes on my phone and started pulling out samples based on the Fishers questionnaire they had filled out. “Have you seen James?” I asked Ryan as I worked.

“No. I don’t go anywhere without you. I’m either with you and I’m there.” He pointed vaguely in the direction of up.

Whatever that meant. “I thought maybe he was there too, in one of your afterlife classes or something.”

Ryan made death sound like community college and working for minimum wage all wrapped up in one. He didn’t paint a pretty picture. But he hadn’t been granted access to the upper level yet because he wasn’t finished doing whatever it was he was supposed to do, which was always vague and ever changing.

I thought it was reasonable to assume James might be hanging around with him, a couple of afterlife underachievers.

Ryan didn’t say anything. He just wandered around one of the showroom kitchens, rubbing his jaw. He looked pensive.

I didn’t like his vibe. I had a feeling he was withholding information from me.

He’d been weird ever since James had shown up.

“Why are you gracing me with your presence today then?” I asked. “If you don’t know anything about James?”

I was in dangerous territory talking to him at work. I ran the risk of looking like I had an invisible friend at twenty-eight, which would cast doubts on my professionalism.

“I don’t think I should tell you.”

Way to drive me insane. “You have to tell me.”