Page 18 of Ghostlighted (Ghost Townies #2)

Chapter Fourteen

F rom a combination of worry and anticipation, I passed a restless night. When I woke up with Gil curled next to my hip, the sky beyond the bedroom was fading from gray to, well, lighter gray. At this time of year, a month or so from the solstice, that meant that we were barely past five.

Ordinarily, provided Gil wasn’t feeling particularly peckish and insisting on an early breakfast, I’d snatch another hour or so of sleep.

But today I knew better than to try. I’d only end up staring at the ceiling with visions of how everything could change, for both better and worse.

So, careful not to disturb Gil, I eased out from under the blankets and headed for the bathroom.

Gil was still snuggled in his blanket nest when I emerged after stumbling through my shower and morning grooming routine, observing me out of one slitted eye as I stepped into a pair of sweatpants.

“I know.” I pulled a long-sleeved Henley over my head. “I’m shocked too. But what can I tell you? Things to do and fingernails to bite.” I grabbed the edge of the blankets and gave them a shake. “Coming?”

He made his opinion clear by engaging in the longest stretch in the history of cats, with all his claws extended, before he hopped onto the floor with a very sarcastic tail twitch and deigned to let me make the bed.

By the time I padded downstairs barefoot, Gil had recovered from his snit and galloped ahead of me, disappearing into the family room in a flash of ginger fur. I peered into the library before I followed him. The dim room seemed empty, but in this house, you never knew.

“Avi?”

No response, and I didn’t detect the telltale glimmer of Avi’s body on the window seat, where we’d sat last night debating where to keep Oren’s ring.

Now that we knew it had more than sentimental value, we didn’t want to leave it anywhere it might be subject to accidental loss—aka Gil’s penchant for shiny things.

I wasn’t about to wear it on my finger—Avi and I both cringed at that notion.

We’d settled on threading it onto a short, sturdy stainless steel chain that one of my previous boyfriends had used to attach his water bottle to his backpack on his week-long wilderness hikes.

Yeah, that relationship hadn’t lasted beyond the first time he’d convinced me to come with him.

Even so, we’d parted on fairly good terms, acknowledging that our interests just didn’t align.

He’d left me the water bottle though: “Just in case you ever want to give hiking another try.”

I had not.

That water bottle had gotten lost somewhere in the multiple moves after my parents died, but the chain had survived, passing from laptop bag to laptop bag through the years.

We’d then locked the ring in the desk drawer because we wanted to use it intentionally , rather than have me carry it around all the time. Besides, Gil didn’t present the only loss threat, if you take my meaning. Remember the disappearing water bottle? Yeah, that.

We hadn’t conducted any more tests last night. Avi was more than a little overwhelmed by our discovery, so after we’d secured the ring, he’d vanished. This morning, though, we had plans. Big plans.

Plans that would be much more successful if I were fully awake and focused.

So I switched on the electric kettle and chose the tea with all the caffeine. As I was waiting for the water to heat, my phone vibrated on the counter. I exhaled gustily when I saw it was a text from Ricky. Please be good news, please be good news.

R: Tia better this morning. Family’s still here.

Good news. Thank goodness.

M: All of them?

Ricky responded with a laugh emoji. Hunh.

I’d never thought of Ricky as an emoji kind of guy, but even though my question hadn’t been a joke-—not intentionally, anyway—I took this as a good sign about Ricky’s state of mind, and therefore about Sofia’s prognosis.

The tension I hadn’t lost overnight eased and my shoulders relaxed about ten percent.

R: The hospital is used to us.

M: Let me guess—you’ve got a cousin who works there.

Another laugh emoji.

R: Charge nurse. So they’re letting us in to see her a few at a time.

M: Any diagnosis yet?

R: Waiting on lab results. Could you do me a favor?

M: Sure.

R: Water Tia’s garden please?

M: No problem.

R: Thanks! Hose bib on the back of the garage.

Garage. Ha! I knew where that was now.

M: On it.

I waited a moment, but nothing else popped up on the screen, so I scooped a spoonful of loose tea out of the box, ready to dump it into the tea basket. The phone vibrated again, and I grinned as I leaned over to read the notification.

A heart emoji. Ricky had texted me a heart emoji.

I scrabbled the phone off the counter and stood there, staring at the screen, tea leaves pattering onto the counter as the tea scoop tilted in my hand.

“Maz?”

I jerked my head up at the concern in Avi’s voice. He was standing right at my elbow and I flailed, the rest of the tea going airborne. “Unh?”

“Is something wrong? Is it Sofia?”

“Look at this!” I thrust the phone at Avi’s face.

He reared back. “I’m farsighted and presbyopic, Maz. I can’t read anything that close to my nose.” He shoved his glasses up with a knuckle. “Or in my nose, for that matter. Best keep the minimum safe distance so I don’t fry your phone.”

“Right. Sorry.” I gingerly placed the phone on the counter. “Sofia’s doing better. That’s not the issue. It’s this.” I tapped the last message from Ricky. “What does it mean?”

Avi frowned, bending over the screen with his hands clasped behind his back. “It’s a heart.”

“I know it’s a heart, but what does it mean? Is it, like, gratitude? Appreciation? Support? Or… or…”

“Maz.” Avi straightened and faced me. “You’re overthinking this.”

“I am?” I winced. “Crap, I am.”

“You know how fond I am of you and Ricky, so I’m saying this with the deepest affection. You’re both idiots.”

I blinked. “Wow. Harsh.”

“Not at all. Simply a realistic observation from a friend. You’re not in middle school.

If you want to know what it means, ask him .

And if you want something more from your relationship, tell him .

If I know one thing about Ricky Vargas, it’s that he doesn’t have a cruel bone in his body.

If he doesn’t want more from you, he’ll tell you.

If he might, but he’s not ready yet, then wait for him.

” He narrowed his eyes and his voice dropped into a register that would be a big hit in a they’re-calling-from-inside-the-house slasher movie.

“You think he’s worth waiting for, don’t you? ”

“Of course he is. Of course I do.”

“Well, then. There’s no problem, is there?” Avi stepped back, dusting his palms together. “My job here is done.”

“You should start a business,” I grumbled as I gathered the scattered tea leaves. “Relationship advice from beyond the veil.”

“I’ll take it under advisement,” he said placidly. “What’s our plan?”

“I promised Ricky I’d water Sofia’s garden.

” I managed to get tea into the basket and the basket into the cup this time.

Steam rose as I poured water over the tea and set it aside to steep.

“Do you feel like coming outside with me while I do that? Then we could test the proximity limits. See how far away you can be from me before you get snapped back to the house.”

Avi rubbed his chest absently. “Okay.”

I studied his face, where a crease had formed between his brows as though he were in pain but hadn’t realized it yet. “Is something the matter?”

“What? Why do you think—” He looked down at his hand. “Oh. No. Nothing at the moment. But do you remember last night when I had that… that moment on Sofia’s front lawn?”

There were a lot of moments last night, but I forbore from asking which one . “You mean when you said something wobbled?”

He nodded. “A pull in my chest. Not pain, precisely. More like the strain you feel on a muscle when you’re just about to overdo it. I thought it was just overwhelm from the new experience, but maybe it was a warning that I was too far from the ring.”

“That’s… concerning.” I leaned my elbows on the counter and propped my chin on my fists.

“It could be a good thing. A cue that we need to reposition ourselves. Although I’m not crazy about the idea that the connection could be overdone.

If we strain it too much, push too far, will it injure you permanently? ”

“Like I said.” He spread his hands. “We don’t know what we don’t know. All we can do is experiment.”

“Okay then.” My tea had finally reached an acceptable strength, so I set aside the basket and took a cautious sip.

Ah . Just this side of tongue-scalding and with enough tannin to make me fight a pucker.

Perfect. “I don’t have a specific clock-in time at the Manor, especially since Saul is still in Victoria, so we can afford to spend some time testing this morning, especially since we’re up so early. Do you want to head down Main Street?”

He shook his head. “Maybe this evening. Oren and I—” He took a breath and very deliberately placed both palms on the countertop. “Oren and I used to love to walk down Main Street at twilight.”

Once again, I wished I could touch Avi so I could pat his shoulder or his hand to offer support and encouragement. Right on cue, Gil jumped up on the counter and sauntered over to sit between Avi’s hands.

Avi smiled crookedly. “I don’t suppose Gil can come outside with us?”

“Only if he’s in his carrier, which is not his favorite thing. Granted, we don’t have a lot of traffic around here, but Gil has no concept that cars are higher on the food chain than he is.”

“Maybe you should invest in one of those mesh pet tents.” Avi stroked Gil’s back. “He might appreciate the change in scenery as much as I do.”

I raised my eyebrows. “That’s… not a bad idea.” I’d seen those tents—and the tubes that you could get to attach to them—but I’d never lived anyplace I could use them. “I’ll check up on that tonight.”