Page 21 of Ghostlighted (Ghost Townies #2)

Chapter Sixteen

A s Felicia and I watched Liam drive away, somebody cleared their throat.

“Is this a bad time?”

I realized that the people Liam had barreled past on his way to Carson’s car—a woman with silvering blond hair, a man, also blond, but without the silver, who was probably a decade or so younger, and a pre-teen girl whose round face and wide blue eyes indicated a relationship to both adults, even though her hair was dark brown and curly—were still standing on the sidewalk, all smiling tentatively at us. The woman was the one who had spoken.

I sighed. “That depends, I suppose.” I forced a smile. “What can I do for you?”

“Hi!” The girl waved enthusiastically. “I’m Jillie Vlahos and this is my mom, Bernadette, and my uncle, Dominik.” She blinked up at me. “Could we please, please, please see your house?”

“My house?” I glanced up the walk at the porch. “Why? If somebody told you it’s for sale, they’ve misled you.”

“Jillie.” Bernadette looked down at her daughter. “Don’t you think we should tell him who we are first?”

Jillie’s brows knotted in obvious confusion. “I just did.”

“You told him our names .”

“Yes.” She glanced between Bernadette and me, clearly confused.

“So why would he know them?”

“But… but this is a small town. Everyone always knows everything about everybody else.”

Dominik chuckled and tugged a lock of Jillie’s hair.

“That’s only true on those shows you watch.

” He turned his smile on me, and although his dimples were cute, he didn’t pack near Ricky’s wattage.

“She’s a big fan of Hallmark movies.” He held out his hand.

“We’re the new owners of Jenkins House. Bernadette’s handling the food and I’ll be managing the place. ”

“Jenkins House? Oh! The B & B.” I shook his hand. “You must be who Taryn was meeting with on Wednesday. Taking over from your aunt and uncle, right?”

Jillie gestured to me with both hands. “See? Everyone knows everything .”

I laughed and shook Bernadette’s hand too.

“Not quite. Taryn’s one of my closest friends, and she was on her way to meet you when I last saw her.

She didn’t tell me your names, only that the place was changing hands.

She’s really not in the habit of disclosing her clients’ personal information.

I’m Maz Amani.” I winked at Jillie. “But you probably already knew that.”

Felicia thrust her hand out. “And I’m Felicia Vargas.”

“Vargas?” Bernadette’s gaze sharpened. “Of Taqueria Vargas?”

Felicia nodded as she made the rounds of handshakes. “My family owns it, yes.”

“Are you related to Sofia Vargas, then?” Dominik asked.

“She’s my aunt.”

“Well, our aunt told us that your aunt’s tres leches cake is something special, and that Bernadette needs to beg a lesson from her. Could you introduce us?”

Felicia shared a glance with me. “I— I’d be glad to, and I’m sure she’d be happy to give you some tips, but she’s not at home right now. Maybe next week?”

Dominik nodded affably. “No hurry. We’ve got some work to do before we open. Figure out how to make the place our own, you know?”

“Why did you want to see my house?” I asked.

Since Jillie was staring at the house, her mouth slightly open and her eyes wide, Bernadette answered. “Because of Oren Buckley, of course. He did such beautiful work on Jenkins House that when we found out he lived here, we really wanted to see it.”

At that moment, I was glad that Avi had bugged out on me. As much as I’d have appreciated his commentary on Liam’s attitude, I doubted he was quite ready to hear strangers flinging Oren’s name around, talking about him living here when he’d never had a chance to move in.

“I’d be happy to arrange that, but”—I gestured to my shirt—“I’m a little too damp for comfort right now, and I need to head to work shortly. Maybe tonight?”

“Maz.” Felicia tugged on my T-shirt hem. “I forgot to tell you that Ricky was hoping you’d have dinner with him tonight.”

I blinked. “He was? He didn’t text me.”

She huffed. “Okay, fine. Mami and Papi and I were hoping you’d have dinner with him. We figured you were the only person who stood half a chance of dragging him away from Tia.”

“I, um, can do that.” I had my dad’s cookbooks again. Maybe I could make him something, provided I had time after work.

Felicia clapped. “Bueno! You’ve got his truck keys, right?” I nodded. “Also bueno.” She leaned toward the Vlahoses and stage-whispered, “My brother is afraid to ride in Maz’s car because it’s such a piece of?—”

“Hey! Don’t tell me you’re trying to talk me into buying a new car, too. What, does your cousin cut you in on the commission or give you a finder’s fee or something?”

She patted my shoulder. “No, Maz. We all just want you to be safe. Take the truck, okay?”

“Fine,” I grumbled.

“I’ve got to run.” She waved at the Vlahoses.

“It was great to meet you. Be sure to stop in the Taqueria sometime soon, okay?” She jogged off across the lawn, then turned, although she continued moving, jogging backward.

“Maz, could you come around and close the garage door for me? Tia doesn’t have an automatic opener, and I’m already running late for school. ”

“No problem.”

When I turned back to the Vlahoses, Jillie’s eyes were even wider. “Is Ricky your boyfriend ?” she whispered.

I pointed at her forehead. “Despite what you think you know about small towns, you’re not entitled to poke that into everything.”

She flushed nearly scarlet. “Sorry.” She heaved a sigh. “And I’m not totally clueless. I know small towns can’t really be like they are in movies, otherwise this one would be haunted, right?”

It was my turn to blink. “Uh…”

“Although I guess that would be a little too obvious and.… and…” She looked up at her uncle. “What did you call it, Uncle Dom?”

“On the nose,” he replied.

“Yeah!” She turned back to me. “Too on the nose for a place called Ghost.”

“Yes. Absolutely. One hundred percent.” I cleared my throat. “How about this? Why don’t you three come over for dinner tomorrow? We can get to know one another in a more organic way. I’ll get takeout from the Taqueria.”

“What if…” Bernadette bit her lip. “That is, may I cook for you? For you and Ricky?”

Dominik nodded. “That’s the best way for you to get to know us. Bernadette can mutter to her food?—”

“I do not mutter .” Bernadette turned almost as pink as Jillie. “I commune . It’s my process .”

“And,” Dominik continued as though she hadn’t spoken although he had a definite twinkle in his eye, “I can chat with you and Ricky in between Jillie trying to pump you for details on your house and the rest of the people in town.” He glanced at his sister and niece. “We can hit Taqueria Vargas tonight.”

“Sounds like a plan,” I said while Jillie clapped and bounced on her toes. I turned to Bernadette. “What time do you need to start your prep?”

She waved a hand. “I’ll do most of that at Jenkins House. For what I have in mind, I won’t need much actual stove time.”

“How about six?”

“Perfect. We’ll see you then.”

I stood under my maple tree, watching them walk away.

Ghost’s population was growing—first me, then the Vlahoses.

At the corner of Main Street, Jillie turned and waved at me.

I waved back, grinning. If my plan to get Avi to assist me with Thaddeus’s effects panned out, the Vlahoses would have enough business to, well, keep themselves in business.

Of course, if Bernadette was a terrible chef, that could be a problem. I guess I’d find out tomorrow.

I froze with my hand still in the air.

I’d just invited three strangers into the house I shared with Avi. We hadn’t discussed how he felt about having unknown people in our space because, frankly, other than me, there weren’t any unknown people around here.

Would it upset him? Send him back into his paper vortex phase?

We still didn’t know how his manifestation worked, what might set him off, or worse, what might block him from manifesting at all.

What if the reason he could manifest was because everything in the house was familiar?

He’d started to appear more often over the last month as we’d gotten to be…

Yes, he’d said it, and so had I. We were more than just housemates. We were friends. I suspected that Avi was even more of an introvert than I was, and introverted friends didn’t blindside their other introverted friends with unexpected dinner parties.

Ugh. Surprises. I hated them. If Avi hated them as much as I did, he wouldn’t be happy.

I frowned, patting my pocket as I trudged up the porch steps. The ring was still there, but Avi hadn’t returned after the Vlahoses had arrived. That might give me my answer right there.

I sighed and slipped in the front door. Gil wasn’t lurking in the vestibule in an attempt to dart outside. He could just be off napping somewhere or plotting his next stealth attack on some innocent, unsuspecting knickknack, but I hoped it meant he was with Avi.

“Avi?” I called. “You around?”

At first there was no response, but then I heard a soft, “In the library.”

When I walked through the french doors, I didn’t spot him at first. He was sitting on the window seat, gazing out into the yard, with Gil purring next to him, but he was even more see-through than usual.

“Hey.” I stopped next to the desk. “I think I owe you an apology.”

He looked up at me. “Why?”

“I just invited three strangers to dinner.”

“Three str— You mean those people you were talking to just now?”

“Yes. Bernadette, Dominik, and Jillie Vlahos. Bernadette’s a chef. She’s going to cook here tomorrow. At six.”

Avi’s pensive expression relaxed into a smile. “Maz, you don’t need to get permission from me to invite people to your house.”

“ Our house. It’s only polite. Especially with these people.”

He cocked his head. “Why them in particular?”

“They’re the new owners of Jenkins House. They, um, want to see this place because Oren remodeled it, too.”

“Oh.” He turned away, his throat working. “I’d… like to see Jenkins House again. Do you think…” He looked up at me, his expression hopeful. “Do you think they’d give you a reciprocal tour sometime? And you could bring me with you?”

“Of course.” I sat on the opposite curve of the window seat. “They seem really nice, so I’m sure they’d agree. You’re sure you’re not upset? When you didn’t come back outside earlier?—”

“It wasn’t them,” he said hurriedly. “To be honest, I hadn’t even noticed them. It was Felicia.”

“Felicia?”

He rubbed the back of his neck, not meeting my gaze. “There’s something about standing right next to somebody I used to know and having them look right through me.” He chuckled. “Not that people didn’t look right through me before.” He cut a quick glance at my face. “Almost everybody except?—”

“Except Oren.”

He nodded. “And now you.” He rubbed his chest, right over his heart.

“I don’t think it hit me before how long I’ve been…

gone. Everyone I’ve seen here at the house so far were adults when I was alive.

Once you hit that benchmark, inhabiting your…

your mature container, I guess, and you don’t have the artificial yardstick of school years, you kind of assume everyone’s your age.

But Felicia… The last time I saw her, she was about four feet tall, wore her hair in pigtails but had recently given herself an unfortunate crooked fringe, and was missing both front teeth.

” He took a breath. “It was a definite wake-up call. Despite everything we’ve been through in the last month, I don’t think I really believed it until now. ”

“I get it. You don’t have to ever apologize to me for taking time to process things.

” I pulled one leg up to my chest and rested my chin on my kneecap.

“I’m a little envious that you’re able to exit uncomfortable situations so effortlessly.

No awkward goodbyes or lies about getting in touch later.

You can just go and nobody will be any the wiser.

I can’t tell you how many times I wished for that kind of instant escape. ”

“I don’t recommend my method of achieving it,” he said dryly.

I grimaced. “Sorry.”

“It’s all right.”

“It’s not.” I really wished I could grip his shoulders, but I settled for locking my gaze with his.

“We may not have all the answers about your situation, but you are the one who gets to decide what’s right for you, and that includes other clueless people”—I jerked both thumbs toward my chest—“making thoughtless comments or stupid jokes at your expense. So if I do it and I don’t catch myself? Call me on it, okay?”

He drew his lower lip between his teeth for a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”

“Good. Now. I need to change into drier clothes and water the garden.” I paused, remembering my less than successful interactions with the garden hose. “Strike that. Reverse it. Garden first, then dry clothes, and then we can head for the Manor.”

He angled his head, a smile quirking the corner of his mouth. “Can’t wait for the first official Take Your Ghost to Work Day?”

I held my hands up. “Hey, you said it, not me.”