Page 65 of Ghostly

She’d do right by her family this time. The worry of her illness returning, should she come back to life, faded for the moment. She had her family back. She had hope.

“He’s a sweet kid,” she said.

“Look at you,” Gabriel teased. “Acting like a great-great-great-grandaunt already.”

She passed a hand through his shoulder, laughed at his yelp, and headed back to the living room. She had plenty of skill-honing to do.

Chapter 16

Aslamming door awoke Gabriel from peaceful slumber. He snorted and turned in bed, only to be disturbed again by a knock, coming from below. Ida had promised she wouldn’t disturb him during the night, and ever since those first days, she hadn’t. She was also in a good mood because of Perry’s arrival; no reason for her to mess with Gabriel.

Unless she wasn’t doing it intentionally. Had she gotten stuck in a loop again?

Gabriel got up, wrapped a robe on top of his pajamas, and headed downstairs. No humming from the statue. No Ida stuck in the doorway, or fixing the bookcase. The sounds had quieted, too, but Gabriel only grew worried—what if she’d already done something because of a loop?—before he caught sight of her. Ida was in the backyard, easy to miss if she hadn’t moved right as he passed by the living room window.

She usually spent the nights in the music box. What the hell was she doing outside?

Gabriel hastily drew on a coat and some shoes and rushed to the back. Frost immediately bit every inch of his exposed skin, but as he reached the backyard, a wave of peace and contentment, emanating from Ida, hit him.

Ida sat on the ground, her hands resting on her drawn-up knees. “Evening,” she greeted, her tone light and conversational, as if they’d simply met for brunch.

“It’s two in the morning.”

“I’ve nowhere to be tomorrow.” She shrugged, raising her eyes to the sky. “And the stars are beautiful tonight. Clear skies, thank goodness.”

They waited in silence. He shifted his feet as cold leached through his shoes.

“Want to join me?” she asked.

“It’s freezing.”

“Oh. Right.” She tapped the snow-covered ground. “I didn’t know how cold it was. Explains why the sky is so clear.”

Her voice was gentle and dreamy, and Gabriel couldn’t resist saying, “Wait a minute,” and he disappeared inside. He set water to boil on the stove, retrieved an old, fuzzy blanket he’d found in the bedroom, and returned outside with it and two cups. He spread the blanket on the ground and nudged Ida as he sat down.

“I don’t need…” She bit her lip. “Task four of trying to appear human. Got it.” She scooted onto the blanket; it was big enough for both with a few inches left between them.

“And I got us this.” Gabriel pushed a mug over to her. “Tea to haunt.”

“Not coffee?”

“Even I’m not crazy enough to drink coffee in the middle of the night.”

Ida smiled and pretended to wrap her fingers around the mug. “Thank you.”

He’d left a light on in the kitchen—just enough for a soft illumination of the backyard, but not too distracting for stargazing. His hand threw a blurry shadow on the blanket; Ida’s hand, instead, almost shimmered, as if the light was also inside her.

“So, what are we watching?”

“Well, you have your standard members. Taurus, Orion, Sirius, that small, but bright cluster over there is the Pleiades…” Ida pointed at various places in the sky; all Gabriel saw was a bunch of stars. Pretty, but the names didn’t mean much.

“Though I’m not here for them tonight. I’m waiting for someone special.”

Gabriel almost choked on the tea. Who else did she know? Perry couldn’t see her. The townspeople couldn’t. Had she found another ghost? Why hadn’t she told—

“His name is Wright-Maxwell.” Ida observed Gabriel for a few moments, a sly smile spreading on her face. “It’s a comet.”

“Oh. Obviously.”