Page 63 of The Ghost of Ellwood

I remembered being happy with him. Before it all crashed and burned anyway.

“Does this look all right?” James asked, catching me watching him.

“Yes. It does.” I cleared the lump in my throat. “Thank you.”

“Are you okay?” He frowned and stepped closer.

“I’m fine.”

It was the first time we’d been alone together since the breakup. Carter had run off somewhere, probably to find the snack bar.

“Is it a total asshole move to say I miss you?” James said, his face reddening.

A hateful retort was on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it. “No. I was thinking the same about you.”

“Shane makes me happy. We’re good together, you know? There are just times when I think of you.” His eyes glistened. “Like when you used to trace those circles on my back and play with my hair when I couldn’t fall asleep. And how you’d laugh at the dumbest things, making me laugh too.”

“Do you regret it? Leaving me?” I asked, moving closer. I both anticipated and feared his answer. Nothing good came from talking about what could have been.

James softly smiled. It was tender. And sad. “You know the feeling you get when you recall a good memory? How you wish you could go back and relive it just one more time? I feel that way when I think of you.”

Shane approached, and James cleared his throat and forced a smile. Shane placed a hand on James’ back and whispered something in his ear. James grinned and pecked a kiss to Shane’s cheek. I saw it, though, the sorrow in his eyes.

“The table looks good, babe,” Shane said.

“Thanks.” James then spoke quietly to Shane, and they left the room.

I didn’t know where they went. Didn’t care. Knowing James missed me didn’t make me feel any better. I should’ve been smug or even a little pleased by the fact. Instead, I pitied him.

“You okay?” Carter asked. He’d found the snack station as I’d suspected and was eating a donut, the glaze flecking off on his lips.

“Yeah,” I answered. “Just a little nervous. Being around a lot of people freaks me out.”

“So, people freak you out but not ghosts? You’re an odd one, Ben.” Carter finished his donut and licked his fingers. “Did you see the party room? They have a DJ booth and everything.”

“I haven’t.”

“Go look. It’s badass.”

I passed through the doorway from the signing area, went down a short corridor, and into a grand ballroom. My jaw dropped as I studied the long windows, marble statues, polished floor, and open space. Then I had one of those surreal moments when I imagined the history of the room; all the fancy parties and romancing between young gentlemen and the women who would become their dainty little housewives. All the words spoken in secret behind the columns and just outside the narrow corridor.

How many betrayals had occurred within these walls? How many broken hearts?

The workers ran cables along the floor after they placed the speakers where they needed to go. I jumped when they tested the sound; a loud static that grew softer. After making sure the wires were taped down so no one would trip over them, the men gathered their things and started to leave.

One of them stopped before exiting the ballroom and stared at me, wide eyed. Heat spread to my ears.

“Hi,” I said, feeling awkward.

The man’s face paled and he rushed out after the others.

That was…strange.

However, then I felt it; another presence in the room. My skin prickled and a flight response kicked in. I flung around in time to see a figure dressed in black disappear around the corner. Before I could convince myself of how horrible the idea was, I took off after it.

I reached the corner I’d seen them go around and found myself standing at the end of a very long hallway. It was impossible for someone to have come this way and already reached the other side. Unless there was a door along the wall or one of those hidden passageways.

Or it’s a ghost.