Page 99 of The Ghost of Ellwood

“Congrats, dude.” Carter held up his glass of milk. “Cheers.”

I laughed and clinked my glass with his.

“Thanks for letting me crash your Thanksgiving,” he said.

“Must be tough being away from your family, huh?”

Carter shrugged. “Holidays sucked in Cali too. Mom was too busy with her career and my dad was too busy banging anything with boobs and two legs.”

“You don’t have a close relationship with them?”

“No. Can I have another piece of cake?”

Theo gave me a sad look before cutting another piece for Carter. I hadn’t realized my friend wasn’t close with his parents. The loss of his grandma was probably a lot worse than I’d thought.

After dessert, we went into the parlor. Theo and Carter played several games of chess as I sat beside them and watched. Carter was a much better player than me, and it was fun to see them battle it out.

“I didn’t see that move coming,” Theo said, shocked.

“My granny taught me good.” Carter grinned. “Checkmate, ghost boy.”

“Ghost boy?” Theo sighed. “How rude.”

“Oh! I forgot to tell you guys.” Carter bounced in his seat as he pulled his phone from his pocket. “Okay, check it. I found out where Harvey went after leaving Ivy Grove.”

With Theo’s permission, I had told Carter about the goodbye letter. Since Harvey was his relative, I thought he might be able to find out what happened to him. Theo said it didn’t matter, but I knew he fretted over what became of his first love.

Theo sat up straighter. “Yes? Where did he go?”

“He went to a small ass town in Arkansas and bought a farmhouse with a few acres of land,” Carter answered, showing us a black and white photo of a house on his phone. “He became successful with his crops and actually made a pretty good living. Hang on. I found a pic of him too. It’s a little grainy because it’s old as shit, but I thought it was cool that I kinda look like him.”

It was the first time I’d ever seen Harvey. And while the photo wasn’t that clear or in color, I could still see how handsome he was. He stood beside a tractor and was shirtless, as if he’d been caught in the middle of a workday. Carter really did look like him, only shorter and less muscular.

Theo reached with shaking hands for the phone. Once he had it in his grasp, he just stared at the photo, tears brimming in his eyes.

I looked away. It hurt to see his sadness over another man, even though I knew how stupid it was to feel like that.

“Wanna know more?”

Theo returned the phone to Carter and nodded.

“Not to depress you, but I found out he died in World War II. Man, he fought in the first war and fought again in the second.”

“Which battle did he fall in?” Theo asked. His chin trembled.

“D-Day,” Carter answered. “I heard there were rumors about him too. Apparently, he and another soldier were pretty close. Nothing was ever proven. After his death and stuff, they found love letters in his personal belongings from someone who just signed with E.”

Carter swiped on his phone and brought up a photo of Harvey in his uniform standing beside another guy who was a bit shorter and had dark hair. Harvey was in his forties at the time, and the other guy looked younger.

“His name is Edmund,” Carter explained, pointing to the dark haired guy. “People said they were inseparable. Edmund lived through the war, and though it took some tracing, it turns out he went to Harvey’s farm after it ended. He lived there for the rest of his life.”

“How did you learn all of this?” I asked, amazed at his detective skills.

“I used to fuck a guy who is close with another guy who does this shit for a living.” Carter shrugged. “I called him up and asked for a favor. A favor I totally repaid him in full.”

When he winked, I laughed.

“So, Harvey found love again,” Theo whispered, staring at the photo of Harvey and Edmund. “I’m happy he found someone else, even though it was only for a short time. They look happy in this photograph.” He touched Harvey’s face. “I always wondered what he’d look like as a grown man.”