and she froze as she watched the dress rise from the trunk seemingly of its own accord. The wedding dress filled out as if a body had slipped into it, then spun around, making the skirt flair out, showing off the pretty beading and delicate lace.
Then the dress floated across the room. One arm rose into the air and then letters started to appear in the dust on the glass window. Once the message was scratched in the dust, the dress suddenly dropped to the floor in a heap of fabric. Gigi moved forward and squinted her eyes as she tried to make out the hastily written message.
Skyler moved to stand beside her, holding her hand tightly in his.
“I can’t make it out,” Gigi said. “It looks like—”
“The one from your past has the answers,” Skyler said in a hushed whisper.
Gigi let out a startled gasp, pain shooting through her heart and nearly breaking her as she realized what the message meant.
Sebastian had known what happened to her mother all along.
Chapter Three
Skyler blinked at Gigi as his face drained of color. “Gigi, did you know your house is haunted?”
She nodded, unconcerned about the fact that she lived with a few ghosts. She sometimes saw the Hannigan sisters. They’d made an appearance when she’d first purchased the place, though she didn’t think either of them had animated her mother’s dress. They would’ve shown themselves to her. But now she couldn’t help but wonder who exactly had written that message. Was it possible her mother had just made an appearance? Her heart both ached and swelled with the idea. “Don’t worry. The ghosts are friendly.”
He glanced around as if one might suddenly pop up again. “Does that happen often?”
She shook her head. “Only when emotions are running high.” In fact, the ghosts were mostly just a presence she felt but didn’t really see often. And that was fine with her. The house had been owned by the Hannigan sisters and wanted someone who wouldn’t displace them, so she felt a connection to them and was actually comforted that she didn’t feel alone.
“Well… that’s interesting, isn’t it?” Skyler ran a hand through his blond hair and blew out a breath.
Gigi placed a hand on his arm, meaning to comfort him. “Don’t worry. They aren’t the sinister type.”
He let out a nervous laugh. “I guess that’s something to be grateful for.”
“Yeah,” she said absently, staring at the message in the dust and biting her lower lip.
“Do you know what it means?”
She turned to Skyler and nodded, unable to speak. How could she say out loud what she was thinking? That the person she’d trusted most in the world had betrayed her.
“Who needs wine?” Grace Valentine asked, holding a bottle of Pinot Noir in the air. She was dressed in a smart black business suit and was wearing the fabulous blue stilettos she always wore when she had an important house showing. It was obvious she’d dressed to impress that day, but her put-together look was offset by her auburn locks sticking out all over the place due to her messy bun. She was sitting on a log around a small fire pit on the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. It was the spot where the coven met at least once a month to brush up on their spell casting. But mostly they just drank wine and got caught up on each other’s lives.
“Me,” Gigi said, thrusting her wine glass in the other woman’s direction. “Fill it up.”
Hope Anderson, who was sitting to Gigi’s right, chuckled and pushed her dark curly locks out of her eyes. The curvy event planner was vivacious and never failed to bring energy to their gatherings. She smiled at Gigi playfully. “Looks like someone has something they need to get off their chest.”
“You have no idea.” Gigi swallowed a few gulps of the wine Grace poured for her before turning to Joy Lansing, the tall actress who was sitting quietly on the other side of Gigi, thumbing through her phone. “Whatcha looking at, Joy?”
“Work emails,” she said with an irritated sigh.
Grace raised an eyebrow. “Too many auditions and not enough time?” she teased.
Joy let out a bark of laughter. “If only I had that problem. You’d think with a hugely successful movie under my belt, that directors would be lining up to offer me at least small television roles, right?”
“They aren’t?” Gigi asked her. “Looks like you’ve got at least some interest going on there if your mailbox is full.”