for an early dinner."
Sam nodded with his mouth full of cookies.
Of course, Clay had something to say. "Should I get the candles to make it a little romantic for you and my replacement?"
Wallie barked out a laugh, then ran out of the room when everyone turned to stare him down. Traitor. Zoey laughed and fell off the couch, shifting into her tiger at the same time. Her tiger was much bigger than she was, so the coffee table went flying. Drew reached down and stopped its progression as Zoey barked out a roarey-laugh thing.
Frustrated with his interference and my extremely conflicted emotions, I whirled around to face Clay and threw out my hands. "Stop it!"
He vanished instantly in a burst of grey smoke. Oh, no. Did I banish him? I had no idea what sort of power I had over ghosts.
Behind me, Drew closed the small distance between us. "I hope you didn't just kill your husband's ghost."
"Ghost?" Olivia squeaked and sat up on the sofa. She put her hand on Zoey’s head.
At the same time, I asked, "You can see him?" Panic flared in my stomach, the cramp from earlier returning with gusto.
Drew chuckled and nodded. "And heard him."
Ohh, I was gonna hurl.
"Clay is here?" Sam moved closer to me. He and Clay had been good friends in high school.
I let out a sigh. "I didn't know until I got back." I scanned the living room and frowned. I hoped I hadn’t just killed a ghost. Was that even possible? "Clay? Please, tell me I didn't kill you. I don’t want you to be re-dead."
"You didn't kill me." He popped in beside me, making me jump. “I’m still just regular dead.
I studied his deep brown eyes, muted because of his slightly invisible look. "Drew heard every word."
Clay whirled and studied Drew for a moment, while Drew watched him with twinkling eyes. "How is that possible? He doesn't have a witch mark."
Sam and Olivia look at me in confusion. Clay noticed their faces and held out his hand to me. "You can make me solid so they can see me. When you touch me, I’m visible." Oh, yeah. I’d known that. But it was a lot to take in, having my Shipton people here in Pennsylvania.
When I reached for his hand, he snatched it back. "Don't animate me. I don't want to live forever. I need to move on so you can move on."
I nodded, understanding what he was saying. No turning the ghost into a ghoul or any other undead immortal. “I don’t know how. But my powers have been pretty advanced since I opened myself up to them. There’s no telling what I might be able to do.” The fact that he’d been cremated didn’t necessarily mean I couldn’t animate him.
That meant I had to focus and make my intent clear. I took calming breaths and focused on making Clay solid for a twenty-four-hour period. No, scratch that. I decided to make him solid for three days so we could all catch up. Hopefully, that wouldn’t make Drew feel uncomfortable.
I took Clay's hand and pushed my magic into him with the limit of three days, then he’d return to his ghost self.
Sam’s jaw dropped as Clay appeared in front of him. “Clay,” he whispered.
Clay stepped forward and yanked Sam into his arms. They slapped each other on the back a few times before pulling apart.
“Olivia,” Sam said when they were done with their bro hug. “You remember Clay?”
Clay and Olivia hugged, and then she turned to Drew. “This is Drew, the sheriff of Shipton Harbor. Drew, this is Clay, Ava’s…” Olivia shot me a panicked look.
“He’s my husband,” I said in a level voice. “My dead husband.”
Clay looked Drew over. “And you’re my replacement.”
Drew chuckled and held his hand out. “I hope to be. This, you, presents a new complication.”
He hoped to be Clay’s replacement. Holy crow, Drew wanted to get married.
I did not know how I felt about that.
“Why are you guys here?” I asked, avoiding the elephant in the room.
“The vampires,” Drew said flatly. “I called my mom, and she said vampires didn’t exist.”
I shrugged. “They do. We talked to them last night.”
Drew looked up sharply. “What? You did what?”
“I tried to stop her,” Wallie called from the kitchen. “Mexican okay with everyone?”
“Ohh,” Olivia said. “That sounds great. I’ll go help.” She scurried into the kitchen to look at the takeout menus with Wallie. Zoey the tiger ambled after them.
Clay sighed. “I wish I could eat