chose me. “Jenny is really nice, though I will say I’m surprised you brought her over to meet the fam this early. I mean, it was just Saturday you accidentally texted me instead of your booty call.”
Harrison laughs. “I met her that next morning, and she’s great, isn’t she? It’s like she just gets me.”
“That is nice,” I reply with a smile, wondering if this is going to amount to anything. “Let’s get dinner or something next week. I haven’t hung out with you one-on-one while sober in a while.”
“Sure. Text me. Thanks for coming tonight.”
“Of course, Har. If I’m meeting someone who could potentially be my sister-in-law, you know I’m down to judge.”
“You’re good at that.”
“I am,” I say with a nod. “I should get going. Have a good night.”
“You too.”
I say a quick goodbye to Mom and Dad and then head out. The wind has picked up, bringing a chill to the air. I pull my sweater tight around my body as I walk down the sidewalk leading to my car. A familiar feeling creeps over me, making me come to a stop. I turn, wondering which of the shadowy spirits that haunt this street I’ll see.
I gasp and almost drop my purse when I see a shadowed outline of a person standing against the side of my parents’ house. For a second I think it’s actually a person and not a ghost, which scares me even more. But then he steps forward, and light from the porch lights illuminate his face.
“Run,” the scraggly-haired blonde boy says, brows furrowing. “Run before she finds you too.”
Chapter Nine
I sit on the couch, drumming my fingers on the romance novel that’s in my lap. It’s been years since I felt this unnerved from a ghost and I can’t shake the feeling that something else is going on. Things aren’t adding up, from that thing in the woods, to Bob going all psycho on me, to the blonde-haired ghost showing up at my parents’ house and talking to me. Hell, something feels weird about Aunt Estelle’s death and how she left everything to me.
“I need to get going,” I say to Hunter, who’s lying on the couch next to me, head pressed against my thigh. “I haven’t packed your stuff yet either.” I put the book down and wrap an arm around Hunter, burying my fingers in his thick fur. “Do you think he was talking to me?” I ask him, thinking about the ghost, and lie down. Hunter wiggles his way closer, squishing me against the back of the couch. “He was looking right at me. Places are haunted. Sometimes items. What would make him appear?”
Hunter nudges me, pressing his cold nose against my cheek.
“Me, I know, but that doesn’t make sense. I say I’m haunted because I can see ghosts, but I’m not haunted in that sense.” I run my fingers over his ear, where his fur is super soft. “And you know what else?” I turn my head and look into Hunter’s gold eyes. “I’m hoping to find answers to at least one of my questions tomorrow when I get to Thorne Hill. It’s stupid of me, right? Aunt Estelle is dead and I really doubt she left another cryptic letter.” I let out another breath. “Why don’t I remember meeting her? It doesn’t make sense. It’s not like I was a baby. Harrison said we were seven or eight in that photo, and Mom didn’t finish her residency until we were like nine, I think. I remember living in Michigan, and I remember moving. I just don’t remember Aunt Estelle.”
Hunter wags his tail and licks my face.
“You’re right,” I tell him and kiss the top of his head. “It doesn’t matter right now. Right now I need to get my lazy ass up and pack our stuff. I don’t even know where the small cage is for Romeo.” Hunter jumps off the couch and looks back at me, as if making sure I really do get up off the couch.
I do, and I open Spotify on my phone, turning on my go-to playlist. The slightest noise is going to make me jump tonight, and I should probably take a double dose of Benadryl if I want to get any sleep tonight. I’ll have to counteract it with a shit-ton of coffee in the morning, but I’ll do what I got to do, right?
I bag up Hunter’s food for the next few days and add it to a duffle