Dahlia was watching from the other end of the bar with interest. Irritated, I held her stare. She smirked, as if my wordless challenge was laughable, drained the last of her drink, and left.
“Another vodka, please.”
“Sure. Is everything alright?”
I wanted to say,“No. Beautiful people, including two small children, are dead. The man I thought I’d spend the rest of my life with slept with my best friend. My dad told me to get the fuck out. My mother’s ghost woke me, saving me from a fire. The man I am deeply attracted to might be a killer. The man I’m living with has a magical allure I struggle to resist, and I’m going crazy.”But I said, “Yes, everything’s fine.”
She raised a brow as she poured the drink and slipped it in front of me. “It’s alright if you’re struggling, it’s natural to after what you’ve been through. Staring at your wounds doesn’t make them worse. Just don’t spend too long looking at them. Heal them and move on. Happiness is found when you place yourattention on the beauty the world has to offer.” She placed her hand on my forearm. “I’m here if you want to talk.”
Her words made sense, but I was scared if I tried to peek past the armor I’d built to hide the broken pieces, my past would come gushing out and shatter my defenses.Shatter me.
“Thanks, Grace. I’m okay, though.”
“You’re a terrible liar,” she said, and then headed to serve Patty.
I picked up my phone and group texted:Drinks at The Hollow now?
BJ responded immediately:I will be there in 10.
A few seconds later came Georgie’s reply:Does a prostitute have herpes?
And a minute after that from Jodie:Hell yes.
BJ arrived first, and the two girls arrived shortly after.
A while later, we were seated around a table, drinking our fourth drink. The weight of everything had slowly dispersed from my shoulders, and the haze of alcohol fogged my mind and relaxed my muscles.
“What do you guys know about Rutherford’s Estate?”
Jodie giggled and set her glass of red on the table. “Why don’t you tell her, Georgie?”
Georgie blushed and looked away, pretending that the two reedy-looking guys playing pool suddenly held interest.
“Come on,” Jodie chided. BJ sat back and draped his arm across the chair with a big grin.
“Stop it.” Georgie gave a nervous laugh, glancing at her two friends. There was a brief quiet. “Promise you won’t laugh?” she asked, her eyes peppered with an odd anxiety.
“Pinkie promise,” I said, holding my little finger up as proof.
She placed her drink on the table, sat up straight, and interlocked her fingers. “A bunch of us nurses went camping up there last year. I didn’t want to go, but they talked me into it. So,we walked for what felt like a damn lifetime through the forest, mosquitoes eating us alive, bugs the size of small cars flapping around.” I grinned as her face pinched in disgust. “Until we found a spot to set up camp. We lit a fire and pitched our tents, ate, drank, the usual stuff. It got dark, and I was sitting around the campfire when I felt this . . .” A gulp rolled down her throat. “Energy. I don’t know. I know it sounds weird. But it was like I was being watched.”
“That’s not weird,” I said with a steady look. “Go on.”
“Anyway, I looked up, and standing just in the tree line was a man. Or the black shape of a man. It was dark, and I couldn’t make out any detail but his eyes.” She shuddered. “His eyes were black, like really black, and shiny like water. But they were somehow”—she leaned in and lowered her voice—“empty.” Goosebumps dotted her arms, and she rubbed them vigorously.
“What happened?” I asked.
“Nothing. I blinked, and he was gone. He just . . .” She threw her hand out. “Vanished. It was a ghost—I know it. All those people go missing up there, and I know what I saw. I will never, ever, go up there again.”
BJ chuckled. “I think you’re leaving something out, Georgie.”
She sat back, flushing, and dropped her head. “I may have taken a step or two back, and I fell on my ass, and my hair caught on fire.” She glanced back up and then began to chuckle. “One of the guys ran over and stamped it out.”
“And she may have had a bottle of wine and a cone or two, but it was a ghost,” Jodie added with a giggle.
I gripped my lips together and tried not to laugh.
“I’m telling you”—she was suddenly serious again—“it was a damn ghost, and he wasevil.” She shivered again and wrapped her arms across her chest.
