“Where’s Ryan?” I ask, keeping my voice calm as I begin to pack. “Celeste, we can send for your things. Yours, too, Zach. We’re leaving now.”
“Mom, we can take a few minutes to pack. I need my stuff,” Celeste says. “Zach and I will start packing. You should too.”
“OK, but don’t go near the dining room,” I say. “And we are leaving as soon as it’s safe.” The storm is over, but the air is still tense with the raging fires. The aftermath of today will take years to clean up. Some lives will be changed forever, I know that. But it’s hard to think about the future when I have a more pressing concern: One of my sorority sisters is a murderer, the other drugged my best friend, and a third extorted the second. And then there’s this creepy place and its resident ghost.
I hear a quiet knock on the door. I’ve been expecting it, I guess. I’ve changed into my typical at-home uniform ofsweatpants and a sweatshirt. I did my best to wipe the grime from my face, but I’ll wait until I’m back home to shower. I’ve tossed everything into my suitcase, and I’m ready to go. I wheel the suitcase to the door and open it.
“Leaving a day early?” Ryan says. “I can’t say I blame you. But the roads aren’t cleared yet, so you might as well relax, and stay awhile.”
“What do you want, Ryan?” I say, stepping aside as he walks in, crosses the room to the fireplace, and takes a seat in one of the comfy white chairs facing the fire. I’ve put the note from Sunny on the dresser, and he eyes it but doesn’t say anything.
“It’s nice the gas lines are still working,” he says. “Otherwise, we’d all be suffering through a cold night. There’s been enough suffering this weekend, wouldn’t you agree?”
“I would. Why did you let Roxy invite us here, to your special house?” I ask, refusing to sit in the chair facing his. I’m ready to bolt out of the room if anything strange or ghostly happens.
“Greer didn’t make it far in his quest for help, so he’s back, and he and Jamie went to their room,” he says, ignoring my question. “I guess they still have a chance of staying together. But she needs help. Anyway, you’re not going anywhere, not anytime soon.”
She’s not the only one, I think, studying Ryan.
“Yes, Jamie agreed to go to a treatment program, so I hope she’ll be OK,” I say. I am glad Ryan doesn’t know any more about Jamie than what happened with Sunny. He doesn’t need to know she killed Brett. The Sunny situation, that’s enough.
I cross my arms and stare at Ryan. Flames from the fireplace send shadows dancing through the room. Memories of that night begin to flash through my head again, more unwelcome ghosts of the past, ofthatpast. That night. I’ve been so careful not to dwell on it over the last twenty-five years. But being here, in this house, with these people, it’s like all my protective walls have come crumbling down. Ryan’s face morphs into his younger self, the person I remember, far different from the man he has become. But back then, the last night of spring break, he was more than cute Ryan, my best friend’s boyfriend.
The stars were out, and we’d all finished dining alfresco. All of us except Sunny.
Amelia wore a dress from Roxy’s closet, which surprised me at the time since Roxy was a notorious non-sharer of clothes. Probably because she had the best.
“Come on, you have to go out. It’s our last night,” Amelia coaxed, plopping her napkin on her plate and pushing it to the middle of the table. We’d all been drinking margaritas as we ate our dinner, and we were all well on our way to drunk.
“I’ll go if you go,” Jamie said, leaning her head on my shoulder, already tipsy.
“Sure, I guess,” I’d said, and I’d looked over at Ryan for some reason, and he smiled.
“I’ll come along too,” he said. “You all need an escort, for sure.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to stay here, Ryan, enjoy ourlast night at the Desert Sunrise?” Roxy asked. “I mean, the pool is so warm. Let’s go swimming?”
Ryan tilted his head. “I think the casino is a great call. We should all go.”
“Sure, great, a casino.” Roxy seemed to be beyond excited by that announcement. “I’m coming, too, then.”
I shake my head at the memory. The last night was a disaster, for the most part. As soon as we arrived at the casino, Amelia disappeared to go find the guys she was flirting with, Roxy slipped away doing who knows what, and Jamie excused herself, telling me she had something to do. And Ryan, he’d headed to the blackjack table, he said, to try to win some bucks.
I couldn’t believe I was alone, in a casino. I didn’t have money to waste on gambling, and now, I didn’t have a single friend by my side. I missed Sunny, and I decided to grab a cab and head back to the hotel. I made my way to the outdoor bar and ordered the usual, a margarita. I decided I’d have one more drink to end my spring break before reality set in the next day.
“Come here often, beautiful?” a man said, touching my shoulder in a too-familiar gesture. My neck tensed and my fists clenched.
I turned, ready to punch him, when I realized it was Ryan. “Hi,” I said through my drunken haze.
“Hey,” he said. “I lost all my money over there at the blackjack table, but on the plus side they do give you free drinks.”
“Good to know,” I answered. The fact that I was also out of money, the money Sunny had borrowed for me from thesorority, was weighing heavily on me by that time of the night. I was so lucky she had brought me on the trip. I had to make it back to school without needing to ask for more. The bartender walked by, and Ryan signaled for two more margaritas.
“I’m not going to be able to walk to my room if I drink another one,” I said.
Ryan draped his arm over my shoulders and leaned in close. “Don’t worry. I’ll escort you to your room. You’re safe with me.”
47
