“Sloan, you don’t have to do shit. I kept my promise. I won’t arrange any other reading without your knowledge. She just heard what you did for Chelsey,” Tally apologizes, her tone full of regret.
What the fuck did I miss?
Sloan did a reading?
Tally arranged it without her knowing?
Sloan’s rigid posture and fast breathing tell me she’s not happy to have stumbled into this.
“I’m sorry she’s overstepping. You can just walk out,” Tally reassures Sloan, reaching out to grab her forearm.
“Tallulah! Your mother would be ashamed of the way you’re treating your family,” Phyllis accuses, and I have to clench my fists to resist the urge to intervene.
I step next to Sloan now, needing to see her face and be closer if things escalate and I have to get her out of there. But Sloan’s gaze goes to the right of Phyllis, and she is silent for a few heartbeats before she mutters, “Well, Tally’s not the one she’s ashamed of right now.”
Tally, who looked like Phyllis’s low blow hit her just moments ago, now smirks slightly.
Oh, so we’re talking with Shannon too?
I wonder how many spirits and ghosts are lingering around and how many of them Sloan can talk to. What I wonder most is what she said about Saylor being there, but it’s just not the right time to ask.
There are so many things I want to ask her about this, abouther. I want to know everything that goes on in that pretty head of hers. It took me until now to figure out that she likes cheese. What else don’t I know? What else makes her tick? But I can’t ask all those questions until she at least doesn’t look at me with so much hurt anymore.
“You know I need to talk to him. It’s important, Tallulah!” Phyllis is getting louder by the second, and her shrill tone hurts my ears.
Not even Lio has been able to do that since he was out of diapers.
“Yes, you said that, Phyllis, but I don’t understand what’s so important or urgent now. He died ten years ago!” Tally shoots back.
Sloan is still looking to the right where Phyllis is standing, taking deep breaths before she nods slightly.
“It’s fine, Tally. If it’s that important, I can talk to Robert for her.” Sloan smiles at Tally, though it’s forced, and I can practically feel her anxiety rising and see her pulse racing at her throat.
She’s doing this for Tally and hates every second of it.
I can tell by her white knuckles while she presses her fingernails into her palms.
She’s hurting herself.
Without thinking, I reach out and grab her hand, open her fist, and intertwine our fingers. Sloan looks down at our hands,then up at me. I just give her a small smile, trying to convey all I want to say with my gaze.
You’re not alone.
You’re safe.
I’ve got your back.
She nods but doesn’t smile back. She doesn’t pull her hand away, either, so I take it as a win.
“See? That wasn’t all that difficult like you made it sound, Tallulah. We just needed to ask—” She cuts herself off before turning to face Sloan again. “How do you know his name?”
Sloan just shrugs, and although I know by now that her indifference is masking the turmoil inside, I have to suppress a laugh at her attitude. “He’s here.”
Well, that sent a shiver right down my spine. I figured ghosts are not the creepy things we see in movies, or at least I think they’re not, but still. Knowing that at least one is here right now is a lot. And she deals with this every day.
Phyllis is looking around frantically. “Bob?”
“Let’s sit down, shall we?” Tim suggests, and I almost forgot that he’s here too.
