“I’ll take a little of everything. It all looks so good.”
Her answer instantly makes the worry about it being too much food go away. If she’s happy, I’m happy and we can always take leftovers home.
I call the waitress back over and ask for an extra plate. When she brings it back I make quick work of scooping Millie a little bit of everything.
And when she takes that first bite? The moan that escapes her lips? It’s the most delicious sound I’ve ever heard.
It isn’t long before we’re all digging in and enjoying our food, the conversation from earlier on pause for a moment.
That is until Lily asks so casually as though she’s asking Millie if she would like another piece of bread to go with dinner.
“Do you think it could be a ghost you’re hearing?”
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Millie
I'm left utterly dumbfounded and speechless by Lily's question. It's not even that I haven't had the same thought, but I quickly dismissed it as me just grappling for any explanation, no matter how unlikely or absurd. "What?"
"A ghost. You know, an apparition of someone that has departed this plane."
She says it so matter-of-factly that I stop and repeat her sentence in my head, just to make sure I heard her correctly. "I know what a ghost is."
"So, do you think that's what you heard?" she asks ever so patiently. I know that Rowan thinks Lily can help us, but after this line of questioning, I'm not so sure. Everything in my body is rebelling against the idea that what I heard could be a ghost.Maybe it's because I'm scared or maybe it's because it sounds so darn ludicrous.
"No," I answer with a level of resolution that I'm not really feeling on the inside. Doubt starts to creep in the longer I sit here and think about it. I mean, it would explain the chilling sensations and the fact that I heard a voice when I was unequivocally alone.
But the logical side of my brain starts to take over. It's just not possible. I don't believe in stuff like that. Ghosts aren't real. They can't be.
"Ghosts are real, Millie. I've experienced it firsthand and so has Luka." She looks over to Luka, a sad smile on her face.
My thoughts come to a screeching halt. "Come again?"
"They're real, I can promise you that."
"But—" I start to protest, completely taken aback by the conviction in her tone.
Lily interrupts, "Let's just pretend that ghosts could be real. Can you do that?" She doesn't say it in a chastising way. It's a genuine question.
"I guess." I feel Rowan shift next to me, his thigh becoming impossibly closer to mine. I don't pull away from his touch or comfort. I've rather enjoyed his touch this entire dinner and I don't plan on being the first to pull away because I crave it too much to do so.
"Okay, so if ghosts are real, would it be totally out of the realm of possibility for that to be the reason behind your dreams of people you've never met before but seem so real, the feelings of being watched when no one's there and hearing a voice you can't explain?" she asks so seriously that it raises the hair on the back of my neck as she goes through the checklist of my symptoms.
As she ticks off the list, Lily's theory seems more and more plausible.
"You have to suspend what you know to be reality for a moment and let yourself think of all the possibilities," Luka adds.
Rowan gently squeezes my hand. "It's true. Before last year I would never have thought that any of this could be possible. Omens, ghosts, curses, none of it. But after living through it there's no refuting the truth. It all exists."
I look over to him. "Is that what you think it is? Is that why you wanted us to talk?"
His eyes are full of understanding and sympathy. "I had a feeling, but I needed to see if they would come to the same conclusion without me saying anything."
I can't wrap my head around any of this. None of it makes any sense, not if I think about it too hard. I try to, but I can't.
"Her name was Emily," Lily says.
"Huh?" I ask, confused and overwhelmed.
