“So you’re staying here?”
Joseph nodded.
Carolina pursed her lips. She wanted to make sure that what she had to say next didn’t come off as spiteful or laced with venom.
“I saw Miss Westing here a while ago,” she said. “I didn’t mean to overhear, but it sounded like you turned her down for a coffee date.”
Joseph’s mouth screwed up into a sort of smirking frown.
“I told you,” he said. “I’m not interested in Miss Westing or anyone else for that matter.”
“That’s the other problem,” Carolina said, as another fat tear rolled down her cheek. “You should be looking for living, breathing friends. Friends with apulse. I don’t want to be the reason that you turn away from the possibility of love.”
“I’m not turning away from love,” Joseph said, taking her hand in his. “I’m looking right at it.”
Chapter Fourteen
Life without Carolinahad been lonely. Joseph had become accustomed to her disappearing for days at a time, but days turned into weeks and then months, until he began to assume that perhaps she was gone for good. Though the manor was looking more and more like a home and less like a haunted mansion every day, without his ghostly housemate and friend, the walls that surrounded him felt cold. Desolate. Empty.
It was just before February when Joseph discovered Carolina’s room. Clearing out the second floor had been yet another daunting task, and even though the state of the rooms were in surprisingly good shape after being abandoned for a lifetime, everything still had to go. The heavy furnishings were acquired by an antique dealer downtown, bought in one big purchase and hauled away, leaving him with cobwebs, dust and a handful of small treasures. There were five rooms on the second floor and plans to convert the smallest room into a bathroom. There, in that small room was where he found Carolina’s things.
Joseph felt wrong in a way, rifling through the remnants of Carolina’s life. A mostly empty jewelry box filled with pictures of her laughing with girlfriends. Love letters from Richard. An old perfume bottle. There wasn’t much left, but it was enough to remind him of her; enough for him to envision the way that she used to be. In truth, there was evidence of her all over the house, reminding him of her and the life that was taken too soon. Like Rachel. Like too many others.
Now that Carolina was back, he knew that he couldn’t let her go again. Carolina’s hand had felt soft and warm and alive in his. He didn’t want to lose that feeling. Joseph was afraid that if he didn’t stop Carolina this time, she would disappear to the third floor and never be seen again. Even when she was gone, he was still haunted by her just the same. It was all too much, too soon.
“Joseph,” she said, looking down at their intertwined hands. “I can touch you.”
“I know,” he said. “Please don’t leave again.”
Carolina sighed, her breath a warm gust against his wrist.
“I don’t belong here anymore,” she said.
“Of course you do,” he said. “The house doesn’t feel the same without you in it.”
“The house doesn’t need me anymore,” she said, her form shimmering and fading away.
