Page 97

“I got another quote for the roof.” A pause. “It’s going to eat my savings, and that’s before they open anything up.”

So that was what the letter had been about.

“I need my channel to cover the rest. I don’t know if that’s happening.”

The strangers? Leo wanted to float closer, but didn’t dare.

“I know what I said.” Nate’s expression grew grim.

Another pause.

“I know that maybe I should sell, but—” Nate pinched the bridge of his nose. “No. Nothing. I’m not getting anywhere with him.”

Leo’s attention sharpened.

Him.

“I don’t know what I expected. Mom said soul-work takes patience, fine, I’m being patient. I sit with him. I talk to him. He’s exactly as stuck as the day I moved in.”

Oh.

Nate needed him to be gone, didn’t he? That was part of his business model. Get rid of the ghost, sell the house. Except he couldn’t get rid of Leo. Good. Leo puffed himself up.

Good.

His gaze drifted to the freshly weeded bed of foxgloves.

No. No, he did not owe Nate anything.

Nobody had asked Nate to buy the house. Nobody had asked him to stand at his mother’s table and swear things in front of his whole lineage. Nobody had asked⁠—

“What?” Nate asked, drawing Leo out of his spiral. “That’s ridiculous.” His tone had changed completely. “Jonah.” A pause. “That is not the problem.”

Leo frowned. What wasn’t the problem?

“I’m not lonely. I live with a—“ Nate stopped himself, glanced toward the house, lowered his voice. “I’m busy. I work fourteen-hour days.”

Whatever Jonah said next took a while. Nate’s free hand found a fence post and picked at a splinter of it. “Where,” Nate said flatly. “Where would I even? The nearest nightlife is a diner full of eighty-year-olds.”

Nightlife.

Was he considering… Were they talking about…?

“I am not discussing my love life with you.”

Leo stared at the back of Nate’s head.

“Being single is not a crisis, Jonah, some of us enjoy working. Do not put Sophie on. Do not.” Nate closed his eyes. “Hi, Sophie.”

What followed was a long, one-sided stretch during which Nate said “uh-huh” four times, “sounds great” once, and finally, “I’m not letting you set me up with your dental hygienist, I live two hours away.”

Set him up.

They wanted to set him up. With a person. A living, breathing, teeth-cleaning person.

“I’m hanging up now,” Nate said. “No. No. Okay, I’ll think about it. Goodnight.”

He lowered the phone and stood there at the fence for a while, looking at the hills going dark, and Leo stood by the hedges, unsure what to think.