Page 134 of Chasing Your Ghost

She’d told them that she hadn’t been sleeping well since they’d found Asher in Brett’s basement, and it wasn’t exactly a surprise. A person’s sleep tended to suffer when the ghosts from their pasts showed up.

Noah and Chris had fallen behind, and though it was due to Noah’s still-healing arm, Riley thought it was a good thing they had because it meant more distance between her stepbrother and Ella. The two of them hadn’t said a word to one another. But they didn’t need to. There was a frosty chill between them that said enough about how little progress they’d made in setting aside their differences and issues.

Whatever kindness they’d shown each other during and after their time in Brett’s basement seemed to be nothing more than an anomaly.

“Asher?” Riley asked when he didn’t reply to her.

“Hm?” he asked, turning his head to look at her and blinking his distracting thoughts away.

“What were you thinking about?”

His mouth formed a lopsided grin. “Oh, nothing much. Just how good you taste.”

Riley was taken off-guard enough that she wobbled on her board. Before she could stop it, she fell into the water. Asher laughed. He hadn’t actually promised her that he wouldn’t, but Riley still tipped his board, sending him splashing into the bay with her. He came up spluttering, his eyes dancing with laughter.

Chris was the next victim, his board tipping under Asher’s hands, and though Noah was saved from the same because of his injured arm, Ella was fair game. She was harder to take down because she’d gone ahead of them, but Asher and Chris managed it.

Riley was glad to hear her laughing when she emerged above the surface. Even Noah looked happy as he watched her swim to Chris and dunk his head under the water. Riley could almost believe that he didn’t hate Ella with every fiber of his being.

“Did you have fun?” Asher asked her after their two hours on the water were up and the two of them had said their goodbyes to the others.

They were walking to his Mazda hatchback, and Asher’s arm was wrapped around her waist.

“Yeah. It was great.”

“Good.” He planted a kiss on the top of her head. “My parents want me home soon, but how do you feel about going out for lunch tomorrow?”

Something fluttered in Riley’s stomach. “Like a date?” It seemed crazy that the two of them had grown so close, yet they hadn’t ever gone out on a date. She was keen to fix that.

He nodded, his hand tightening around her. “Like a date.”

After what they’d done in her bedroom, a date shouldn’t have been anything to get so excited about, but they weren’t exactly an average couple. They’d been through hell together, had helped each other through the worst times of their lives. Their story was unique, and Riley didn’t mind that one bit.

She beamed. “I’d love to.”

36

“How are you enjoying your classes so far, Riley?”

She looked up from her plate of Hugh’s delicious tacos and met Edith’s mother’s blue-eyed gaze—her grandmother’s gaze. “I love them, especially the History of Literature, Media and Culture course.” She’d only started classes two weeks earlier, but she already knew she’d love every minute of them. Except for exams, maybe. “And the campus and dorms are great.”

Despite Edith and Hugh’s offer for her to keep living in the pool house, Riley had chosen to move into the residence hall she’d been assigned to in the first week of August. It had already been paid for, and though she would visit them and perhaps stay over on some weekends, Riley enjoyed the independence that came from living on campus. It also meant she was always close to the library, where she’d gotten a job sorting and shelving books.

Besides, she and her mother still had a lot to work through, and moving in permanently while she finished college felt like too big of a step, even with the progress they’d already made.

The white-haired woman smiled. “It’s wonderful that you’ve found something you’re passionate about so early in life.”

Riley nodded. “I’m very lucky, but I suppose I’ve always known I’d do something in literature. My dad thought it was hilarious when I didn’t get my homework done in time because my nose was stuck in a Harry Potter or Percy Jackson book instead.”

“Such a nerd,” Asher teased from his seat beside her.

Riley laughed and bumped him with her shoulder. “That’s exactly what he used to say.”

“At least you weren’t glued to a television screen like most kids,” Edith’s father said. “There are worse addictions to have.”

Edith’s parents—Riley’s grandparents—had gotten back from their trip to Europe the week that Riley had started classes, but this dinner was the first time she’d seen them since. She’d been nervous, but she shouldn’t have been. They were lovely people.

“That’s what my dad used to say until he took me to the bookstore, and we walked out with at least ten books. Then he would beg me to find a less expensive hobby.”

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