Page 41 of Chasing Your Ghost

Edith cleared her throat and nodded, her eyes shining with unshed tears. “Okay. If that’s what you’d prefer.” She turned to her other daughter. “Olivia, you’d better go shower. I need to drop you off at Amy’s soon.”

Riley knew from the previous night’s conversation at dinner that Amy was Olivia’s best friend, and the two of them were having a sleepover.

“Do you want me to make you some sandwiches before you leave?” Hugh asked.

“No, that’s okay. Olivia was starving after her lesson, so we grabbed something on the way back,” Edith replied. She cleared his throat. “I need to get a few things done before I take her across, if you’ll excuse me,” she said with a shaky smile.

She walked out of the room, and Riley briefly felt guilty for making the woman so upset again. The feeling was gone almost instantly, chased away by the memories of a man of the cloth telling her she was an abomination while Edith looked on.

“Have you heard from Noah?” Riley asked Hugh once it was just them again.

“Yeah, he said his mom’s doing better, so he’ll come this side tomorrow afternoon.”

“That’s good news.”

He nodded. “He said something about inviting Chris over, so maybe we can order in some Chinese for dinner.”

“Sounds good.”

She probably would have been more disappointed about Noah’s absence the last few days if Asher wasn’t taking up so much of her attention and time. She’d been too busy first worrying about why he’d disappeared the way he had and then spending hours and hours researching his unique experiences. Speaking of which…

“I actually wanted to ask you and Edith for a favor,” Riley told her stepdad.

“Of course. What’s up?”

She shifted awkwardly in her seat while trying to find the right words. “There are some books I wanted to order online, but I don’t exactly have much in my bank account,” she explained, her words becoming faster as nerves got the better of her. “Would you mind maybe letting me use one of your cards?”

“That’s—” Hugh began, but Riley interrupted him.

“I’ll pay you back as soon as I can. I was planning on getting a job, but I just haven’t really had the time, but as soon as I do, I’ll give you back whatever I owe you.”

“Of course you can use one of our cards,” he said, his blue eyes still thankfully warm in the face of her request. “And you don’t need to pay us back.”

“Really?”

“You’re family, Riley. If you need anything, just let us know, and we’ll sort it out.”

Trying to ignore the tightness in her throat, Riley smiled. “In that case, I could use a tv in the pool house,” she joked, needing the armor of her sarcasm against his words, which she wasn’t ready to accept as truth. “A seventy-inch should do.”

Asher, who’d been standing silently in the room the entire time, barked out a laugh at that.

“Why don’t we start with the books,” Hugh suggested with an amused chuckle.

She nodded. “Thank you.”

“It’s a pleasure, and like I said, if you need anything else, let us know.”

“I will.” Riley swallowed the lump in her throat before taking a bite of her sandwich.

“I better get back to it,” Hugh said once they’d both finished their lunch, their plates had been packed in the dishwasher, and Riley was holding his credit card. “I’ll see you later for dinner. I’m making baked ziti.”

Riley sighed and feigned disappointment. “I don’t think that will top the sandwiches I made, but I suppose I could stomach that.”

Hugh grinned. “You’re such a brat.”

“It’s my best quality.”

“Liar,” Asher said after Hugh walked through the door to the garage.

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