Page 68 of Chasing Your Ghost

“Riley?”

Knowing what was coming, she extricated herself from Asher’s arm, using the wall to support her instead. She could see the tension in his jaw as he watched her slow progress, but they both knew she couldn’t be seen leaning against something invisible.

“Riley, I’m sorry,” Edith said as she entered the room, cutting Riley off before she could reach the fridge.

It was not what Riley expected her to say, but she didn’t have time to listen to the woman’s apologies. “I need food,” she mumbled.

“I should have given you a chance to explain,” Edith continued obliviously. Her eyes were bloodshot and puffy, and her ruined mascara gave her raccoon eyes. “I’m sorry I jumped to conclusions.”

Riley’s teeth scraped together. This apology would have been a lot better received if she wasn’t seconds away from collapsing. “I need food,” she repeated, letting more of her weight fall against the wall.

“Wait, are you drunk?” the woman asked, her red eyes narrowing as they took in the way her daughter was struggling to keep on her feet.

Riley’s nostrils flared. Unbelievable. So much for being sorry for jumping to conclusions.

“No. Now, I need you to get out of my way.”

“What’s going on?” Hugh asked as he walked into the room, Noah and Olivia following behind him.

Riley closed her eyes and pressed a hand against her forehead. It was so unbearably hot. “I need food,” she explained, her voice coming out quieter than she’d intended.

“I think she’s drunk,” Edith said, her icy blue eyes narrowed slits of accusation.

“I’m not dr—” Riley slumped further against the wall as black dots began to dance in front of her.

“Riley, what’s wrong?” someone asked. She thought it was Noah, but she couldn’t be sure.

Edith’s lips started moving again, but Riley heard nothing but white noise as darkness encroached on the sides of her vision. Panicking, Riley pushed off the wall and shoved past Edith, her heartbeat pounding unbearably loudly in her head. She’d reached the fridge and pulled open the door before her legs finally collapsed.

A pair of gray-hued hands reached for her as she slumped to the floor, Asher’s name on her lips as though she wanted to call out to him for help. He was the last thing she saw before her vision went black.

???

When Riley opened her eyes again, it was Noah’s face hovering over her and his hand keeping her head off the floor. Mere seconds must have passed, her new position sending blood to her dizzy head, but Riley felt as though she’d been run over by at least three cars during that time.

Noah was frowning down at her, his forehead creased and his eyebrows pulled together. He seemed frozen, and if Edith hadn’t appeared on Riley’s other side, frantically asking if she was okay, Riley might have wondered if the world had paused. Asher’s face appeared between her mother’s and stepbrother’s, and her eyes moved to focus on him.

“Riley?” he asked. “Are you okay?”

She managed a tiny nod. “It’s my blood sugar levels. I need something sugary,” she said, the words barely scraping out of her tired body. They were intended for Noah and Edith, but she kept her gaze pinned on Asher. Something about the way he was looking down at her struck her as wrong.

“I need to go,” he said while Edith said something Riley didn’t hear. “I’m only going to make you worse.”

It hit her then—after he’d said the last word and before he’d vanished—that he’d been looking at her with guilt. He’d felt responsible for her embarrassing fainting spell. She wished he’d given her a chance to tell him it wasn’t his fault. She wished he’d given her a chance to ask him to stay.

“Riley?” Edith yelled, and Riley blinked and turned her attention to the woman who must have been trying to get her attention for several seconds. Her eyes were glassy and wide with concern. “Hugh’s pouring you some apple juice. Can you sit up a bit?”

Riley managed another weak nod, but she was grateful when Noah did the work for her, lifting her upper body and pressing his hand against her back to keep her upright. Her head swam with another wave of dizziness, but then a large glass of juice was being handed to her, and she didn’t pay attention to anything but gulping the whole thing down. The sweetness tasted like heaven on her tongue, the sugar precisely what her body needed and was craving.

When she’d finished the last drop, someone took the glass from her trembling hand. Riley had closed her eyes on the last few gulps and wanted nothing more than to lie back down and curl up into a ball until the apple juice worked its magic. She was still burning up, and Noah’s hand on her back felt like a furnace, which wasn’t helping her feel much better.

“It’ll take a few minutes to kick in,” she explained to whoever was listening.

“Do you want to lie on the couch?” Hugh asked.

She nodded, and suddenly the same arms that had been keeping her upright were lifting her into the air. Riley groaned as nausea hit her with more force than before, the juice not settling well in her empty stomach. Noah was lucky that they made it to the living room without her vomiting all over herself and him.

He set her down on the couch, and Riley gratefully sank into it, curling up on her side as her stomach threatened to reject the sugar she so badly needed.

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