Page 12 of Chasing Your Ghost

“The purple hair gave it away,” he joked. “Though it’s more lilac or lavender than purple,” he admitted with narrow-eyed consideration.

Riley grinned. “I think you and I are going to get on just fine. My hair precedes me, I see.”

Noah leaned in to conspiratorially whisper, “Edith is not a huge fan of your bold choice.”

“I caught onto that.” She smiled, but it was brittle.

Noah flinched but didn’t bother denying it. “First day going that well, huh?”

She gestured to her bags and attempted a laugh. “As you can see by how eagerly she stayed to help me with my luggage, I’d say extremely well.” She sighed. “I may have chased her off with my winning personality.”

Noah nodded. “That explains why she came into the house crying and sent me out to help.” He grabbed the handles of two of the suitcases and lifted them as though they weighed nothing. “Follow me. I’ll take you around back to the pool house, and you can take a few minutes before you go inside and meet my dad and Olivia. My dad’s about finished making an early dinner, but there’s no rush.”

“Thank you.” Riley grabbed the handle of the remaining bag and followed him past the lined-up cars.

He opened the gate on the waist-high white picket fence— yes, the house had an actual white picket fence— which separated the front and back yards. She followed him through the gate and around the edge of a sparkling blue pool, which looked exceptionally inviting in the humid summer heat, and toward a small building that looked like a miniature single-story version of the main house.

Healthy green shrubs and a few small trees lined the fence that bordered the Warner property, purple hydrangeas added a splash of color outside the white guest house, and four navy and white striped pool loungers were placed around the pool.

She could so easily picture herself diving into the crystal-like water of the pool after lying under the intense Virginia sun on one of those loungers, a thick layer of sunscreen on her skin. She had always enjoyed swimming at school, but their New York apartment had restricted her to swimming laps in Phys Ed. Swimming laps with the rest of her class wasn’t even nearly the same as this would be.

It was all so damned perfect, and Riley hated that she loved it, that she loved this space that she had so begrudgingly come to.

“You don’t hate me for stealing your pool house?” she asked him once they’d made a few trips and all her boxes and suitcases were piled up outside the door of her new residence.

“It isn’t my pool house,” he corrected. “Most of the time, I only stay here on Friday and Saturday night, and lately, that’s dropped down to one or two nights every second week.”

“What, were you already preparing to keep your distance from your new lavender-haired evil stepsister?” she asked with a smile.

Noah’s smile dulled, and he shook his head. “No, nothing like that.” He averted his gaze, his eyes locking onto the glimmering water of the pool. “My mom has cancer, so I’m trying to spend as much time with her as possible,” he explained in a tight voice.

Riley’s lips parted in a silent gasp. “Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Is she going to be okay?”

Noah’s shoulders lifted and dropped in a tired shrug. “The doctors are hopeful since they caught it early.”

“That’s something,” she said lamely. “I’m really sorry, Noah,” she added, aware the words meant little but not knowing how else to comfort him. She’d heard those same words so many times after her dad had died, and they’d never helped ease the pain in her chest.

Noah grimaced. “I should be the one saying I’m sorry,” he said awkwardly. “I don’t really know much about your dad, but I can imagine you two were close.”

Riley licked her lips as fresh tears formed in her eyes. “We were. He was the best dad in the world,” she whispered. With the gift she’d inherited from her dad, she’d gotten more closure than most people could even dream of, and for that, at least, she was grateful. But, of course, she couldn’t tell Noah that. “I miss him,” she said instead.

Noah nodded, and Riley could see he understood more than most ever could. Yes, his mom was still alive, but he knew the fear of losing her.

“Dinner is probably ready,” she said with a strained smile. “Would you mind going ahead and telling them I’ll be there in a minute or two? I just want to freshen up a bit.”

“Of course.” He stuck his hands in the pockets of his shorts and turned to head back to the house.

“Noah,” Riley called out to him after he’d only taken a few steps. “Thanks,” she said when he spun to face her.

“For what?”

“For not being an ass.” Noah didn’t realize it, but he’d made her shitty day a lot less, well, shitty.

He barked out a surprised laugh. “What, were you expecting me to be a jerk?”

She shrugged. “Let’s just say my expectations were pretty low considering how well I get along with Edith.”

Noah looked back at the house and nodded his head in understanding. “She can be a bit intense, but she means well, and you don’t need to worry about me and my dad. We’re ridiculously awesome.”

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