Page 38 of Chasing Your Ghost

“Did you now?” she asked with a raised brow.

“Yes, but I was mistaken,” he told her with that lopsided grin of his that had such an effect on her.

Riley giggled. “You know that still meant you were wrong about something, right?”

He waved off her comment. “Stop overanalyzing my joke, and let’s go get you some lunch.”

“Alright, but I better check if Hugh needs anything.”

It was the weekend, but Edith had taken Olivia to her ballet lesson, and Noah was still with his mom because she wasn’t doing well after the radiation treatment, so it was just Riley and her stepdad. Oh, and the gardener, Gabe, who apparently came to the house every Saturday.

When she walked past where he was pulling out weeds between the bricks surrounding the pool, Riley said hello and waved at him. The man, who looked to be in his early thirties, smiled at her, but there was something in that smile that made Riley wish she hadn’t brought attention to herself.

His eyes moved down her body, resting for far longer than they should have on her legs. Riley walked faster, for some reason glad that Asher had gone ahead of her to Hugh’s workshop. She had nothing to be ashamed of, but she didn’t want him to witness the interaction. Maybe she was embarrassed about the timid way she scuttled away from Gabe, with his eerily dark eyes and the toothy grin that looked like a threat.

If she were a stronger person, she would have confronted him. And as she went around the house to get to the garage, wincing as the sound of Hugh’s sander became louder and louder, she wished she’d stood her ground.

Her stepfather turned off the machine when he noticed her walking into the space. “What’s up?”

Asher was already in Hugh’s workspace, and Riley found it incredibly difficult to keep her attention on Hugh when the ghost started walking around the space, his body passing through tables and shelves and power tools.

“I’m going to make a sandwich for lunch,” she explained, her gaze moving from Asher, who was now sitting on top of the table Hugh was working on, to her stepdad. “Want one?”

“Yeah, that would be great. Do you need any help?”

“Nah, I think I remember how to spread mayonnaise on a piece of bread.”

Hugh chuckled. “I’m hoping there’ll be more than mayonnaise on my sandwich.”

“What?” Riley asked, pressing her hand to her chest as if shocked. “You’ve never had a mayonnaise sandwich before?”

“Can’t say I have,” he replied. “And can’t say I want to either.”

“Yeah, Riley,” Asher chimed in. “You should think about adding some cheese, maybe some ham. Liven it up a little, you know.”

She did her best to ignore him, but her lips tipped up without her permission. “Fine, be picky,” she said to Hugh. “What do you want on your sandwich then?”

“Just cheese and ham for me, please. And I suppose I could stomach a bit of mayonnaise as well.”

“Now this man knows how to make a sandwich,” Asher noted, pointing at Hugh with his thumb.

Riley had to press her lips together to keep from laughing. “I think I can handle that,” she told Hugh. “Want me to bring it here?”

“No, that’s okay. Let me finish this up, and then I’ll come eat with you in the house.”

“Cool.”

Riley left the garage with a pleased smile on her face, and it didn’t go unnoticed by Asher.

“You seem to get on well with him,” he said once they were in the kitchen.

“He’s a great guy,” Riley replied with a shrug before opening the fridge and grabbing everything she needed. “I wasn’t sure what to expect when I got here, but he and Noah have been surprisingly nice.”

“Why wouldn’t they have been?” he asked with a frown.

Riley hesitated before answering. “Edith and I don’t exactly get along,” she explained, refusing to look up as she rummaged around for a chopping board.

“But she’s your mom,” Asher said quietly, as though he genuinely couldn’t understand a mother and daughter not having a close relationship.

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