Page 67 of Chasing Your Ghost

Riley wanted to tell him that missing one meal was enough, that even just missing a snack was sometimes enough to leave her barely able to function. But the words wouldn’t form.

All she could focus on was taking another step forward so she could get to the kitchen and find something with a hell of a lot of sugar in it.

“Riley?” he pressed when she swayed to the side.

Just three or four more steps and she’d be at the door. Then just another dozen or so through the backyard and then another dozen to get from the dining room to the kitchen. It’s barely anything, she tried to convince herself as she lifted her foot and dragged it forward. It was barely anything, yet clearly, it was too much.

“Riley,” Asher yelled, his voice ringing in her ears as she began falling toward the floor.

Her head swam as her fall was stopped by a pair of arms. Blinking against her blurry vision, Riley gazed up into wide green eyes. She was close enough to see the dark ring that encircled the green irises and the flecks of blue she’d never noticed before. She couldn’t stop staring at them. Couldn’t look away.

“How?” he whispered, and only then did it hit her.

The pair of arms that had caught her belonged to Asher, to a ghost. Riley lowered her gaze to where his hands were wrapped around her, not believing it even as she saw it with her own two eyes. She must have fallen asleep while watching the movie. This was all just a dream. There was no other explanation.

Only … it felt too real to be a dream. From the dizziness that still consumed her to the firm grip of Asher’s fingers on her waist, it was too realistic to be a dream.

“You’re touching me,” she said, her eyes lifting to meet his stunned gaze. “I don’t—” She shook her head. “I don’t understand.”

Asher swallowed. “I can feel you,” he murmured, and as though they needed more proof than the fact he was holding her, he shifted her weight to one arm and lifted his other hand to touch her cheek.

Riley shivered as his cool fingers gently grazed her feverish skin. When his thumb met the corner of her lip, her eyes fluttered closed, an effect of his touch or her low blood sugar, she didn’t know.

“How is this possible?” he asked in a whisper.

Riley forced her eyes open. “It doesn’t make any sense,” she replied, her sluggish tongue and lips struggling to form the words.

Yes, a ghost could technically sit on a chair or lean against a wall, but they weren’t supposed to be able to interact with or move anything in the real world, people included. A theory began to form in her mind, but it was insane and half-formed, and with her brain barely operating, she couldn’t quite make sense of it all.

Asher’s expression of awe melted away, a frown taking its place. “We need to get you some food,” he said, his hand dropping from her face. “Lean against me.”

Riley didn’t have the energy or the desire to argue, so she rested most of her weight against him, trying not to think too much about the arm that was now wrapped around her back or the fingers resting against the curve of her waist.

“Thank you,” she mumbled once they reached the door.

“Well, it’s a real inconvenience, but I’d feel like an absolute ass if I let you crawl your way to the kitchen.”

She huffed out a laugh as she worked on clumsily opening the door. “My sarcasm is starting to rub off on you.”

“It was bound to happen with all the time we spend together.”

Riley hummed in agreement.

“You doing okay?” he asked after they’d passed the pool.

She made a noise that could probably be interpreted either way, but she managed to open the dining room door without much trouble.

“Nearly there,” Asher encouraged her. “You’re going to be fine.”

He spoke too soon.

“Riley?” Edith asked from the living room, where it sounded like an action movie was playing.

Riley wondered if the whole family was watching a movie without her. The thought shouldn’t have made her chest ache. But it did.

“Riley, is that you?”

She winced but didn’t reply, and Asher kept helping her toward the kitchen.

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