Page 22 of My Blind Date is a Ghost

Beverly’s eyes fill with tears even though she is smiling.

“Who is Sabrina?” I ask.

“Beverly’s mother,” Cora says. “She died here in the shop as well, but of old age. She sat down in a chair, there, by the window with a book in her lap and just…fell asleep. I was there when it happened.”

“How did she look?” Beverly asks. “Did she say anything?”

“She looked just fine,” Cora says. “But I only glimpsed her for a moment, and she didn’t say anything. There wasn’t time. As quickly as I saw her, she was gone again. But that was more than I ever saw when I was dead.”

“That is so friggin’ cool!” Dianna says. “You can see ghosts. You’re like a medium or something.”

“I don’t know about that,” Cora says, calming down, pushing her hair behind her ear. “Like I said, it was only for a moment. But it was quite exciting.”

“Well, you’ll just have to keep trying,” Parker says. “It took years of practice and patience for me to be able to just sense ghosts with any regularity or reliability, and I’ve still never seen one. This is only the beginning for you, I’m sure. You actually saw a ghost. You’ll have to keep working to hone that power. Who knows what you’ll be able to achieve in the future.”

I rub my chin and think. As amazing as all this is for Cora now, what does it say about her past? About why she became a ghost and why she is alive now? “Beverly, your mother died in peace, right? Cora said she just fell asleep.”

Beverly nods. “That’s right. At least, that’s all we knew. She didn’t tell us she was dying, of course. No one else was here. And from the surveillance video, that was all we saw.”

“Then why is she a ghost?”

Everyone looks at me, their mouths hanging open. Dianna starts to say something, but stops herself. We all look to Parker, who just shrugs. Then we turn to Cora.

“Don’t ask at me,” she says. “I have no idea who becomes a ghost or why. I told you, as far as I was concerned, I shouldn’t have been a ghost either.”

“I was looking into your death, Cora,” I say. “I went to the library and pulled some of the old records—”

“You did what?” she asks. Well, more like shrieks. The lights in the book shop flicker.

I hold my hands up in my defense. “You know I only want to help you. I want to protect you. Beverly and I thought that if we knew more about your death, we might be able to better understand why you were brought back.”

Cora pinches her lips together, her nostrils flaring. “I told you,” she says through gritted teeth, “I don’t want to know about my past. I don’t want to know why I was a ghost or why I came back. I don’t want to do anything that might compromise what I have now. I don’t want to die again.”

“And I understand that,” I say, reaching out and rubbing her shoulders gently, in an attempt to comfort her. It seems to help a little as I feel some of the tension melting away. “I don’t want anything to happen to you either. I care about you and your safety, really.”

“Then why are you doing this?” she asks, her eyes watering.

“Well, the fact that you saw a ghost is a good reason, don’t you think,” I say. “You are back, but you are not exactly…human, are you? Something about you is different. If we can find out who brought you back and why, we can better predict what will happen to you next. I can better protect you.”

Cora shrugs out of my hands. “No.”

“No?” I ask.

“No!” she says firmly. “I don’t want to know. I just want to live.”

“But, Cora,” I say. “You saw a ghost. What if you…aren’t as human as we think? What if you are just…teetering between this life and the next? What if you…die again?”

“How dare you?” Cora screams.

All the lights in the bookstore suddenly shine bright, like lightning, and then shatter. We all duck to protect ourselves from falling glass. Dianna shrieks and then starts crying. Parker pulls her into his arms. I’m sure the loud noise startled her, triggered her. She was shot only a few months ago, protecting Parker from a psychopath who was trying to kill him.

“What the—” I start to say, looking at Cora. There is still enough light from outside, shining through the large bay windows, that I can see her face. Her cheeks are flushed and tears are seeping down her cheeks.

Cora backs away from me, toward the door.

“Cora…” I’m not sure what to say to help calm her. She had to be what caused the lights to flash, her emotions.

“Stay away from me,” she says, then she turns and runs out of the shop.

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