Page 50 of My Blind Date is a Demon

“Okay,” she asks warily.

“I know you can talk to ghosts,” I say. “And I haven’t asked you this before because I didn’t want you to think I was taking advantage of our friendship. But I need to ask you now. Have you ever seen Mark?”

“Oh, honey,” she says. “It’s not taking advantage of our friendship to ask me that. You know I do readings for free anyway.”

“Yeah, I know,” I say, wiping a tear away. I don’t know why I’m crying. I just feel a bit overwhelmed. ”Maybe…maybe I just didn’t want to hear the answer.”

“Are you sure you are ready to hear the answer now?”

“Yes.” I nod my head emphatically. “I need to do this. I need to move on. And seeing as how this is Mystic Cove, I need to know if Mark is out there.”

“Well, I can tell you honestly that I’ve never seen him,” she says. “But…” She hesitates.

“But what?”

“Just how honest do you want me to be here?”

“Totally honest. One hundred percent!” Why is she dragging this out? Is there something I don’t know?

“Okay, look. When I was a ghost, I never saw other ghosts. And I never met anyone who could talk to ghosts. But because my husband had murdered me, I was stuck in this weird limbo place. That was what allowed those goons to bring me back.”

“So, what are you saying? Is Mark stuck?”

She shakes her head. “I’m saying that there could be other ghosts out there like me. People who are stuck between worlds.”

“Are you kidding?”

“No. And believe me, it is something that keeps me up at night. Well, I don’t sleep anyway. But you know what I mean.”

“So, what does that mean? What are you saying?”

“Sorry, I’m probably making things worse. I guess what I’m saying is that, no, I don’t see him. But I can’t fully rule out the possibility that he’s out there.”

“Oh my gosh,” I say, putting my head in my hands. “So, what am I supposed to do? Just wait around on the off chance that he could come back?”

“Oh, no way!” she says. “Is that why you were asking? You think there might be a chance he could come back to life and you could be together?”

I nod.

“Oh, jeez, girl. No!” She laughs, and I feel stupid. “I mean, I didn’t even ‘wake up,’ so to speak, for decades! And I only came back to life because of a weird series of events that just happened to come together centuries later. Oh, honey. If you are waiting for Mark to come back, you are going to be long dead before that happens.”

“I mean, I’m not exactly waiting for him to come back to life,” I say, fussing with my nails. “It’s just… Okay, look. I like Damon. Like a lot.”

“Aww!” She puts her hands to her cheeks as her eyes practically shine with excitement. ”So, Beverly was right!”

“No!” I say, putting my hand on her arm. “You can never let Beverly think she was right about this.”

“Well, it will be hard to keep it from her at the wedding,” she teases.

“Ugh. Okay, look, if it gets that far, Beverly can take the credit and I’ll eat my hat. All I’m saying is that we had a nice time at dinner, and Damon and I are just…seeing where things go.”

“That is so great!”

“Yeah…” I says glumly for some reason. I then hear how that sounded and try to sound happy instead. Because I am happy, excited even. “Yeah. I mean, I have a lot of doubts, a lot of questions about dating a demon. But Damon is the first guy I’ve really thought about having a future with. Honestly—and this makes me feel a little guilty to say out loud—you gave me the answer I wanted to hear.”

“Really?”

“Yeah,” I say, more happily this time. “I mean, if you had told me that Mark was here, or that there was a chance he could come back in my lifetime, I think I would feel duty-bound to wait for him. But, instead, I feel…lighter. I feel free.”

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