Page 46 of The Accidental Ghost

Wanda smiled with encouragement. “Good girl. I’d hug you if I could, but, you know.”

“I wouldn’t hug you even if I fucking could,” Nina said on a laugh.

“Fair enough. Your badass, compassionless image remains intact.”

They laughed as they made their way downstairs, Ralph floating above them, Dale by Nina’s side with Wanda taking the lead.

Taking a deep breath, Ralph made a beeline for Shamus.

He deserved an apology for her appalling words.

“Can we talk? I mean, can we have a conversation about yesterday?” she asked Shamus after they’d all enjoyed another amazing meal of meaty lasagna, ricotta-stuffed garlic bread and a Caesar salad.

She hoped what George had said about the eating thing was true. She’d sure like to have at least one meal made by Arch someday.

Ralph had apologized the night before, but it had been brief and awkward and not nearly as in-depth as he deserved before he’d been pulled away in a conversation with Dex and George she didn’t want to disturb.

He’d left to handle some things at home before she had the chance to go into detail and hadn’t returned until dinner, but she needed to make things right with him and explain her faulty reasoning for her behavior.

Shamus wiped his mouth, and scooped up his plate to clear his place. With a curt nod, he said, “Sure. Let me just help clean up.”

But Arch stopped him. “No, Master Ransom, off you go to make up with the lovely Ralph. We’ll handle this, won’t we, ladies?”

Nina groaned. “Why the fuck am I always cleaning up after you assholes? I can’t even eat any of it. Do you know how hard it is to watch you slugs suck that shit down like it’s your last meal?”

Arch clapped his hands, making a sharp sound. “Mistress Vampire, enough with the whining and help clear the table. I’ll not hear another word.” He gave Nina a stern look, making her cower as she grabbed the tray of lasagna.

“Fine,” she muttered. “But it’s still not fair.”

“Now who’s whining?” George asked with a teasing smile, chasing Nina into the kitchen with the basket of garlic bread and some empty plates. “C’mon, Vampire Lady, I’ll race ya!”

Shamus motioned to a door, a library off the entryway, where Nina said Carl often spent his time poring over one book after another.

“Here okay?” he asked.

His terse words made her feel all the worse, but she smiled. “It’s fine.”

As they entered the large room with wall-to-ceiling bookcases and a ladder, her mouth fell open. Oh, the envy she felt for this amazing space.

If the ladies had redecorated this room, too, bravo. They’d color-drenched it, much in the way they had Nina’s living room, only this was done in a gorgeous matte navy blue. A beautiful, shiny desk made of pine sat at an angle, so whoever sat at the desk could see the windows.

The rest of the furnishings were simple. A wingback chair in cream with a navy-blue pattern, a matching couch with red and green pillows, a few green broadleaf potted plants in gold urns placed in corners, and an area rug in the center of the room completed the gorgeous picture.

The arched window with a hexagonal muntin faced the side yard, overlooking Nina’s hedge maze, which was beautiful if not weirdly strange to find in Long Island.

The snow fell in heavy clumps, drifting to the ground in splotches of white, coating the lawn with a fresh batch of glistening powder. The lights from the driveway gave it a romantic glow that didn’t go unnoticed by Ralph.

Ralph could sit and watch the snow fall for hours, a good book in hand, Blanche by her side. She’d like to do that again, even if it meant she lived eternally and the people around her would all eventually leave and move to the Great Beyond.

She couldn’t put this off any longer. Motioning with her arm at the couch, Ralph said, “Sit with me?”

“Sure,” he answered, but his words were still tension-filled.

Managing to stay perched on the edge of the couch, she tapped the place beside her.

As Shamus sat, she couldn’t help but admire how incredibly handsome he was, and how much she’d like to get to know a man who chased ghosts for a living.

Clearing her throat, Ralph looked into Shamus’s dreamy eyes. “I owe you an apology. I reacted poorly to the news that you knew if I was a psychopomp, you also knew I’d have earthly properties, and that meant I could resume my life. To a degree, anyway.”

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