Page 49 of A Midsummer Night's Ghost

Jake had been right. We could have been doing much better things tonight.

“Are you all ready to order?” the server asked.

“I’m good with my drink,” Jake said.

That meant he was refusing to eat anything on this menu and we would be stopping at McDonald’s on the way home. It made no sense to me, but he was who he was.

He hated small plates and he would starve to prove it.

“I’ll have the scallops,” I said.

She turned her attention to Lawson and Alyssa and I smiled at my boyfriend. “Not hungry?”

He leaned in so only I could hear him. “You owe me big time for this.”

“I think I owe myself too.”

He laughed. “You’re cute,” he said, echoing Lawson’s words.

That made me laugh too.

My phone buzzed. It was a text from Sara.

Had a thought. Call me!!!!

I’m at dinner, call you tomorrow.

Kk, see you at the funeral!

There were multiple smiley emojis after that.

Which seemed like an odd choice, but we all grieve differently.

TWELVE

“How do I look?”Grandma asked.

“Like you’re going to a funeral,” I told her as I stepped into nude pumps.

“You look very put together,” Jake said.

She smiled at him. “Thank you, Jake.”

I got a glare and a sniff.

She was wearing a black skirt that fell at a random location between her knees and ankles, a black sweater, a cross necklace, and black Nike sneakers. She had just had her hair permed and she was wearing two pops of aggressive blush on her cheeks but no other makeup.

I stood by what I said. But I knew better than to repeat it.

Jake got Grandma’s winter coat out of the closet and helped her into it.

“You’re a nice boy,” she told him, patting his arm. Then she glared at me again. “Don’t screw it up.”

“Yeah,” Jake said with a grin. “Don’t screw it up.”

Odds were if any screwing up was going to happen it would be me so I didn’t really have a leg to stand on.

It reminded me that Ryan had seen Jake hiding a ring.

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