Page 62 of A Midsummer Night's Ghost

And little blue pills.

I rolled onto my side and tried to remember I was an adult and it didn’t matter.

When I fell asleep I had a dream where a shark was emerging from a bright blue slushie.

Pookie, the shark said.Everyone take their marks.

It was not a restful night’s sleep. I went to work the next morning grateful I no longer worked remotely and I could go to a beautiful showroom and disappear inside sourcing chandeliers.

With people who were all alive.

FIFTEEN

“It was so bad,”I told Jake with a groan. “I’m never going to recover from hearing that my childhood bedroom has been turned into a, you know.” I couldn’t even say it out loud. I actually shook out my arms and stuck my tongue out as I got out of my car in our driveway. “Argh, if I think about it I’ll start gagging.”

Jake was appropriately sympathetic. He pulled me into a hug. “Baby, I don’t even know what to say. That’s…rough. I’m sorry. I should have gotten you a hotel room. I promise I won’t ever ask you to stay there again.”

Being hugged by Jake was a balm for any horror. He was strong and comforting and smelled amazing. I sighed into his hold. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too. But when you see inside the house maybe you can forgive me for the last couple of days?” He stepped back and kissed me. “Please? I just wanted it to be a fun surprise. I didn’t know it would be a peek into your father’s personal life.”

I barely refrained from gagging again. “You know I have a long history of hating surprises.”

“This is a good one.”

I opened my mouth to protest. I wasn’t dressed for a party.

“And no, there aren’t people hiding in the house for a surprise party. I promise.”

Skeptical, but very curious I started toward the interior garage door.

He stopped me by grabbing my hand. “Come through the front door.”

Now I was just scared. “Just tell me what is going on.”

“Just go inside.” Jake reached around me and threw open the front door.

I shot him a suspicious look before stepping inside.

And stopped dead (probably shouldn’t say that) in my tracks.

“What in the world…” I stared in awe at the transformation in front of me. “Jake. How…what…”

He was smiling. It wasn’t a grin. It was a smug smirk.

In three days he had completely redone our main living and dining spaces. The dingy bright green carpet was gone and the yellow accent wall was a thing of the past. We had gleaming hardwood floors and neutral walls in a soft white that was obviously pulled from my mood board I had created online for the house.

It looked incredible. Brighter, lighter, airier.

“Wow, this is amazing.”

But I had assumed we would get to this later.

Instead, I reached down and ran my hand over the floors. “These are original?”

“Yep. They didn’t even need to be refinished. Just cleaned.”

“How did you paint all of this?” I turned in a circle and held my arms out. “I feel like I can breathe in here and our furniture looks fantastic. I think the house is happy. This is probably what it originally looked like.”

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