Page 78 of Veil of Death and Shadow

I couldn’t exactly argue with that, and maybe the sooner I did as he asked, the sooner I’d be rid of him. Ihadjust been complaining about wanting more company, hadn’t I? “Fine. How does this work then? What do you want to do?”

“Good question,” he considered. “My top choices for fun have always been vices, and,” he scanned me head to foot, “like I said, we’re keeping things professional. So why don’t you show me what an ideal afternoon looks like for you. Seems like as good a place as any to start, doesn’t it?”

“Vices? You don’t really fit the angel mold. Not exactly what I would expect from an angel anyway.”

That wicked smirk again. “Maybe you need to adjust your expectations.”

“So, what? I’m just supposed to wander around town with some dude that only other random ghosts and I can see?”

“Phantoms. And yes, that’s exactly what you’re supposed to do.”

I stalled, not because I was against the plan, but because now that I was thinking about the things I liked to do best, I realized how long it had been since I’d done them.

We were well into paddleboarding season, and I hadn’t been out once yet this year. In fact, I hadn’t been out last summer either.

And I hadn’t gone swimming in the lake or gotten exuberantly drunk with Sora while we watched seals and sea lions chase salmon down at the Locks in ages.

Hell, even my biggest me-time hobby, reading, has been conspicuously absent from my life recently.

All my time went to managing Frank’s, lingering at the med center, and volunteering with whatever else was needed at any given time in the community. Trying to keep people alive and staying as busy as possible so that the chaos of this new world didn’t force me into an isolated cave of doom.

“Tell you what,” Kieran said, probably sensing that I was starting to spiral into a zone very far from joy, “why don’t we start out simple?”

I glanced up at him. “Simple is good.”

“Close your eyes.”

“What?”

“Close your eyes, Agony.”

I exhaled sharply at the ridiculous nickname but did as he asked. “Now what?”

“Ah, ah, ah,” he tsked, “patience is a virtue.”

“Thought you said vices were more your speed.” My eyes sprang open. “What’s the afterlife like?”

He shook his head like I was a child who’d stepped out of line. “Let’s get this out of the way now—we’re not doing the ‘twenty questions about what happens when you die’ thing. Anything you ask me about death, or my job will just be met with silence.” He sighed. “Besides being forbidden, that’s not why I’m here—and there’s no use lingering on death and what comes next when my whole purpose right now is to get you to live in the moment. To enjoy your life while you have it—the good and thebad.” When I opened my mouth to argue, he added, “Close your eyes, no talking.”

Jaw clenched, I did as he asked, though I didn’t see the point in hanging out with my guardian angel if I couldn’t even probe him about his death and what came after . . . this.

“Now,” he said, tone playful, “try to picture yourself the last time you were doing something just for you. Not for your restaurant, not for that shabby little center you pretend is a hospital, not because someone asked or forced you to do it. Something you did for yourself, nobody else. Picture it. Your body feels light, the tension in your shoulders is drained away, that perpetual scowl nowhere in sight.”

I popped open one eye. “Don’t push it.”

“Eyes closed, Agony. You want me gone, then you need to do things my way.”

I groaned but did as he asked. Demanded.

“Where are you?”

Heat exploded in my belly when the image of Kieran outside Incendiary, bent on his knees as he ducked under my dress shot into my brain like a bullet.

He cursed. “Whatever has that blush on your cheeks, clamp it down. We are keeping this PG, Agony.”

The fact that he could see my blush just made my cheeks heat more. “In the water,” I shot out, pulling the first non-sex-related activity from my arsenal.

“Like a bathtub?” he asked, his pitch rising in surprise.

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