Page 47 of Ghostlighted
She huffed. “Okay, fine. Mami and Papi and I were hoping you’d have dinner with him. We figured you were the only person who stood half a chance of dragging him away from Tia.”
“I, um, can do that.” I had my dad’s cookbooks again. Maybe I could make him something, provided I had time after work.
Felicia clapped. “Bueno! You’ve got his truck keys, right?” I nodded. “Also bueno.” She leaned toward the Vlahoses andstage-whispered, “My brother is afraid to ride in Maz’s car because it’s such a piece of?—”
“Hey! Don’t tell me you’re trying to talk me into buying a new car, too. What, does your cousin cut you in on the commission or give you a finder’s fee or something?”
She patted my shoulder. “No, Maz. We all just want you to be safe. Take the truck, okay?”
“Fine,” I grumbled.
“I’ve got to run.” She waved at the Vlahoses. “It was great to meet you. Be sure to stop in the Taqueria sometime soon, okay?” She jogged off across the lawn, then turned, although she continued moving, jogging backward. “Maz, could you come around and close the garage door for me? Tia doesn’t have an automatic opener, and I’m already running late for school.”
“No problem.”
When I turned back to the Vlahoses, Jillie’s eyes were even wider. “Is Ricky yourboyfriend?” she whispered.
I pointed at her forehead. “Despite what you think you know about small towns, you’re not entitled to poke that into everything.”
She flushed nearly scarlet. “Sorry.” She heaved a sigh. “And I’m not totally clueless. I know small towns can’treallybe like they are in movies, otherwise this one would be haunted, right?”
It was my turn to blink. “Uh…”
“Although I guess that would be a little tooobviousand.… and…” She looked up at her uncle. “What did you call it, Uncle Dom?”
“On the nose,” he replied.
“Yeah!” She turned back to me. “Too on the nose for a place called Ghost.”
“Yes. Absolutely. One hundred percent.” I cleared my throat. “How about this? Why don’t you three come over for dinnertomorrow? We can get to know one another in a moreorganicway. I’ll get takeout from the Taqueria.”
“What if…” Bernadette bit her lip. “That is, may I cook for you? For youandRicky?”
Dominik nodded. “That’s the best way for you to get to know us. Bernadette can mutter to her food?—”
“I do notmutter.” Bernadette turned almost as pink as Jillie. “Icommune. It’s myprocess.”
“And,” Dominik continued as though she hadn’t spoken although he had a definite twinkle in his eye, “I can chat with you and Ricky in between Jillie trying to pump you for details on your house and the rest of the people in town.” He glanced at his sister and niece. “We can hit Taqueria Vargas tonight.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I said while Jillie clapped and bounced on her toes. I turned to Bernadette. “What time do you need to start your prep?”
She waved a hand. “I’ll do most of that at Jenkins House. For what I have in mind, I won’t need much actual stove time.”
“How about six?”
“Perfect. We’ll see you then.”
I stood under my maple tree, watching them walk away. Ghost’s population was growing—first me, then the Vlahoses. At the corner of Main Street, Jillie turned and waved at me. I waved back, grinning. If my plan to get Avi to assist me with Thaddeus’s effects panned out, the Vlahoses would have enough business to, well, keep themselves in business. Of course, if Bernadette was a terrible chef, that could be a problem. I guess I’d find out tomorrow.
I froze with my hand still in the air.
I’d just invited three strangers into the house I shared with Avi. We hadn’t discussed how he felt about having unknown people in our space because, frankly, other than me, thereweren’tany unknown people around here.
Would it upset him? Send him back into his paper vortex phase? We still didn’t know how his manifestation worked, what might set him off, or worse, what might block him from manifesting at all. What if the reason hecouldmanifest was because everything in the house was familiar? He’d started to appear more often over the last month as we’d gotten to be…
Yes, he’d said it, and so had I. We were more than just housemates. We were friends. I suspected that Avi was even more of an introvert than I was, and introverted friends didn’t blindside their other introverted friends with unexpected dinner parties.
Ugh. Surprises. I hated them. If Avi hated them as much as I did, he wouldn’t be happy.
