Page 32 of Ghostlighted
My yard and Professor DeHaven’s had the same gentle downward slope as Sofia’s. Mine had a few widely spaced trees, all neatly pruned—no doubt Ricky’s handiwork. Patrice, however, was evidently as minimalist in her landscaping as she was with her communication, because other than the Doug firs that guarded her property line along Main Street, her lawn wasjust a smooth expanse of green, all the way down to the seasonal creek burbling past the three houses.
Since we were testing for distance limits, we kept to the perimeter, starting on the west side. Nothing physical marked the boundary, though, so we were just guessing that the property line was about halfway between our house and Patrice’s.
We skirted the edge of the gravel drive that ended at the garage and continued past the rear wall of the house. I glanced sidelong at Avi.
“Feeling anything?”
He shot me a glare, but I noticed that he was clutching the hem of his cardigan with both hands. “It’s the first time I’ve seen the house from outside in more than ten years, Maz. What do you think?”
I winced. “Sorry.” I was thinking more about ghost manifestation stuff rather than, you know,feelings. “Do you want me to leave you alone for a bit before we go on?”
His shoulders rose and fell. “No. I’m sorry too. I didn’t mean to snap.” His mouth lifted in—yeah, sue me—a ghost of a smile. “I’ll have time enough to wallow in messy emotions later.”
“All right then.” I pointed to Patrice’s window. “Did I ever tell you that on my first day here, when I was still trying to get past your sawdust trap?—”
“Sorry about that.”
“It’s cool.” As a matter of fact, Avi’s sawdust manipulation skills had more than one upside. Not only had it eventually saved my life, but it had introduced me to Ricky. So, you know. No regrets.
We walked past the bulkhead and down the lawn toward the creek. According to Taryn, our official plot extended to the poplars that edged the green space behind the old elementary school. However, Avi’s family, as well as Patrice and Sofia,treated the creek as the de facto property line. Judging by the neatly trimmed grass on the other side, though, I suspect Ricky maintained it just as he did our three lawns.
Avi paused next to a tree about ten feet tall with dark green oblong leaves about the length of my hand. “This is a black tulip magnolia. It was just a sapling… then. We intended to plant several fruit trees down here after Oren—” His voice caught. “After Oren moved in, but that was in the summer, and we needed to wait for January to plant the bare root stock.”
“Would you… That is, I don’t want to step on your toes, or bring up any bad memories, but would you like to do that? Plant some fruit trees? This January?”
Avi lowered his head for a moment. “I… I would like that.” When he looked up, the back porch light reflected off his glasses so I couldn’t see his eyes, but the tone of his voice told me everything I needed to know.
Hell, yeah, we’re planting those trees.
“Why don’t you show me where you’d like them while we continue our tour?”
He shook his head, chuckling. “It’s barely May, Maz. I think we have time.”
“I know.” I tracked the toe of my Converse as it traced a circle in the grass. “But coming here, inheriting this house from an uncle I never knew?—”
“Third cousin,” Avi said.
I froze, my gaze snapping to Avi. “What?”
Avi’s brow wrinkled. “What what?”
“You said third cousin.”
“Yes.” He drew out the word with exaggerated patience. “Your mother was his second cousin once removed, which makes you his third cousin.”
“I am. But I’m pretty sure we never talked about the relationship. How did you know?”
“Because Oren told me you’d be next in line when he made her his contingent benef— Oh.”
Yeah. Oh.
“You knew.” My lungs were suddenly full of lead. “About me. You both knew about me before.”
Avi reached out with one transparent hand. “Maz. My memories aren’t complete. I can’t even remember what’s supposed to be on the shelves in my house. This doesn’t mean anything.”
“Did you, Avi?” My voice sounded like it was at the bottom of a barrel through the roaring in my ears. “Did you know?”
“You have to understand. We were drawing up our wills. Saul told us that even though we were leaving everything to each other, we should have contingent beneficiaries in case of… well, in case. My fallback was actually Richdale University, since I didn’t have any family that was especially close. Oren laughed.”
