Page 40 of Ghostlighted
A heart emoji. Ricky had texted me a heart emoji.
I scrabbled the phone off the counter and stood there, staring at the screen, tea leaves pattering onto the counter as the tea scoop tilted in my hand.
“Maz?”
I jerked my head up at the concern in Avi’s voice. He was standing right at my elbow and I flailed, the rest of the tea going airborne. “Unh?”
“Is something wrong? Is it Sofia?”
“Look at this!” I thrust the phone at Avi’s face.
He reared back. “I’m farsighted and presbyopic, Maz. I can’t read anything that close to my nose.” He shoved his glasses up with a knuckle. “Or in my nose, for that matter. Best keep the minimum safe distance so I don’t fry your phone.”
“Right. Sorry.” I gingerly placed the phone on the counter. “Sofia’s doing better. That’s not the issue. It’s this.” I tapped the last message from Ricky. “What does it mean?”
Avi frowned, bending over the screen with his hands clasped behind his back. “It’s a heart.”
“Iknowit’s a heart, but what does it mean? Is it, like, gratitude? Appreciation? Support? Or… or…”
“Maz.” Avi straightened and faced me. “You’re overthinking this.”
“I am?” I winced. “Crap, I am.”
“You know how fond I am of you and Ricky, so I’m saying this with the deepest affection. You’re both idiots.”
I blinked. “Wow. Harsh.”
“Not at all. Simply a realistic observation from a friend. You’re not in middle school. If you want to know what it means,ask him. And if you want something more from your relationship,tell him. If I know one thing about Ricky Vargas, it’s that he doesn’t have a cruel bone in his body. If he doesn’t want more from you, he’ll tell you. If he might, but he’s not ready yet, then wait for him.” He narrowed his eyes and his voice dropped into a register that would be a big hit in a they’re-calling-from-inside-the-house slasher movie. “You think he’s worth waiting for, don’t you?”
“Of course he is. Of course I do.”
“Well, then. There’s no problem, is there?” Avi stepped back, dusting his palms together. “My job here is done.”
“You should start a business,” I grumbled as I gathered the scattered tea leaves. “Relationship advice from beyond the veil.”
“I’ll take it under advisement,” he said placidly. “What’s our plan?”
“I promised Ricky I’d water Sofia’s garden.” I managed to get tea into the basket and the basket into the cup this time. Steam rose as I poured water over the tea and set it aside to steep. “Doyou feel like coming outside with me while I do that? Then we could test the proximity limits. See how far away you can be from me before you get snapped back to the house.”
Avi rubbed his chest absently. “Okay.”
I studied his face, where a crease had formed between his brows as though he were in pain but hadn’t realized it yet. “Is something the matter?”
“What? Why do you think—” He looked down at his hand. “Oh. No. Nothing at the moment. But do you remember last night when I had that… thatmomenton Sofia’s front lawn?”
There were a lot ofmomentslast night, but I forbore from askingwhich one. “You mean when you said something wobbled?”
He nodded. “A pull in my chest. Not pain, precisely. More like the strain you feel on a muscle when you’re just about to overdo it. I thought it was just overwhelm from the new experience, but maybe it was a warning that I was too far from the ring.”
“That’s… concerning.” I leaned my elbows on the counter and propped my chin on my fists. “It could be a good thing. A cue that we need to reposition ourselves. Although I’m not crazy about the idea that the connectioncouldbe overdone. If we strain it too much, push too far, will it injure you permanently?”
“Like I said.” He spread his hands. “We don’t know what we don’t know. All we can do is experiment.”
“Okay then.” My tea had finally reached an acceptable strength, so I set aside the basket and took a cautious sip.Ah. Just this side of tongue-scalding and with enough tannin to make me fight a pucker. Perfect. “I don’t have a specific clock-in time at the Manor, especially since Saul is still in Victoria, so we can afford to spend some time testing this morning, especially since we’re up so early. Do you want to head down Main Street?”
He shook his head. “Maybe this evening. Oren and I—” He took a breath and very deliberately placed both palms on the countertop. “Oren and I used to love to walk down Main Street at twilight.”
Once again, I wished I could touch Avi so I could pat his shoulder or his hand to offer support and encouragement. Right on cue, Gil jumped up on the counter and sauntered over to sit between Avi’s hands.
