Page 103 of Looking for Love in All the Haunted Places
“I’m—” She paused, deciding to head for the park to sit down for the rest of the call. “I feel like I’m going through a lot, and I would like to not be.”
“Hmm, yeah. Xander played the role of wealthy benefactor in a soap opera quite well. It’s a shame he doesn’t date. I would’ve married him yesterday.” Georgia snort-laughed. “For what it’s worth, I’m with you. That man is magic—he always finds a way to give people exactly what they need but he doesnothelpeveryone. You’ve made it to the inner circle, babes. If Xander’s decided he’s on your side, that shit’s for life.”
“Magic? Do you think he has ESP?” She hadn’t read that in him. Granted, she’d never read a fellow ESPer before. Not enough data to make a comparison.
“If you asked me three weeks ago, I would’ve said no. Now? I wouldn’t be surprised if he did. I think he thinks of it as a really strong sense of intuition.”
“Interesting.”
“Ah, there’s my nerdy babe.” Georgia sighed, and then said, “Oh, shit, I reallydomiss your face.”
“No video. I’m, like, super sweaty right now.”
“Ooh, I have a better idea. Xander never said you couldn’t have non-Maverick company.”
Lucky almost got her hopes up. “You’ll come to Hennessee House?”
“I have to switch some things around, but…maybe? I’ll let you know as soon as I can.”
In the afternoon, Georgia graced Hennessee House’s doorstep as promised, dressed in an electric blue short suit set with sunglasses holding back her hair. Lucky grinned at the sight of her. She’d unexpectedly missed her face too. “I’m leaving at seven o’clock sharp,” she said, striding through the door. “I decided we’re having a Get to Know Georgia session by watching my old videos. A cringey but necessary step in cementing our friendship.”
Lucky closed the door behind her. “Do you do this with all your friends?”
“Absolutely fucking not.” Georgia cackled. “I’m doing this to helpyou. A little miss who shall not be named instructed me to give you vlogging tips.”
She’d already warned Georgia about the brick wall rules.
Their quality time session was filled with popcorn, embarrassed laughter, guided lessons, and Gengar snuggles. He jumped on the couch and sat right next to Georgia as if people no longer bothered him. Lucky realized that was a part of Georgia’s charm—the ability to make anyone feel special and like they belonged whenever she wanted. She also realized that wasn’t something Georgia knew about herself yet.
“You’re going to make a great director someday,” Lucky said quietly. Her friend had the vision, talent, and compassion to lead a crew to greatness.
“Because of this?” They’d reached Georgia’s senior year of high school and third year vlogging overall by then. “Don’t be so easily impressed, babes. I’m way better than this now.”
•••
A few hours after Georgia left, Lucky walked to the back of the orchard for the first time.
Neat rows of planted trees made it easy enough to find. No twist, no turns, no secret shortcuts hiding under large leaves that needed to be pushed back. Even so, the orchard still felt enchanting—if she took one wrong step, she’d fall into a new realm. Walk too far and she’d be in a fairy hill. She found the bench, intricate white wrought iron and earthly wooden planks, nestled in the center of a pumpkin patch. Thick green twisting vines and leaves had begun crawling up the sides.
Sitting down, only the second floor of Hennessee House was visible. She could see her suite room window—but couldn’t see the bench from there. Interesting.
Specter-Reggie appeared as expected, silently and right nextto her. Fitting, as she’d chosenvow of silenceas her first game of the night.
“Lucky Bug.”
She refused to respond. Instead, she set up her camera to film herself. Even after Georgia’s lessons, she hadn’t gotten the hang of vlogging yet. It just wasn’t the same without [Mini-Redacted] there with her, but getting footage of her reactions was better than nothing.
She sat resolutely listening as Specter-Reggie’s frustration grew and grew until he began spewing every fear, weakness, and horrible thing she’d ever thought about herself. With increasing hostility.
Specter-Reggie wasn’t overly talkative—a very Reggie-like quality. He was outgoing and personable but preferred to listen over being the loudest one in the room. But Hennessee House had a temper and was letting it fly something fierce. A very un-Reggie-like development.
Interesting.
Hours later, when Lucky had had enough, she’d said, “You don’t believe those things about me.”
It blinked at her, a smile tugging at its lips.
“Those memories, those insults were mine. Before tonight, you only repeated things Reggie had actually said to me,” she said. “You need to wear someone’s memory to be seen, I get that. But why can’t you speak for yourself?”
