Page 172 of A Dead Girl's Guide to Living
“He also has a mole on the inner part of his right ass cheek,” Liv said with a sigh. “I had to pluck a hair from it once.”
“You plucked a hair from hisassmole?” I asked, recoiling.
“Oh, what the fuck!” Jedd shouted, throwing his hands behind his head as he paced. “Okay. Okay. No. This shit isn’t real. This is stuff that happens in movies, not real life. We don’t get to speak to the dead. Once you die, you’re dead. That’s it. That is science!”
“Well.” Dove raised her hands. “Like, man, I don’t know what to tell you. We drove across the country with your ghost girlfriend—under duress at first, but we came around. Now we’re here. Liv is here. How much dirt do you want her to give us before you believe us?”
I scooped my top back into place, my cheeks a little pink as I did so.
“Listen, we drove across the country for Liv so she could reunite with her mom,” I said as Jedd continued to pace, his hands on his hips. “Liv said you could help us get Dove’s grandmother’s ashes into some fireworks, so here we are. She just didn’t let on in her initial briefing who you were—only how important you were.”
Liv grinned and shot me a wink.
Jedd ran a hand down his face and let out a heavy sigh. “Okay, so let’s just say, hypothetically, I believe the crazy you’re putting down here. Liv is here in my living room, and you guys drove her across the country?”
“Yep,” Dove said, popping her lips on the p. “She appeared during a reading I was giving Ellis in my shop and basically forced us onto the road or face eternal haunting.”
Liv shrugged and flicked her hair. “I didn’t have time to waste.”
“We only just recently found out, though… about how she actually died,” I admitted, my voice softening as Jedd’s face paled slightly. “She was a bit cagey in the beginning, and weweren’t sure if it was polite to ask, there’s no etiquette manual on how to speak to the dead ghost whose heart you have.”
“Yeah, right,” Jedd murmured in vague agreement, sitting back down and rubbing his hand over his face.
“She does have some… black spots about that night,” Dove said gently, lowering herself gingerly into her seat. I slipped down beside her, watching as Liv circled to stand behind Jedd’s chair, resting her head along the back of it.
“She remembers everything until some red door. Then she said she felt something hit her leg, and then that’s it,” I murmured, and Jedd looked at both of us, his lips slightly parted.
“Don’t forget the part where I’m a coward,” Liv reminded us, her voice dark.
“You aren’t a coward, Liv,” Dove sighed. “We’ve been through this.”
“Coward?” Jedd said, confusion in his voice. “What do you mean, coward?”
“Liv thinks she’s a coward because she ran,” I began gently. “When the shooting started. She feels guilty because she ran and left everyone behind.”
Jedd frowned at both of us. “No. That’s not what happened.”
Dove and I shared a look, and Liv lifted her hair slightly.
“What do you mean?” Dove asked.
“She maybe ran with the crowd for a second,” Jedd said with a frown. “I mean, we all did. It’s human instinct to run when you hear gunfire, obviously. But Liv died protecting Bri.”
Liv straightened fully, and Dove looked at her.
“What?” Liv breathed. “No, I made it to the exit door.”
“She says she made it to the door,” Dove told Jedd, and he followed her eyes cautiously, half turning in his chair to look at the likely empty space behind him.
He turned back to face us. “She’s really here?”
“She is,” I assured him. “I promise, we aren’t lying.”
“She’s behind me?”
I nodded.
Jedd pursed his lips and stood, putting his hands behind his back. “Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?”
