Page 24 of Ghost

It wasn’t much, but it was progress. And it hadn’t gone unnoticed.

Not by me or by Goose.

He was watching Toby set up the pool table for another game when he leaned over to me and said, “He seems better, right?”

“Yeah, I think he’s doing good. I think Whitney is, too.”

“Yeah, me too.” He sounded concerned as he asked, “You think we should get them out for a while? Maybe to the park or something?”

“A little early for that I think.”

“I don’t know.” Goose grimaced. “You know what it’s like when we’re cooped up in here during lockdown.”

“Yeah, it’s rough, but there’s no sense in pushing them.”

“Not pushing.” He sounded overly confident as he said, “I think they’ll be into it.”

“Yeah, I don’t think so.”

“Well, there’s only one way to find out.” He looked over to Whitney as he shouted out, “Hey, Whitney?”

The sharp sound of his voice startled her so much she nearly leapt right out of her seat. She inhaled a breath, then tried to play it off by awkwardly smiling. “Yeah?”

“Sorry about that. I just wanted to see if you and Toby would like to get out of here for a while and go to the park or something.”

“Umm...” Her eyes skirted over to me, then right back to him as she answered, “It’s really nice of you to offer, but I think we’ll pass.”

“You sure?” he asked, sounding surprised. “It’s a pretty day.”

“Yes, I’m sure, but thanks.”

“No problem.”

I gave him a minute, and just when he thought I was gonna let it go, I leaned over and snickered, “Told ya.”

“Yeah, yeah. The hard ass has it all figured out.”

“I’d rather be a hard-ass than adumb-ass.”

Goose shook his head, and as he started toward the pool tables, he grumbled, “I can’t deal with you today.”

He walked up to the table and started racking the balls. I stood back and watched as they played a round. Every so often,I would glance over at Whitney and watch as she read her book. She was totally engrossed in her story and had no idea I was even looking at her. Now and then, her eyes would widen in surprise, and she’d read a bit further and let out a little laugh or a sigh. There were even a few mischievous smiles here and there, and I couldn’t deny that those small, unguarded reactions tugged at me.

I don’t know how long I’d been standing there watching her when she leaned her head back with a huff and closed her book like she’d read something she didn’t like. I used the opportunity to go and ask, “Good book?”

“It was, until the main character decided to kiss another girl and ruined everything.”

“Mmm.” I tried to hold back my smile, but she looked so damn cute sitting there with that exasperated expression. “Maybe he will redeem himself.”

“Maybe, but it’ll take a lot. The heroine really trusted him, and I’m not sure how he can fix this.”

“What about ‘love always prevails’?”

“Sometimes a broken heart can’t be pieced back together... It’s just too broken.” She let out a defeated sigh, then glanced over at Goose. “I hope I didn’t offend Goose when I turned down his offer to go to the park.”

“It’d take a lot more than that to offend Goose.”

“Well, I really appreciated the offer. I’m just not ready to chance it yet.”

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