Page 46 of The Ghost of You

She squints at the paper. “Something about come home and your sister… fuck this.” She jumps off the floor and walks in front of the lit fireplace. “I don’t need this in my life.” She throws the letter in and we both watch it go up in flames.

“Feel better?”

She shrugs then giggles. “I just mostly feel drunk.”

“Maybe we should call it a night.”

A fire erupts in her eyes as she looks at me. “I very much would like to call it a night with you.”

She is drunker than I thought. I know she would never suggest spending the night with me. She jumped away like she was stung by a bee when we almost kissed. “How about I get you in bed?”

A sly grin crosses her face. “You going to join me?”

I bite my lip and shake my head. “Not tonight, Mayberry.”

That adorable pout crosses her face again and if she wasn’t so drunk I would want nothing more than to bite on that full lip.

She stomps off to her bedroom, pulling her sweatshirt off as she goes.

I follow her into the room. The only intention I have to make sure she gets into bed.

When I walk in she is face down on her pillow and I can’t help but laugh. This woman is doing something to my dead heart.

I push her into the center of her bed and pull the sheets up to her chin. I press a soft kiss to her forehead and whisper, “Goodnight Mayberry.”

I shut her lights off and close the door to her room. I clean the pizza up, wrapping it in foil and placing it in her refrigerator.

I wake up Brutus and leave her home, making sure the door is locked as I leave. That weird feeling hits my chest again. And I realize it’s my heart waking up from the coma I put it in five years ago.

13

Anna

I nursea beer as I sit next to Mason in his studio.

“You look like shit. You sure you don’t want something stronger?”

I shake my head as I try to replay the melody I just thought of but I keep messing it up.

“Rough night?”

No way. Well, I drank way too much, I think to myself. But sitting around with Noah was one of the best nights I’ve had in a long time. Neither of us talked about what’s weighing each other down besides the letter burning. We talked about the most random shit in the world and the last time I remember having such a good time was with Kyle.

I learned Noah loves to take his International Harvester Scout out into the mountains but hasn’t in a while, I am going to try to make him take me out when spring comes. Noah also loves his family more than anything, is super committed to his job with the police force and cannot wait to become a detective, and he hates running, even though he does it almost every day, he sees it as a commitment to his job. He hates pickles, loves the color orange, and has never been to Disney World. I can’t help but be attracted to him, it’s more than just his drop-dead gorgeous face and body. He’s smart, genuine, loyal. He is someone you want to have your back. And I wouldn’t mind getting to know him between the sheets either.

Fuck, maybe I do need a shot.

“I’ll take a tequila shot if you have it.”

“Coming right up, Anna May.”

Oh my gosh. Noah has a nickname for me now too. How could I forget? I could have let him call me Anna May. I really don’t care, but it was fun to tease him. But now that he has a nickname for me, those butterflies I feel when I am around him, nearly quadrupled. Especially with his reasoning for my nickname. And the way his soft lips felt against my forehead when he kissed me goodnight when he thought I was asleep… swoon.

“So what’s with the dazed look?” Mason asks me as he hands me a shot glass. “Or is it just the hangover?”

I look up at him before he sits down across from me with a shot in his hand too. “How do you know I’m hungover?”

He answers with a look of caution. “I talked to my brother this morning. Said you and him drank almost an entire bottle of whiskey last night.”

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