Page 53 of The Ghost of You

“It’s fine,” she answers.

Once we are all in the car, we pull away from the curb and in the direction of home. Niko blabbers on about some bullshit as I glance at Anna in the mirror. Mason was right, she looks upset.

Ten minutes later when I pull into her driveway, she looks like she is on the verge of tears. She tries to open the door but the child locks evade her.

I jump out of the car and open her door. “I’ll be out in a minute,” I tell Niko before shutting the door.

“You okay?” I ask her again as she looks for her keys in her bag.

She just nods her head. She looks flustered as she looks around in her bag, so I take it from her and find her keys immediately. I open her door and she brushes past me, but I follow her inside.

“Thanks for the ride. I’m just going to go to sleep.”

I grab her hand as she tries to leave. “Come on Mayberry, what’s wrong?”

When she finally meets my eyes, hers look like a warzone. “Bad day.”

“I’m almost done with my shift. I can clock out early.”

She shakes her head. “I’m fine.”

“I know you had a phone call that upset you.”

Her sad eyes turn to anger. “Please don’t act like you can help.”

“I can’t help when I don’t know the problem. Just thought you might need a friend.”

She deflates at that. “Oh of course. Sorry I got defensive.”

“Don’t apologize.”

She takes a deep breath before giving me an explanation. “I just had a long day and everyone is talking about tomorrow and I just want it to be over.”

I don’t know why I am about to ask this, but I do anyway. “Why don’t you come with me tomorrow to my family’s house?”

She freezes.

“Hey,” I say as I cup her cheek and force her to meet my eyes. “I know you don’t like the holidays and I know your family upsets you. Hell, I don’t even know if that’s the reason you are upset right now. But my family doesn’t know anything about you. They don’t know about your past. They wouldn’t mind if you tagged along. My mom would be happy to have another guest.”

She closes her eyes and sighs before looking at me again. “That’s nice of you but I can’t.”

“You are off tomorrow.”

“I don’t want to be a burden.”

“You won’t be. My mom always cooks enough for twice the number of people showing up.”

She pulls away from me. “I shouldn’t.”

“You should. I insist.”

“Don’t you have to work?” she asks. I know she is looking for any excuse she can.

“Nope. I was able to get the day off.”

“How?”

I contemplate telling her but choose not to. “Long story.”

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