Page 68 of Dream Lake

“Sure.” But it was clear the ghost wasn’t even listening.

“This is what it feels like to love someone…”the ghost had once told him. Alex didn’t want to know how it felt, even secondhand.

***

“She’s still sleeping,” Zoë said softly, opening the front door of the cottage to let Alex in. “I thought I should let her rest as long as possible.”

Alex stopped at the threshold, looking down at her. There were smudges of exhaustion beneath her eyes, and her hair was unwashed, and she was dressed in khaki shorts and a modest tank top. She was weary and luminous, her face innocently clean of makeup. He wanted nothing more than to hold and comfort her.

Instead he said, “I’ll come back later.”

The ghost, who was behind him, said shortly, “We’re staying.”

“Have breakfast with me,” Zoë said, catching at Alex’s hand, pulling him inside.

The air smelled like butter and sugar and warm apples. Alex’s mouth watered.

“Instead of pie,” Zoë said, “I made apple crisp in a skillet. Sit at the island, and I’ll get some for us.”

He began to follow her into the kitchen, pausing as he saw that the ghost had stopped in front of a bookshelf in the living room. Although he couldn’t see the ghost’s face, something about his utter stillness alerted Alex. Casually he wandered to the bookshelf to see what had caught the ghost’s attention.

One shelf contained a row of framed pictures, some of them sepia-toned and faded with age. Alex smiled slightly as he saw a snapshot of Emma holding a cherubic blond toddler who could only have been Zoë. Beside it was an old black-and-white photo of three girls standing in front of a 1930s sedan. Emma and her two sisters.

His gaze moved to a photo of a man with a seventies haircut and sideburns, and a broad, lantern-jawed face. He was the kind of man who wore his dignity like a three-piece suit.

“Who’s this?” Alex asked, picking up the framed picture.

Zoë looked over from the kitchen. “That’s my dad. James Hoffman Jr. I’ve asked for a more recent photo, but he never remembers to send one.”

“Any pictures of your mom?”

“No. My dad got rid of them all after she left us.” At Alex’s intent glance, Zoë forced a quick smile. “No need for pictures—apparently I look just like her.” The brittle smile didn’t fully conceal the pain of having been abandoned.

“Did you ever find out why she left?” Alex asked gently.

“Not really. My dad would never talk about it. But Upsie said she thought my mother got married too young and couldn’t handle the responsibility of having a child.” She let out a little breath of amusement. “When I was little, I thought she must have left because I cried too much. So for most of my childhood, I tried to act happy all the time, even when I didn’t feel like it.”

You still do,Alex thought. He wanted to go to her, put his arms around her, tell her that with him she never had to pretend something she didn’t feel. It took the force of his entire will to stay where he was.

The ghost spoke gruffly. “Ask her about this.”

The last picture on the shelf was a wedding portrait. Emma, young and attractive and unsmiling. And the groom, James Augustus Hoffman Sr.… stalwart and heavy-jawed. His resemblance to his son was unmistakable.

“This was your grandpa Gus?” Alex asked.

“Yes. He wore glasses later on. They made him look just like Clark Kent.”

“Is that me?” the ghost asked in a hushed tone, staring at the photo.

Alex shook his head. The ghost, with his lean face and dark-eyed handsomeness, wasn’t at all similar to Gus Hoffman.

The ghost looked torn between relief and frustration. “Then who the hell am I?”

Alex straightened the pictures on the shelf with care. When he looked up from the task, the ghost had gone to Emma’s room.

Feeling uneasy, Alex went to the kitchen island and sat on a bar stool. He hoped to hell the ghost wasn’t going to scare Emma into a damned heart attack. “Who made breakfast at the inn this morning?” he asked Zoë.

“Justine and I have a couple of friends who like to help out and make a little extra money now and then… so I put some breakfast casseroles in the freezer and left instructions for heating everything.”

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