Page 40 of Sing For Me

Kelly keeps studying me too, and while her expression isn’t outright hostile, it’s definitely different than it was before. Maybe it’s because of the way Eli rests an easy hand on my knee, which is up high, my ankle resting on my opposite knee. He runs circles over my kneecap, and whenever he stops to gesticulate, he always puts it back.

It gets so I watch Kelly to see what her reaction will be. Did she feel that warmth of heat when he touched her? The thought makes me hot with jealousy, which is unlike me. And also makes no sense, seeing as what Eli and I have isn’t real.

But she obviously thinks it is. Each time his hand lowers back down on me, she almost flinches.

I want to ask her why? Why does she care, when her life seems so perfect now? When she gave up on Eli, after he gave her everything?

Luckily, Neil—the most gregarious person at the table, even with Jude there—commands enough attention with his stories about the current slate of contestants onChef’s Apprenticethat everyone can’t help bringing our attention to him.

“Augusta’s going to take it this year,” he says with confidence.

“Are you supposed to make predictions like that?” I ask him.

Neil winks at me. “Not at all. But wouldn’t you agree?”

“No comment,” I say. Though incidentally, I would. Augusta Lopez is a stunning forty-something lawyer from Colombia by way of Pittsburgh. She’s charming, and has a no-nonsense attitude and one of those sexy, raspy voices, thick with a Spanish accent. “Though I will say I’ve never had my dishwashers showing up for work this early before.”

“Todd?” Eli asks.

“Yeah. The only thing that makes him stutter harder than Augusta is when people tell him Eleanor is around.”

Jude perks up. “Eleanor Cleary?”

“The very same.” Eleanor Cleary is at the center of old rumors about Rolling Hills being haunted. It’s so silly I don’t usually pay the stories any attention. But Nora has been helping Jude do research on the actual woman people say the ghost is—Eleanor Cleary, who was apparently murdered at the hotel by her husband over a hundred years ago.

“Don’t encourage him!” Eli says, laughing.

“Hey, Eleanor’s story is fascinating,” Nora says, uncharacteristically lowering her video camera to speak up. “The book Seamus’s dad deciphered—”

“Who’s Eleanor?” Neil asks, interrupting.

A flicker of irritation goes through me at how he just interrupted Nora like that. It’s a sensitive spot for her, given how soft-spoken she is.

“Nora can tell—” I begin, but Cass interrupts now.

“Just a guest at the hotel,” Cass says. “From a few years ago.”

She raises her eyebrows at me, then jerks her chin to Neil.

Suddenly I understand. Cass doesn’t want Neil picking up on the ghost rumors. Personally I think the ghost stories add charm to the hotel, especially since they’re all just that—stories. But I get the panic in Cass’s eyes. She clearly doesn’t want it getting national attention.

“Eleanor wasn’t nearly as magnetic as Augusta, though,” I say.

“Actually I just learned spirits are very magnetic!” Jude says, obliviously.

Eli punches his brother in the arm.

“Ow!” Jude exclaims, punching Eli back.

But thankfully, my redirection worked, and Neil’s attention is back on theChef’s Apprenticecontestant. “Ahhh, Augusta,” Neil says as if she’s a fine wine.

His frank appreciation is a little odd, but so is Neil.

“My husband isn’t exactly subtle when it comes to his admiration of the opposite sex,” Kelly says, her tone sharp. She may have meant it as a joke, but it didn’t come off that way.

For a moment no one speaks, then Eli smiles at Kelly. “She doesn’t hold a candle to present company.”

Another pang of jealousy hits me, this time too hard to swallow down instantly. Kelly smiles and I have to look away.

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