Page 45 of Justice & Liberty

When I swung the door open, the first thing I smelled was...“Is that pad Thai?”

“It is,” Hunter agreed, holding up a huge plastic bag. “And massaman, and some red curry with duck, since I wasn’t sure what you’d like.”

For a second, all I could do was blink in shock. “Youdidn’t know what I would like, so you...literally brought my three favorite things in the world.”

That brought out her gorgeous grin. “Well then let me in and we can split them, because they’re my favorites too.”

Too soon to ask her to stay forever, I told myself.We are not a stereotype. We have restraint. Besides, we just returned the moving truck.

Also, I had the ghost of a teenage boy in the living room that I had to answer for.

Dez poked his head around the corner. “Pad Thai? In South Liberty?”

Hunter cocked her head at him, squinting into the odd angle of light coming through from the living room, then looked back at me. “Neighbor?”

I sighed. Okay, I had to explain this. “Come on in. It’s a long story.”

Still, even knowing there was a teenage boy in my house, she followed me, straight through to the living room. When she got there, she stared at Dez, mouth agape, for just a second. “You’re a ghost.”

“Maybe,” he agreed. “Jaycie and I were just talking about that.”

“The spell I used to accidentally summon you called you a disembodied spirit,” I offered then paused. “Or wait, an unembodied spirit, I think.”

Hunter turned to me. “Accidentally?”

I winced. “I was...kind of trying to summon my mother. I thought she’d be able to help figure out who killed Ephraim Collins. But mostly, I...wanted to see my mom.”

Her eyes went soft at that, and she came across the room, dropping her cane against a chair and the bag of food onto the coffee table, then wrapping an arm around me and lowering both of us onto the sofa together. “I think that’s understandable. So how did you get the ghost of—” Shebroke off and looked over at Dez, her eyes widening as they focused on him properly.

“Dez Reilly,” he offered.

She leaned back against the couch, nodding. “Yeah, I know. Hunter Grant.”

He leaned back like he’d been struck. “Hu—Hunt? Holy shit, Hunt, look at you. You’re all grown up.”

She nodded, swallowing hard, and wiped a tear from her eye. “Yeah. I...I don’t even know what to say, Dez. I’m sorry.”

That seemed to confuse him, which I immediately realized was a miscommunication. She was giving him the in-person condolence card, and he’d already shown me that he didn’t really need or want that.

He handled it fine, though. “Sorry for what? I mean, I’m dead, yeah? But I doubt you killed me or something. You were just an adorable little ankle biter Jojo used to watch.”

Jojo?

My girlfriend Journey.

Miss Joyce.

“Dang, though, I’ve been dead a long time. I mean, Jaycie kinda said so, I guess I died before she was born.” He frowned, biting his lip a moment before asking, tentatively, “Is Journey okay?”

“She is,” Hunter agreed. “She, um, she never dated anyone else after you. But she’s still here. Running the museum like she always wanted to.”

His eyes went distant for a moment, then he nodded. “I guess it’d be silly to see her. I mean, even if she hasn’t dated anyone else, I’m still kind of a kid, and she’s not anymore.”

“That would make it weird to try to rekindle your relationship,” Hunter corrected. “It wouldn’t be silly to want to see her. Though...I don’t think she believes in magic, so that might be a bit of a shock.”

Hunter gave herself a full body shake, then turned to the bag of food she’d set down. “If you’re around for a while, though, maybe we should give it some thought. Jaycie, you want to start with the soup, the noodles, or the curry?”

She was on what was maybe a first date, during which we’d been planning to investigate a murder. I was a witch, and I’d summoned the dead boyfriend of her childhood babysitter into my house. She’d brought me literally three of my favorite foods in the entire world.

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