Page 48 of Justice & Liberty

Well, I didn’t know how smart chickens were, but I tried to tell them, at least. Ryan didn’t seem too worried about whether they would know where to go, so I tried not to worry either.

“Feed them here in the morning,” he said. “They’ll get used to it quick enough. If Mom tries to make off with one of them, I’ll bring ’em on back. I think...she thinks she’s protecting them?”

“Your grandmother said she thought Mom was sacrificing them to read their entrails or something horrific like that,” I told him. “Honestly, if she thinks that, I kinda don’t blame your mom.”

He made a disgusted face, but nodded as well.

We ate the pizza, and I once again felt bad that Dez couldn’t have any, though he seemed really pleased at the extra company. Me? I was still stunned. Two more people who knew I had a ghost in my house, and they just...accepted it. Like it was nothing.

There hadn’t even been any screaming or panic.

I supposed it helped that Dez had introduced himself by hitting on Ryan, which made him seem less like a scary ghost and more like any regular bisexual teenage boy. Given the appreciative looks Ryan kept shooting his way, he hadn’t much minded, either.

That couldn’t be headed anywhere good, since Ryan’s parents didn’t know he was gay, and Dez was, well, dead.

Still, it wasn’t my place to tell people how to live their lives. Unlives? Whatever. Dez had been eighteen when he died, and Ryan was an autonomous human being, and frankly, with Sabrina in jail for her grandfather’s murder, I had bigger things to worry about than whether two teenage boys had an unsustainable crush on each other. Or how awkward that was going to be if we ever added Dez’s forty-something former girlfriend into the mix.

Hunter showed up just as I was returning from the basement with a spray bottle of peppermint oil and water for Ryan’s grandmother. “You’ve got to shake it up every time you use it,” I told him, even though I was sure his grandmother was well aware, since she’d specifically asked for the stuff.

Gabby, meanwhile, let Hunter in, and was giving her a twice-over that would have made most lesbians I knew blush. Not Hunter, though. She just smiled at Gabby and stuck out her free hand. “Hunter Grant.”

“Gabriela Rivera.” As she shook Hunter’s hand, she turned and wiggled her eyebrows at me. Then, in the world’smost awkward—for me—stage whisper, said, “This one’s much hotter than Tanya.”

“Who’s Tanya?” Ryan asked, like any sensible person in the situation would have, and I sighed.

Hunter, though, just smirked. As a rule, I didn’t like smirks, or people who smirked. Somehow, though, on her? Well, she broke all the rules. Every passing expression was hot. She leaned toward Ryan, casual as you please. “I’m guessing Tanya would be an ex.”

“Theex,” Gabby stressed. “And a cheating asshole.”

The sheer disdain that crossed Hunter’s expression was breathtaking. “Cheating? On Jaycie? I’d ask you what the hell was wrong with her, but I guess I shouldn’t question my own good fortune.”

I wouldn’t lie, it was...nice? That seemed like a silly word for it, but itwasnice.

“Now, as much as I hate to break up what smells like a great pizza party, Jaycie and I are supposed to go see Abigail Collins this afternoon. Unless plans have changed?” She looked at me, guileless, as though waiting for a response.

Like it was fine if my plans had actually changed.

Like I was allowed to make my own decisions.

It smacked me right between the eyes in that moment. Tanya had been such an ass about me letting life drag me along, but she had also never asked my opinion. Never given me this opportunity to say “no, that’s not what I want.”

And Hunter, Dez, and I had made that plan together last night. She hadn’t come up with it all on her own.

I wasn’t without agency at all. I had just sometimes let myself be led when I shouldn’t have.

“Nope, that’s still the plan.” I turned to Gabby and Ryan. “But I still owe one of you some cash for helping out.”

“You don’t have to do that,” he said, but I shook my head, grabbing my purse on the entry table and pullingout...three hours of work, so forty-five dollars. Minimum wage in Iowa was still less than that, I was sure, but?—

I froze for a moment, staring at Ryan. “Are you interested in an after-school job? Would your parents even allow that?” He blinked, then glanced at Hunter, then Gabby, like he was wondering if I’d been talking to one of them instead of him. “At the shop,” I clarified. “I need help at the shop. So I guess your mom would?—”

His smile was adorable, and a bit of a relief. “Heck yeah. Dad’s been bugging me to look for a summer job for ages, because he says I need to save for college. You need somebody? I’m there. I can probably work in the afternoon even after school starts again, just gotta keep on top of homework.” He grinned and glanced back at Dez. “I’m not some kind of baseball hero, after all. No scholarships coming my way.”

Gabby burst into laughter that sounded almost hysterical, and I couldn’t blame her. The last week of my life had been...beyond all things I’d ever considered possible. “I have to get home and grade terrible term papers. It’s been amazing, and we should definitely do this again, sans chicken coop.” She leaned in and hugged me tight. “I am so glad you’re here, J. It’s going to be as exciting as ever to have you for a friend.”

I wanted to deny it, but...witch. Ghost. Superhot Hunter Grant. Murder, even though Gabby didn’t know about that part.

Nope, life really was just that exciting.

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