Page 28 of Ghost of a Chance
“Does your dad tell them?I mean do you ever see him?”
“Not really.Not to take anything away from your situation, but it’s sort of like he’s dead.He never wanted to be a part of my life,” she said.
“I’m sorry.”He knew his father had wanted to be a dad more than anything.His mom had told him more than once that his father had read every parenting book to ensure he’d be the best father he could be.“My dad was apparently different.”
“Was he?Did your mom talk about him a lot?”
“All the time.It was hard.She lost her husband and she missed him so much.Plus, I was a colicky baby, so she was sleep-deprived on top of being depressed.”
“Cried a lot…that tracks,” she said without cracking a smile.
“Hey.”
“Kidding.That’s sweet that you’re close to her.”
“It was just the two of us for so long,” he admitted.
“Same with me and my mom.It wasn’t cool to call your mom when I was in college, but I still talked to her every day.It was nice to have that one solid thing.”
“Me too.”He hadn’t thought about it that way before.But he’d always known that whenever things went shit his mom would be there.Even if he was the one who fucked it up.
Six
The reaction to the wordséance—from someone who claimed to be a medium, no less—was exactly the reason why he hadn’t sought out any help to get rid of Paul earlier.There was something about it that brought to mind Hollywood theatrics and con men.Of course Kirsty didn’t look like either of those, but still.
Her mouth tightened.“Are you sure you want to go through with it?”
“Want to?No, but I think it’s what we need to do.”
With an expert at his side, he was confident that this would be key in helping Paul move on.
What if this was fake?Or she was a fake?That everything with the book was a result of him slowly going insane.Still his options were limited and dwindling.A part of him hoped that Paul would be about to speak about the past to Kirsty so he wouldn’t have to relive it all by himself.
They were all sitting in the study two days later.Kirsty had insisted she needed time to prepare herself and the room for the séance.
For the last few days she’d used sage to purify the space.Sat quietly in her room for hours doing who knew what and then she’d emerged this morning wearing all black jeans and a turtleneck like a sexy cat burglar and declared today was the day.
She put on a purple kimono that had mystic symbols on it.Like the all-seeing eye and moons and stars.Her hair was braided into one long plait that fell over her shoulder ending on her left boob, something he was desperately trying not to notice.
The room itself had large windows framed by heavy blackout curtains.In preparation, Gia drew them shut, blocking out any residual light from the street, making the room feel heavy and very dark.There were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves down one wall jammed with framed pictures of strangers, board games and knickknacks collected from around the world.An overstuffed leather couch faced them with two armchairs on the other side.
Everything looked antique and well-worn.There was normally a low square table between the seats, but Kirsty insisted it needed to be moved.
“How about we skip the séance?”Jasper asked, coming back in to wait for further orders to make the roomjust right for talking to the dead.Now that the moment was here, he was nervous.
“Yeah, and do what?”She glared at him over her shoulder as she pointed to the corner of the room where Dan wanted to set up the camera.“Not there.That’s the place I’m going to banish unwanted spirits to.It’s close to the window so they can leave.”
“Gia, open the curtains a crack and then the window behind it,” Kirsty ordered.
He couldn’t help but clock that, despite her insistence, she didn’t seem superconfident about how this all worked.“I’m sorry you were pressured into doing this.If this isn’t your area of expertise…maybe we can try to find another expert.”
“It’s not my area of expertise at all.Do you know of someone else?”
“No.You seem so tense.”
“I’ve never done this with an object before…just want to set the expectation that séances aren’t a guarantee.I don’t want you to be let down.”
“I won’t be.I’m just glad that you’re trying something.I really believe in you.”
