Page 128 of A Heart So Haunted
“For what it’s worth,” I said, taking his free hand and tracing the lines of his palm, “I’m glad that Bunny locked you in that room.”
His expression turned thoughtful. Mouth softened. “I thank her every day for giving me the chance to meet you.”
I clutched his hand with both of mine. “So.”
“Mm?”
“You never answered my question.”
“Ah, you’re trying to ruin the moment. I see.”
I wiggled his hand until his fingers laced with mine. “I’m serious.”
He sucked on his bottom lip, nodded, expression faltering. “It might change. With time. We will have to see. I feel like thehouse—the energy, I suppose—is changing with me. Or maybe I’m changing it. And eventually, maybe …” He didn’t finish.
Maybe I’ll vanish, is what he didn’t say.
“Until then, I’m okay with lurking in your corners.” He brought our knotted hands to his mouth and placed a gentle kiss on the back of my hand. “One day at a time. Who knows. It worked for your aunt for a while. If we stick our heads in the sand, perhaps we will have years.”
Sadness threatened to weigh the corners of my smile down. I saw the moment he noticed: He made a noise in the back of his throat and drew me in until my face tucked in the crook of his neck. He rocked, gentle, from side to side in the chair, the soft sounds from the woods behind us. A perfect, quiet infinity, just as I’d had once before.
And like fate, it couldn’t last.
Ever so faint, I heard a voice from the house. No—a shout.
“Get out!” a voice screamed. “I said get out!”
I pulled back. Glanced up to the kitchen window. It had been too loud to come from inside, anyway. No, the voices came from the front lawn.
“What was that?” I started to untangle myself.
“They are not in the house anymore. In the front.” His neck strained—I’d forgotten that he said he was able to hear everything. His jaw set. “Someone’s here.”
Hadrian steadied me as I started for the sunroom door, but then I thought better of it and rounded the back of the house to come out in the front. I felt the whisper of Hadrian’s presence as he followed. The front lawn was highlighted in the remains of nightfall, the only light coming from the front porch.
The back of Sayer’s head was the first thing I saw. My legs burned as I walked faster.
“You don’t live here, Carla,” Sayer said. His voice steady.
My mother held a key in her hand, the butter yellow of the porch light making her hair look honeyed instead of fiery. Her car sat parked, crooked, in the middle of the lawn instead of the driveway.
“I should!” She stalked closer, a single finger in Sayer’s face. “Ishouldbe here! You two didn’t so much as say hello to Cadence when she was still alive. But hereyouare.”
Not right now—this couldn’t be happening right now.
“Mom,” I started. But no one so much as blinked.
I hurried to wedge myself between my mom and Sayer. His glasses dangled, pinched, in his hand. Emma barged out the front door, phone in hand.
“I will call the police, Carla,” Emma said, stern.
“You poor thing,” Mom crooned. She only squinted one eye, expression foggy, when she pointed at Emma next. “You’re mad your momma found out what it’s really like to be with Vince, aren’t you? Welcome to the club.”
“What’s going on?” I asked. Hadrian’s steps halted in the house’s shadow.
“I see how it is.” Mom turned to me now, her mouth pulled in a sunken frown. “You bring all your little friends, gloat about what you have all day, and then leave me out on the street, huh?”
Heat flooded my skin. Hadrian’s presence suddenly felt overwhelmingly wide and cavernous behind me. Was this how he felt when I’d gone up the steps and seen the memory of his father? Ashamed? Embarrassed?
