Page 21 of Haunted Hearts
Zeke: Will. What’s for dinner?
Benji: Zeke, this is the group chat.
Zeke: I know. Will won’t answer his phone. Benji, tell Will to answer his phone.
Benji: Will, answer your phone.
Will: Holy shot, you guys. Be home in 10.
Will: *Shot
Will: *Shot
Will: OMG SHIT
“Bro. You smell like sex.”
It’s the first thing Zeke says to me when I walk in the door. I dump my briefcase near the entryway and stalk into the kitchen. He’s leaning backward on his elbows against the counter, his phone lying face up next to him.
“Damn, Will!” A rich, gravelly voice comes from the speaker of Zeke’s phone, and I instantly recognize it as our brother, Benji. “What’s the story? You get some?”
“Hi, Benji,” I say, ignoring their ribbing.
“It’s that librarian,” Zeke announces. “I’d bet money on it.”
“Money you don’t have,” Benji says. He beat me to it.
“Well, I’d have it after I win this bet,” Zeke insists. He hoists himself up, so he’s sitting on the counter. “Because I’m right. You can’t see his face right now, Benj, but Will looks guilty as fuck.”
Benji laughs. “Okay, but I think I missed something. What’s this about a librarian?”
“Nothing,” I say. “Zeke’s just being an asshole.”
“I mean, guilty as charged about the asshole thing,” Zeke says. “But you know how Will’s in charge of renovating the Hawthorne Bay library? Apparently, he and the assistant librarian—who’s really nice, by the way, offered to help me with my resume—hate each other. But Will’s got the hots for her.”
“I donot,” I grumble as I pull out pans to make something for dinner.
Zeke sniffs the air. “That’s not what the scent you’re giving off says.”
At this, Benji bursts out laughing. “You can’t hide it, Will. Not with Zeke there on scout duty.”
“Fine. You guys are such dipshits,” I say. There’s no use bothering to hide it anymore. My brothers will stop at nothing.
“So you like her?” Benji asks.
God. Leave it to Benji to get straight to the feelings stuff.
“No, actually,” I say.
Zeke arches an eyebrow. “Then how come you went out of your way to say hi to her at the Farmers Market? And bought her those caramel apples?”
“Because I feel bad, okay? She’s got… I don’t know, some weird connection to the library and wants to keep it the way it is. Something about her childhood. Her mom.”
Zeke looks at me. “Her mom? What, like a ghost thing?”
I shake my head. “I don’t think so. She’s never let on that she… has the sight.”
Curseis the word I’d normally use for thisgiftwe’ve all got, but Benji gets weird when I call it that, so I swallow it back.
