“He’s a live wire, isn’t he?” a baritone voice said.
Mallory glanced over her shoulder and saw the kid’s grandfather. He looked just like him—well, a hint of what he’d look like in a few decades.
“A lot of kids seem to have extra energy spurts when they go to a photographer,” she said, maintaining her own polite smile.
“Let’s get a few more,” the young mother said.
“Sure. Would you like one with Granddad?” She indicated the gentleman to her right.
The woman’s posture stiffened. “With who?”
She faced the doting man and addressed him directly. “I don’t know what you like to be called, sir. Grandpa? Papa?”
“I’m his father. You can call me Mike.”
“Oh! Okay, Mike it is.”
The woman shot to her feet, almost dropping her two-year-old son. “What is wrong with you?”
Oh no. Here we go again.“I’m sorry. Did I say something to upset you?” She had obviously mistaken a spirit for flesh and bone again. Or maybe the woman was sensitive just because an older man was mistaken for a granddad.
Sometimes, Mallory tried to play dumb while coming up with something else she could have plausibly said.Let’s see. I said, Mike it is. So, talking about photos… Like it is? Tike that he is? Mice… Oh crap. I’m coming up with zilch.
“Yes, you upset me. Do you always talk to a kid’s dead father?”
“Dead father? Oh, I’m sorry!”Sheesh. I hope you left them lots of money, Mallory thought.
“If I didn’t, it’s too late now,” he joked.
Mallory had finally figured out she saw dead people. Unfortunately, she didn’t know if they were real or not, and occasionally, she made an oopsy, but this was the first one to read her mind! “Oh crap. It’s getting worse,” she mumbled.
“I’d like to speak to your boss.”
Her supervisor was a nice, understanding guy. But this was one misunderstanding he wouldn’t know how to smooth over. “There shouldn’t be any need to bother him, ma’am. I can offer you a free photo from this sitting and another free sitting if you don’t see one you like from today.”
“Like hell. I want your boss to know the kind of stunt you’re pulling. Although I’m not sure what your angle is yet. Is this where you tell me you’re a medium and my dear departed wants to tell me something, if I’d like to pay you for the information?”
“No! Nothing like that.”
Damn.She spotted her boss, Bailey, returning from lunch early, and it looked like he noticed something was wrong. He was picking up his pace.
The woman was struggling to get the squirming toddler into his spring jacket when Bailey arrived.
“Is everything all right here?”
“No. No, it is not.” And now the mom had tears in her eyes.
Mallory couldn’t help feeling awful about the misunderstanding, but how the heck could she explain it without sounding—well, crazy? “I’m sorry, Bailey. There was a misunderstanding. It was my fault. I told her I’d pay for her son’s picture and give her another sitting if she’s not happy with the shots I took.”
“What was the misunderstanding?”
“I…uh…that is to say, I…”
“She tried to tell me she was communicating with my dead husband.”
“I didn’t tell her that! I saw someone and thought he was with them.”
“She called him by name.” The woman crossed her arms and glared. “There was nobody there. She spoke to thin air and asked if he—or whatever she was seeing—would like to get in the picture. Either it was some kind of scam, or your girl here has a screw loose.”
