I lick my bottom lip, contemplating how I could make this happen for her without doing it myself. An idea hits me.
“If you’re connected to the ring, you only need someone else to take it in there.”
Her eyes light up, and she claps her hands together. “Who?”
“What’s she saying?” Nina asks, head flopping from me toward the ghost she can’t see.
“She wants to see her gravestone.”
Nina’s mouth pops open, forming an O. “Are you sure that wouldn’t help her move on?”
My eyes narrow in on Nina. “She thinks she’s stuck because Nick needs to be happy.”
Nina purses her lips. “Seems to me that if she’s connected to that ring, she might be here for a different reason.”
My eyebrow lifts.
“Was she buried with her ring?”
I turn toward Isla. “Were you buried with your ring?”
She nods. “I’m sure I was. I wore it at all times.”
“Maybe the rings need to be together?” I suggest, not having any clue if there’s validity to the idea.
“You think? Could that be it?”
I shrug my shoulder. “I can’t claim to have any clue about these things, Isla. But it’s worth a shot. That is…if you want to move on to the next life.”
She laughs, but it’s full of sadness. “I don’t want to stay here,” she admits. “No offense to you, Alyssa, but as much as I want Nick to be happy, and I think you might be the person who could make him very happy, I don’t necessarily love watching you two together. I try to put on a happy face and pretend that it’s easy for me to pushthe love of my life toward someone else, but it’s not. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, in life or death.”
I swallow the lump in my throat, feeling terrible for Isla.
“I’m so sorry. I can’t imagine what that must be like. It’s not what I’d want for my husband to have to see.”
She shrugs one shoulder. “No need to apologize. You’ve done nothing wrong. I’m not supposed to be here. I’m supposed to be on the other side, basking in the light with my baby brother.”
I pull my mouth to the side, considering Isla. “Are you truly ready for that?”
She bites her lip. “I think so.”
I glance at Nina and groan. “What do you think?”
Her eyes go wide. “I’m not sure that’s a good idea, Ally.”
“I’m not even sure if it will work, but I have to try to help her. Nick would want that.”
Nina smiles sadly. “I think you’re right, but I also think he’d want to know before you do it,” she says, baring her teeth in an expression that tells me she’s nervous about my reaction to her words.
I sigh heavily. “You’re probably right. I’d be pissed if I missed out on a chance to potentially say a proper goodbye to Garrett.”
She nods.
“I get it, and I agree,” Isla says before I’ve had a chance to speak. “You’re making the right decision.”
I glance at my watch and groan. “Lanie’s about to miss her window to burn the scarecrow.”
Hopping down from the hood of the car, I open the back door and grab my purse, pulling my phone from the inner compartment I typically store it in for ease in finding it.
