Page 24 of Paper Ghosts

Finally, Tug walked her to the sunroom downstairs and knocked. Mim opened the door wearing a nubby pink skirt and matching jacket with gold buttons that resembled old coins. She swept her arm for Bailey to enter.

Bailey stepped into Mim’s inner sanctum and tried to take in everything at once. Low shelves formed a small wall so no one could see Mim sitting inside, but she could see out. The shelves were packed with record albums everywhere except the right corner, where there was a kitchenette with a mini refrigerator, a microwave, and a single electric burner.

“Thank you,” Mim said to Tug, then closed the door on his slightly suspicious face. She walked to a settee printed with cabbage roses in the center of the room and sat, then indicated two chairs embroidered with blackbirds across from her.

“I like blackbirds,” Bailey said as she lifted herself into a chair. Already, that was something they had in common.

“Those aren’t blackbirds. They’re magpies. They were embroidered by my grandmother. It was her way of reminding people that she was more clever than most.” Mim shook her head. “I hate looking at them. It’s like she’s still here, knowing things.”

“Why don’t you get rid of them?” It seemed a relatively simple process. They got rid of most of the things from their old house in Raleigh.

She leaned forward and took the teapot from the table between them, then poured tea into china cups so translucent Bailey could see the liquid inside them. “It wouldn’t make any difference if I got rid of them. The memories would still be here. I may as well give them a place to sit.”

“Are you a witch?” she asked as Mim handed her a cup and saucer.

“No.” Mim sat back with her own cup. “Are you disappointed?”

Disappointed? In Mim? Never. “I thought if you were one, I could be one, too.”

Mim took a sip of her tea. “I understand you’ve met Jack.”

It took a beat to understand, and then it all made sense. The man at the piano yesterday. He was the reason Mim had asked her to tea. “I didn’t know that was his name.”

“But you’ve known he was here since you first arrived?”

She remembered the lonely presence, and nodded.

“I had hoped you wouldn’t.” Mim looked away for a moment. The sunlight on her hair made it look silken. She was so self-composed. So perfect. Bailey couldn’t remember ever wanting something as much as she wanted this woman to love her. “I asked him not to appear to you again. There’s a chance he’ll do as I say, though that’s not his strong suit. I’m sure you’ve realized by now your father isn’t aware of him. So there’s a rule he doesn’t know about. Don’t ever speak of Jack again. Not even to your father. Protect him.”

Bailey wasn’t certain if she meant protect Jack, or protect her father. Not that it mattered. She would do anything Mim said. “Is Jack the butler?”

Mim just stared at her with those dark eyes.

“There’s a butler’s pantry, but not a butler,” Bailey explained.

“No, child. He’s not the butler.” She thought Mim was about to smile, but she took another sip of tea instead. “He likes to cause mischief sometimes. He says it’s because my life needs levity. But I think it’s because he’s bored.”

Bailey suddenly looked around the room. “Is he here right now?”

“No. He can only exist within the older part of the house. It’s why I had this sunroom built. That’s all you need to know. Now, drink your tea before it gets cold.”

But drinking would mean not talking. “Tea ice cream is good, too. Daddy buys me some almost every day.”

Mim nodded. “He liked it as a child. His father would take him there.”

“He said he didn’t have much fun here.”

“He wasn’t supposed to come back.” She glanced at the door, as if she suspected he was still standing on the other side of it. “But I feared what would happen to him if I said no.”

“It’s because my mom died,” she said.

“I know. I’m sorry.”

She looked for something else to talk about, and found the television on the rolling table to the left. “What do you watch on TV?”

“Everything. It’s my telescope into the world.”

“Do you really spy on the neighbors? Is it because they go through your trash?”