Page 60 of Paper Ghosts

She immediately thought of all those bagged-up books now sitting in her room, her relinquished teenage fantasies ready to be given away to someone else. “I read a lot of romances as a teenager. These days I like listening more. Audiobooks. Podcasts.”

“So pretend you’re narrating.” He wiped his mouth, then sat back and closed his eyes. She took that opportunity to stare at him, his tanned face, the lines around his eyes. He had a single freckle on his cheekbone. “Come on. I know I’m a talker, but I’m going to run out of things to say.”

“Once upon a time there was a girl who wasn’t very nice,” she said. “In fact, she came from a family of witches.”

He smiled, his eyes still closed. “Ah. A fairy tale. And what made this witch change?”

“What makes you think she changed?”

“Redemption makes for a great character arc.”

Bailey thought about it. “Maybe because she finally felt regret for the things she did.”

He opened one green eye to look at her. “Do you know what just occurred to me?”

“I have a feeling you’re going to tell me anyway.”

“I think it bothers you when people only see the person you are now.”

“Why would that bother me?” she asked almost breathlessly, because she really wanted to know.

“Because,” he said, “you still believe you’re a witch.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“Come in,” Willamena said, taking a deep breath through her nose and exhaling slowly through her mouth. She felt so unwell today that it bordered on numbness. She’d put on more rouge than usual to try to hide it, but pretending you weren’t in pain was sometimes more difficult than the pain itself.

The sunroom door opened and Tug entered with the tea tray.

“No costume today?” she asked him.

“I told you yesterday, you win.” Then he added dramatically, “For now.”

Bailey was lingering by the door. She was radiating a sense of urgency edged with expectation. Jack was in the hallway, so Willamena gave him a questioning look.

“All I know is that she’s seen him in the backyard again,” Jack said.

“Tea, milady,” Tug said.

She moved her eyes to Tug, then down to the cup. “Oh, thank you,” she said, taking it. Tug glanced in the direction of the hallway, trying to catch what she’d been staring at. “That will be all.”

As soon as he left, Bailey closed the door.

“No, please keep it open today,” Willamena said. “I’d like some air in the room.”

Bailey opened it, and when Jack appeared he said, “Am I one of the girls now?”

Willamena lifted a corner of her mouth.

Bailey stuck her head out to look down the hall, making sure her father wasn’t there before taking her seat. “I wanted to tell you this last night when I found out, but Daddy said you were tired,” she said, the words rushing out the way they sometimes would when she was a child, when she had waited all week to tell Willamena something exciting. Willamena missed those days. She missed all the days. Bailey was an adult now, and she had even missed watching her turn into one. “Clutch Vallow’s wallet was found downstream on Tasha Keller’s property yesterday. There was also a bone. I know it can’t be his, but I saw firsthand that it’s going to be the assumption. And if everyone believes he’s dead, that makes him more dangerous. I won’t know how to handle him after you’re gone. I know you don’t want the scandal, and I know it will hurt Daddy, but maybe I should get this out in the open, like I should have done eight years ago. I don’t know where the finish line is.”

Willamena closed her eyes. A bone. There were always bones. “The finish line was long ago, Bailey,” she assured her. “What you did to him evened out what he did to you. You ceased to have anything to do with each other after that. When he and I crossed paths, it became between the two of us. If you believe nothing else, believe that I would never let him hurt you again. You have nothing to fear.”

Bailey leaned forward and said confidentially, “What if I told you I’ve seen him?”

“Then I would say what I always said to you as a child. Save yourself from a lifetime of trying to get answers when there are none. Sometimes we’re better off believing it’s all in our imaginations.”

Bailey sat back with a quick laugh. “You didn’t say it like that, Mim. When I told you things I thought I saw as a child, your response was that I wasn’t special.”