Page 78 of With All My Haunted Heart

“Just a minute!” I call back, and my voice finally pulls Elle from her sleep.

She bolts upright in bed behind me. “Shit, shit, shit!”

We scramble to our feet as Xander knocks on the door again. “You decent, Pip? I want to talk to you before we get busy with the day.”

“I’ll be right there!” I call, grateful that Elle and I slipped back into our pajamas before we fell asleep last night. I turn to her, read the panic written all over her face, and remind myself that we’re in this together. That her worry doesn’t mean she’s ashamed to be seen with me. “We’re waiting until after the opening to tell him, right?”

“Right.” Elle scans the room, some of the desperate panic fading from her expression. “The bathroom. I’ll hide in there.” She plants a hurried kiss against my cheek before dashing to the bathroom and closing herself inside.

“Pippa?” Concern laces through Xander’s tone, and I hurry to open the door, hoping the tangle of my hair reads as bed head and not I spent the night ravishing your childhood best friend.

“Hey, Xan,” I say, faking a yawn that turns real halfway through.

“Did you just get up?” Xander checks his watch, his left eyebrow arching high on his forehead.

“Sorry.” Heat sears across my cheeks. “I…uh…didn’t sleep much last night. I must have forgotten to set my alarm.”

Xander flounces into the room, full of boisterous energy. “Ugh, I know. It felt like Christmas Eve anticipation mixed with first-day-of-school jitters. My brain wouldn’t shut up about the opening. It kept going over the flow of the day and trying to anticipate any final details Sebastian might spring on us.”

“You think he’ll try something to sabotage you?”

“No, nothing so nefarious. The man just gets under my skin.” Xander sinks onto the edge of the mattress, despite the unmade state of the bed. “It’s like he refuses to be impressed, no matter what we do.”

“Oh?” A smirk pulls at the corner of my lips. “Trying to impress him?”

“Not like that.” Xander rolls his eyes at me. “Sloane seems to trust his opinion, and I want to make sure tonight goes off without a hitch. Speaking of…” He takes in the disheveled state of the room. “How quickly can you get packed up? We need to get the suite turned over for Sloane. I haven’t seen Elle yet, but I’m sure she’s champing at the bit to get all the rooms exactly right.”

It takes everything in me not to flick my gaze to the bathroom, where Elle is currently hiding. “I’ll be quick. I promise.” I pull Xander from the bed and nudge him toward the door. “Now go. I’ll shower and pack and be out of your way ASAP.”

“You’re the best, Pip!” Xander pauses at the doorway despite my efforts to shoo him out. “You’ll stay through dinner, though, right? I’d love for you to introduce the ghosts while Lou and I handle check-in.”

“At your service. Whatever you need.”

“And then make sure you don’t leave before we get a chance to talk to you. We have a couple things to discuss before you drive back to Windsfell.” Xander hugs me tight, and when he lets go, he shimmies his shoulders. “It’s opening day! Let’s have fun!”

As soon as I close the door behind him, the bathroom door swings open.

“What do you and Xander need to talk to me about?”

“Just some additional ideas for the B&B,” she says, but there’s a nervousness that wasn’t there before.

I brush a lock of her strawberry blond hair from her face. “You good?”

“Yeah.” She leans in close, burying her face against my neck. “Starting to stress about how much I have to do today. I need to get back to my room without Alex seeing so I can shower and get ready for tonight.”

“You are Elle freaking Thompson. The goddess of spreadsheets, beloved by your ghostly roommates. You’ve been over the details a thousand times.” I press a kiss to her forehead. “You are going to do amazing. And as for sneaking by Xander…True invisibility spells don’t exist, but this will help some.”

I pull back and trace a refraction sigil across her chest.

She shudders as the magic takes hold. “What does that do?”

“Refracts the light around you, making you blend in with your surroundings. So long as Xander isn’t standing outside my door looking for you, you’ll be able to slip back into your room unseen.”

“Thank you.” Elle glances toward the door to the hallway, but she lingers beside me. Reaches for my hands. “Will you stay tonight? Sloane will be in this room, but you can stay with me. We could tell Alex once Sloane officially starts their workshop.”

The temptation to say yes is so strong that it nearly falls from my lips before reality edges its way back in. “I’d love to, but I need to get back home. I need to meet with Dea. Figure out how to breathe new life into my business again.”

“Of course,” Elle says, but the disappointment in her voice is palpable.