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Molly watched me from inside her favorite stockpot on the stove—I hadn’t the heart to put it away in a cabinet. Her whisker twitched, obviously judging me for eavesdropping.
“Fine,” I mouthed to her and slowly backed up, my mind spinning with what I’d heard.
My little ghost.Was he really talking to one? After what I’d experienced with the butterfly and the strange things happening around here, I couldn’t dismiss it outright.
It didn’t seem too concerning until I heard him say, “Itdoesn’t matter, I suppose. We’ll be together again soon, my love. I promise.”
Hours later, I was in my room, debating whether to tell Maggie what I’d overheard.
I had to tell her, didn’t I?
It just sounded so fantastical.
Fantastical yet also worrisome.
If I told her, her blood pressure was sure to skyrocket, no matter how gently I tried to deliver the news. I didn’t want to be the one to cause her to have another mini-stroke.
I sighed. I could only assume that the ghost Dez had been talking to so lovingly was Maggie’s mother. It made perfect sense, especially with that seaweed scent I’d been smelling around the house. After all, her mom had been caught in a riptide. It would stand to reason her ghost would carry the scent of the sea.
While debating what to tell Maggie, I’d kept busy by working on Junebear, who was just about finished except for her nose.
As the wind buffeted the house, I stood up and walked over to the window. The skies had darkened. Low charcoal-gray clouds drifted quickly eastward. The water roiled, filled with whitecaps. Rain splattered the window.
Behind me, my phone started playing “Don’t Worry, Be Happy.” I walked back to the bed, scared up some energy, and answered. “Hi, Mom.”
“You sound tired, Ava.”
So much for that energy I’d mustered. “How can you possibly tell that from so far away?”
“I’ve been your mom a long time now. Have you been working too hard?”
“Not at all.” I took a deep, fortifying breath. “In fact, I took a second job at a local coffee shop. It’s just mornings, three days a week.”
There was a long stretch of silence and I waited it out.
She finally said, “Is that wise? To take on so much?”
I took stock of my body, of the exhaustion, of the dizzy spells, of the lack of appetite. The answer to her question was a resounding no. No, it wasn’t wise. But it made me happy. “I love the atmosphere and have met the friendliest people. Plus, there’s coffee. We make this amazing caramel latte. You’d love it. My boss is the daughter of the man I care for, and they’re the nicest family.”
There was another stretch of silence. Rain drummed the roof. For some reason, I worried about the white-winged butterfly.
I waited for her to tell me that my health was more important than my happiness but instead she said, “All right, Ava, all right. I trust that you know when you’re overdoing it. I’ll try not to worry so much.”
Her words were like small serrated knives of guilt in my chest, twisting and turning. If I didn’t want her to treat me like I couldn’t take care of myself, then I needed toactuallytake care of myself. I’d put off the inevitable long enough. I knew my body. I knew something was wrong. It was time to stop denying it out of fear of what I might hear, and take action. I’d call a doctor’s office first thing in the morning.
We chatted for a while longer about her job, my brother, how my stepfather, Wilson, was doing with his retirement, and the Florida weather. I quickly realized I needed to get off the phone before it started thundering because there weren’t any storms in the Cincinnati area currently, and it was only a matter of minutes before they hit here.
I promised to send a picture of Junebear when she was finished and we said our goodbyes. Electricity crackled in the air. I crossed to the windows at the front of my room and glanced across the street. Sam wasn’t home yet.
“Should I go check on Norman?” I asked Molly, who sat on my pillow.
Her ears flattened.
“Don’t be that way,” I said. “He’s sweet.”
She hissed.
I stepped over to the bed and, before I could think twice about it, scratched under her chin. She curled her head into my palm, then must’ve realized what she’d done because in a huff, she quickly jumped off the pillow and disappeared under the bed.
