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She gave me a wistful smile. “A girl can dream. You should try the cookies first. They look homemade.”
“I doubt Big Boss bakes her own cookies,” I said. “She probably has a House Elf to do all the domestic chores.”
Nana Pratt gasped. “Are those real?”
I bit back a smile. “No, that was a joke. Sorry. I didn’t mean to confuse you.”
“I don’t like milk chocolate,” Ray said, joining in the critique. “I prefer mine a little darker and more bitter, like my dearly departed wife.”
Nana Pratt laughed appreciatively as I carried the basket into the house. “I like chocolate in almost any form,” I said, “except with jalapeños.”
“Does this mean you’re getting your moat fixed?” Ray asked.
“I believe it does.” I stopped walking when I realized he sounded far away. Sure enough, he and Nana Pratt were right outside the front door, obeying the rules. It felt satisfying to have boundaries.
“Can we come in?” Ray asked.
“Not right now. I have to get ready.”
Nana Pratt’s eyes brightened. “Oh, do you have a gentleman caller?”
“No, I have a date with a board game at Otto Visconti’s.”
She wrinkled her nose again. “Are you sure that’s how you want to be spending your free time?”
“Because he’s a vampire?”
“Because he’s awful.”
Ottowaskind of awful, but there was also something quite vulnerable about him that appealed to me, albeit not in a romantic sense. We also shared common interests like games and music. I could do much worse than pass a few hours at the Visconti residence.
“If you really wanted to be alone, you wouldn’t bother with Otto Visconti,” Nana Pratt pointed out. “I think you crave connection like everybody else.”
“Ingrid’s right,” Ray said. “If you want a meaningful connection, then shoot for someone you can develop a relationship with. I don’t think Otto is that fella for you.”
“The only thing I crave is a cheesesteak with fried onions on occasion.” I continued into the kitchen with the gift basket, leaving the ghosts on the porch. I didn’t need to be analyzed by the dead. It was annoying enough when it was done by the living.
I selected a few items from the basket to bring with me to Otto’s house. The vampire was constantly feeding me. I decided it would be nice to not show up empty handed for a change, plus the braille version of Scrabble had arrived.
As I brushed my hair in the bathroom, I thought about what the ghosts said. Did I crave connection and was I using Otto to get it, knowing I had no real interest in him? It was true that passing time with the grumpy vampire was a way of scratching that connection itch while still keeping others at arm’s length. If Otto enjoyed the visits, though, what harm could it do? He was willing to ditch me at a funeral for the first blonde he encountered. He seemed to be doing just fine.
I drove my truck to the stately house on Walden Lane. Otto sat at the piano when I arrived. I heard the gentle click of the metronome as I approached. “I brought you a gift,” I told him.
“A gift for me?”
“No, for your houseplant. Of course for you.” I set the box on the bench beside him and opened it.
He felt the contents. “A game?” His fingers moved deftly through the contents. When he unearthed a tile, his face lit up. “Scrabble, Miss Clay?”
“I thought we’d take a break from chess.”
“Because you’re not very good at it?”
Strategy wasn’t one of my strengths. Not in life and not in games. “Chess isn’t fun for me. If I’m going to keep visiting you, I figure we ought to play something we both enjoy.”
His fangs poked his lower lip as he smiled. “You intend to keep visiting me?”
“It seems so.”
