“Oh. How do you always know exactly the right thing to say?”
“I only speak how I feel.” His gaze seemed to take in every aspect of my face. “My mother used to say that the truth was always the correct thing to say. That was before my father told her about his mistress.”
I winced. “That must have been awkward.”
He shrugged, and we began walking again. “It was a different time back then. Women were told to ignore their husbands’ shortcomings.”
“Did your mother ignore your father’s?”
“For the most part. I think outliving him and inheriting his money gave her some satisfaction in the end. Oh, look. Here is where Miss April is buried.”
I glanced down at the tiny little headstone. It was like the others with the numbers, but someone had set a little stone heart into the ground.
“There was a heart with her original grave,” Noah explained. “Her fiancé had it placed there. I believe it was destroyed when they moved the graves. Then, one day, a descendant of Miss April’s fellow was conducting research into the family. When the girl found our friend’s grave and realized the heart was gone, she bought a new one. I’ve always thought that was a lovely gesture.”
If I could cry I would have had tears trickling down my cheeks. As it was, I felt a burning sensation in my eyes. “That was very sweet of her.” Sometimes the living amazed me.
“Yes, it was.”
I looked about the stone garden. “Where are you buried?”
“Why?” he asked, his expression darkening. “So you can tell your sister, so she might salt and burn my bones?”
I drew back. “Of course not! How can you ask me that? And you call my sister distrusting.”
His features softened. “You’re right. Please, forgive me. I had no right to snap at you. It’s just that I remember what she did to Josiah Bent.”
“Lark might have salted and burned his bones, but I was the one who had to fight Bent to keep him from killing two teenagers. He would have killed them and several others. I ripped him to shreds.” Partially, anyway. “Are you so distrustful of me?”
Regret shone in his eyes. “I trust you, but I’m afraid I’m not so trusting of Lark.”
I couldn’t blame him. She wouldn’t trust him either. “Come with me,” I said, taking his hand.
I took us to the town graveyard—just popped from one to the other. Unlike the one at Haven Crest, the town graveyard was on consecrated ground and considered a sanctuary by ghosts. No violence allowed.
Noah glanced around us. “Why are we here?”
I pointed at the ground in front of us and watched as he read, as realization dawned.
“It’s your grave,” he whispered.
“Yes.”
He frowned. “Who left the flowers? Your mother?”
“No.”
“Your sister?”
“No.” I should just make something up.
“Who?”
“Kevin.”
“The McCrae boy?”
I nodded. “He and Lark are the only ones who ever come here regularly.”
His fingers squeezed mine. “Thank you for showing me this.”
“It felt like the right thing to do,” I replied.
When he kissed me, standing on my grave, I felt a surge of energy course through me. I didn’t know what it was or what it meant. I couldn’t even tell if it was good or bad—it was just incredibly intense. It was like how I imagined being struck by lightning would feel.
It disappeared as quickly as it had come, and I chalked it up to a combination of our energies, mixed with the power of being so close to my mortal remains. It didn’t matter. Noah was the only thing I cared about at the moment.
And I didn’t even care that even though he knew where my grave was, he hadn’t told me the location of his.
LARK
After kickboxing class, I went back to Ben’s house. It was just the two of us, since his mom had taken his sister to dance class, his grandmother was at one of her social groups and his dad was still at work. His mother had left money for him to get food, so we ordered takeout from the local Thai place and ate in front of the television. His grandmother had left a bowl of peaches for us for dessert, and I’d learned something new about Korean culture—that peaches were thought to have supernatural powers, such as warding off ghosts.
I didn’t want to think about how many peaches I’d have to eat to keep ghosts away. Still, I liked peaches, and I appreciated the gesture. She’d also left red bean cake for us—which was also supposed to ward off evil spirits.
“I think ghosts should be fought with food more often,” Ben remarked.
“I can’t believe all the ghost shows,” I remarked as he scrolled through the menu. “I know it’s Halloween week, but just how many reality shows about ghost hunters who never seem to find anything can TV support?”
“Seem? I always figured the ghosts didn’t show up just to make them look stupid.”