Christmas Spirit (The Middle-aged Ghost Whisperer Book 1): (Ghost Cozy Mystery series) (10 page)

Chapter 19

I was ready to call off the whole thing.

“What did I get myself into?” I asked my reflection, turning my head this way and that to make sure there were no telltale makeup lines. Lily was lounging across my work slacks that I had originally set out for the dinner. “What do you think, Lily? Temporary insanity?”

Lily meowed in a non-committal fashion, though by her expression, I was fairly certain that the feline did not think there was anything temporary about my insanity.

“You’re probably right.” I fumbled around for my brush.

It wasn’t a date, not a real date anyway, but it was still the first time since the divorce that I would be having dinner with a man, a live one, that is. I had sworn off relationships for a long time, and the life of a single mother had been a non-stop marathon of chaos, especially when my support network could be counted on one hand with fingers left to spare.

I smoothed out my dress. I hadn’t been planning on dressing up tonight, but there was a chance that I would have my picture taken. Randal Hamilton had been persistent about arranging this meeting over dinner. It was to be an interview with food present.

Of course, I wished that the company were a little different. I would have preferred to go to the restaurant with a certain charming detective. I could see us sitting at a table, sharing a nice meal and a bottle of wine. Alum would look handsome dressed up for an evening out. I could hear him complimenting me and telling me about his day. I could practically hear the clink of our glasses as we toasted a lovely evening.

Of course, all of that was impossible. Alum would never hold a wine glass again. He’d never be able to try out a dish I liked. At best, I would be the strange woman in the corner who talked to herself and laughed at jokes that no one else could hear. We could never hold each other, or even touch hands.

I frowned and paused at my door. I could not go down that road. I could not deny that there was something there, but I had to be realistic. There was nothing to be gained by fantasizing over a ghost.

It was best to put those ideas out of my mind as soon as possible.

* * *

“You look absolutely radiant tonight,” the reporter said.

“Thank you.” I was unsure whether he had crossed a professional boundary in saying such a thing, but I shrugged it off. My mind was buzzing with dozens of responses that I had rehearsed throughout the day. I had no idea what sort of questions he would ask, but I assumed they would be the same questions that reporters always asked.

“You do look pretty tonight,” a familiar voice said.

I jumped and looked at the seat beside me. Alum was sitting with his chin propped in one hand. He waggled the fingers of his free hand in greeting as he smiled thinly.

Randal frowned, following my gaze to the chair. “Is something wrong, Prudence?”

“Oh no, nothing.” I forced myself to turn my attention to the reporter. I could see Alum out of the corner of my eye.

“So what’s all this about?” Alum asked when I was giving my order to the waitress.

I wished that I could explain about the interview. I had not seen him at all that day to give him a heads up that I was going to be busy this evening. I was thinking up a way to excuse myself so that I could fill in Alum on the situation, when Hamilton cleared his throat.

“So, Ms. Wallflower. If you would allow me to ask you a question?”

A wave of anxiety washed over me and I balled the fabric napkin in my hands. Why did I feel guilty having dinner with another man? A live one. It wasn’t even a date.

Hamilton smiled at me. “Would it be too forward to request that we call each other by our first names? I think that last names are too formal for an interview. Wouldn’t you agree?”

I sipped my water and tried to formulate my answer to his request.

Alum, on the other hand, had no problems responding to the query. “I’m not an expert or anything, but I would think that it’s a strange date if you haven’t even moved on to first names yet.”

I nearly choked on the water, earning a concerned look from Hamilton. He reached over to pat my wrist. Alum tried to brush his hand away, but of course, his hand passed right through the reporter’s.

Hamilton shuddered. “The air conditioning must be set pretty high. I just got a sudden chill.”

“Imagine that.” I coughed and gave Alum a look of warning. A date? I had an urge to grab him by his ghostly collar and shake him. “Mr. Hamilton, we hardly know each other,” I said with a polite smile.

“Now Prudence, didn’t anyone ever tell you not to give your name to strangers?” Alum’s tone was teasing, albeit with the hint of a sharp edge.

I took a steadying breath as Hamilton looked at me expectantly. “If it is all the same, Mr. Hamilton,” I continued, “I would prefer it if we did not get too informal in this interview.” I hoped that my words would give Alum the hint that this wasn’t a date.

Hamilton nodded, but his eyes narrowed.

I concentrated on the candle centerpiece to prevent myself from staring at Alum. I did not need to give the reporter sitting opposite me a scene like that to write for his column.

As dinner continued, I found it harder and harder not to respond to Alum’s little quips, especially when Hamilton asked me about my work. Alum could not seem to resist making small jabs at everything, from Mr. Hamilton being out past his curfew to remarks concerning the rather personal questions that the man was asking.

Yet it wasn’t Alum who had me pondering. It was the reporter. Hamilton had started asking me questions right after the soup, and they were not the questions I had expected. For the most part, they were general questions, and no true in-depth questions at all. He wasn’t even taking notes.

He simply asked how I liked my meal, what my favorite food was—questions like that. His expression also bothered me. He could not seem to keep his eyes off me. In fact, Alum told the man more than once to keep his eyes north of my shoulders, not that Randal could hear him.

As the night went on, I became more convinced that the interview was less about my work and more about an excuse to take me out to eat. Alum was lounging in the seat in an oddly broody mood. I did not know that ghosts could brood.

“When will the article appear in the paper?” I asked.

“Oh!” Hamilton gave a nervous smile. “In all honesty, I was so infatuated with your company that I admit I didn’t get quite enough information.”

Alum gave out a small groan and an eye roll.

I had to agree. “I see,” I said coldly.

“I do apologize, Prudence. I know your time is precious to you. You are just so enchanting that’s hard to stay on task. If I may be so bold, I’ve been entranced by you since we met at the party.”

“No, you may not be so bold,” Alum said, with clear irritation in his voice.

I nodded to Alum in agreement, but that was mistaken by Hamilton as an acknowledgment. Emboldened, he continued. “I’d like to interview you over coffee tomorrow, and I’d love if we went out to dinner again sometime. Not for business.”

Alum tried to swat the reporter on the back of the head.

“If you’re busy, that’s fine. Maybe we can meet up over the weekend,” Hamilton said.

“I’ll need to pass on your offer,” I said carefully. Normally I would have been flattered, but my feelings for Alum got in the way. I was going to need some serious therapy.

“Maybe another time then,” the man said hopefully. “I really did have a wonderful time, Prudence. I hope you did, too. Would you like to come back to my hotel room and talk a while inside?”

“What?” Alum jumped to his feet. I saw his face color at the offhand remark.

I stood too. “Goodnight, Mr. Hamilton, and it’s Ms. Wallflower to you,” I said coldly. “Thank you for dinner and the attempt at an interview.”

I made my way to the door, not waiting to see his reaction.

“I’m sorry,” Alum said as soon as I got into my car. “I tried to keep quiet on your date, but something about that guy rubbed me the wrong way.”

“It wasn’t proposed as a date,” I hurried to say. “It was supposed to be an interview about my work, conducted over dinner.”

“I started to get the gist of that, but it sure didn’t look like an interview from where I was sitting.” His tone was bitter.

“Tell me about it.” I sighed. “And don’t beat yourself up about it. I didn’t exactly give you a heads up.”

“Not that you needed to,” Alum pointed out. “When it comes down to it, it wasn’t my business either way. You’d have every right to be mad at me. I tried to make light of it, but I’m sure my following you around didn’t make the night any easier.”

I thought on that. It was true. Alum had no say in who I saw, or when, or why. I thought back to his words throughout dinner. A sudden thought crossed my mind—was he jealous?

“Are you all right, Prudence?” Alum asked as he reached out a ghostly hand.

“I’m fine.” I felt a warm twinge at the idea that Alum had been acting so oddly out of jealousy. It had been years since someone had liked me enough to feel jealous.

If only he were alive...

Chapter 20

I groaned and fumbled for the snooze button, but all I succeeded in doing was knocking my phone and its annoying noise onto the floor. All I wanted was ten minutes more sleep. I shoved my head under the pillow and tried to block out the insistent wails of one of the most annoying inventions on the planet.

As much as I wanted to sink back into the chaotic abyss of dreamland, it was not just the alarm forcing me to stay in the realm of the living. My mind went back to last night. I smiled into my pillow, remembering Alum’s expression when he was an uninvited guest at the dinner table, how guilty he had felt about butting in, and then how sheepish when he realized it wasn’t a date at all.

Was he jealous? How many times had that question run through my head the previous night?

And now an irritating clock was reminding me that it was indeed a new day. I sighed in surrender. I fumbled around, found it, and turned it off, resisting the urge to throw it out my window.

I staggered to the door, with one thing on my mind—coffee. As I paused to stretch, I caught a glimpse of myself in the dresser mirror. My eyes were still puffy from sleep. My hair was sticking out every which way as if I had been struck by lightning. The oversized tee I slept in was wrinkled and had fallen over one shoulder. Normally I wouldn’t care, as I usually had the house to myself. One of the privileges of living alone was getting to roam through my home without having to worry about my appearance first thing in the morning.

This time, I wasn’t alone. I had a house full of relatives, and then there was Alum. Alum did not need to sleep. Or did he? Whether he did or not, there was a chance that he would be out there somewhere beyond my room. I imagined his warm smile when he turned to greet me.

I looked back at my reflection. Maybe coffee should settle for a close second today.

* * *

“Well, good morning!” Alum said cheerfully from the opposite end of the living room. “You look fresh and ready to face the world.”

I smiled, relieved that I had delayed my desperate quest for caffeine long enough to make myself resemble a human being.

Alum grinned. “You were sleeping so soundly, I thought you might have decided to hibernate the day away. I heard an alarm buzzing for a while there.”

I looked at Christina lying on the couch, her head back and her mouth wide open, uttering deep snores. Uncle Tim, Rainbow, and Luke had not yet emerged, although I could hear the sound of a game being played from one of the bedrooms. “Lucky my alarm didn’t wake up anyone else,” I said. I staggered onward to the kitchen, looking forward to my first mouthful of delicious coffee. I had not even taken two steps when the doorbell rang. Who in the world would drop in unannounced when they knew I had a houseful of guests, and at that, before I’d even had my coffee?

“Prudence!” Constance called from the other side of the door. “Prudence, I know you’re in there. I can see your car!”

Oh no, not now. Not first thing in the morning. There wasn’t enough coffee in the world to deal with Constance this early in the day. I shot Alum a pleading look, but the ghostly figure held up his ghostly hands to remind me that he could not send the woman away.

“Can’t you haunt her? Just a little?” I whispered.

“Prudence, I would if I could. If I could do
anything
productive, I’d spook our suspects into a confession.”

“You have a point,” I said glumly.

“Maybe if you ignore her, she’ll get tired and go away?” he asked helpfully.

“No, she’ll just wake everyone up.” I reluctantly trudged to the doorway.

Any chance of getting rid of Constance quickly was crushed when I saw all three women crowding the door. They jostled one another as they all started speaking at once, reminding my coffee-deprived mind of a pack of hungry hyenas.

“Shush!” I said. “The others are still asleep.”

The three pushed past me, and then all stopped to stare at Christina, who was now snoring even more loudly.

“Was he hot?” Iris asked me.

“Pardon?” I asked. “Coffee? I haven’t made any yet.”

All three women burst into laughter until I shushed them again.

“Was the reporter hot?” Iris said.

I clenched my teeth. “It was just an interview,” I said. “I’ll go and make coffee. You three stay out here, and don’t wake up Christina. Remember, the others are all still asleep,” I said for the umpteenth time.

“I should go,” Alum said as soon as my hand reached for the coffee pot.

“Please don’t leave me alone with them,” I pleaded, not sure what I would be tempted to do to them for giving me the third degree so early in the morning. It was best if I had a witness present to keep me from doing something regrettable.

Alum seemed torn about accepting my request. After a few moments, he nodded and tried to pat me on the shoulder.

“Are you sure you can’t make the tables float and rattle the dishes or something?” I asked.

“Even if I were able, would you want the mess to clean up afterward?”

I emitted a long-suffering sigh. “A choice of two evils.” Just then my phone rang. I pulled it out of my jeans pocket and answered it. It was Amanda Wayland.

“What, today?” I said, in response to her question.

“Is that okay? I have something I need to tell you.” She hesitated before continuing. “Still, I understand if you have family there or something and can’t get away.”

I peeked around the door at Christina, still snoring wildly on the couch, and the three women, all perched like crows on a rock ready to pick my bones. “That will be fine,” I said. I hung up and turned to Alum. “Amanda says she has something to tell me.”

“Be careful,” he said. “You never know where an investigation will lead, and, try as I might, I can’t follow you most places.”

I nodded. I placed the coffee pot and mugs on a tray and made my way back to the living room, steeling myself for another onslaught of questions.

As I sipped my coffee, I was attacked by one question after another. What was he like? What did we eat? Did he come back to my place?

I responded to each question by telling them again and again that it was just an interview, but it didn’t seem to sink in.

Alum hovered atop the back of the sofa, right between Barbara and Constance, who were making subtle jabs at each other’s expense. I felt a small sense of relief to have him there acting as my support. I knew there was nothing he could do for the situation, but just having him there was more than I normally had during these interrogations.

“So you were out with a hot guy,” Iris said. “Go on.”

“At a really nice restaurant,” Barbara added. “All dressed up, and the makeup—and you didn’t even bother to flirt with him?”

“Seriously, Prudence, what were you thinking?” Constance sighed as she shot me a look one would give to a willful child. “What if he doesn’t ask you out for a second date?”

“It wasn’t a date!” I said loudly. “How many times do I have to tell you? What part of ‘It was just an interview’ don’t you understand?” I slammed my mug on the coffee table. Technically, Hamilton had asked me out, but I had wisely avoided mentioning that. Their squeals of protest throughout the story already had my ears ringing.

“Prudence, for us, the people who love you, get on that phone and tell him what a nice time you had last night,” Constance said. “Prudence Wallflower—it will be Wallflower by name, wallflower by nature, if you’re not careful.”

“Please!” I said with more than a hint of anger. “I was teased about a name enough when I was a child!”

Constance, unrepentant, shrugged and sipped her coffee.

“Invite him over for dinner!” Barbara chimed in.

“I’ll do no such thing!” I snapped.

Barbara’s face formed a pout at the sharp response. I knew from experience that I was going to have a sulky Barbara to deal with for the next few days.

“Would it kill you just to invite him over and see what happens?” Constance demanded as she crossed her arms.

“I’m assuming that’s a rhetorical question,” Alum chimed in. “I’m here to attest that it most certainly can kill someone. There are some real whack jobs out there.”

“Yes, I imagine so,” I said to Alum, and the women’s jaws dropped. Half a second too late, I realized that I had said it out loud.

“You seriously think a hot-off-the-presses super-stud is going to be some Hannibal Lector?” Constance asked incredulously.

“I’m saying I’m not bringing home every Tom, Dick, and Randal that says hello to me.” I poured myself another coffee and took a gulp.

“You don’t have the luxury of being choosey, Prudence,” Iris said softly. “At your age, you should enjoy any male attention that comes your way. Before long, everything’s going to sag and droop until a man won’t even know your thigh from your elbow.”

“You have two kids, Prudence, so I assume you know how the game works?” Constance asked helpfully as Barbara sulked on the couch. “You didn’t grow cobwebs in your lingerie drawer between the soccer meets and PTA meetings, did you?”

“Is this how women talk when men aren’t around?” Alum asked uncomfortably, emitting a short nervous laugh as he fidgeted in his seat.

“I’m not dating until I’m good and ready,” I said with as much sternness as I could muster, hoping to cut off the discussion.

“Oh come on, Prudence. Just go for it. Give him one more chance. You might like what comes of it,” Constance insisted. “You should wear something really sensual. Oh! How about that set you got last year? The black lace with the tassels that stick to…”

“I didn’t buy that! They sent me the wrong order in the mail and wouldn’t refund it,” I said shrilly, cutting off Constance as I felt my face flush hotly. Even though Alum did not have any blood to rush to his head, I could swear I saw his ears turn bright red.

“I think it would be cute.” Iris wriggled her shoulders playfully. “I’m ready for my photo spread!” She mimed showing off the said lingerie as she spoke in a sensual tone.

“No, please stop!” I said, horrified. “It was a business dinner. Nothing got done…”

“I’ll say nothing did!” Constance said, before erupting into a loud snort of laughter. As she did so, the wine flew from her mouth and erupted all over Lily. Lily swiped at Constance’s leg, and then leaped through Alum in one bound, all her fur standing on end.

Barbara and Iris collapsed in helpless peals of laughter.

“I really think I should leave for a few minutes,” Alum said. He twisted himself away from the women as if they had each suddenly sprouted a serious case of leprosy. “This isn’t sounding like a mixed-company chat.”

“Hello! Tick tock, tick tock! You know what that is, Prudence?” Barbara shrieked. “Your biological clock! Winding down to a slow and agonizing death as it rusts away!”

“Oh, speaking of biological clocks!” Iris chimed in, waving a hand to gather everyone’s attention. “My younger sister is going through…” She leaned forward and whispered so loudly that it seemed ridiculous to bother, “The Big M!”

Constance and Barbara gasped with horror. They clucked over the ‘poor dear’ and asked Iris how she was dealing with the changes. I for one was relieved that the attention had turned away from me, even if it was temporary.

I glanced over to the sofa, trying to think of a sign I could give Alum that it was okay for him to leave. I was only slightly surprised that he was already nowhere in sight. Apparently even the most valiant of police ghosts fled at the mention of hot flashes.