Chapter 18
Raeleen
Humming to myself, I scrubbed my hands until they were clean, then went over to my office. I leaned down and opened up the little refrigerator I kept in there. Frowning, I stared at the shelves that were empty of what I was searching for. “That’s…weird.”
“What’s weird?” Ramona asked as she appeared in my office doorway.
Jerking a little, I looked over my shoulder at her. If you weren’t expecting someone, hearing voices in a funeral home could freak you out a little. She’d managed to catch me off guard. “Oh…my apple’s missing.”
She came over and mimicked my position, leaning down and staring into the fridge. “Apples can’t just grow legs and run away…”
“Of course not,” I said, straightening and closing the door. I was still frowning. “I must have eaten it and forgotten.”
“Better than the alternative.” Ramona grimaced.
“Alternative?”
She pointed over her shoulder at the room that held the morgue drawers and made a creeped out face.
I laughed. “I don’t think dead people, or zombies for that matter, develop a taste for fruit.”
No, I must have forgotten, which wasn’t like me.
But my mind had been on Pyre so much, it could have happened.
At a loss for any other explanation—my usual inspection of the security tapes each morning hadn’t turned up anything—I sat down in my chair and focused on my friend.
“What’re you doing here?” I didn’t usually get a lot of visitors at my work.
But lately my friends were showing up in droves.
Ramona settled down on the little couch I had in the corner.
That was for when families came in to speak to me.
I tried to make my office inviting and bright.
It was painted a cheerful yellow and had pictures of animals and open sunny fields hanging on the wall.
“Well…I came to let you know that Pyre one hundred percent likes you.”
I blinked at her. I’d already come to that conclusion on my own, with Penny’s help, but wanted to see why she thought so. “How do you know that?”
“I told you I was going to investigate,” she said with a small shrug.
“Who told you that?”
She shook her head. “I never reveal a source.”
“So, Warrant,” I teased.
“Believe it or not, no,” she told me with a grin. “And Ainsley has been working on him. The one time the man goes stubbornly mute.”
“If he suspected she was trying to pump him for information, I can actually see him clamming up,” I replied. “He’d think it was a game. To see who could outlast the other.”
Mona shook her head again. “Those two probably both enjoyed that verbal sparring.” She thought about it. “I bet it led to some pretty hot sex.”
I choked on a laugh. “Why don’t you start from the beginning?”
“No beginning. He likes you. That’s the news.”
“I’m sure he likes a lot of things,” I said with a roll of my eyes.
“Not a lot of women, according to the source.”
“And is the source reliable?”
“Of course,” she huffed, sounding offended. “I always do my due diligence to make sure I corroborate a story. I already told the others,” she added. “They wanted to come over to be here when I told you, but they were busy.”
“Wanted to see my reaction, you mean,” I replied, crossing my arms over my chest.
She laughed. “Pretty much.” She narrowed her eyes. “You don’t seem very…” She motioned at me with her hand. “Anything.”
I laughed. “I don’t know what that means.”
“It’s just…you’re not excited. Or happy. Or even worried.”
Sucking in a breath, I nodded at her. “That’s because I’ve made a decision.”
She crossed her legs, tucking her skirt between them as she leaned forward ever so slightly. She was eager for the information. “What’s that?”
I didn’t mind telling her. Or that she’d be calling up the others and spilling to as many of them as she could before they could all call each other up and blab my news.
I knew them all very well and could picture exactly this happening in my mind.
“I like Pyre. He likes me. I’m going to give this a chance. ”
Her brows shot up. “That’s…a lot different than just a few days ago. I thought you were worried about him wanting someone different?”
I nodded. “I was. Then I realized, that isn’t fair of me.
Those are my hang ups due to my own insecurities.
Pyre really hasn’t given me any reason to suspect that he has any motivations other than getting to know me.
Or that he doesn’t like me exactly how I am.
And if I run away scared then I’ll never know if it could really work between us.
Like you guys said, it’s better to try than never know. ”
“We said something like that anyway,” she replied.
“Paraphrasing,” I told her. “Pyre isn’t any of the men from my past. He’s been nothing but kind, respectful, and sweet to me. So, I’m wiping my slate clean and going into this with an open mind and open heart. Maybe I’ve fixed whatever bad judgement I had in the past. I owe that to him.”
“And to yourself,” she added. “That’s so great, Rae. Seriously.” She smiled at me. “It takes people years of therapy to come to realizations like that.”
I snorted softly. “I’m not sure a therapist would want to work with me.”
“Not if you started talking about dead people,” she said with a shudder. “Actually… Yeah, they probably would. You likely have all kinds of messed up trauma responses from working with the dead.”
“I do not,” I countered. “And I don’t need therapy.”
“So…when are you going to jump him?”
“Ramona!” I said with a laugh.
“Just curious. I’m painfully single. With no suitable prospects on the horizon. I need to live vicariously through you.”
“I invited him for dinner tomorrow night.”
Her grin grew wider. “Good for you, Girl. Good. For. You.” She leaned forward and patted my knee. “You give that biker hell.”
“I don’t know what that means,” I replied with a laugh.
“You’ll figure it out.” She looked at the delicate gold watch on her wrist. “Oh, I have to go or I’ll be late. We’ll talk later? The others will want to hear about this.”
No way they wouldn’t be hearing about it as she drove to wherever she needed to be, but I nodded at her anyway.
“Bye,” she called, sailing out my door.
Standing, I went over to one of my shelves and frowned. I nudged the little opossum figurine back into its usual position. How had that happened?
My phone rang and I turned back to my desk and picked it up. “Serenity Hills Funeral Home, how can I help you?”
“You’re going to give Mom a heart attack. She called me at five o’clock this morning because you didn’t answer your phone and haven’t called her back.”
I sighed as my oldest brother’s voice berated me. “I got busy, Nick.”
“At five in the morning?” he countered. “What were you so busy with at-” He paused, considering his own question. “You know what? Do not answer that. I don’t need to know. I don’t want to know. As far as I’m concerned, even after you’re married and have had kids you’ll be totally innocent.”
I rolled my eyes at his dramatic response. “I wasn’t having sex.”
“Why would you say that? Who even said that? Never say it again. Ugh. Call Mom before she drives me insane and then I’m forced to do the same to you.”
The dial tone told me he’d hung up. I set the phone back down in the cradle and let the smile spread over my face. Despite what Mona had said, I was happy.
It was like making the decision to trust Pyre, and myself, had given me a whole new lease on life.
And now I was taking stock of my situation.
I had a job I loved. I was a respected member of my community.
I had amazing friends, the best family, and a wonderful pet.
And now? Maybe a boyfriend. It certainly seemed to be heading that way.
I brushed my fingers over my lips, remembering Pyre’s kisses. A man I was completely attracted to, enjoyed spending time around, and seemed dead set on finding out everything he could about me was pursuing me. It was time to just enjoy the ride.
Letting out a happy sigh, I turned to my computer, logged in and began my morning admin work.
I had about thirty minutes before my mother would not only call Nick back, but would then call the next brother.
I’d get back to her before then, but for now, I was just going to enjoy this happy little buzz I had going on.