14. Chapter 14
Kylie
Someone's knocking on my door incessantly. I stare at the wall, wondering if I can ignore it. But alas, whoever it is, they’re stubborn.
“I swear to God, if this is the ghost," I mumble under my breath and rush down the hallway. We were having such a good truce for two days. I left her room, aka my hobby room, alone and she didn’t jump scare me. Then some clanking and slamming started back up yesterday evening.
Another thought crosses my mind and grabs onto my brain, like a tick to a dog. Oh my God, please, please don’t be my mom who had enough of me ignoring her. Within the blink of an eye, jump scares are the preferable outcome.
I pull the door open, expecting the worst.
"Surprise!" three very cheerful-looking faces shout at the same time.
"Huh?" I stammer very intelligently. Dick wastes no time nudging his way past my legs to say hi to Abby. Those two have really taken a liking to each other. The dog equivalent to two toddlers on the playground deciding they’re best friends for life.
"Sorry, is now a bad time?" Lauren's smile slowly slides off her face.
"No, no, it's okay. Come on in." I open the door a little wider to let them in. “It’s not my birthday, though?”
“We know,” Nic snickers and nods at my door. “I love your wreath!”
“Thank you!” I’m so confused. What’s going on?
"We decided, since you didn't have a housewarming party yet, we would make the sacrifice-" Kieran clutches his shirt dramatically. "And celebrate with you."
"We brought cake,” Lauren adds and points at the cake carrier in Nic’s hands.
"Well, whoever brings cake is welcome in my home." I motion for them to come in.
Some boxes are still not unpacked, one of them holding items the ghost has deemed not fit to be displayed. It is a very jump-scary process of elimination. At least now I know what the ghost wants, but the list of items they don’t like seems to be never-ending.
Funnily enough, most of them were either pictures of Zach and me or trinkets he gifted me before we got married. Whoever the ghost is, definitely doesn’t like my ex and I’ve never felt more validated.
"Does anyone want a coffee?" I take the cake carrier out of Nic’s hands so she can take off her shoes and brush past them, having the urge to keep my hands busy.
"Okay, maybe not coffee, because it’s late and I'd like to catch some sleep tonight.
Hot chocolate?" I ask over my shoulder, earning three delighted squeals.
"Hell yes! First hot chocolate of the season, baby!" Nic punches the air.
Those three take over my house like a storm.
Without having to ask, Kieran and Nic get plates and cutlery out of my cupboards to set the table while Lauren unpacks the cake that I’m pretty sure her boyfriend baked.
And I lean my back against the kitchen counter and watch it all unfold, as I once more wait for milk to boil.
"So, consider this your official welcome to Wayward Hollow," Lauren declares ceremoniously once we all sit at the table. Dick barks, tail wagging.
"My son agrees." Kieran leans down to run his fingers through Dick’s fur.
"You all are so sweet." I clear my throat. They really are. “I don’t know what to say.” In the city, my closest friends were my coworkers. Even when we only lived a fifteen-minute bus ride away from each other, the only time we'd actually see each other was during work functions.
I used to get coffee with Gabriella once a week, but then she got pregnant, ‘even existing became exhausting’ and those coffee dates stopped. We never reached the friendship level of appearing at each other's house without any notice and a cake. Though looking back, maybe I should have done that.
“Then shut up and let’s eat cake,” Lauren says lovingly and shoots me a wink.
"As long as you live here, you're not getting rid of us." Nic gives Lauren a nudge. I stare at them, not sure if it’s a warning or a promise.
"And even beyond that. Unless you tell us to fuck off," Kieran adds with a grin. Maybe it’s a bit of both.
Wait. Beyond that? "So you're telling me, one day you might haunt my house too?" I ask him with wide eyes. For a moment the three stare at me like I grew a second head. Then they burst into laughter.
"Oh my God, we're going to have a ghost party here one day!" Lauren presses out between giggles, so infectuous I can't help but laugh along.
"So, would you do the honors?" Nic hands me the knife once she caught her breath and nods at the cake.
"It's an apple cake," Lauren explains as I grab it and stand up to get a better angle to cut it into not so wonky pieces. "Something with marzipan. I stopped Caleb from adding raisins last second. Everybody be proud of me."
"I'm so proud of you," Kieran declares, wipes an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye and even claps.
Meanwhile Nic shoots him an irritated look. "What kind of raisin haters am I friends with? You think you know people…"
"You love us," Lauren declares with a giggle. “Raisins or not.”
"Of course I do,” Nic declares and crosses her arms in front of her chest. “But I also love raisins. So anyways—"
Bang.
All four of us jump up. The knife slips from my hand and onto the table, making cutlery clank against the plates.
"Are you for real?" I shout into the house. "One picture, ghostie. I'm asking you for one picture on my wall." I grumble and bury my face in my palms.
"Ugh, I know the feeling," Nic whispers. My hands are trembling, so she takes the knife and cuts the cake, then heaves a generous piece onto everyone’s plate. "You've got to embrace it."
"What if I don't want to?" I whisper, staring at my ceiling. "Whoever they are already took over my hobby room upstairs. I bought a house so I could decorate it any way I liked, not the way a ghost liked."
"You should come visit Amanda with us sometime," Lauren declares and picks up her fork.
"The antique store owner?" I tilt my head. “What does she have to do with ghosts.”
"Oh, but she's so much more than an antique store owner," Nic explains. Okay? The way she said it makes Amanda sound like a drug dealer.
And where did this bowl of heavy whipped cream come from that she's offering me? Well, I'm not going to ask. I put some on my plate and pass it to Kieran.
"Do you think she can help with my… ghost issue?" I wave toward my living room.
Nic nods with an infectious confidence. "If anyone in Wayward Hollow can help you, it’s her."
I take my first bite of the cake. Caleb must have magical powers.
Seriously, every damn thing I eat at his café is to die for and this cake?
Literally takes the cake. There’s cinnamon, there’s apples, there’s marzipan and probably two kilos of butter and it’s the best thing I ever had in my mouth. "Oh my God, Lauren, this is amazing."
"I'll tell Caleb." She grins and takes a bite herself. “Oh damn.” She closes her eyes, keeps chewing and lets out an obscene sigh. “He sure knows how to make a woman happy.”
"Look at us." Nic suddenly giggles. "Sitting here, drinking hot chocolate and eating cake. Like my grandma used to do with her friends."
Lauren’s eyes fly open. "Eighty-four at heart," she declares and takes a sip of her hot chocolate.
"And proud of it," Kieran adds and clinks his cup against mine.
"Anyway, you said this is your second hot chocolate of the year." Lauren shakes her head, as if to thwart off the spell her boyfriend’s cake cast on her and fixes me with a hard stare. "Who did you drink your first with?"
"What makes you think I didn't drink it alone?" I ask back and raise my eyebrows.
"Because hot chocolate is a company kind of drink." She takes another sip. "And judging by your cupboards, you are a tea kind of person when you're alone and it’s too late for coffee. Am I right or am I right?"
"Damn, you're good." I shake my head softly. " Erik came over last week when we had our power outage and we had a hot chocolate."
"Ooh." The three shoot each other suggestive looks.
"Alone with Erik during a power outage." Kieran leans closer and wiggles his eyebrows. “’Drinking hot chocolate’ – is that what the kids are calling banging these days?”
"It's not like that." I giggle, putting my hand on his cheek to push him away. "The ghost was going rampant and I was freaking out. So I called him and took him up on his offer to come over."
"You hear how she never even considered asking one of us?" Lauren pouts. Nic and Kieran nod in agreement.
"Please." I give them hard stares. "You all would have been as jump scared as I was. Which would have brought us to a vicious cycle of making each other’s fear worse. You should be glad I didn't call you."
Kieran narrows his eyes at me. "So Erik wasn't jump scared?"
"At least he pretended not to be," I mumble. Abby and Dick have decided this would be the perfect time to sneak close and keep any eye out for any falling crumbs.
"You know, he's a nice guy," Kieran declares and grabs the knife to cut himself another piece of cake. "Handsome, law-abiding, truly the perfect potential son in law."
I grimace. My mom wouldn’t think so.
"Sore spot? Sorry."
"No, no, it's not," I assure Kieran quickly and take a deep breath.
"Maybe a little. My mom is kind of riding my ass about the divorce and it's just...
" I wave my hand through the air. " You couldn't have known.
" I clear my throat and reach for the whipped cream. It’s way too much for the amount of cake left and I see potential for a perfect hot chocolate.
Once I’ve scooped some in there, Nic extends her hand wordlessly to do the same.
"Mine were riding my ass without a divorce," Lauren says, a line of whipped cream on her top lip.
"Mine knew about the affair my ex-fiancé and sister were having." Nic passes the whipped cream to Kieran.
"Mine kicked me out on the day I turned eighteen, and I haven't heard from them since." The three of us slowly turn our heads to Kieran. "Hey, don't make me the party pooper here." He flicks some cream Lauren's way.
"Don't blame us. This is the first time you've dropped some lore and talked about your parents." She flicks a cake crumb right back at him.
Abby and Dick notice the increased potential for whipped cream in reach and inch their way closer.
"You never asked," he points out. "Sorry I don't go out of my way to talk about them. They truly haven't been on my mind for half of my life at this point. Aside from therapy, I guess. Anyway-" He turns to me, "speaking of Nic's sister and her ex, you should totally help us set up the autumn fair."
"What?" I blink, confused. Now that's a change of topics if I ever heard one. "I mean, sure. I guess?"
"Don't let him confuse you." Nic shakes her head. "Long story short, my sister and ex tried to crash the autumn fair and weren’t successful.”
“Okay, now I follow.” I make a mental note to ask her for the long story long sometime though.
“It's the perfect chance to get to know everyone," Lauren adds, and cuts herself another piece of cake. "We can introduce you to everyone, and I promise we'll have a grand old time at the fair." She nudges Nic and giggles. "So much better than last year."
"I don't think you can promise that." Nic shakes her head. "I mean, yes, it started off shitty, but the way it ended..." She puts the tips of her fingers to her lips. "Chef's kiss. Couldn't have gone more perfectly."
"Yeah, I will need that story right now," I declare and take a sip of my hot chocolate.
“Sure.” Nic shrugs. “Once upon a time-“
Bang.
"Seriously? What else does ghostie not like?" I lean my head back and stare at the ceiling. Meanwhile the three burst into laughter.