Chapter 32 Clarke
Clarke
“Everything is squared away, Clarke,” Cam said to me over the phone.
Cam was the lawyer who had helped us delay the sale of Toades to Sullivan Industries.
She was somehow related to Boone, but I didn’t know the specifics.
All I knew was that I trusted her, and that she was damn good at her job.
I didn’t think she ever went to trial, but if she did, I felt sorry for whomever she was facing down.
“I emailed you all the digitals, and I’m getting on the road now. ”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “I don’t mind driving to you either.”
“All good,” Cam said. “Plus, we’re already cutting it close. It’ll take me two and a half hours to get to you, but it would take five for you to make the round trip. Also, I think it’s best if I’m there.”
I knew she was right, but I still felt bad that she was making the trek to Sweetwater Peak.
Over the past two weeks, we’d filed every possible piece of paperwork to register Wilkes Farm as a historic landmark, and not just the land.
We also did it for every qualifying structure on the property: the main house, the saddle shed that Leith lived in, all the stables and storage facilities, farmhand housing—everything.
It would cause a hell of a headache if anyone in the Wilkes family ever wanted to do a major renovation, but Leith decided that was a future Wilkes problem.
“Text me when you get to Sulphurdale,” I said to Cam. “You’ll lose service right after that, but I’m going to send Collins to meet you at the town line.”
“Got it,” Cam said. “See you soon.”
Leith walked out of my bathroom in a cloud of steam with a towel slung low around his waist. It felt like we’d been working twenty-four-seven on this, so we’d been falling asleep at each other’s houses and spending most mornings together.
At the sound of Leith opening the bathroom door, Bill ran in through the dog door, and Pearl moseyed in behind him. Bill was an adorable little puppy, but damn, after hanging out with him regularly, I was very grateful for my chill, loving, and content senior dog.
“Cam’s on her way?” Leith asked, pouring himself a cup of coffee. He didn’t complain about my coffee anymore because he was currently storing three different types of creamer in my fridge.
“Yeah,” I said. “She’ll be here this afternoon. Do you want to meet us at Toades or at Ron’s office?”
“I’ll meet you at Ron’s,” Leith said. “The hands are a well-oiled machine at this point since we’ve made it into planting time, but I want to help. It helps me clear my head, and I want to go into this the clearest I can.”
“Of course,” I said.
Leith gave me a kiss on the top of my head before he sat on the barstool next to me. “Before we do this,” he said. “There’s something I want to tell you, and I should’ve told you earlier. I was going to tell you two weeks ago, but then you came up with this idea, and we’ve just been really busy…”
“Spit it out, Leith,” I said. “You’re scaring me.”
I watched Leith take a deep breath. “I’m the one who posted about us on Sweetwater Peakers,” he said. “I thought that if it seemed like the gossip was traveling faster than usual, you’d be more likely to enter into our crazy arrangement with me.”
I blinked slowly a few times. Maybe I should’ve felt more strongly about it, but I didn’t. At the time, Leith was desperate, and when we were desperate, we did crazy things—like agreeing to be their childhood crush’s fake girlfriend.
“Are you one of the people who called me a home-wrecker?” I asked.
“What? No, of course not.”
“Then it’s okay,” I said. “All’s well that ends well or whatever.”
Leith tilted his head. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” I nodded and then felt a little pressure on my sternum. If he was coming clean, I should too. “I also have something to tell you,” I said. “Something kind of similar.”
“Okay,” Leith said. “Shoot.”
“I don’t know if you’re going to believe me,” I said softly. “Mine is…bigger.”
“Why wouldn’t I believe you?”
“Because it’s going to sound crazy,” I said. “It’s about me…and your dad.”
Leith’s eyes widened. “Clarke, please tell me you did not fuck my dad.”
“What?!” I exclaimed immediately. “No! Where did that even come from?”
“Your wording wasn’t great!” Leith said. “What else was I supposed to think?”
“That I can talk to ghosts, and I’ve always been able to, and your dad approached me eight months ago and told me to tell you to look into the farm’s line of succession.
” I said it all in one breath. This seemed like one of those things that was better to get out in the open quickly, so I took the Band-Aid approach.
“W-what?”
“Collins and I can communicate with ghosts. It sounds fake, but it isn’t.
” Then I realized how badly I wanted Leith to believe me.
Whether I liked it or not, the ghosts were a huge part of me.
And if Leith didn’t believe me, or worse, didn’t want anything to do with it, that would probably be it for whatever real thing we were building.
I had to bring all of my pieces to the table for that to work, so did he. And we both had to accept them.
“And you talked to my dad?” Leith asked slowly.
“Yeah.”
“And he told you about the farm going to Flynn?”
“No.” I shook my head. “He just told me that you should look into it.”
“And that’s why you said that to me that night at the bar?”
“Yes.”
“Was…was he there?”
“Yes, and he was here the night we broke into Ron’s office.”
“Where is he now?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I haven’t seen him since then. He hasn’t approached me, and I haven’t looked for him. I generally, um, don’t seek things out in the spiritual realm.”
Leith leaned back in his chair. His eyes were locked on his coffee cup, and I wished I could climb inside his head and see what was going on.
“D-do you believe me?” I asked quietly.
“Yeah,” he said. “Of course I do. I just…you communicating with my dead dad is a lot to take in.”
“I understand,” I said. “But he was really persistent, and I caved, and I’m sor—”
“Clarke,” Leith said, cutting me off. “The way I feel about this isn’t about you.”
Now I was confused. “It’s not?”
“No. It’s about my complicated feelings about my complicated dad.” Leith inhaled deeply, then exhaled. “It feels like…it feels like he had to die to care about me. And even then, he waited until the last fucking minute. Instead of, I don’t know, telling me about this bullshit when he was alive.”
I stopped myself from trying to explain my understanding of the chaotic, the unregulated nature of the spiritual realm.
Right now, it wasn’t important that maybe his dad just hadn’t been around the realm over the past five years and tried to help as soon as he could.
And it didn’t matter what Wilder did in death because Leith only knew him in life.
It only mattered that Leith was hurting and that this would only further complicate the grief he was already holding for what seemed to be a very complicated man.
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know how to tell you.”
“I wouldn’t know how to tell me either,” Leith said. “It’s…it’s impossible.”
“Yeah,” I said. “I know.”
“Is that why your eyes get so shifty sometimes?” Leith said after a few beats. “Can you see them?” I nodded. “Makes sense. This town is haunted as hell. And your headaches?”
“When there are too many of them at once,” I said. “I normally try to push them out. I’ve spent my whole life trying to turn the volume down on them.”
“That seems like it would hurt,” Leith observed.
“You’ve known about this for two minutes, and you’re already quicker than me on figuring that part out.” I sighed. “I’m trying…to let them in more. Embrace it.”
“Will you…tell me if you see my dad again?”
“I will,” I said. “Pinkie promise.”
Leith nodded. “I want you to know that I don’t care how we got here, Clarke. I’m just happy that we are.”
My heart wrapped around that “we” and squeezed. Would we be able to hold on to this “we”…for real? “Me too.”
Leith grabbed my hand and brought it up to his mouth. He kissed the inside of my palm and then my wrist. “I have to get dressed, and you have to go to work, but I’ll see you this afternoon.”
* * *
The bell on the shop door rang around two-thirty. So far, it had been the longest day of my life waiting for Cam to get here. She’d finally texted me forty-five minutes ago telling me she was going through Sulphurdale, and I sent Collins to the town line.
“Welcome to Toades,” I heard my sister say.
“It’s amazing,” Cam said. I recognized her voice. “It feels like it just grew here.”
“I’m obsessed with the sign out front,” another feminine voice said. I didn’t recognize it. “We’d have to put a leash on Ada if we brought her here. We’d lose her in all of the treasures, for sure.”
I’d done all my usual prep for expecting company at Toades—coffee, sweets, and a lot of lit candles. “Lars?” Collins called.
“Kitchen!” I called back.
The footsteps started making their way toward me, and a few seconds later, I saw my sister, Cam, and a beautiful brunette woman—with Boone’s eyes.
“It’s so nice to meet you in real life,” I said to Cam and reached out my hand, but she brought me in for a hug instead.
“Likewise,” Cam said with a warm smile. She was even more elegant in person.
Her dark hair fell in perfect spirals, and her clothes fit her immaculately.
She carried a chestnut-colored leather briefcase that looked like it would probably become a family heirloom one day.
“This is Emmy,” she said, gesturing to the brunette.
“Boone’s niece,” Collins chimed in.
“Nice to meet you,” I said. Again I went for a handshake but got pulled into another hug.
“Hi,” she said. “I’m a hugger too. I get it from my dad.”
“Boone did not inherit that trait,” I said with a grin.
“Definitely not,” Emmy said with a light laugh.
She looked familiar to me. Obviously, the eyes bore a resemblance to Boone, but there was something about her long, dark hair, high cheekbones, and cleft chin that made me feel like I’d seen her before, but not in color.
Maybe she had a doppelg?nger that haunted Sweetwater Peak occasionally.
“Sorry for crashing. I didn’t want Cam driving alone, and my dad jumped at the chance to get some supplies to Boone. I’ll head up to his place while y’all are serving justice,” she said.
“And Emmy’s the reason I have practice with the historical registration stuff,” Cam said. “It was her idea to do it for the Devil’s Boot.”
“It’s my husband’s bar,” Emmy said. “I read about the requirements for historical filings online and had Cam do it as a birthday present for him. He has so much pride in that goddamn bar.” The smile on Emmy’s face told me she had at least an equal amount of pride in her husband.
“Thank you for pushing the domino that got us here,” I said.
“We’re happy to have both of you,” Collins said. “Do you want coffee or anything?”
“A coffee would be great,” Cam said.
“Make that two,” Emmy echoed.
Collins took the responsibility of grabbing four mugs from one of the open shelves, and I poured.
“Oh my god,” Emmy said when I handed her a mug. “Moon Lake. That’s where my parents went on their honeymoon. We have one like this at home!”
“It’s one of our favorites,” I said. “Have either of you been to Sweetwater Peak before?”
Cam shook her head. “Emmy came here a few times when she was little, but not for a while, right?”
“Yeah, I think the last time I came up here I was eleven or twelve,” Emmy said. “My mom was apparently fascinated by this place, and I can kind of see why now. It looks exactly like I remember. Almost eerily so.”
“That’s Sweetwater Peak for you,” Collins said with a grin.
“Is it true that it’s haunted?” Cam asked.
“Yeah,” I said at the same time Collins said, “One hundred percent.”
“That tracks,” Emmy said and took a sip of her coffee. Everyone else followed suit like dominoes. “Folger’s Black Silk?” she asked.
“Right on the money.” I nodded—impressed.
“If it’s okay with you,” Cam interjected, “I want to go over the paperwork with you, so you’re prepared walking into the law office. I’ll be there, of course, but I know it’s important to you and Leith that he has the opportunity to take lead on this.”
“That would be great,” I said. “Thank you.”
Cam pulled a massive pile of papers out of her bag and started sorting them on the table. “Ready to dive in?” she asked.
“Let’s do it.”