Viv had put a sign in the window at the Brew Station that peppermint mochas were the new special. “Goodbye, pumpkin spice,” I mumbled.
“You’re hilarious,” Dad said as he got out of the car. “You don’t like pumpkin spice anyway.”
“I don’t, but I do like Thanksgiving. What did Thanksgiving ever do to deserve to be forgotten?” I asked. “What about a Turkey Trot? Huh? Wouldn’t that be fun?”
“Maybe you should organize one for next year,” Dad said. “You could rally the community to bring back Thanksgiving. Think of all the giant paper turkeys you could hang in the square.”
“Maybe I will,” I said and stuck my tongue out at him.
“For now, why don’t you go over and get us a couple of those peppermint lattes? I know you’re into protesting early Christmas, but you do like them, right?”
“I do,” I admitted. “Do you want the peppermint latte or a peppermint mocha?”
“Mocha and an extra pump of chocolate,” Dad said. “I’m going to run this costume into the Santa house, and I’ll meet you back at the car.”
“Deal,” I said.
I got out of the car and grabbed my bag. Meri wiggled a little inside, but he was no doubt excited about the bacon he knew was coming his way.
There was a bit of a line at Viv’s but when I got up to the counter, the place had cleared out some. The morning rush was ending, and the tourists who were getting coffee and pastries were taking them outside to enjoy the unseasonably warm weather.
I watched a few of them strolling around while they chatted over croissants and lattes. “Good morning, Kinsley!” Viv said a bit too cheerfully. It was obvious she was trying too hard to cheer me up, but I loved her for it. “What can I get for you?”
“Two large peppermint mochas with an extra pump of chocolate, and bacon for Meri,” I said.
“Do you want anything to eat?” she asked.
I looked over at the board to see what the breakfast special was for the day. There were two. One was a bacon, egg, and cheese croissant with Viv’s secret sauce, and the other was a sausage, egg, and cheese pancake sandwich. Kinda like the ones you got at the fast food place, but better. I wasn’t sure if Dad wanted anything from Viv’s. He’d said we were going out to breakfast, but I figured we could eat out in the sunshine like lots of other people were doing.
“Two of the pancake sandwiches and two orders of hash browns,” I said. “To go, but we might come back and eat here depending on what my Dad wants to do.”
“Coming right up,” Viv said. “Good to see you’ve got an appetite. How are you doing?”
The way she asked the question sounded as though Viv thought she needed to walk on eggshells around me. I had to figure out what was going on with Thorn soon, because if people kept tiptoeing around me like they were at a funeral, I was going to cry.
“I’m doing well,” I said. “I think things are going to work out fine, so please don’t worry about me.”
“I can’t help it,” Viv said.
“I know, but I promise I’m okay,” I said and took a sip of the peppermint mocha she slid across the counter to me. “This is good. I guess I’m glad that you’ll be having these as the special for a while.”
“You can get one any time,” Viv said. “Please come in any time you need some company, and you know you’re welcome at my house too. Just call me if you need anything.”
“I will,” I said. “Thank you so much.”
After I got the rest of my order, I headed out of the coffee shop. As soon as I crossed the street, I saw my Dad standing in front of the Santa house. He looked incredibly pale, and even from a distance, it seemed like he was shaking.
“Dad?” I called out and hurried toward him.
“No, Kinsley,” he said and put a hand out in front of him. “Stay back, sweetie.”
“What is it, Dad?” I asked, but I did what he’d requested.
Meri wriggled out of the bag, and as soon as his paws hit the pavement, he shot off in the direction of the Santa house. It was then that I saw her and knew exactly what happened.
She drifted out of the Santa house behind my Dad. For a brief moment, I could have believed she was all there. That what I was witnessing was just a trick of the light reflecting off all the fake, glittery snow around us.
But it wasn’t. She was a ghost. I recognized her too. Not because I knew her, but because I’d seen her the day before at the police station. It was the young woman who’d been waiting to speak to Jeremy as I was leaving.
She was dead, and her ghost was giving me that same mournful look I’d seen flash across her face when I’d seen her before.
Chapter Four
Jeremy was the first on the scene, and he flashed me a look that told me to stay back. I did, but it took all of my strength not to approach him and at least try to ask him some questions.
The young woman’s ghost had been hanging around, but I never got the chance to approach her. She was tethered to her body, but when she ran out of energy to manifest, she disappeared. There was no way of knowing if she would appear again, but I knew it would be possible to raise her with a séance. How long she had before she crossed the veil was an unknown.
But that didn’t matter. I’d vowed to stay away from things like summoning the dead until my baby was born, but something about the mournful way the woman looked at me was pulling at my heart strings. She had something to say. There was unfinished business. Someone had to help her lest she become an angry, confused
