Perhaps he had done it before he left. But she didn’t think he had enough time to do so while she was in the shower. If Ezra hadn’t done it though, who had?
She didn’t know what to say. She always told her husband everything, but lately that was more difficult. She knew how he’d respond, and she didn’t want to mess with his mental health like that. But she too was starting to think that something was going on in this house. Things simply weren’t adding up and it was spooky. It put Clara on edge.
She quickly debated if she should tell Ezra what had happened. It was getting to the point where she felt like she had no other choice, but she wasn’t sure it was fully there yet. She had to make sure there was no other explanation before she brought it up to him. She needed time to figure this out.
The music turning on wasn’t totally impossible anyway. Weird stuff had happened with her phone before this. Electronics were just glitchy sometimes. It wasn’t out of the realm of possibility that she’d been listening to music the day before and it somehow turned on again, resumed playing or something, got stuck on repeat.
The explanation wasn’t exactly satisfactory for her, but it was something. It was a solid reason not to worry her husband. The dress on the other hand… That didn’t readily lend a believable explanation. The dress couldn’t have just blown out of the closet and landed on her bed.
“No reason,” she said. Despite the lack of reasoning she could find, she wanted to give it more time. She wanted any reason not to worry her husband. “Thought I heard something is all. But it’s just the house being an old house.”
Ezra nodded as he grew a little suspicious. He didn’t know the extent of what his wife was hiding, but he was aware that she was probably downplaying it a little to avoid setting him off about the ghosts.
Resentment crept in a little. He didn’t want her to think she had to be so careful around him. He wasn’t that fragile, and he was doing better. But he also didn’t want to overreact, so he nudged those feelings under the rug.
“Well, I got you a latte from the most amazing coffee shop,” he said, offering her the bag. “There’s a coffee cake muffin and fruit salad in there as well.”
“That’s so sweet of you,” she said, feeling a bit guilty over her lie. She convinced herself it wasn’t a lie though. She simply wasn’t divulging the whole story for his own good. That couldn’t be so bad.
“Let me get dressed and I’ll come downstairs to enjoy it.” She turned to go upstairs, then paused. “Maybe I should take the coffee with me though. So it doesn’t get cold.”
Ezra handed the cup to her. Clara held onto that last shot at an explanation that made sense. If the coffee was cold, she could call Ezra out on it. It’d prove that he had gone to the coffee shop earlier that morning, messed with her things, and came through the door like this so he could spook her. Maybe he had done so to convince her that ghosts really were in this house, and he didn’t need to get help after all because he wasn’t imagining it.
She sipped the coffee. It was still warm. It wasn’t the type of scalding hot that coffee was when you first ordered it. Nor did it have that distinct taste Clara was familiar with when reheating coffee in the microwave.
It was the type of temperature and smooth taste of a coffee that had been purchased about ten minutes or so ago. The perfect time to drink it. It was delicious, an incredible blend of dark chocolate, creamy caramel, and a sweet cream that hadn’t been ruined by sitting untouched in the cup too long. It was fresh. It was perfect. It was probably the best coffee she ever had, but she was disappointed.
Ezra was telling the truth. He had just come in from the coffee shop. So how did the dress get on the bed? How did the music start playing?
Clara took her coffee upstairs. The dress was still on the bed. She was still confused. She desperately wished she could make sense of all of this, but she was starting to lose hope that there would be any easy answers.
26
As Clara went upstairs, Ezra contemplated his own omission of information. He too had reason not to share what Sam had told him over breakfast. Though he knew he should, he wasn’t sure he wanted to. It couldn’t be too bad to keep it from her if Clara was keeping something from him, right? He wouldn’t be lying to her, and it wasn’t something that was super important for her to know.
Ezra knew now he had every reason to be suspicious of Nathaniel. There were a few possible cracks in his story and Nathaniel did have reason for wanting to deceive him. But he was still fond of the kid, and he still wanted to give him some time before accusing him of something he didn’t have proof of.
He didn’t think Sam was trying to be malicious with warning him about Nathaniel. If Ezra were in his shoes, he thought he might do the same thing. It was nice of him to warn him of possible trouble, and he didn’t think it was idle gossip. But Sam hadn’t told him anything concrete that would suggest Nathaniel had ulterior motives for accepting the job offer. He hadn’t shared anything more than rumors, and that wasn’t enough to confront Nathaniel over.
Clara was already suspicious of him though. It seemed like she had been from the start, and she
