Ducking my head, I smiled. He was right about that. I'd never felt more myself than since I allowed myself to open up to my magic. “Yeah. A lot of crazy stuff has happened since I moved to Shipton.”
"I know," he said. "I can't be with you there; I'm tied to this house and my ashes. But I've been listening. I heard you update Wade last night, and I'm dying to know why Alfred won't let you cut the strings on his mouth."
I'd updated Uncle Wade the night before on pretty much everything.
“I still can’t believe Sam married Olivia even though I was at their wedding. They seem like an odd couple.” He'd died a few months after the wedding.
I nodded. “I think that’s why it works with them. Besides, Olivia isn’t the snobby bitch she used to be. She’s a lot of fun to be around. And it doesn't hurt that their kid is adorable.”
"How old is he?" His eyes twinkled as he gazed at me. I got the feeling he'd missed me as much as I'd been missing him.
"Almost six," I said. "Olivia was pregnant at the wedding but didn't know it. She found out about the baby a few weeks after, but they kept it kind of quiet. I didn't even know. They were worried about complications with her having a baby at her age."
He sighed and laid sideways on the bed and I realized he was floating just above it. “A ghoul, a skeleton that isn’t a skeleton anymore, a tiger shifting ghoul, and two immortal cats. You have a zoo of unusual beings.”
“Pretty much.” I smiled, though. I was proud of those lunatics.
A laugh burst from him and then he said, “You could start your own circus!”
I giggled and pushed him off the bed, but there was no sound when he hit, so I scrambled across the large bed to look over the edge and didn’t see him. "Clay?" I whispered. A moment later he shot up out of the floor, scaring the daylights out of me. I squawked and fell back, grabbing a pillow and throwing it in his general direction. Of course, it went straight through him.
After we stopped laughing long enough to breathe, he floated back over to the bed and sat beside me again. “Do you think Wallie can see me?”
My heart ached for Clay. He'd missed so much of Wallie's high school years. “Yeah, I think he probably can. He did inherit my necromancer genes and has been training with me, Owen, and his girlfriend.”
“Tell me about his girlfriend.” He propped his chin in his palm and gazed up at me.
I crossed my legs, ignoring that ever-present twinge in my hip, and smiled at the thought of Michelle. “She’s beautiful and amazing. She’s a witch with a strong connection to water. And she loves that I’m a necromancer.” I'd never realized so many people would embrace my necromancer side.
“What about this sheriff you mentioned?” Oh, geez. I'd told Wade a bit about Drew last night. Clay had overheard.
My heart skipped a few beats. “What about him?” Jumping off the bed, I blew out the candles and headed out my bedroom door.
I ducked my head as I walked down the hall toward the living room. Clay zipped around to stand in front of me. “That. The way your face lights up when you think of him. The way you said his name earlier. You're seeing him.”
I opened my mouth to deny it, but I could never lie to Clay. “Maybe.” Shame crept up my cheeks like I'd been cheating on him.
He crossed his arms but didn't look mad. “That's a yes.”
Shaking my head, I walked around him. “It’s weird to talk about this with you. You’re my husband.” He'd been my life partner for so long.
Startling me again, Clay appeared in front of me in the kitchen doorway. “I was your husband. I’m dead, so I’m not your husband anymore.” He crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at me. "Supernatural divorce."
He was wrong. “You will always be my husband.” I pushed past him and went straight for the kitchen. When I got in there I remembered, the only thing sweet in there was pastries Wade had brought over last night.
Sighing, I opened the cabinet. I wanted ice cream, but I guessed a cakey donut would do.
Clay drifted in, and I tried to ignore him. Then he wrapped his ghostly arms around me. I melted into them, but they just didn't feel right. It wasn't him, not enough of him. “I understand what you're saying. I love you and will always love you. But you're still holding on to me, which makes it hard for me to move on.”
What? That made things different. If my clinging to his memory meant he couldn't go on to the next plane or Heaven, or whatever happened next, I had to find a way to let him go. “I’m keeping you? Are you stuck here?”
He shrugged and let go of me. “I thought when you left for Shipton, I would finally be able to cross over, but I can’t even leave the house.”
Oh no. What had I done? “I’m sorry, Clay. So sorry. I didn’t know. I didn’t even believe in ghosts until recently.”
He laughed and floated to the ceiling. “How can someone who can raise the dead not know ghosts were real?” He had a point, but I wasn't about to tell him that.
I rolled my eyes and took a bite of the dry donut. I needed milk. I sure hoped that Wallie had picked some up. I couldn’t remember if I put it on the list.
Focusing on Clay, who was now sitting on the countertop next to me, I sighed. “I was so busy playing human most of my life. I wanted to be normal.”
He nudged me. “Hey. I loved that you were never normal.” He knew I had hang-ups about my necro powers. "I wish I'd seen how incredibly special you were many, many years ago. Hell, if we'd moved back to Shipton so you could embrace your powers, maybe I'd still be here now."
Tears filled my eyes. "I've missed you so much."
The sound of a truck door closing made Clay and me lock gazes. My heart sank. Our interlude was over. “What is Wade doing back?”
“That’s Wallie and Zoey. They went over there to get his truck and some more groceries.” I waved for him to leave. “I don’t want Wallie seeing you yet. I need to see how he takes it.” He hadn't seen his father since he was a young teenager. This wouldn't be easy on him, to say the least.
“Fine. But don’t wait around too long. We have to figure out why I can’t move on.”
I nodded as he disappeared. Seconds later the front door opened and Wallie and Zoey came in with their arms full of reusable shopping bags.
Wallie pointed at Zoey. “The junk food is her fault.” I saw the tops of chips bags sticking up out of the sacks.
Zoey scrunched up her nose at him and took off her hoodie, revealing her tiger ears on the top of her head. “Not all of it.”
Hoping they'd remembered the thing I was craving the most, I searched through the bags until I found the double chocolate brownie ice cream. I grabbed a spoon and took it to the living room. I needed to think after spending that last hour with Clay’s ghost.
An overload of chocolate was just what the doctor ordered.
Chapter Five
The house felt empty without Clay visible, but now that I'd seen him, I felt him every time he came near. He was still here, just behind the veil.
Was it a veil? Heck if I knew. I was barely struggling through this necromancer mess.