“Tomorrow will be a better day, buddy,” she told Billy as she ate her soup on the sofa in the living room to keep him company. He still hadn’t moved, so she brought his bowls of food and water closer to the bed in an effort to tempt him. Billy lifted his head and sniffed at the food but didn’t touch it.
“Come on, you have to eat,” Lauren pleaded with him. “Just a little bit.”
Billy closed his eyes and went back to sleep, leaving a worried Lauren to eat alone.
Chapter 3
Lauren came awake slowly, her thoughts crowding in long before she opened her eyes. Her first concern was for Billy, whose warm body was pressed to her side, his breathing even in sleep. He’d finally eaten a little last night, a hopeful sign, in her opinion. Lauren lay very still, taking a moment to recall exactly where she was and why. A gusty wind blew off the Atlantic, and the house creaked, the wooden walls sighing like an elderly woman pining for her youth. A soft half-light crept toward the bed, its gentle fingers stroking the comforter and caressing Billy’s round bottom.
Lauren turned toward the window, hoping to watch the sunrise, but the sight that greeted her left her breathless with terror. Her heart pounded in her chest as she clamped a hand over her mouth to stifle the scream that caught in her throat. She sank deeper into the mattress in order to make herself less visible, but she needn’t have bothered.
The woman seemed completely unaware of her presence. She sat at the desk, the soft light of dawn illuminating her pale face. Her back was ramrod straight, her hands clasped in her lap, and her troubled gaze fixed on the horizon. A blank sheet of paper lay before her, a quill left forgotten in the inkwell as if she were about to write a letter but had changed her mind. Lauren lifted her head slightly to get a better look at the woman’s profile. She was young, mid-twenties Lauren guessed, and attractive. Her old-fashioned gown was sober, and a modest lace-trimmed cap covered her dark hair. Her only adornment was a necklace, the pendant resting just above the V of her lace tucker. It shimmered in the pearlescent light, the fiery stone reminiscent of an opal.
Billy raised his head and looked at Lauren, then turned toward the window. She expected him to let out a bark of alarm, or growl at the intruder at the very least, but he rested his head on Lauren’s hip and drifted back to sleep, as if completely unaware of the stranger. He hadn’t seen her or caught her scent because she wasn’t real. She was an apparition, an echo of a time gone by.
Feeling less frightened, Lauren sat up and leaned against the pillows, watching the woman with interest. After a time, she replaced the paper in a drawer, stood, and turned toward the door. Lauren could have sworn she saw tears in the woman’s eyes as she walked across the room, but with her face turned away from the window, it was difficult to be certain. As the light changed from pearl-gray to salmon pink, the woman’s silhouette grew fainter until she vanished altogether, leaving nothing but an unnatural stillness in her wake. Lauren laid a gentle hand on Billy’s head, needing to feel a connection with a living being. He lifted his head and looked at her, his brown gaze clear and alert.
“Good morning,” Lauren said, but made no move to get up. She was in no rush to start her day. As she watched the sun come up, Lauren reflected on what she’d seen. Had the woman been a figment of her imagination, or had she seen an actual ghost? She didn’t believe in ghosts, but she also didn’t believe that a person simply ceased to exist. Zack was physically gone, but she had often felt his presence, especially for the first few months, and when she spoke to him, sometimes an answer simply dropped into her brain, as if he’d whispered it in her ear rather than saying it out loud. Perhaps it was wishful thinking and she wasn’t ready to let him go, but she had felt him close, especially when she was alone, and when Xavier first brought Billy over, the dog had growled at something, baring his teeth and staring into nothingness. He hadn’t done it since their first week together, so perhaps he’d grown used to Zack’s otherworldly presence, and he seemed oblivious to the woman Lauren had just seen.
At long last, Lauren got up, took a shower, and dressed in a pair of leggings and a warm sweater. She lifted Billy off the bed and carried him downstairs, where she set him on the floor. He trotted over to his water bowl and drank deeply before turning his attention to his food. It seemed Dr. Kelly had been right, and Billy just needed a little time to recover.
After taking him out for a wee, Lauren made herself a spinach and cheese omelet and a cup of coffee, then returned upstairs, sitting down at the desk where the woman had sat only an hour before. There was no trace of the letter she’d been writing or the implements, only Lauren’s laptop, which hummed accusingly as soon as she powered it up. She hadn’t done any work in nearly a week and it was time to get started. She was working on an autobiography of a popular reality star whose life was of little interest to Lauren, but it was a job, and she would do it to the best of her ability. Once she finished the project, she’d devote some time to her own writing.
“How about writing a ghost story?” Zack’s voice whispered in her mind. “You always said you wanted to try a different genre.”
“I don’t think so,” Lauren replied. “Ghost stories are really not my thing.”
“Okay, how about a historical romance, then? You used to love reading those. Remember that series you gobbled up about the woman who went back in time to eighteenth-century Scotland? You couldn’t buy those books fast enough.”
“All right. I’ll think about it,” Lauren replied grudgingly. “Now I must concentrate on my client’s meteoric rise to fame. She wants to devote an entire chapter to Twitter and how a nude selfie she posted went viral.”
She could almost hear Zack’s chuckle as she pulled out her notes and began to type.
Chapter 4
When Lauren took Billy back to the vet on Friday, he got a clean bill of health and nearly leapt off the examining table headfirst in his desire to get away. Dr. Kelly caught him deftly and handed him to Lauren, who held him close, terrified he’d hurt himself again.
“It’s like having a child,” Dr. Kelly said, correctly interpreting her expression. “You might want to puppy-proof the house. As he gets bigger, he’ll try to climb the stairs and drink from the toilet.”
“Eww. Gross,” Lauren said, making a face.
Dr. Kelly shrugged. “That’s what puppies do. Is he your first dog?”
“Yes.” Zack had wanted to get a dog, but Lauren had argued that their apartment was too small and they should wait until they bought a house. Her gaze slid toward the photograph of Holland House. “You mentioned that you like history,” she began, instantly wishing she hadn’t said anything.
“Yes, local history in particular. Why?”
“I’d like to learn more about Holland House.”
Dr. Kelly leaned against the examining table and crossed his arms, his head tilted to the side as he considered her request. “Have you experienced something odd?”
“How do you mean?”
“I’ve been hearing stories about that place since I was a little kid: weird creaking noises, candlelight flickering in the window, the sound of a woman crying… It was the ultimate act of bravery to go there on Halloween,” he said, a small smile tugging at his lips. “Are you afraid of ghosts?” The smile broadened into a full-on grin.