“When I told her you weren’t home,” Sebastian continued, “she jumped as if I’d startled her. After she seemed to collect herself, she told me I could wait for you, but I declined and told her to let you know I’d stopped by and to have you call me later. I had a paper to write. Then I left. That’s it.”
“That’s it?” Gigi asked, sounding skeptical to her own ears even though she hadn’t meant to. It was just so unusual for Sebastian to not wait for her, especially after he’d stood her up. “You just left?”
“Yes,” he said defensively. “Your mom was clearly agitated. I thought it was better to give her space, and I had work to do. What was I supposed to do, just wait indefinitely? For all I knew, you’d left with James and wouldn’t be home for hours.”
The words hung in the air between them. James had been a sore subject between them back then. Sebastian hadn’t liked him and hadn’t been shy about his feelings. At the time, Gigi had thought he was upset because she didn’t have as much time to spend with him, but now it seemed clear that it was more than that. Sebastian had been jealous. How had she not realized that back then? Gods, she was a fool sometimes.
When Gigi didn’t answer him right away, a muscle in Sebastian’s jaw pulsed from the tension he was holding. He stared down at his hands and seemed to consciously unclench his fingers from the railing. “Never mind. That was a long time ago. The fact is I wish I had stayed. If I had, who knows what would’ve happened? Maybe things would have turned out differently. Instead, I left and didn’t return until you called the next morning because your mom never came home.”
“Are you sure that’s it?” Gigi asked again. He hadn’t said anything she didn’t already know, and that was the problem. Because of the ghost’s message, she was certain there was more. “You’re one hundred percent positive she didn’t say anything else or you didn’t see anything else unusual?”
“I don’t know what to tell you, Gigi,” he said, his eyes looking sad. “You obviously think I know more than I do, just like everyone else in Bellside.” Shaking his head, he moved toward the door. “You know, there’s a reason I left that tiny town way back then. I thought that was behind me. I thought you at least believed me, otherwise I never would have decided to stay here. Do me a favor, will you?”
Gigi felt small, embarrassed by her obvious distrust of the person she’d leaned on the most back then. How could she be doubting him now, after all these years? The ghost’s words echoed in her mind again, making it so that she couldn’t ignore the message. There was no denying that Sebastian had some knowledge that would lead to what happened to her mother. And she wasn’t going to give up until she found that missing piece of the puzzle, even if it ripped her heart out while doing it. “What’s that?”
“Let those people in there form their own opinions of me.” He nodded to the house. “I don’t deserve to go through what I did back home.” Without waiting for her reply, he strode away from her and back into the house.
Gigi watched him go, her stomach aching as she wondered if she should’ve just told him about the ghost’s message. Though she wasn’t sure how that would help, considering his story of what had happened that day had never wavered. Why would he suddenly come up with new information just because a ghost had left her a message?
Frustrated with both her exchange with Sebastian as well as the ghost’s cryptic message, she went back inside to try to make amends with Sebastian. But the minute she stepped back inside, everything went wrong at once. The door slammed shut from a burst of wind, smashing her index finger between the door and the frame.
Gigi let out a cry of surprise and whimpered when she realized her finger was trapped.
“Holy hell, Gigi,” Sebastian said, striding back toward her. But Owen got there first, quickly freeing her finger from the door.
With her finger throbbing, Gigi hurried toward the hall bathroom, needing both the sink to clean her wound as well as the first aid kit. But when she reached for the doorknob, it fell off in her hand, making it impossible for her to enter the bathroom. “Dammit.”
“Are you okay?” a woman asked from behind her.
Clutching both her finger and the doorknob, Gigi spun around, frazzled and feeling out of control. Autumn was standing there, concern in her expression. Tears of complete frustration stung Gigi’s eyes, and she hated herself for it. Why, after all those years of holding herself together, never letting James get to her, was she falling apart in her own house just because she and Sebastian were at odds?
“Um, I smashed my finger in the door, and now I’m locked out of the bathroom where the first aid kit is,” Gigi said, holding the doorknob out for the younger woman to see.
Autumn reached for the doorknob, pausing slightly to ask, “Do you mind if I try it?”
Gigi let out a small hysterical laugh. “No. Not at all.”
Her small hand closed over the doorknob. Autumn studied the end of the knob for a moment then lined it up and turned. The door opened without any trouble. Gigi glanced between Autumn and the knob before reaching out to test it. It turned right and left, and when Gigi pulled on it, the knob stayed in place just like it was supposed to. “How did you do that?” she asked Autumn, a little awed.
Autumn shrugged. “Luck?”
“Whatever it was, I’ll take it.” Gigi stepped in, reached under the sink for the first aid kit, and placed it on the counter.
While Gigi ran her finger under cold water, Autumn opened the first aid kit and pulled out the antiseptic.
“Here,” Autumn said, holding out a towel for Gigi.
Gigi did as she was told and let the other woman take care of her until her finger was cleaned and bandaged. “Thank you,” she said, amazed at how comfortable she was with the virtual stranger. “Were you a nurse in another life?”
Autumn chuckled. “Not that I know of.” She closed the first aid kit and stowed it back under the sink. “I did babysit a lot as a teenager, so fixing up a few scrapes isn’t exactly new territory.”
A vision of Autumn sitting on a couch with her arms around two young girls as they read from a book flashed in her mind, and Gigi was certain the vision had actually happened. It just felt so real. “I bet you were really fantastic at it, too.”
“I did okay. The two little girls I took care of were the sweetest, and I miss them a lot, but they don’t really need me anymore.”
Two girls. Gigi had been right. It wasn’t the first time she’d had a vision that had been true, but usually they weren’t that accurate or confirmed that quickly. “Do you still get to see them ever?”
“No. They live a couple of hours south of here. But I keep in touch with their mom on social media, so I see a lot of secondhand updates. They’re doing well.”
“I bet that’s hard,” Gigi said as they exited the bathroom and headed back to the party. “Is that why you moved up this way?”
“Yes, and sort of? I actually moved because this is where the job was until Mrs. Thorne passed away.”
Gigi’s eyes widened. “You actually worked for Mrs. Thorne?”
She nodded. “I was the house manager for about five months. But now that the estate sale is over, the heirs don’t really need me anymore, so I was let go. You and Skyler came along at the perfect time. I can’t wait to dig in and start working on his store.”