Apparently it was a very big deal if I didn’t want to frighten small children with my looks. I kept that to myself. “He really wasn’t doing anything but giving me another option,” I offered, recovering. “He was concerned that I was only staying for the inheritance and wanted to give me another option in case I wanted to leave.”
Galen shifted his eyebrows so one was higher than the other as he regarded me. “Is that why you’re staying? Is it because of the inheritance?”
It was a pointed question and I couldn’t help but wonder if I would disappoint him should I answer in a specific way. Of course, I had no idea why I cared about disappointing him.
“I’m staying – at least for the time being – because there are some things I need to know.” I looked to my lap, where my fingers gripped together as I tried to get a handle on my emotions. “I don’t know what to make of all of this right now, so … I’m just kind of going with the flow.”
“That’s fine.” Galen moved his hand to my shoulder, the weight warm and calming. “I don’t think anyone should ask more than that of you.” His gaze was pointed when he focused on Ned. “No one wants you to make a decision before you’re ready.”
“That’s not what I was trying to do,” Ned protested, clearly not missing the fact that Galen was trying to slap him back without causing a scene. “I merely wanted Hadley to know that she has options. She doesn’t have to stay if she doesn’t want to remain.”
“And she doesn’t have to leave if she wants to stay,” Galen fired back.
“Do you think I’m trying to force her off the island?”
Galen and Ned were in their own world where apparently only they could talk. It was almost as if they’d forgotten I was even present.
“I don’t know what you’re doing,” Galen replied. “We all agreed that pushing Hadley before she was ready to make a decision was a bad idea. I don’t think you should be here going against that decision.”
Wait a second … . “When did you agree to that?”
“Last night after I walked you home,” Galen replied. “We had a meeting.”
Oh, good, another meeting. “With the Downtown Development Authority?” I couldn’t be the only one who found that weird.
“No, just a meeting of concerned residents,” Galen replied. “It was at Lilac’s bar. She’s afraid that if we pile too much information on you all at once that you’ll crack. I happen to disagree with her assessment, but we decided on a compromise all the same.”
“Uh-huh.” He clearly didn’t understand that anyone – no matter their intentions – making decisions about what I could and could not handle was insulting. “I’m glad you guys decided everything for me. Whew!” I swiped a hand across my forehead. “It’s so good to know that you’re here to make the hard choices so I don’t have to.”
Instead of having the grace to look abashed, Galen fixed me with an unreadable look. “That’s not what we were doing. I’m more than willing to discuss what we were actually doing in a few minutes, if that will make you feel better. For now, I need to have a discussion with Ned.”
“That’s entirely unnecessary,” Ned said, holding up his hands as he stood. “I didn’t come here to cause problems. I honestly thought I was doing a nice thing. I wanted to help Hadley because she appears to be so lost. I don’t want that for anyone.”
“She’s not lost,” Galen argued. “She’s coping. She’s doing it a heck of a lot better than I think most other people in her situation would.”
“Wow, that was almost a compliment,” I muttered under my breath.
Galen ignored the dig. “This is a new situation, and she’s doing remarkably well. I think pressuring her to sell when she doesn’t yet understand everything fully is the wrong way to go.”
“I wasn’t pressuring her,” Ned snapped. “I was giving her an option that she wasn’t aware she had. I was trying to do right by her.”
“Why?” Galen knit his eyebrows. “Why do you care about doing right by Hadley?”
“It’s not Hadley.” Ned’s voice was choked. “It’s May. I always had a soft spot for May because she took me in when I was younger. She kept me for a whole week when my father was on a bender and forgot I was even alive. Did you know that?”
“No.” Galen looked chastised as he leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t know that. I’m sorry.”
“I wanted to make sure that Hadley was taken care of to the best of my ability,” Ned said. “I owe May that. I wasn’t trying to pressure her into something she doesn’t want to do. I was merely trying to make sure that she could make whatever choice is best for her.”
“I guess that’s fair.” Galen nodded slowly. “But I think it’s too soon for her to make a decision that will change the course of her life.”
“I happen to agree.” Ned shuffled toward the steps that led to the driveway. “That doesn’t mean she can’t have all the facts before making her decision.”
“No, it doesn’t. I would never argue otherwise.”
“I guess we’re agreed then.”
“I guess we are.”
Ned didn’t speak again, instead turning on his heel and fleeing. Galen leaned back in his chair and waited for Ned to climb into his car and leave the driveway. He was quiet until the vehicle disappeared. Then I couldn’t shut him up. “I don’t care what he says. You’re not selling the lighthouse.”
And just like that he was apparently ready for round two.
Eleven
“Did I say I was going to sell the lighthouse?”
While part of me was glad Galen took it upon himself to stand up for me, the other part was annoyed that he seemed to fancy himself the alpha dog of my pack. My father raised me to think for myself – okay, I’d just recently found out that he made a few decisions for me without my knowledge, too, but that was hardly important at present – so I didn’t need a guy I’d met three days ago telling me what I should and shouldn’t do.
Galen didn’t break eye contact as he shrugged. “No, but I want to make sure you’re not thinking about doing just that.”
“Why?”
“You belong here.”
His answer was so simple it should’ve been easy to ignore. Instead, it only infuriated me more. “You don’t even know me. How do you know where I belong?”
“I saw it on your face last night,” Galen replied, unruffled by my tone. “You were shocked to find out we keep zombies in the cemetery, but you were also excited. You weren’t afraid of them. You didn’t scream and run. In fact, you wanted to see more. By the way, when you want to get a better look there’s a viewing window on the far side of the cemetery. People go there quite often to get a look at their loved ones.”
That was so beyond anything I expected. “You have a viewing window?”
“Of course. We can’t risk people trying to open the gate and getting infected.”
“Oh, well, great.” I shook my head as I lifted my eyes to the sky. “This place is just plain weird. You know that, right?”
“Weird is a state of mind,” Galen replied, blasé. “I find it weird to live in a city where people are shooting each other across the highway.”
“I didn’t come from a city like that.”
“I thought you lived in Detroit.”
“I lived in a suburb of Detroit,” I corrected. “It’s not the same. Even taking that into consideration, it’s not as if you have to wear a bulletproof vest while walking down Woodward in Detroit. Sure, there’s violence, but it’s not like a war zone or anything.”
“Oh, well … .” Galen broke off, unsure.
“That would be a stereotype you were laboring under.” I decided to take the offensive. “Kind of like when you ordered me not to sell the lighthouse even though it’s not currently a consideration.”
“It’s not?” Galen scratched the back of his neck, his smile rueful. “I guess I did jump the gun a bit.”
“You think?”
“It’s just … I don’t want anyone
taking advantage of you right now.” Galen adjusted his tone and tack. “You’re vulnerable.”
“Because I’m a girl?”
“Because you’re dealing with a lot of stuff you didn’t know existed,” he corrected. “Hadley, I’m not saying you’re weak. In fact, from everything I’ve managed to glean about you, you’re the exact opposite. This is still more than any one person should have to deal with.”
“Is that why you keep having meetings about me behind my back?”
Galen shrugged, seemingly unbothered. “It wasn’t meant as an attack. We’re not mean people.”
“You have a serial killer.”
“Point taken. There are bad apples in every bunch, though. In general, we’re a close-knit community that tries to help. That’s all I was trying to do.”
My eyebrows flew up my forehead. “You called the meeting?”
“No, Lilac called the meeting and then proceeded to get into an argument with Aurora when they disagreed about how to handle things,” Galen corrected. “For the record, they pretty much hate each other. Okay, hate might be a strong word. They dislike each other with claws at times.”
“Why?”
“Because Aurora likes to get naked and doesn’t care who she does it in front of.”
Yeah, I’d seen that for myself. It was definitely an uncomfortable situation. That didn’t mean I hated her. More that I wished temporary blindness was a real thing. “And what did you argue during this meeting?”
“That you’ll be fine and can take whatever we throw at you,” Galen replied. “I think you’re more open to this stuff than you realize.”
“Paranormal stuff?”
“Pretty much.”
“I’m not so sure.” I licked my lips as I readjusted on my chair. “I went to bed last night convinced that I would wake up and find all this had been a dream. I thought maybe I would even wake up in my old bed and discover that the will never existed.”
“Would that have made you happy?”
It was an interesting question. “I don’t know. That’s what I need to figure out for myself, right?”
“It is.”
“I’m not ready to make a decision either way,” I supplied. “It’s a lot to take in, but I don’t want to make a kneejerk decision that I can’t ever take back.”
“I think that’s very pragmatic.”
“That’s my middle name.”
Galen cocked an amused eyebrow. “Hadley Pragmatic Hunter. It has a nice ring to it. What’s your real middle name?”
“May.”
Galen stilled, his expressive eyes clouding with something I couldn’t quite identify. “How did you end up with that for your middle name? Didn’t your father name you?”
“Yes, but apparently he and Mom decided on a name before I was born and he didn’t want to change it. He said it was her last wish, so … there you have it.”
“I guess.” Galen rubbed his hand over his strong jaw. “It’s something that ties you to May. That’s probably difficult for you, huh?”
I shrugged, noncommittal. “I finally went up to the third floor this morning.”
“You hadn’t visited before?”
“No. Do you know what’s up there?”
“Spell books. A desk. A lot of photographs.”
“Do you know what else?”
“Is that a trick question?” Galen had an unerring ability to remain calm whatever the circumstances. I admired that about him. I also found it an irritating trait.
“It’s not a trick question. It’s just … there was a journal on the desk. It was right in plain view. I felt guilty about opening it because those were May’s private thoughts, but I couldn’t seem to stop myself. Even though I know she’s apparently hanging around and might not like it, well, I looked anyway.”
“And what did you find?”
“Me.”
Galen pursed his lips. “Do you want to be more specific?”
“She had hundreds of photographs of me while I was growing up,” I replied. “I don’t know how she got them. I’d never seen most of them. They weren’t from my father’s collection or anything. She wrote little messages next to them.”
“What did the messages say?” Galen appeared legitimately curious.
“Usually my age and what I was doing in the photo. Sometimes she wrote little comments like she was sorry she missed my high school graduation or she wished I’d done something different with my hair for the prom.”
Galen snorted, seemingly amused. “That sounds like May.”
“The thing is, seeing all of that made me realize that she wanted contact with me.” My stomach twisted as I worked to maintain control of my emotions. The last thing I needed was another crying jag. “I talked to my father last night. He said she only contacted him a few times. He said he shut her down when I was younger because he didn’t want to confuse me.”
“How do you feel about that?”
“You would make a fabulous therapist. Has anyone ever told you that? That’s exactly the question a therapist would ask.”
“You can pay me for my services when I’m ready to leave,” Galen said. “I honestly want to know how that made you feel.”
“Conflicted.”
“Because your father never told you?”
“That’s part of it,” I confirmed, tapping my fingers on the tabletop as a fresh wave of anxiety washed over me. “I always thought of him as a straight shooter. He didn’t deny hiding May from me. He didn’t seem to think he’d done anything wrong either, even after I was an adult.”
“Do you think he did something wrong?”
“I think that he tried to protect himself rather than me,” I replied. “That’s the part that I’m having the most trouble living with. He’s my father and I love him, but I can’t help but believe he made the decision he did because it made his life easier.
“He said he didn’t want me to be confused or upset, but I don’t believe that,” I continued. “He didn’t want me asking questions or being upset with him. The only reason he told me about May’s will is because he was legally obligated to do it. If he didn’t and someone made a complaint he could’ve lost his law license.”
“This isn’t any of my business … .”
“That hasn’t stopped you from commenting before.”
“No, it really hasn’t.” Galen’s grin was mischievous. “Still, I don’t think you should be too hard on him. He came from a world without magic, or at least a world that does a better job of hiding magic. Over the years, no matter what your mother told him before she died, he might’ve convinced himself that she was making it up. That probably would’ve been easier for him.”
I’d considered that myself. “That doesn’t change the fact that I feel as if I’ve been robbed of something.”
“And you have every right to feel that way,” Galen said. “You’re dealing with so much I don’t know how you don’t buckle under the weight of it. I think you’re doing extremely well under some very difficult circumstances.”
He could say that with a straight face only because he didn’t witness my crying meltdown on the third floor an hour before. “Thank you.”
“Don’t mention it.” Galen sighed and patted my hand. “You’ve got a lot of work to do around here. I think you should focus on that today.”
“You’re not the boss of me.” I meant the words to be playful, but they came out a bit harsher than I expected. Still, he was a bossy thing. I couldn’t decide how I felt about it. “I think I’m going to tackle some of the heavier lifting this afternoon.”
“Don’t do that yourself,” Galen cautioned. “I’ve seen some of the furniture on the second and third floors. It’s heavy, and I can’t help you today because I’m busy looking for a serial killer, as you keep reminding me.”
I cocked a challenging eyebrow. “Did I ask for your help?”
“No, but you strike me as the sort of person who never asks for help. You need to get over that,” Galen
replied. “If you insist on moving the furniture before I can clear some time to help you, I suggest calling Booker. May left you money, and Booker is essentially our odd jobs fellow. He’s strong, and he’s likely to be able to help on short notice.”
I hadn’t considered that. In fact, I hadn’t seen the oddly-dressed and yet ruggedly handsome taxi driver since he dropped me off that first day. “I’ll consider it.”
“Do that,” Galen said, heaving himself to his feet. “If you need to talk or have questions, I’ll be around. I know it will probably seem like a good idea to shut everyone out right now, but don’t. That will only delay the inevitable, and I think that’s the last thing you want.”
“Do you have any news on your killer?”
“No, I’m still trying to figure out what all three of my victims have in common. It’s not exactly easy, because Moonstone Bay is an island full of secret keepers.”
“I thought everyone knew everyone’s business in Moonstone Bay.”
“In some ways that’s true,” Galen said. “In others … everyone has secrets, Hadley.”
“Oh, yeah? What’s yours?”
Galen’s smile was back. “You’re not ready for that one yet. When you are, we’ll have another talk.”
I couldn’t wait for that day. Um … actually I could.
INSTEAD OF CALLING Booker I spent the day doing busywork, sorting through shelves and dusting books so I could arrange them in what looked to be the proper way. I’m a big fan of alphabetization, but I was afraid that if I screwed with May’s organizational system I wouldn’t be able to reclaim it.
I made Campbell’s tomato soup for dinner and sat on the back patio to watch the sun set before locking myself inside the lighthouse for the night. I double-checked all of the doors and sent a whispered admonishment in May’s direction before drawing a bath.
“I know you probably want to talk, but I need a good night’s sleep,” I said. “You’re dead, so it’s not exactly as if you’re working on a timetable. I need sleep.”
She didn’t answer, but I was almost positive I felt a feathered hand brush over my hair before I sank beneath the water and let the heat and steam wash away the day. I spent a good thirty minutes in the tub before draining it, debating whether or not I should tie my hair back in a braid because I was sleeping on it wet. Ultimately I figured I would shower before anyone saw me the next morning, so bedhead wasn’t nearly as terrifying a prospect as it could’ve been.
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