Moving On (Ghost Of The Past Book 1)

by Trisha Grace

  Kate gave him a small smile. “My parents died in a car accident, and this is all I have left of them.”

  Car accident. His assumption of her background couldn’t have been more wrong. Maybe she had great guardians. He was tempted to ask, but he wanted to know why she was here, why she was willing to do this for him.

  He noticed her staring at the locket, so he continued. “This is all that’s left? What about the house? I’m sure there were photos and—” He stopped abruptly when Kate sighed softly.

  “I don’t know. There’s nothing left in the house.”

  “Nothing?”

  She nodded. “My grandparents cleared the house. I don’t know what they did with all the stuff.”

  “Why would they do that?”

  “I don’t know. I don’t think their death was an accident. We never got the full story. My grandparents refused to talk about it. One day, they picked us up from school and took us home with nothing but the clothes on our back and the school bag we’d brought to school. They told us that our parents had died in a car accident and that everything was gone. Even as we grew older and started asking questions, they stuck to their story.”

  “Us?”

  “My sister and I. I have a younger sister, Lydia. She’s studying to become a lawyer.” Kate gave him a small smile, but he could tell she was extremely proud of her.

  “What made you think otherwise?”

  Kate shrugged. “I had always assumed it was too painful for them to talk about it, so I never pushed. Lydia tried a few times, but each time my grandmother got so angry that she’d refuse to speak to us for a few days.” She paused, pursing her lips. “Then when my grandmother got dementia, she started rambling on about some murder. At first, I thought she was confused, but I started piecing up the bits of information and I became suspicious. But that was—is—all I have: suspicions. It was difficult to get her to answer my questions properly.”

  “Until now?”

  “It’s impossible to ask now, unless you know a good medium,” Kate teased.

  He blinked, stunned for a moment. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know she’d passed away.”

  Kate nodded as she said, “Your grandfather volunteered at the home she was staying. She thought that he was my grandfather, and he was kind enough to pretend along.”

  “So why is that the reason you’re here?”

  She took the locket that he was still holding and unfastened the small clasp before placing it back into his hand.

  Inside lay a family photo; everyone was grinning as Kate and Lydia clung to their parents.

  “A few years after their death, I realized I was beginning to forget how my mother looked like. My grandmother had photos of her, but they were all photos of her when she was younger.”

  Swallowing hard, Kate took in a deep breath and looked away. “I began to have nightmares. I kept dreaming of my parents. We’d be in the park and I could hear them calling out for me, but when I ran to them, they would be faceless.” She shook her head at her silliness. “I’d wake up screaming in the middle of the night. My grandmother would comfort me and get me to talk about whatever I could remember of them.”

  As she turned back to the locket in his hand, she gave him a wry smile. “And I remembered this. I remembered my mom wearing it all the time. I don’t know how, but a few weeks later, my grandmother handed me the necklace with the locket.

  “You know what the funny thing was? I thought I’d be over the moon to be able to hold the necklace in my hand. Instead, I cried; I cried so hard that it felt as if I’d lost them all over again. When I finally opened the locket and saw their smiling faces, saw myself smiling so happily in their arms, I couldn’t stand to look at it.”

  Taking her eyes off the locket, she looked right at him. “So I understand. I understand how it feels like to have someone so precious taken from you so suddenly. I understand the heartache that even the good memories bring.”

  “Why do you still wear it?” Tyler asked, his voice in a deep whisper.

  “The same reason you’re still here.” Kate closed the locket and placed her hand over it. “This house has great memories waiting for you to remember. It’s scary and heart wrenching. Right now, it probably seems easier to forget. But someday, it’ll be worth it; someday, it’ll make you smile. The ache of them being gone never really leaves, but at least you can remember them when they were happy. Those memories will be good enough to make you smile.”

  Tyler swallowed hard.

  Kate reached over and picked up the box he’d placed on the floor. “They’re gone, but their love is encapsulated in you. They loved you, and now you have something from them. This house, these rings; they live on in all of these. Your memories, their stories. As long as you choose to remember them and to tell them, they’ll live on.”

  “Ty!” Marianne shouted when she entered the house, jolting both Tyler and Kate.

  Kate chuckled at their reactions, and they got to their feet. She handed him the box and headed for the stairs. “I really should get to work or Eve will go crazy on me. She’s already pissed with me for staying here.”

  “What time do you get off work?”

  “Hmm, I guess any time after I’m done with my work,” Kate answered. “I doubt I’ll be home late. It’s too scary to drive up here at night.”

  “It’s quiet and peaceful,” he countered.

  “Maybe I watched too many crime shows. This house sort of reminds me of the movie When a Stranger Calls. Seen it?”

  “No.”

  “Well, good for you. I wish I hadn’t.”

  “Evelyn, she’s your business partner?” Tyler asked.

  “Mm-hmm.” Kate nodded in acknowledgement.

  “Why is she angry that you’re here?”

  Kate flashed a smile while shaking her head. “She’s just worried.” Then her brows furrowed. “Ugh! I forgot my laptop. You go ahead.”

  Tyler leaned against the wall as Kate went back up the stairs.

  “She told you to go ahead. You don’t have to wait for her,” Marianne stated.

  He continued down the stairs, ignoring Marianne.

  “You sure have plenty of questions for her,” Marianne continued.

  “I should know who I’m living with.”

  The corners of Marianne’s lips turned up. “Really? I don’t hear you asking about me.”

  “That’s because you never stop talking,” he said as he looked over his shoulder to see if Kate was coming down the stairs.

  Marianne raised her knuckle and knocked Tyler on his head. “Watch your manners. And she’ll be back tonight. You don’t have to keep watch.”

  Something was wrong with him. He never bothered much about others. The things he knew about his friends were from what they told him. He rarely asked questions.

  But there was so much he wanted to know. She understood what he was going through—something he hadn’t quite figured out himself.

  He tightened his grip on the box in his hand. Maybe someday he’d be able to let go of the horrors and hold on to the amazing memories his parents had once created for him.

  “Bye, Tyler, Marianne. See you guys tonight!” Kate shouted as she went running out of the door.

  “Kate,” he called out as he ran after her.

  She was right: moving into the mansion disrupted her life, too. He didn’t want her getting into trouble with her friend.

  Kate paused and looked up, one of her feet already in the car. “Yeah?”

  “Will you be all right?”

  Her brows drew closer. “I’m lost.”

  “Evelyn, you said—”

  “Oh.” She chuckled. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

  He continued standing right where he was, and she probably noticed his uncertainty.

  “I’ll drop you a text once I get to the office to let you know that I’m alive and well. See you tonight.” Kate slipped into her car, and he watched as the car disappeared from his view.

 
“Are you worried that she isn’t coming back?” Marianne asked from behind him.

  He was. There was so much more he wanted to know. And something about her smile …

  Chapter Five

  Kate stepped into her office, keeping her head low as she hastened past Evelyn’s room.

  “Miss Mitchell, a client—”

  Her index finger flew to her lips, trying to shush her staff.

  “Why didn’t you pick up your phone?” Evelyn asked, her voice deadly serious.

  Sighing softly at her failed attempt to sneak pass Evelyn’s office, Kate turned around and widened her steps toward her own office while her hand dug into the bag. “Sorry, I didn’t hear it. I thought I’d be in and out of the house in a few minutes so I left my phone in the bag, and I left my bag in the car. As you can see, I’m still alive and well.”

  Evelyn closed her eyes and took in a deep breath through her nose.

  Not good.

  “I’m kidding, and I’m sorry.” Kate took out her phone and sent a quick text to Tyler. “Let’s get to work,” she suggested before Evelyn could continue her lecture on the 101 reasons why she shouldn’t be staying with Tyler at the mansion.

  Before she could put her things down and settle onto her chair, her phone buzzed. The notification flashed across the screen; a text message from Tyler.

  “Did he just text you?” Evelyn asked, incredulous. “I thought you said he was awful?”

  Kate glowered at Evelyn. “I didn’t say he was awful. I said he wasn’t a bundle of joy.” Kate repeated what she’d said that morning as she read the text.

  Everything all right? Hope I didn’t get you into trouble with your friend.

  Evelyn snatched the phone from her hand and turned away.

  “Eve!” Kate tried to grab her phone back, but Evelyn was too fast for her. Evelyn used her back as a shield and stretched her hands forward, making sure that the phone was out of Kate’s reach.

  With lightning speed, Evelyn’s fingers worked across the QWERTY keyboard.

  “Are we in elementary school?” Kate grumbled as she stretched over Evelyn’s shoulder.

  She was so focused on getting her phone back that she hadn’t realized all their staff was staring at them through the glass.

  When she finally noticed the stares, she pressed the switch on the remote to fog up the glass.

  “Give me back my phone.”

  The moment Evelyn returned Kate’s phone, Debussy’s Clair de Lune broke the momentary truce. She quickly turned and picked up the phone before Evelyn could snatch it from her hand. “Hey.”

  “Kate?”

  “Yeah.” She shot a warning glare over to Evelyn.

  “Are you all right?”

  Uncertain about what Evelyn sent out in the text, she decided to come clean rather than pretend to know what was going on. “Sorry, Eve sent out the last text. I have no idea what she sent, but you can just ignore her.”

  “Marianne’s cooking. Why don’t you ask Evelyn over for dinner?”

  “Dinner?” Kate cast an uncertain glance in Evelyn’s direction.

  “Then she can take a look around at where you’re staying.”

  “But the eight p.m. rule about guests.”

  “We can have an early dinner. I’m sure Marianne can get it ready by … six?”

  She doubted a dinner at the mansion would shut Evelyn up, but she did have to stay there for a year. If there were a chance that Evelyn would back off, she would take it. “All right. We’ll be back by six. I’ll tell her to play nice, but please don’t expect it.”

  “Not a problem. See you at six.”

  Kate could sense Evelyn’s eyes on her throughout her phone conversation with Tyler.

  Once she hang up the call, Evelyn asked, “Where are we going?”

  “To the mansion, for dinner with Tyler and Marianne,” Kate said as she tapped into the message application to read the text that Evelyn had sent.

  Yes, she is. She shouldn’t be staying with someone she doesn’t know. If you harm her in any way, I swear I’ll hunt you down and bury you somewhere in the creepy woods.

  Kate’s fingers splayed across her eyes and forehead. “Eve, thanks for being concerned about my well-being, but really? Do you have to add in the part about burying him?”

  Evelyn rolled her eyes. “It’s a threat; that’s how a threat look like.”

  Kate sat and leaned back against her chair. “Can we begin our work now?”

  She rushed through the proposal she had been preparing for the new bed and breakfast she was working on. A bed and breakfast aimed at attracting city dwellers like her to the country.

  In order to make sure that the city dwellers not get a rude shock or feel as though they were still in the city, she’d worked to put in country elements without over-cluttering it.

  Evelyn had already managed to find a few pieces of the furniture she wanted.

  Kate simply had to make the final decision on which item would make it to the actual installment. Though she had hundreds of photos on that place, she needed to take a trip down before making the final decision.

  She had to get a feel of the place for herself and look at the changes that the renovations had done.

  It would save tons of trouble as compared to getting the pieces of furniture and planning a room, only to realize that the new floorings or the colors of the walls didn’t match.

  She scanned through her calendar, trying to find a date when she could make the trip down and perhaps stay over for the weekend. Just before she set the date down in her calendar, she remembered the condition of the will.

  She would have to ask Tyler along, and it would depend if he had the time.

  He was much friendlier that morning, and they seemed to be on better terms. Hopefully, he wouldn’t mind taking a weekend off.

  She would ask him later after dinner, after Evelyn had gone home.

  Tyler hung up the call and found Marianne staring at him. “What?”

  “Did you just ask her to come home for dinner? And to bring a friend?”

  Tyler frowned, not understanding Marianne’s bewilderment. “Her friend’s concerned about her stay here. I think it’ll save her some trouble if she brings her friend here to have a look around.”

  “Save her some trouble,” Marianne repeated while her eyes continued to study Tyler.

  “What?”

  “Nothing. I’m just trying to think of a time when you’d taken the initiative to solve someone’s problem.”

  “I’ve helped you and the guys before.”

  “Yeah, when we asked. You never offered.”

  “If you didn’t ask, I assumed you could solve it on your own.”

  Marianne rolled her eyes. Tyler didn’t understand what that was for, so he ignored her. “I’m heading to the office to get some things. Do you need me to get anything for you?” Tyler asked.

  “Some helpers.”

  He paused. “There are housekeepers, right? Get them to help.”

  Marianne opened the fridge and said as she bent in, “They’re part-time, and they only clean the house, not cook.”

  “Then hire someone, whoever you want. Let me know when you’ve made your choice.”

  “That’s the Tyler I know,” Marianne said from behind the fridge. “The Tyler who’ll offer a solution, but leave you alone to deal with it.”

  Again, he didn’t understand what was Marianne grumbling about. She was always so particular about who was allowed in the kitchen while she was cooking. It only made sense for Marianne to choose her own helper.

  Marianne popped her head up from the fridge. “Why are you being so nice to her?”

  Grateful, maybe. After how he’d treated her, she still chose to help him.

  The conditions of the will stipulated that she had to stay in the mansion for a year, which was all she had to do. There wasn’t a need for her to tell him the stories behind the rings and to assure him that things would get better.

  He w
asn’t highly skilled at being a pleasant person. But if there was one thing he was good at, it would be making someone feel safe in a place.

  Without answering Marianne, he shrugged and headed out of the house.

  “You weren’t kidding about the woods. It’s just like the When a Stranger Calls movie we saw,” Evelyn said as she stepped out of the car.

  “Exactly. I think it’s scary to look out at the woods. I guess we’re both city people,” Kate said with a shrug. “Tyler says it’s quiet and peaceful.”

  “Well, he is in the security system business, so the house should be the safest place in the world, right?”

  She thought about that for a moment. “Actually, if you’ve got the keys or know how to break the doors down, you’re pretty much in.”

  “Or just break the windows,” Evelyn added, her eyes on the long windows that the mansion had.

  Now that Evelyn had brought it up, it was making her rather uncomfortable.

  “Having second thoughts about staying here, huh?” Evelyn asked with a smirk. “Big house and all, in the middle of the woods with no security. Imagine waking up and—”

  “Shut up.” Kate turned her key and opened the door.

  A series of low, soft beeps went off.

  She turned to Evelyn, seeing the same confusion reflected on Evelyn’s face.

  “What’s that?”

  “I don’t—” Before Kate could finish her sentence, a shrill alarm went off and both of them cringed at the loud alarm resonating throughout the house.

  Tyler came jogging out of the kitchen and keyed in the security code, stopping the alarm immediately. “Sorry, I should’ve texted and warned you about that.”

  Kate rubbed her ears. “That wasn’t working in the morning.”

  Tyler opened his mouth to speak, but a phone call came through the landline. He moved over to pick it up while Marianne walked out of the kitchen.

  “Hi, Kate. And you must be Evelyn.” Marianne smiled warmly and stretched her hand out for a handshake. “The alarm, such a troublesome thing, isn’t it? But Tyler said you thought the woods were creepy, so he spent the day updating and fixing the system.”