Completely Smitten by Kristine Grayson

Author:Kristine Grayson [Grayson, Kristine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fiction
Publisher: WMG Publishing
Published: 2015-11-27T05:00:00+00:00

* * *

Ariel was following Sofia through the dining room, inspecting table setup for dinner. Suddenly a white light flared through the kitchen wall.

“What was that?” Ariel asked.

“What?” Sofia looked around, as if searching for something. “I didn’t see anything.”

“That light,” Ariel said. “Straight in front of us. The kitchen wall.”

Sofia stopped, then crossed herself. “You might want to do that,” she said.

“I’m not Catholic,” Ariel said.

“You might want to convert,” Sofia said.

“Why?”

“You’re one of those.”

Ariel frowned. This conversation had taken a strange turn. “One of whats?”

“The ones who can see.” Sofia had lowered her voice.

“See?” Ariel was still staring at the wall. It looked normal now. “See what?”

“The ghosts.” Sofia was whispering.

Blackstone had told Ariel of this. “I don’t believe in ghosts,” she said.

“Then how do you explain what you just saw?”

Ariel shrugged. “A power surge? Problems in the kitchen?”

“To cause a white light? Ariel, if that were the case, we’d hear sirens, fight off fire-trucks, hear yelling and screaming. There’s been nothing.”

“Does everyone else see a white light?” Ariel asked.

Sofia shook her head. “Sometimes they see things disappear or appear. Or float. Sometimes they can see through the walls. Sometimes they hear voices.”

Ariel did feel a bit disconcerted. The only other time she had seen lights like this, she had just fallen off a cliff. “What does Blackstone say about it?”

“He says if there are ghosts here, they are benign ghosts.”

“Do you believe that?”

Sofia shook her head once. “That’s why I try to be here only in the daylight, so that there are fewer of them. But in the winter, in the twilight, sometimes…”

She didn’t finish her sentence. Instead, she headed toward the front of the restaurant, where the windows showed the darkening sky.

Ariel trailed behind her like a duckling. “I thought we were checking the tables.”

“I’m sure they’re fine.”

“Then what are we doing?” Ariel said.

“Staying here.” Sofia had reached the maître d’s podium and she clung to it as if it were a lifeline.

“Why?” Ariel asked.

“Because,” Sofia whispered, “we’re only a few steps away from the door.”

Ariel resisted the urge to shake her head. She wasn’t used to being around superstition. There had to be a scientific explanation for the lights.

She left Sofia’s side and headed back through the restaurant, checking the tables as she went. The white linen tablecloths, the large bone china dish whose main purpose was to be whisked off the table as soon as the patron sat down, the expensive silverware, the napkins folded like tulips, all were in place.

This restaurant was like an old clock that had been kept in perfect repair; everything moved along in its time, just like it always had. When Sofia left, Ariel would take her place as a cog in a very big wheel.

Nothing was out of order and there were no more flashing lights. Yet the feeling of discomfort remained.

Ariel let herself into the kitchen, feeling her shoulder muscles stiffen as she did so. She was bracing herself for another encounter with Andrew Vari.

But she didn’t see him.

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