Della chuckled. “You are going to make a perfect counselor.” Then she added, “Come to think of it, maybe you can help me make sense of something else.”
“Counselor Galen at your service,” Kylie teased. “What do you have? Wait. Let me guess. A certain vamp tried to kiss you today and you don’t know how you feel about it?”
Della frowned. “That’s not it.” He hadn’t kissed her, but Kylie hit the nail on the dad-blasted head about her not knowing how she felt.
“So, he didn’t try to kiss you?” Kylie asked, tilting her head to listen to Della’s heart.
“No. I thought he was, but he wasn’t.”
“So he wasn’t too touchy-feely?”
Della’s mind took her back to leaning on him, to him holding her in his arms. Then it went to him touching her ear. And that took her back to the whole nose-in-his-crotch incident. An unexpected giggle spilled out of her lips.
“What?” Kylie asked.
Della debated not telling, but realized this was exactly the kind of thing they shared. The crazy things, the stupid things, the embarrassing things. That’s what being a friend was about. Telling each other everything.
In spite of the cool temperature, Della’s face felt warm. Then she bit the bullet and told Kylie about seeing her dad on the freeway.
“Did he see you?” Kylie asked with complete concern.
“No. I … hid. The floorboard was full of Chase’s camera stuff, so I … I had to go facedown on his lap. And I think my chin might have bruised his boys.”
Kylie burst out laughing and Della joined in. They were laughing so hard they didn’t hear the person move behind them.
“What’s so funny?” Miranda asked, sounding sleepy. She sat down beside them, dangling her feet off the side of the porch. Della repeated the story about putting her nose in the Panty Perv’s crotch.
And they all three sat there in the dark, the insects singing in the distance, laughing like girls. When they sobered, Kylie looked at Della. “So, what was the thing you needed me to help you make sense of?”
Della looked at Miranda, and knew the girl wouldn’t like this subject. Hell, Della didn’t like the subject, but she needed advice, and Kylie was the go-to person for these issues. Especially if it was something you didn’t want Holiday or Burnett to get wind of. “Ghosts.”
Kylie made a funny face, then looked at Della all serious-like. “Ghosts seldom make sense.”
Miranda let out a moan. “I’d rather talk about you putting your nose where it didn’t belong.”
Della grimaced. “Then maybe you want to go back inside.”
“I don’t think so. I’d rather be with you two talking about ghosts than by myself knowing you’re talking about ghosts. My imagination can be scarier than the truth.”
Della didn’t agree. What she had to talk about was pretty damn scary.
Chapter Twenty
Della told Kylie about the near accident on the freeway and what Holiday said about ghosts being able to cause crap like that.
“Did you see the ghost when it happened?” Kylie asked.
“No, I’ve never seen her. I hear her. I feel a cold presence.”
“And you still don’t think you know who she is?”
Della remembered that both Holiday and Kylie had said she probably had a connection to the ghost. “No. But we already know what the connection is. It’s that Chan knew Natasha.”
Kylie looked doubtful. “Most of the time it’s more than that.”
“Well, this time it isn’t,” Della said.
“Did you feel her when the accident was about to happen?” Kylie asked.
“I don’t know,” Della answered honestly. “It happened so quickly and then I saw my dad and—”
“That’s when you saw your dad?” Kylie asked.
“Yeah,” Della said and realized she hadn’t put those two things together. “Do you think he has anything to do with it?”
“Duh,” Miranda added her two cents’ worth.
Della shot a frown the witch’s way. “If you can’t say something constructive, just keep your mouth zipped.”
The witch scowled back. “I could say something constructive, but you don’t want to hear it.”
“What do I not want to hear?” Della asked, annoyed.
Miranda looked at Kylie as if asking permission to speak.
“You don’t need her approval. Just say it already,” Della snapped.
“Fine. You act as if you don’t know who the ghost is, but I think it’s pretty evident.”
“It’s not Natasha,” Della snapped.
“I’m not saying that it’s Natasha.”
“Then who?” Della and Kylie asked at the same time.
Miranda looked at both of them and then appeared almost scared to say it. “Your aunt.”
“My aunt Miao is alive.”
“No, the other one.”
Della’s breath caught. “You mean Bao Yu?”
“Is she the one who was murdered?”
Della nodded.
“Then yes, that one. It makes sense. She spotted your father, she freaked out, and made all the cars go crazy—”
“No!” Della felt her chest burn and her eyes burned with it. “My dad did not kill his sister!”
Miranda did a quick shift away from Della.