Kylie pulled one of her legs up and hugged it. “I could be wrong, but I just don’t see it being that. Not Perry. He’s so in love with Miranda.”

“Yeah, but you know what guys love more than anything.”

Kylie shrugged. “As sad as it sounds, I really think Perry is trying to do Miranda a favor. I ran into him this afternoon, and he looked so depressed that it hurt me to look at him.”

“Duh. Then he shouldn’t go to frigging Paris! How hard is that?”

“Pretty hard,” Kylie said. “Put yourself in his shoes. He’s basically ostracized from the human world. You and I, we think about college, and what we’re going to do with our lives. He can’t do that. If he can’t learn to control himself, he’s basically in hiding the rest of his life. And I’m sure Miranda talks about what she wants to do. He has to feel as if he’s going to hold her back.”

“Damn it! It sucks being a supernatural teen.”

Kylie sighed. “I pretty much thought it sucked being a human teen, too.”

“I didn’t,” Della said. “I had it great.”

Kylie looked at her. “Didn’t you tell me that your parents wanted you to be a doctor?”

“Yeah,” Della said.

“And were you going to do that just to make them happy?”

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“No,” Della said.

“Then sooner or later you would’ve had to stand up to them, and then things wouldn’t have been so great. I’m just saying that both humans and supernaturals have it tough when it comes to being a teen.”

“Maybe,” Della said with sass. “But being turned vampire added a little fuel to the fire. And not being able to stop yourself from shifting into a fire-breathing dragon sucks even more.”

“True,” Kylie conceded. “Seeing your dead father hanging out when you didn’t know he was even your father wasn’t a piece of cake, either. But I know human kids who have it almost that bad.” Kylie bit down on her lip. “Look at my friend, Sara. She got cancer.”

Della shook her head. “You know, you kind of sound like Holiday. Logical, upbeat.”

“Am I that bad?” Kylie frowned. “I hate it when she takes something completely batty and turns it around to make perfect sense.”

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.”




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