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“Well…yeah.” She shrugged as if her answer should be obvious. “I mean, look at him. He’s freaking gorgeous. It’s got to saysomethingabout me to know I was able to catch the attention of a hottie like him.”
As I blinked at her, dumbfounded, Parker seemed to read my expression, and he chuckled. “I still have a shot with her, don’t I?” he guessed.
I scoffed and sent him a short scowl. “No.”
Totally not believing me, he continued to smirk as he pushed his door open. But, “Mm-hmm,” was all he said as he stumbled out into the parking lot.
As soon as the door closed, I glanced at her. “Does he?”
Raina laughed outright and gripped my shoulder as if she found my jealousy to be adorable. “I guess we’ll see once I wake up,” she answered elusively. “Now, come on, Union. I want to watch Keene reconnect with his mom.”
As she popped out of the truck to follow Parker up the sidewalk toward the library, I scowled at the both of them together.
“Son of a bitch,” I hissed. I did not want to think about Raina hooking up with Parker. So, as I pushed my own door open, I had to reassure myself by muttering under my breath, “He doesn’t have a shot with her.”
From there, the three of us hurried into the library. Once we reached the stairs going down, Parker had to clutch the railing as he swayed unsteadily.
“Jesus. Are these the steepest fucking steps ever built or what?”
“Just don’t fall and split your head open,” I warned, grabbing his arm to keep him steady.
At the landing, we pushed our way into the basement stacks, where Parker paused in the doorway, wavering. “Holy shit. There really is a basement in this place.”
“Yeah, come on,” I urged, tugging on his arm. “They’re probably this way.”
We bumbled along the cramped walkway until we made our way back to the study table where Raina had first encountered Robin.
Everyone else was already there, and Keene was in the middle of it all, tears in his eyes as he watched a floating book shift toward the table and gently land next to another that was already lying there.
Parker pulled up short, blinking at the sight. “Am I that drunk, or did a book just float across the room?”
“Shh,” Keene hissed, lifting his hand to shut us up. “She’s trying to tell me something.”
After eight books had been placed side by side on the table with their front covers facing up, all of us crowded around, trying to make sense of them. They were about various topics, none dealing with ghosts or supernatural phenomena at all.
“I don’t get it,” Oaklynn announced bluntly before turning to an empty space of air. “What does this mean?”
A second later, Raina nudged my arm. “First letter of every title,” she translated.
I turned to her. “First letter of every title? What does that mean?”
But Keene had heard me and promptly turned back to the books. “S. U. N…”
“Holy shit,” Alec breathed the moment we all realized Robin had spelled the wordSunshine, the pet name she’d always called him.
More tears filled Keene’s eyes. “It really is her.” Gripping his head, he turned, trying to find her. “Why didn’t you tell me you were here earlier? I visited this building almost every day last semester.”
Raina leaned toward me whispering, “She still maintains that she didn’t want to scare him.”
I opened my mouth to report what she’d heard, but Oaklynn was already filling Keene in.
“That’s bullshit,” Keene rasped, his voice breaking with emotion. “You should’ve told me. I could’ve—” He paused to catch his breath as emotions swamped him. Then he gritted his teeth and demanded, “What’re you doing here, anyway? You were supposed to move on. Why did you stay?”
A moment later, Raina breathed in sharply and placed a hand over her mouth as her eyes watered. “What?” I asked her. “What did she say?”
But it was Oaklynn who answered. “She said she’s here for you, Keene.”
“Me?” Keene slapped a hand to his chest and shook his head emphatically. “No. I’m okay. Don’t stay for me. Mom... You shouldn’t be stuck here as a ghost. That’snota happy ending. You should be off, luxuriating in some amazing paradise. The only reason I got over your death in the first place was because I thought you were in a better place, being taken care of. I’m not—no. You can’t put this on me. Don’t stay for me.”
