Christmas sucks.
When Emily Shepherd's boss boyfriend cheats on her with her best friend, she loses everything in one night-love, friendships, job, and home. In a weird fit of desperation (or some deep-rooted need to punish herself even more) she m...
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The headlights down the street signaled what she already knew was coming. She leaned close to the door and tried to speak through the crack. "Please, Rose. This is not the way. Just open the door."
Of course, ghosts do their own thing, don't they? Why should they care that they were making her look like the world's biggest idiot? The door remained closed and locked.
As Leo parked in her drive and made his way up the sidewalk, Emily twisted the doorknob violently. "Open!"
"That's not the way a door works. You can't just yell at it." Leo held the key up with a smirk. Then he reached around her and unlocked the door, swinging it open in the process. "I guess you still need door lessons."
"Leo, I'm sorry. I put a chair in the door so it wouldn't—" She started to explain, but both chairs were at the kitchen table, where they belonged. "I heard a racoon in the garbage can."
"Racoons hibernate in the winter." He raised his eyebrows. He was not exactly annoyed, but he was also not exactly amused. "You didn't hear racoons."
"There was one." She pointed toward the side of the house. "I saw it through the window."
He smirked. "What color was its eyes?"
"What? I don't know." She tried to think. Did she actually see its eyes? "Yellow? Green?"
"Racoon eyes glow red at night. You probably saw a cat." He raised his eyebrows. "Look, we've got to do this a different way, okay?"
She gasped, eyes wide. "You think I'm making this up just to get you to come over!"
"Come on, Emily." He gestured at her hands, crossed over her chest and gripping her upper arms. "You don't even have your phone with you. How did you text me after you got locked out?"
"I—" She looked frantically around the room. "Rose!"
"Nope," He shook his head. "Not funny."
"No, Leo. It was her." She went to the bedroom to retrieve her phone. 'Her' text to Leo was still on the screen. I've locked myself outside again. Will you please come and let me in? "Rose! Get out here! You're making me look crazy!"
Leo laughed softly, but there was no humor in it. "Look, Emily. I like you. You're a little coo-coo, but it's kind of endearing."
"I'm not making it up. Rose! Tell him!" She raised her voice to the air. She was ready to search the entire house, until she saw his face.
"Don't. Okay?" He was trying to keep smiling, but he wasn't entirely succeeding. "I will come any time you call. Any time you want me to. Just..."
"I know it's crazy. Maybe I am crazy." Her priorities were at war within her. On the one hand, she could tell this conversation was disturbing Leo and she didn't want that. But on the other hand, she didn't want him to think she was the type of person who said they saw ghosts when they didn't. "But, Leo, it's still true. Rose and Mr. Statton are here and they talk to me."
