The First Ghost Read Online Free

with the business, but I wasn’t in the mood for a Harry pity party. “Listen to you, Mr. Negative. You make your own luck.”
    The sudden squeal of tires and smell of smoke caused my eyes to fly open and I squeaked at the sight of how close we had come to actually loading ourselves into the open back of a broken-down eighteen-wheeler. Harry swore and jerked the wheel hard to the right without checking his mirrors. I gripped the door handle and closed my eyes again.
    “In case you haven’t noticed,” Harry said, continuing as if he hadn’t almost killed us both, “I bear a passing resemblance to Howdy Doody.”
    “In case you haven’t noticed, we’re almost identical.”
    “It’s totally different for you. Red hair and freckles are cute on a woman. On guys, not so much. And women aren’t tall and skinny. They’re willowy. Guys think it’s hot.” I rolled my eyes. Harry was always dating some idiotic lingerie model or something and then lamenting how shallow she was.
    “Six feet isn’t willowy, bonehead. It’s freakishly tall. What do you think that does to my dating options?”
    “You could date shorter men.”
    “You could date ugly women.”
    That cracked us both up, and after he screeched across three lanes of traffic and shot down the off-ramp at double the legal speed, he turned left to Italiano Soda Fountain instead of right toward my apartment. Good thing, because I had a serious craving.
    It was way too cold for the chocolate malted shakes, but Harry cranked up the car’s heater. We were giggly and silly from the sugar rush when he dropped me off at my apartment.
    Hephzibah hadn’t made an appearance, but Corinne sulked in the backseat for a while and then vanished. I’m not sure exactly when. Since I spent a lot of the time with my eyes shut, I didn’t see her go.
    As I turned the key into my apartment and opened the door, poof , there Corinne was, looking royally pissed. So much for no ghosts outside of the hospital. Ignoring her, I threw my plastic bag of clothes down on my chair and carefully set down my It’s a Girl bouquet.
    I adore my little apartment. It’s just an efficiency, but the design is modern and open. The living area blends right into the kitchen. Only the bathroom and bedroom are self-contained.
    The lush, beige carpet is lovely because I like being barefoot. I have an elegant leather sofa and a fireplace with a stone hearth. Not that I’ve ever lit a fire in it, but I could if I wanted to.
    Best of all, in the morning the sun comes in the kitchen window and the room glows with the warm light. Have I mentioned that I adore the place?
    And there Corinne was, sitting on my lovely leather couch, glaring at me when I’d done nothing to the girl. It wasn’t my fault she died. I had a bad day, too. Okay, hers was worse, but still. This was exactly why I wanted nothing to do with ghosts.
    “I am so not in the mood right now,” I said.
    “Really? You were yucking it up a minute ago with your friend.”
    “Brother.”
    “Whatever. You haven’t done anything that you promised.”
    “I just got out of the freaking hospital. Give me a break, okay?”
    “At least go get Billy.”
    “I said I would help you. Don’t push it. I will call your aunt in...”
    “Omaha. Aunt Susie.”
    “Right. I’ll call her. And I’ll check on your dog, but it’s going to have to wait. I need a shower.” I touched the bandage on my head. Blood crusted my hairline.
    “But she’s going to be worried.”
    I sighed and sat on the couch. Corinne was wearing me down. Was it really only yesterday she had died? This psychic stuff was exactly as I had feared. You can’t get away from a ghost. I counted to ten. Get rid of the ghost and get my life back. I could do this.
    “I’m sure they’ve told her already,” I said. “That’s what hospitals do. She knows.” I put my hand up to stop her protest. “I said I would call her and I will. But you have to give me a little time. This is all new