Haunted Ever After by Juliet Madison Read Free Book Online

That was pitiful.
    ‘I’ll drink to that too,’ Mel said.
    ‘Mel, go easy, we haven’t started the hors d’oeuvres yet,’ Georgie said, then looked at me again. ‘Well, thanks, Sal. I’m glad you think I’m the best chick.’ She gave me a confused smile.
    ‘It could be a Dead Chick too, though,’ said Lorena. ‘I mean, the drink is kinda dark and gloomy looking. Not in a bad way, I mean, I bet it tastes fantastic, but it has a kind of mysterious appeal.’
    ‘Hey, you’re right. I reckon Dead Chick suits it,’ Mel replied.
    ‘Or even The Haunted House,’ Lorena added. ‘We are in an old, creaky place after all. Beautiful, but it does have that look of a haunted house, don’t you think?’ She glanced around.
    I scratched my cheek. Then my head. Then my arm.
    ‘Are you allergic to The Gresally?’ Georgie asked. ‘I hope not!’
    ‘Oh, no. Not at all. Just get itchy sometimes, from all those anti-bacterial hand sanitisers I use at work, I think.’ I stole a glance at Red who was in hysterics at Lorena’s suggestion for calling it a Haunted House.
    ‘If only she knew, ha ha! Tell her, Sally, tell her I’m here. I dare ya!’
    Never in a million years.
    ‘What about The Ghost?’ asked Mel.
    My eyes darted to hers. ‘What? What ghost?’
    ‘What about calling Georgie’s drink The Ghost? It has a spooky look to it.’
    ‘Oh.’ For a moment I thought they were all in on the ghost situation and were waiting for me to finally admit I could see her.
    ‘Is that what I look like? All spooky?’ Red asked, her hands waving about her body, then she laughed.
    Thankfully, Georgie served up some nibblies, and conversation steered away from naming cocktails to ‘ooh’s’ and ‘ahh’s’ at her cooking prowess.
    ‘This is so unfair!’ Red kept screaming. ‘I want some!’ She chucked a childlike tantrum and pounded on the floor and I tried my best to ignore her. She was like a hyperactive child high on red food colouring. I wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d died from overexcitement.
    As darkness fell, Lorena lit some candles and refused my attempt at turning on the main lights. She checked her watch. It was the third time she’d done it in the last ten minutes.
    ‘Why do you keep looking at your watch?’ I asked.
    ‘Huh? No reason.’
    Liar. Five minutes later when I got settled on the velvet couch with another cocktail, the reason rang the doorbell.
    * * *
    ‘Surely not the photographers again?’ I asked, twisting sideways to peer over the back of the couch to the front door.
    ‘Nope. You sit right there, hun, I’ll get it.’ Lorena said with a cheeky grin.
    What did she have planned now? Maybe it was a limousine driver to take us to a fancy club? Only there weren’t any fancy clubs out here in the country, unless you counted the Barron Springs Pub, which was probably a few points shy of fancy.
    Lorena opened the door slowly, and a man stepped in and placed his black winter coat on the coat rack. He was wearing blue scrubs and a surgical mask.
    Huh? Someone from work? Maybe we were really having a surprise party and Lorena had invited all my work colleagues.
    ‘Are you okay, Lorena? It’s not the baby is it?’ I asked, suddenly concerned that maybe there was some problem she hadn’t told us about.
    She laughed. ‘Oh hun, there’s no problem with me at all. This is Ty.’ She ushered him further inside. ‘That gorgeous young thing over there is Sally, the bride-to-be,’ she said, pointing my way.
    Oh God. Was this an intervention? She had caught me talking to myself in the bedroom. Though it wasn’t really to myself. And I had been acting a bit strange and saying weird things thanks to Red. But maybe Red didn’t really exist after all and I was actually hallucinating and they could all tell, and Dr Ty was here to whisk me away to the psych ward.
    Although the room was dark, apart from the ambient glow of candlelight, I could see strong cheekbones above his surgical mask as