Crazy in Love by Lani Diane Rich

impressed, right?” Jake kept his eyes on her.
    She met his gaze and nodded. “Yes.”
    “ Well, considering you haven’t even been here for twenty-four hours yet, I think that’s pretty much all we can ask.”
    “ Bullshit,” Oscar said. “We can ask about the sale.” The room went starkly quiet. Jake turned toward Oscar, wanting to pummel him now more than ever.
    “ She just got here, man,” he said in a low voice. “Back off.”
    “ No.”
    “ It’s okay.”
    Jake raised his head to find Flynn moving he r focus over the crowd, connecting with as many people as possible. “It’s a fair question. It deserves a fair answer. The truth is, I don’t know. The decisions haven’t been made, and I honestly don’t know yet what we’re going to do. If you feel that you want to look for employment elsewhere, I certainly wouldn’t fault you. But I think this place is very special, and I hope those of you who think so too will stay.”
    Flynn gave one quick, decisive nod to the crowd and left the podium. She walked gracefully down the aisle, but Jake could see her hands shaking as she passed him by. He stood where he was, watching the doorway through which she ’d disappeared, until he felt a faint tug on his sleeve.
    “ Oh, hey, Annabelle,” he said, glancing down at her quickly before returning his stare to the doorway.
    “ Um, Flynn had those boxes come in for her, and Herman almost put his back out—what do you think she has in them? A dead body? Anyway, I thought maybe you could—”
    “ Have Clyde do it,” he said quietly, pulling his focus away from the door and turning a forced smile on Annabelle. “I’m the last person Flynn wants to see right now.”
    “ Oh, I’m sure that’s not true,” Annabelle said. “She seems really nice.”
    “ She is really nice,” Jake said, still staring at the doorway.
    Too bad I ’m a total asshole, he thought.

 
     
    Six
     
     
    “Oh, God,” Flynn groaned, sitting up in her bed. “You again?”
    The room was golden. Aunt Esther was sitting in the corner, rocking on her phantom rocking chair, not caring that the real one had been turned backward and her face was passing back and forth through the wooden slats that supported the headrest. Flynn made a mental note to turn it back around in the morning; this was infinitely creepier than the first time.
    Esther set the purple afghan in her lap and looked at Flynn. “I’ve come to a decision.”
    Flynn closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, and tried to alter her dream through sheer force of will.
    Okay. Sunny beach. A drink with an umbrella, delivered by a faceless yet handsome man wearing only a wink and a smile.
    “ Ahem.”
    Lady, stop screwing up my concentration . Okay. Ocean breezes. Warm sand. Fully loaded drink. Faceless Yet Handsome wearing a wink and a smile… and a mysterious tattoo right above his—
    “ Ahem .”
    Flynn opened her eyes. “You don’t like me very much, do you? Because you know this is just mean, right?”
    Esther picked up her afghan and continued knitting. “It’s not a matter of whether I like you or not. It would appear we’re stuck with each other. And it occurs to me that the white light of which you speak so fondly may not be available to me until we figure out whatever it is we’re supposed to be doing.” She raised her eyes to Flynn’s, yanked out a loop of yam, and wrapped it militantly around the tip of the needle.
    “ What we’re supposed to be doing? We are not supposed to be doing anything. I’m supposed to be sleeping, and you’re supposed to be dead.” She sniffed. “And why does this place always smell like peppermint? Is that like a special ghost thing? I’ve had the windows wide open for two days—”
    Esther stopped rocking and focused her ghostly eyes on Flynn. “I need you to do something for me.”
    “ Do exorcisms only work on demons? Couldn’t a good priest just”—she wiggled her fingers toward the apparition—“cast you