Cellphone in hand, scrolling for interesting news stories, Danielle sat at Marlow House’s kitchen table on Wednesday morning. She had set the table for breakfast and now sipped a glass of orange juice while Walt stood at the nearby stove, cooking french toast and bacon for breakfast. Danielle had offered to help, but he insisted on making the morning meal.
Danielle’s cellphone rang. She answered it and talked a few minutes before ending the call.
“Was that Heather?” Walt asked, now placing the french toast on the plate with the cooked bacon.
Danielle glanced at her husband. “Yes. She wanted to know if we’ve heard from Marie or Eva yet. I told her I’d call her if I see them before she does.”
Walt carried the plate with french toast and bacon to the table. Danielle looked at the food as Walt set the plate down. She smiled. “This was sweet of you.”
“I am a very sweet guy,” Walt said with a chuckle as he sat down next to Danielle.
“Yes, you are.” She leaned over and gave him a quick kiss on the lips and then divided the french toast and bacon between two plates. She handed Walt a plate, while she kept one for herself.
“So you didn’t see anything?” Danielle asked. Before starting breakfast, Walt had gone outside to look over at Olivia’s house, curious to see if he might glimpse Eva or Marie through a window.
“Not with all the blinds closed. Although I admit, I was tempted to try opening the blinds a little so I could peek inside.”
Danielle chuckled. “Great, the telekinetic Peeping Tom.”
A knock came at the door, and before they had time to answer it, the door opened, and in walked Lily. She wasn’t alone. Ian was with her.
“Why don’t you have that door locked?” Lily asked. “Have you forgotten we have a killer in our neighborhood?”
Ian followed Lily into the house and gave Walt a hello nod before closing the door behind them.
Still sitting at the table, Danielle looked at Lily and said, “Walt was out there a few minutes ago to look over at Pearl’s house. I guess he forgot to lock the door. He wanted to see if Eva and Marie are still over there.”
“Are they?” Lily asked, walking to the table.
“All the curtains are still closed, and I can’t see through walls,” Walt said. “But I assume they are, since they haven’t been back since they left last night.”
“That’s why we’re here,” Ian said. “Curious if you found out anything yet.”
Now standing at the table, Lily eyed the bacon and french toast on Danielle’s plate. “Oh, yummy, my favorite breakfast.” Lily reached for the bacon, not intending to really grab it.
Danielle quickly placed her hand over her plate of food and glared at Lily. “Don’t you dare touch my bacon.”
Lily stuck her lower lip out in a faux pout. “Dang, you are mean when you’re pregnant.”
“If it were a cinnamon roll, you would’ve lost your hand,” Walt teased. “I’d offer to make you some french toast, but I used up all the bread.”
“Looks like sourdough,” Lily said, still eying the french toast.
“It’s from last night’s leftover bread,” Walt explained, referring to the sourdough bread Heather had brought over for dinner.
“That makes great french toast. But I was teasing. We already had breakfast.” Lily turned to Danielle, and before sticking her tongue out, she said, “Walt is the nice one.”
No longer guarding her plate, Danielle giggled and said, “No argument there.”
Lily flashed Danielle a smile, and she and Ian joined them at the table.
“I’m surprised they haven’t been back,” Ian said.
“By the time they went over, it was late,” Danielle said. “And if this mystery ghost showed up sometime last night, they probably figured we were already asleep.”
“Yeah, and knowing Marie, no way is she going to wake Dani up,” Lily said. “Marie is big on letting us pregnant gals get our sleep.”
“What are you guys up to today?” Walt asked as he poured syrup on his french toast.
“Where’s Connor?” Danielle asked before they could answer Walt’s question.
“Kelly’s watching him,” Lily said.
Danielle arched her brows. “This early?”
“She needed to borrow some of my books for a blog post she’s working on,” Ian explained. “She was going through my bookshelf when I told her we were coming over here for a minute. We were going to bring Connor, but she told us to leave him.”
“Has she decided about the wedding?” Danielle asked.
“Yes. She’s going to have the wedding over at Pearl Cove. When we go back home and she finishes getting the books she needs, we’re going to talk about it. They need to set a date. I guess she talked to Laura already to find out what dates work for her. Laura’s going to be Kelly’s maid of honor,” Lily explained.
“Ahh, you’ll get to see your sister,” Danielle cooed.
Lily rolled her eyes. “Honestly, the entire thing is a little weird. Sure, they bonded, or whatever, but it’s not like they’ve actually spent a lot of time together.”
“Unfortunately, Kelly hasn’t made many close girlfriends here. And she says she feels funny choosing one of her sisters-in-law, worrying it may cause hurt feelings,” Ian said.
“I don’t have a problem with Kelly asking Joe’s sister to be her matron of honor,” Lily insisted.
Walt cocked a brow at Lily. “But you have a problem with your sister being her maid of honor?”
Lily frowned at Walt. “Oh, shut up. I was wrong. You aren’t the nice one.”
Ian chuckled and reached over and patted Lily’s hand. “I think in some way Lily feels Kelly stole her sister.”
“That’s not true.” Lily did not sound convincing.
“But I keep telling her she has Danielle, and I think both Kelly and Laura are a little jealous of that friendship,” Ian said.
Danielle frowned at Ian. “Really?”
Ian shrugged in response, and Lily said, “Well, they shouldn’t be. Dani won’t even share her bacon with me.”
Danielle picked up a piece of bacon from her plate and offered it to Lily.
Lily looked at it and wrinkled her nose. “Nah, you don’t have to give me your bacon. I’m just being hormonal.”
“Here, take it as a sign of our friendship.” Danielle grinned.
“Gee, thanks, Dani.” Lily accepted the bacon and brought it to her face, giving it a sniff before taking a bite. But instead of eating the bacon, she dropped it on the table, jumped from the chair, and raced from the room, out into the hall.
“What was that about?” Walt asked, looking toward the doorway where Lily had disappeared through.
With a groan, Ian stood. “I’ll go check on her.”
“What just happened?” Walt asked after Ian left the room in search of his wife.
“My guess, morning sickness hit,” Danielle said.
“I thought she said she was feeling good?” Walt said.
Danielle shrugged. “The way she turned green after smelling the bacon, that’s my guess.” Danielle reached out and picked up the abandoned piece of bacon, setting it back on her plate.
Danielle and Walt were just finishing breakfast when Lily and Ian finally returned to the kitchen.
“Are you okay?” Danielle asked as she removed plates from the table.
“Yeah. Just don’t offer me any more bacon,” Lily groaned. “I thought I was going to whiz through this second pregnancy without morning sickness. That breakfast I had earlier, it’s gone now.” Lily sat down at the table, intentionally looking away from the plates being cleared.
“I cleaned up the bathroom,” Ian told them while helping himself to a glass from the overhead cabinet. He filled it with cold water and set it on the table in front of Lily.
Returning to the table, Danielle looked sympathetically at Lily. “You didn’t make it?”
Lily shook her head. “Nope. I guess it serves me right. Karma for calling you mean.”
Now sitting at the table, Danielle reached over and patted Lily’s hand. “I’m sorry.”
Lily shrugged and gave Danielle a weak smile.
Walt stood at the sink, rinsing the dishes Danielle had just cleared, when Marie suddenly appeared in the kitchen.
“Marie’s here,” Danielle announced as Ian rejoined them at the table.
“Hi, Marie, wherever you are,” Lily said in a dull voice.
“Is Eva here too?” Ian asked.
“Eva stayed back with Olivia,” Marie explained, knowing Lily and Ian could not hear her. “Some strange things happened last night.”
Walt returned to the table, and Marie, who took a seat in an imaginary chair, told them what had happened at Olivia’s house. When she finished the telling, Danielle repeated the tale for Ian and Lily.
“I’m confused. Marie said this mystery ghost, the one who looks like Olivia’s twin, claimed to be Olivia?” Lily asked.
Marie nodded. “Exactly.”
“That’s what Marie said,” Danielle confirmed.
“And when she was talking on the phone, she described seeing two people who looked like Marie and Eva standing in her bedroom?” Ian asked.
“Yes. But I didn’t appreciate her calling me an old lady,” Marie grumbled. “But she did describe my dress, and we all know Eva looks like the Gibson Girl.”
Once again, Danielle repeated Marie’s words for the non-mediums.
“How does she even know who the Gibson Girl is?” Lily asked. “Seriously. It’s not exactly current pop culture.”
Danielle looked to Lily. “She’s a librarian, so she’s obviously a reader.”
“She is a reader, but the books she reads are odd, if you ask me,” Marie said.
“Odd how?” Walt asked.
“She has a bookshelf in her bedroom, filled with books. Odd girl. She unpacked all her books, but her kitchen was practically still in boxes. She doesn’t know how to properly move into a new home,” Marie said.
“What kind of odd books?” Walt asked.
Marie listed off the book titles she could remember.
“What is this about odd books?” Ian asked.
Danielle repeated all that they had missed, including the list of titles Marie had rattled off.
“I’m familiar with a few of those titles,” Ian said. “Most of those are about astral projection.”
Lily frowned at Ian. “You mean like an out-of-body experience?”
“Not like you and Chris experienced. More like Shirley MacLaine’s book Out on a Limb,” Ian explained.
They all grew silent for a few moments, digesting what Ian had just told them while considering what Marie had described happening next door.
Danielle looked at Walt. “Is it possible? Is this ghost we have been seeing not a ghost at all, but the detached spirit of our next-door neighbor, who somehow can step out of her body and go—well, wherever she wants?”
“That’s pretty freaky,” Lily muttered.
“If true, it would mean her spirit left her body when she was in that plane, thousands of feet in the air, to visit her new home,” Walt said.
“Kinda risky too. I’ve learned, not a good idea to leave your body unattended.” Lily cringed at the idea.