Chapter 20

CHAPTER TWENTY

HIRO

“So this is what you spent all your money on?”

I jerk back, dropping the keys to my bookstore in my surprise. “Was not expecting you here,” I say as my grandpa raises an eyebrow.

“Didn’t know I was so ugly that a single glance at me would terrify you,” he comments.

“You’re definitely not ugly,” Natalie says with a wink.

“That is my grandpa,” I hiss. “Don’t flirt with my grandpa.”

“You had no problem with me flirting with him before you knew he was your grandpa. Now you’re just being picky. You let us play strip chess.”

“I’m just really glad he didn’t start stripping!” I cry.

Grandpa looks offended by that, and I have the feeling it’s because he’s quite confident he’d never be bad enough at chess to have to strip.

“Who is stripping? When? And where?” Reggie asks as he appears. “Keaton, they said right now.”

“They didn’t say right now,” Keaton grumbles.

“They totally said, ‘Keaton, strip right now.’”

“They totally didn’t.”

“What is going on here?” Grandpa asks.

I give him a confused look, not quite sure what he’s referring to. “With?”

“Your life in general, I guess. Like… is she what you call… your side piece?” he asks as he motions toward Natalie.

“No, that’s Keaton,” I say as I toss a finger Keaton’s way. “We are madly in love, but the ghost thing kind of makes it a bit awkward.”

“I see,” Grandpa says. “Kids nowadays are so strange. I mean… your grandma and I had our fair share of threesomes, but at least everyone could see each other.”

I stare at him.

“What?”

“I’m just assuming you’re joking and moving on from this topic,” I say.

Instead of assuring me that he is, he orders, “Show me around.”

“Uh, okay… I like that idea better than whatever was just happening,” I say as I lead him into my bookshop. I’ve been back from Japan for about two weeks now, and since Maddox hasn’t needed me at work for anything beyond an occasional thing here and there, I’ve mostly been working at the shop. Since my employee Barry covered for me while I was gone, he took a week off to focus on his schooling and some test but is back to working some evenings and weekends.

“So this is my bookstore. It’s small, but it does quite well since I try to keep popular and new books steadily coming in. It saves quite a few people a drive.”

“I was assuming it was an adult bookstore with the type of friends you choose to hang around. Do you have any living friends?”

“Uh… yeah… of course,” I say as I pop open a box and start pulling books out while hoping he doesn’t ask me to name any of my living friends. “Why don’t we talk about you? Why’d you hate your ability to speak to the dead so much that you hid it from your kids, and in return, your own daughter didn’t understand her child?”

Grandpa watches me as I begin to arrange the books I’ve removed from the box on the stand. “I don’t understand why your mother wouldn’t have listened to you.”

“She didn’t… not listen to me. She just didn’t understand. They thought it was hallucinations. Or a medical issue. It made her so stressed that I just… stopped telling her. I hated going to the doctor. I hated trying to get them to understand that what I was seeing was real and not something in my head. So?”

“Maybe you’re just a better person than I am,” he says. “Maybe I was self-centered and only cared about myself and my family. I hated the way the ghosts insisted on things from me, like they thought it was their right to tell me to do something right that instant, never once caring about me. They ruined so many opportunities for me. I remember being in an interview that would have changed my entire life. I had worked so hard to get it and had built myself up to the point where the company had narrowed it down between me and another man. And as I was going in for the second interview, I accidentally bumped into the ghost of a woman. The moment the ghost realized I was different, she screamed at me to help her for the entire time. I couldn’t focus on what the interviewer was saying. I even excused myself to the bathroom to tell her that if she left me alone for thirty fucking minutes, I would help her, but she couldn’t be reasoned with. There were so many instances where I was driven closer and closer to the edge of being able to handle them. I guess you’re just a better person than me.”

I set down the final book from this stack. “I don’t think it comes down to who’s a better person. Our situations are very different,” I say. “What are you doing here?”

“Besides being handsome,” Natalie throws out.

Grandpa taps the top book I’d just finished stacking. “Well, I did a shitty job being involved for the first part of your life, so I have to catch up,” he announces as he pushes my books out of their perfect order.

“Really, you don’t have to,” I say as I shoo his hands away from the books so I can put them back in their neat stack.

“Hiro really likes it when you arrange them into the shape of a penis,” Reggie informs him.

“Hiro really does not like that,” I say as I try to push Reggie away as well.

The door swings open and a young woman walks in.

“Good morning. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask,” I tell her.

“Thank you,” she replies as she heads off to browse.

My grandpa doesn’t say much, he just follows me around as I work. I kind of feel like I’m being scrutinized by a higher-up, even though I’m definitely the only employee here.

The day moves by quickly, though, as I talk to him between dealing with customers.

“I feel like I’m being judged. Like you’re an inspector,” I say.

“Good. I like it when you fret,” Grandpa retorts.

“I like it when you’re evil,” Natalie says.

Grandpa eyes her for a moment. “So what’s your story? Why do you hang around Hiro?”

“I mean… look at him,” she says.

“The way you said that made it very clear it wasn’t my looks you’re referring to,” I mumble.

“Oh no, this boy knows how to seek danger,” Reggie says. “Let me give it to you straight. So say you had this super-fancy thing called a cell phone. And say that you’re prone to bad people running into you. Would you A) carry your cell phone everywhere with you, or B) leave your cell phone somewhere that you can’t reach it, so when a serial killer comes in through the door it’s closer to the serial killer than yourself?”

“Once,” I growl.

“Way more than once,” Keaton says. “I rarely agree with Reggie, but I’m full-on agreeing with him.”

“Once,” I mutter.

“Where’s your phone right now?” Reggie asks.

I hesitate before slowly looking over to the counter where I left it. I try to slyly scoot over to the counter and pick it up. “In my pocket.”

They all stare at me.

“Okay, so sometimes I make some questionable choices. We can’t all be perfect.”

“Unless you’re me,” Reggie says as he waves at himself.

Someone slowly peeks around an aisle of books and I stop, startled. I hadn’t realized that there was still someone in the store. The teenager had come in with her friends and I’d seen her friends leave, so I assumed they all left. And instead, she was left behind as I rambled on to dead people.

How fun.

She stares at me.

I stare at her.

She looks around like she’s expecting there might be someone else here, but nope. Clearly just me.

“Bluetooth headset,” I inform her with a big ol’ smile.

“Stop smiling so wide! You look manic!” Reggie says.

“Nah, smile wider. Embrace your wild side,” Natalie suggests.

I seriously can’t even smile right?

Grandpa stares at me with an arched eyebrow. “You mean I’ve been following my wife around for all these years and missing out on this?”

“Right? He’s so much fun,” Natalie says, and I really feel like that’s a jab.

The teenager looks at one ear and then the other—both lacking any kind of headset—then carries her books over to the counter where I check her books out as quickly as I can. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve gotten someone’s books bagged and given them a receipt faster.

“Um… will you have the third book in this series when it comes out next week?” she asks as the door swings open.

I was so fast that I didn’t even look at what she had purchased, so I peek in the bag before nodding. “I have it ordered, and it should be here right on time,” I assure her.

Then I hear someone go, “OH, what a CUTE store!”

I glance over as I realize that the woman who has just walked in is Maddox’s mother and who I have to assume is her boyfriend.

“Ohhhhhhhhhhhh helllllllll no. Gramps, go punch that bitch. Send her into the afterlife so Satan can have some competition,” Reggie says, making me realize that he probably knows Maddox’s mom. But it also makes me question whether Maddox had shared things about his family with Reggie. Not that I’m jealous… I just… I wish he’d feel comfortable enough to open up to me about it. And maybe it’s really not a comfort thing because Maddox is notoriously stubborn. He might think I’m stubborn, but that man is the king of stubbornness. He probably truly believes that pushing the very idea of her out of his mind is better than talking about it or dealing with his emotions pertaining to it.

“Thank you,” the girl says as she takes her books.

“Have a great day,” I respond, kind of wishing the girl had asked more questions so I could ignore this woman. I really don’t know what to do about her. Like… she’s done nothing at this point, so I’m not sure I can legally just kick her out. And what if she threw more of a fuss if I did try to kick her out?

If I ignore her or pretend I don’t know her, will she just get bored and leave?

“Oh!” she says, setting her eyes on me. “You were at Maddox’s house when I stopped by a couple of weeks ago. Are you two friends?”

“Did you need help finding something?” I ask.

“Not friends, then?” she says then laughs. “I mean… you were there awfully early.” She seems to notice the ring on my finger at that point. “Does your wife know where you were so early in the morning?”

Reggie glowers. “She’s playing with you. She’s trying to get you to say more about yourself. Text Maddox that she’s here. He’ll deal with her.”

I could… but he was very upset after he dealt with her last time. If I could just get her to leave without issue, I could tell him later that she stopped in but quickly left. “Are you looking for a book in particular?”

“What do you recommend? I bet you’ve read a lot. What do you enjoy?” she asks as her boyfriend wanders around and touches everything. It’s like he’s purposely trying to offset things so I’ll have to rearrange them later.

I just grab a random book off the nearest table. “I highly recommend this. Would you like it?”

She takes the book and flips it over to look at the cost. “Oh… I can’t afford that. Do you have any discounts here?”

Reggie shakes his head. “Do not give her one, even if you think it’ll make her leave faster. All she knows how to do is take. She’ll want more and more.”

“No, I’m sorry.”

“You realize I could go on Amazon and get this cheaper?”

“I sure do,” I say. “Would you like me to write the name of it down so you could get it on there?”

“No, I would not.” She watches me for a second. “Oh my gosh, Billy, you know what I didn’t realize? I think… I think he’s with my son. Like… dating him.” She whispers that last part for some reason. “Are you with my son?”

“I don’t discuss any personal information during my work hours,” I say.

“I bet that’s hard to deal with. I mean… it might be okay for you here. But if it got out at Maddox’s workplace… I bet it could ruin him.”

Is she really threatening to expose our relationship to his workplace… where they all know we’re in a relationship? But if he was in a toxic workplace… her threat could really do some damage. And what would she hope to gain out of this? Money? Information? She can’t possibly think I’ll give Maddox some advice to let her back into his life. Or has she given up on him already and is trying to work on me? But what does she have to gain from harassing me?

“Are you threatening to expose our relationship?” I ask.

“Oh honey, of course not! I just think it’s so unfair how people are. I’m on your side.” She pats my arm, and I find myself wanting to draw my arm back. There’s something about her touch that I just don’t like.

“I see,” I say. “Well, I have things to do.”

“Do not leave that register,” Reggie warns.

“This is such a cute little store,” she says.

“Thanks.”

“Did you and Maddox buy it together?”

“I’m really sorry, I’m busy right now,” I say as I pull out my phone and text Nicolás.

Me: Can you call the store right now? Maddox’s mom is here, clearly wanting something, and I’m hoping if she sees that I’m busy she’ll leave.

Nicolás: Shouldn’t you call Maddox?

Me: I’ll explain later.

The phone rings and I grab it, immediately recognizing Nicolás’s number. “The Open Book, this is Hiro speaking.”

“What the fuck kind of shit are you into now?” Nicolás asks.

“I don’t know if we have that in, but let me check for you.”

“Are you being held up in a hostage situation because I will leave work, I will drive down there, and I will kick your ass.”

“Why mine?” I ask, slightly offended. “Why not them? And no, that’s not it.”

“Because you have to be doing something to get into this much shit.”

“I’m really not. What was the name of the book again? What did you say? How to Control Your Anger When Your Brother Is Too Angelic ?” I tease. I look up as Maddox’s mom goes around a bookshelf where I can’t see her.

“That bitch is stealing a book,” Reggie says.

Just… I’ll let her have it and hopefully she’ll leave.

“Funny,” Nicolás responds.

“Ohhh. I’m sorry, we don’t have that book, but we do have The Art of Kindness Will Save Your Soul and Make Your Brother Love You More .”

“Kindness, my ass. You are the reason my soul is constantly in turmoil,” Nicolás says.

“Oh, I see. I’m not sure that’s right. You also want What My Barbie Collection Says About Me ? You want two copies of that?”

“I can’t tell if this is code for ‘come save me’ or if you’re just a pain in my ass.”

“No, it’s all good over here. Our computers are slow, so it takes me a moment to look these up.”

Reggie growls like some feral animal as he stalks around after her. “I fucking hate her. I want to haunt her so fucking badly,” Reggie grumbles as I see her wander around for a bit, but Nicolás dutifully stays on with me for about ten minutes as I harass him with other book titles before she gets bored enough to head out. And just as she reaches the door, my grandpa tugs on the overshirt she’s carrying. The book she’d stolen slips out from where it was tucked under it and hits the ground.

“Oh! I forgot I had this. Silly me,” she says as she quickly picks it up.

When she sees I’m staring at her, she sets the book down on a table and walks out with her boyfriend.

“Fucking finally, she left,” I mutter.

“Care to explain what’s going on?” Nicolás asks.

“I don’t know. Maddox wants nothing to do with her, so I thought it’d be best if she’d just leave on her own. I’m going to tell him, but I didn’t want to tear him away from work because you know he’d charge over here to deal with shit when there might not have even been shit to deal with.”

“I know a thing or two about dealing with shitty mothers. If it happens again, I’ll come over and pretend to be an employee and get her to leave,” Nicolás assures me.

“Thank you.”

After that excitement, I text Maddox to give me a call when he’s on break. Instead, he swings by.

“What’s up?” he asks.

“You could have just called.”

“I could have, but if I’d called, you would’ve had to hear me eating ice cream where here you can watch me eat one,” he says as he dips his spoon into a Blizzard. Then he lifts the spoon and licks the ice cream off in a ridiculously suggestive manner.

I stare at him then look around him as I question how many Blizzards he has. It sure does look like he only has one. “I mean… that ice cream looks really good.”

“I know, right? If I’d have called you, you wouldn’t have been able to see how good it looks. It’s so good. Yum.”

I gasp. “Maddox… it’s a good thing you’re sexy.”

He waggles his eyebrows. “Does this ice cream make me look sexier?”

“It definitely makes my heart beat harder.”

“Out of anger?” he guesses.

“No… no… love… I think. This is… definitely love I feel.”

He grins and picks up a bag I hadn’t seen him set down when he’d walked in since I’d been looking at my computer. “I suppose I’ll give this to you.”

“What’s in it?” I ask eagerly. I hurry over and peek into the open bag… only to find the receipt for his ice cream inside. “How dare you .”

Maddox laughs as I ball up the paper bag and throw it at him.

“My heart!”

Chuckling, he reaches back and picks up a Blizzard that’d been hidden behind him, coincidentally on the same table his mother had dropped the book when she left. “Here. Otherwise I’m afraid I’ll be sleeping out on the porch tonight.”

“I would never be that mean. Definitely not mean enough to hide someone’s ice cream from them.” I cradle it to myself as if he might try to tear it from my fingers.

“That would be awfully mean,” he says with a grin.

“Ooh, chocolate-dipped strawberry Blizzard. My favorite. Thank you. I suppose I’ll forgive your prior meanness.”

“Good. Now what’s going on?”

“This ice cream is sooooo good,” I say, no longer wanting to tell him now that he’s in such a good mood. It’s just going to tank his whole day.

“It is, but you said you wanted to talk.”

“I just had some more fun ideas about our haunted house wedding.”

“Hiro,” he says, weirdly skeptical.

“That’s my name. I’m glad you remember it.”

“The way you’re avoiding the topic tells me that either you ran into another serial killer or my mom found this place.”

“Which would you prefer?”

“The serial killer,” he grumbles.

I raise an eyebrow about that. “I… I really thought you’d pick the other one.”

“Fucking hell. Why didn’t you call me when she was here?”

“Because I felt like ignoring her to get her to leave would be the best plan. But if you came, it’d become a fight. I simply ignored all of her questions, didn’t engage, and then took a phone call until she chose to leave.”

“Tell him I was going to kick her ass,” Reggie says.

“Reggie wants you to know he was going to kick her ass,” I relay.

Maddox gives me a forced smile. “Yeah… that would have been nice. She could do with a bit of haunting. I’m so sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing to me? Maddox, I grew up with Sean and Nicolás, who both dealt with shitty parents. Do you not remember me telling you about me trying to brawl Sean’s mom?”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you to have to deal with that shit when it comes to my mom.”

“But why? Out of anyone having to deal with your ‘shit,’ it should be me. I’m your fiancé. I’m your family, Maddox. So why can’t I help deal with it?”

He sighs. “I don’t know.”

“Well, I’m here and I’m going to do what I can to help,” I say. “It will never bother me to deal with something with you by my side. I would deal with it again and again. Now sit down and eat your ice cream with me. It’s melting.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Maddox,” I say coaxingly as I head over to one of the chairs in a nice little reading nook and pat the spot next to me. He sits down and sighs again. There are a couple of regulars in the back, but I’m not too worried about them since they tend to take hours to pick out a book.

“She didn’t harass you too much?”

“Not too much. Nothing I couldn’t ignore.”

“If she comes again, please call me. I’m not joking.”

“I know.”

“I’m going to station someone out front.”

I raise an eyebrow as I try to decipher what he’s getting at. “Station… Maddox, you can’t waste law enforcement on watching me.”

“I’m pretty sure I can.”

“Pretty sure you aren’t going to,” I say. “What do you want for dinner tonight?”

“I don’t know. I can just get more ice cream.”

“I won’t complain.”

“What if I throw some steaks on the grill?”

“Ooh, that sounds good. Do we even have steaks?”

“I have to run by the store for some cat litter and milk, so I’ll get something then. You need anything else?”

“Cookies.”

“Anything healthy?”

I smile. “Brownies?”

“Got it. I guess I should get back to work. Thank you for telling me and not hiding it…”

“Of course. A part of me didn’t want to tell you because I didn’t want you to get upset about it, but I don’t feel like it’s my place to make that decision.”

The door dings as it opens, and a few people walk in.

“I need to get going anyway. Go sell some books.”

“I bet you’d sell more if Maddox stood out front shirtless waving books around,” Natalie suggests.

“Natalie had a wonderful idea. She said I’d probably sell more if you stood out front like my little shirtless mascot,” I say. “We could retire early.”

Maddox tugs his tie. “I might keep my day job, but if I ever get fired, I know just what to do… avoid this place.”

I laugh. “Thanks for the ice cream. See you tonight.”

“Be safe,” he says.

“You too.”

He heads out the door as I walk back to my desk where I finish off my ice cream.