Page 20 of You'll Be the Death of Me

“Are you sure?”

Dell inwardly cringed at his question. Sure, if pressed, she could name a few less-than-stellar moments from her life, but were any of them worth an existential do-over? Chances didn’t seem high.

But she was also dead and talking to another ghost. So...

“Maybe there are a few things to consider,” she reluctantly admitted.

“Excellent,” Cole said with a grin. “Let’s make a list and get to work.” He dug into the satchel hanging from his shoulder and pulled out a notepad. While he was turned, Dell snatched the book he still held.

“Hey!” he cried, and reached to grab it back.

Dell yanked it away and flipped the cover. Inside, ancient-looking font curled over ancient paper. “?‘Rules and Regulations for Postmortem Conduct on Earth: An Afterlife Administration Handbook. Third Edition.’?” She read the title and huffed a small laugh. “Are the first two editions chiseled in stone? How old is this thing?” She went to turn another page, and Cole grabbed it back.

“Very. Please don’t damage it.” He shoved it into his satchel and clicked the pen he held. “Now, this list.”

Dell loved a good list, but (a) she wasn’t too keen on making one of all the ways she’d messed up in life, and (b) she was way more interested in that handbook.

“What does it say?” she asked, and reached for his bag again.

Cole swiveled his hips to pull it out of reach and knocked into her with his shoulder. Dell stumbled backward, and he swung out an arm to grab her around the waist.

“Sorry,” he said, flustered.

Dell shared his fluster, but mainly over the fact he was cradling her against his body like he was dipping her over in a dance move. He looked down at her with his soul-gazing eyes for a hot second, and Dell found herself disappointed when he let go of her.

“It’s okay,” she said, and smoothed her rumpled nightie.

Cole took a moment to gather himself. He cleared his throat. “Would you prefer to make this list here, or back at your house?”

“I’d prefer not to make it at all,” Dell said with a frown.

“Well, seeing as that’s not an option, I suggest we—”

Dell cut him off with a gasp.

“What? What is it?” Cole said, and looked around as if they were in danger.

“That’s going to be a problem,” she said, and pointed up the street back toward her house.

At the sound of worry in her voice, Cole whipped around to look. A news van had parked outside her house. Across the street from it, an SUV with tinted windows stopped at the curb, and Evelyn Moratto climbed out.

Dell couldn’t be sure if the reporters had followed the mayor, or if the mayor had invited them. Either way, word getting out she was dead would cause a scandal.

Chapter 5

By the time they returned to Dell’s house, the reporters were on the doorstep with Evelyn Moratto as if the whole lot had shown up for a dinner party. When Tommy peeled the door open a crack to let his mother and her accompanying security guard and assistant slip inside, the reporters struck up a chorus of her name, shouting and elbowing one another and clicking their cameras.

“Mayor Moratto! What happened?”

“Why are you here?”

“Mayor Moratto!”

Dell held her nonexistent breath in worry over how the mayor would respond. Dell had pushed her way into the crowd, and by pushed, she really just floated through them, sending every limb she encountered rippling with goose bumps. Several of the reporters looked up at the sky as if to check if the weather had taken an unexpected turn.

“Ms. Rodgers, wait!” Cole called from where he stood behind the small mob as if he’d reached an impassible barrier.

Dell glanced back to see his face bent with equal parts concernand the reluctance of someone afraid to jump into a pond for fear of the slimy lakeweed at the bottom. He could have just as easily floated his way through the throng, but she gathered based on his sourly pinched lips he didn’t like the frozen tingling feeling that would come with it.