BooksBarbecue
Back Ghosted
Chapters (61)
  1. COVER
  2. About the Author
  3. Books by Emily Barr
  4. DEDICATION
  5. Prologue
  6. 1
  7. 2
  8. 3
  9. 4
  10. 5
  11. 6
  12. 7
  13. 8
  14. 9
  15. 10
  16. 11
  17. 12
  18. 13
  19. 14
  20. 15
  21. 16
  22. 17
  23. 18
  24. 19
  25. 20
  26. 21
  27. 22
  28. 23
  29. 24
  30. 25
  31. 26
  32. 27
  33. 28
  34. 29
  35. 30
  36. 31
  37. 32
  38. 33
  39. 34
  40. 35
  41. 36
  42. 37
  43. 38
  44. 39
  45. 40
  46. 41
  47. 42
  48. 43
  49. 44
  50. 45
  51. 46
  52. 47
  53. 48
  54. 49
  55. 50
  56. 51
  57. Epilogue
  58. Acknowledgements
  59. Read on for an extract from …
  60. 12 December
  61. THIS IS JUST THE BEGINNING

ANGRY GUY AT BEACHVIEW: No idea who he is – Joe to take a photo?

‘It’s not much,’ I admitted.

‘I keep coming back to Lucas too,’ Joe said. He looked at the door. ‘Not that I think he’s going to crash through there and kill me. But you’re right – I was horrible to him. More than I realized. We could have got into a fight maybe, and he might have punched me in the head without meaning to kill me. And if Gus thought he was hiding something, then maybe that implies he was acting oddly? Guiltily?’

‘Maybe? But where’s your body?’

He sighed. ‘The eternal mystery. In the ocean. It has to be.’

Poor Joe. I longed with all my heart to be able to comfort him properly.

‘I love you, Joe,’ I said.

I stopped, shocked at myself. I did love him, but I hadn’t intended to say it. Did I love him romantically? Or like a brother? I knew the answer, but I tried very hard to mean it platonically. Way to go, Ariel. Fall in love with a ghost and accidentally tell him.

I wondered what it would have felt like to put my hand on his cheek. I wondered what he would have smelled like.

‘I love you too, Ariel,’ he said as if it was super straightforward. ‘Of course I do. I absolutely adore you. You’re everything.’

‘I wish …’ I stopped. None of this was going to make anything better. ‘Well, you know. I wish everything. I won’t give up on you, Joe.’

He didn’t reply. He just looked back at my piece of paper and sighed.

I took my hand off it to stop him reading it, and paced up and down, as far as the tiny room allowed. ‘So,’ I said. ‘Like it says there, I’m going to London tomorrow. Izzy’s coming with me. She doesn’t know this yet, but we’re going to start off by going to Lucas’s address. It’s Saturday. Hopefully he’ll be home. OK? That’s a concrete thing, and I’m going to do it. I wish we could get on Lara’s train because I’d like to find out whether I can see her, but we can’t go that early, and also that train doesn’t exist on a Saturday. I did think about it, though.’

Joe smiled, and I could see that it was forced.

‘Thank you,’ he said.

‘Joe, talk to me.’

‘Sorry.’

‘It’s seeing your mum?’