‘I’m so glad,’ my mom said, pushing a strand of hair from my eyes. ‘I’m so glad you like it, Suze.’

My mother looked so relieved, I sort of felt sorry for her, in a way. I mean, she’s a nice lady and doesn’t deserve to have a mediator for a daughter. I know I’ve always been a bit of a disappointment to her. When I turned fourteen, she got me my own phone line, thinking so many boys would be calling me, her friends would never be able to get through. You can imagine how disappointed she was when nobody except Gina ever called me on my private line, and then it was usually only to tell me about the dates she’d been on. Like I said, the boys in my neighbourhood were never much interested in asking me out.

My poor mom. She always wanted a nice, normal teenage daughter. Instead, she got me.

‘Honey’ she said. ‘Don’t you want to change? You’ve been wearing those same clothes since six o’clock this morning, haven’t you?’

She asked me this right as Doc was coming in to get more glue for his electrodes. Not that I was going to say anything like, Well, to tell you the truth, Mom, I’d like to change, but I’m not real excited about doing it in front of the ghost of the dead cowboy that’s living in my room.

Instead, I shrugged and said, with elaborate casualness, ‘Yeah, well, I’m gonna change in a bit.’

‘Are you sure you don’t want help unpacking? I feel terrible. I should have—’

‘No, I don’t need any help. I’ll unpack in a bit.’ I watched Doc forage through a drawer. ‘I better go,’ I said. ‘I don’t want to miss the beginning of the movie.’

Of course, in the end, I missed the beginning, middle, and end of the movie. I fell asleep on the couch, and didn’t wake up until Andy shook my shoulder a little after eleven.

‘Up and at ’em, kiddo,’ he said. ‘I think it’s time to admit you’ve gone down for the count. Don’t worry. Brad won’t tell anybody.’

I got up, groggily, and made my way up to my room. I headed straight for the windows, which I yanked open. To my relief there was no Jesse to block the way. Yes. I’ve still got it.

I grabbed my duffel bag and went into the bathroom where I showered and, just to be on the safe side – I didn’t know for sure whether or not Jesse had gotten the message and vamoosed – changed into my pyjamas. When I came out of the bathroom, I was a little more awake. I looked around, feeling the cool breeze seeping in, smelling the salt in the air. Unlike back in Brooklyn where our ears were under constant assault by sirens and car alarms, it was quiet in the hills, the only sound the occasional hoot of an owl.

I found, rather to my surprise, that I was alone. Really alone. A ghost-free zone. Exactly what I’d always wanted.