Tugging the earbuds out of my ears, I shoved them into my pocket and then I sat, back stiff. “I had no idea until we got here that Sam was bringing me to Stacey. He conveniently left that out.”

Sam had the decency to look sheepish.

“And as Zayne can confirm,” I said to Stacey, “I didn’t know who Sam was. No one told me about him. If anyone had, I might’ve realized right off who he was.”

She stared at me. “This is real?” Her wide eyes darted to Zayne. “She can see him?”

“She can see ghosts and spirits.” Zayne dropped his arm on the table, next to the pack of the Twizzlers. “If she says Sam is here, he’s here.”

“I can’t...” She looked at where Sam was sitting, shaking her head. “Tell me what he looks like.”

I did just that, and Stacey pressed her palm to her mouth. “But you could’ve seen a picture of him online,” she reasoned. “That doesn’t mean anything.”

“She’s telling the truth,” Zayne insisted quietly, saving me from having to ask why in the Hell I would even be looking up a picture of Sam.

Stacey said something, but it was too muffled for me to understand. She lowered her hand, fingers curling into a tight ball over her heart. “Sam?”

“I’m here,” the spirit said, reaching for her but stopping short. “I’ve been here. Always.”

I repeated what he said, and Stacey’s face crumpled. “I’m sorry. I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I just—I’m sorry. Tell him I’m—”

“He can hear you,” I said.

“He can hear me? Okay. I guess that makes sense.” Tears tracked down her cheeks as she looked at me and then Sam. “I miss you,” she whispered, lifting her hand from her chest to her chin.

“I miss you, too,” Sam said, and I repeated it.

“Oh God.” Her slim shoulders shook. “I’m just so sorry. I...”

Zayne made a sound of distress, reaching across the table. He placed his much larger hand over hers. “It’s okay,” he told her. “It’s okay.”

But it really wasn’t.

Normally I’d be more considerate of the emotions these types of situations caused, but I had zero craps to give at the moment and we didn’t have a lot of time.

“He has something he needs to tell you—”

“Tell both of them,” Sam corrected, and my eyes narrowed on the spirit. “I knew they were meeting today.”

A spirit had known and I hadn’t.

“They used to come here once a week after...well, after everything,” he added.

Nice.

That was just freaking great.

Hands opening and closing, I kept my eyes on Sam. “He has a message for both of you. Something to do with a school?”