Read Online Haunted Ever After by Juliet Madison - Free Book Online Page A

cleared my throat and rubbed my ear, tension building inside like a boiling pot of water. ‘Sorry, what was the question again?’
    ‘I said, did you always want to be a nurse?’ Ty repeated.
    ‘Favourite song? Favourite shop?’ Red continued. ‘Ooh, ooh! Favourite sexual position?’
    In frustration, my hand banged down on the table, sending my fork flying across to the floor. ‘Missionary, okay? Missionary!’ I blurted.
    All eyes stared at me. ‘What?’ Lorena asked, curiosity and concern on her face at my apparent distress.
    Oh dear God.
    Red had collapsed in laughter on the floor next to me. ‘Missionary! Haha, missionary position! I knew it!’ she repeated, rolling about.
    Just when I thought I’d have to excuse myself from the table, a convenient explanation hit me. I cleared my throat. ‘A missionary. I, er, wanted to be a missionary.’ I gave a confident nod.
    ‘Um, no you didn’t,’ Lorena said firmly.
    Mel had cracked up as well as Red. ‘Since when did you want to become a missionary?’
    I pushed my unnatural curls from my face and raised my chin. ‘Well, if you must know, since I was a kid. My parents sent me to Sunday school (true) and I really enjoyed it (false) . I thought it would be great to one day travel the world and spread the good word of the Lord (also false) . There. Now you know.’
    ‘Good for you,’ Ty said with a nod. ‘What stopped you?’
    How could I get off the missionary topic? All this quick thinking was doing my head in.
    ‘I realised there was more need for nurses and thought I’d be better off helping people directly who needed it.’ It was also ingrained into me ever since Mum’s car accident. Caring became second nature, and I sort of fell into it after high school. But no need to get too personal with a man who was practically a stranger. Even though he’d gotten quite personal with us. Physically at least.
    ‘What about you, Ty? Is stripping your full-time job?’ Lorena asked.
    Thank you for changing the subject, my dear friend .
    ‘Nope. But it pays better than my day job,’ he chuckled.
    ‘And your day job is?’ Lorena probed.
    Ten bucks says he’s a bartender, a waiter, or a struggling actor or artist, something like that .
    ‘I’m a disability worker.’
    Silence.
    ‘I help young adults with a variety of mental and physical health conditions to integrate into society. I take them on outings, teach them skills, things like that.’
    Was this the same guy who not long ago had shoved a stethoscope down my dress and asked if I wanted mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?
    ‘Oh wow, he’s like the perfect guy: caring and hot.’ Red sighed. ‘Speaking of hot, are you trying to burn this place down with all these candles?’ She waved her hand around the flickering flames from the pillar candles on the table. Then she did the whole ‘phooo!’ thing, trying to blow them out. They only flickered slightly, from her breath or the general movement of air around the table I wasn’t sure.
    ‘I’m impressed,’ said Lorena. ‘Takes a special person to do that sort of job.’
    ‘Thanks. I enjoy it. The people I work with are great. It’s often underestimated how much they can contribute to society.’
    True. I’d seen a lot of disabilities in my job. The strength of some of the patients was amazing.
    ‘Phooo!’ Red kept blowing.
    ‘What sorts of disabilities do you see?’ Georgie asked.
    ‘Some are in wheelchairs, some have brain damage, or Down syndrome. A couple on my team are also deaf, on top of other challenges.’
    Team . Nice. My opinion of Ty was slowly changing.
    ‘Gosh, must be hard for them. So do you know sign language then?’ Mel asked.
    Ty did a few hand gestures. ‘That means, I sure do ,’ he replied with a smile.
    ‘Impressive!’ Mel high-fived him again. ‘The only sign language I know involves a certain finger stuck up in a certain direction.’ She laughed and snorted, and I shook my head.
    ‘Phooo!’ The three candles