Total pages in book: 18
Estimated words: 18308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 18308 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 92(@200wpm)___ 73(@250wpm)___ 61(@300wpm)
“Is there anything I can do for you?”
Could ghosts hallucinate? Because it seemed like he was talking to her—
Niccolò walked past her to close the door before looking at her again. “Payton?”
Payton’s heart nearly flew out of her chest. “Y-You can see me?”
“Am I supposed to pretend not to?”
“Y-You can really see me?”
Her boss frowned. “Are you alright?”
I don’t understand. How can he see me when I’m—OH.
“Have you always been able to see ghosts?” she whispered.
“What ghosts?”
She was about to point herself.
Me.
But then she remembered—
Today was Thursday.
As in...she hadn’t died yet in this timeline.
And so maybe that meant—
Payton hurried back to open the door and poked her head out of Niccolò’s office. “Hello!”
“Hey!”
“Hi!”
“Hello!”
While it was totally weird how everyone was smiling at Payton like she had just caught them gossipping about her, she didn’t really have time to figure that part out since...
Since...
I...
I’m...
I’m not...
She slowly walked back inside her boss’s office and found Niccolò staring at her like she had completely lost her mind.
“What is wrong with you?”
“I...”
How did she even explain?
Tu sei il mio cuore.
But the moment she remembered what he said—
“I want to know if I’m your heart.”
Payton felt like disappearing the moment the words flew out of her mouth. Had she really said that? Had she actually gone ahead and—
“Ma che?” What the? “Why would you ask that?”
“B-Because—”
That’s what you said when I died.
His gaze narrowed. “I’m listening.”
But now I’m alive.
And that was when it hit her.
She was alive, yes.
For now.
She was alive.
But until when?
The question had her looking at her boss for some reason, and...
“Payton?”
The impatience in his tone made her want to laugh and cry. How could this be the same man who had come to her funeral with golden eyes that were haunted by regret? She didn’t know if she would ever have the chance to ask him that. Or if she should even. But one thing was for sure—
“I’m s-sorry,” she stammered.
Now wasn’t really the time to think about such things.
“I’ll try to explain—”
If I’m still alive by then.
“But I have to go.”
And so she rushed out of Niccolò’s office, and she was so afraid of running out of time that she couldn’t even risk stopping to grab her phone from her desk. Because who knew, really? What if she had a supernatural deadline to meet, and she just happened to miss a clue about it?
The elevator doors slid open, and Leah looked confused as she stepped out while Payton rushed past her and started pounding on the Close button like that would magically make the doors close faster. “Is something going on?”
“Sorry, I’ll explain tomorrow!”
And hopefully, she wasn’t lying about that.
But for now...
Payton’s heart was pounding when she arrived at her husband’s workplace.
She knew coming here was a gamble. A huge one. All she knew was that maybe, if she spoke to Rosé, and if she worded things correctly, then maybe all of them could live happily separately—
“Mrs. Cheyney?”
Payton nearly jumped out of her skin when her husband’s twenty-year-old intern popped in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere.
“R-Rosé, hi.”
Payton knew she shouldn’t feel inferior or anything, especially if what Eric said was true about Roś, but...
Rosé smiled. “I knew it was you!”
It was just hard to feel any kind of confidence with how, well, perfectly put together Rosé always looked. The girl just had this incredibly posh air about her that Payton often felt the need to put on sunglasses around her. She was just so...glossy!
“Are you here for Mr. Cheyney?” Rosé was asking. “I’m afraid he isn’t back yet from his meeting.”
Payton shook her head. “I’m here because...”
Please let this be the right thing to do.
“I’d like to speak to you, actually.”
"Oh, of course. Shall we go up to Eric's office?”
Payton blinked. "Eric?" Not Mr. Cheyney?
Rosé just looked at her innocently. "Yes?"
Payton forced a smile. “Sorry. It’s nothing.” Maybe she had just misheard the other girl.
They took the elevator to the 34th floor. Once in a while, their gazes would meet, and Rosé would smile, and Payton would smile back even when the whole thing made her feel like they were playing hide-and-seek for some reason.
How weird.
“This is your first time to see Eric’s new office, isn’t it?”
Payton nearly stumbled.
There it was again, but this time she knew she wasn’t mistaken. Todd & Tolstoy was a firm with a very traditional corporate culture, and Payton would know, since she had also worked here, once upon a time.
This was not the kind of workplace where people could be casual with their higher-ups or have Free Fridays where everyone was allowed to dress however they wanted.
And yet Rosé here...
Payton’s stomach started cramping.
The younger girl clearly wanted to make some kind of point, and what that was, well...
“We’re here.”
Rosé was all smiles as she opened the door to Eric’s office. Her husband had wanted this for so long, and Payton had seen how hard he had worked for it, too. When he told her he had finally gotten his own corner office, she remembered bursting into tears because she had been so, so happy for him.