Read Audrey Claire - Libby Grace 01 - How to be a Ghost for Free Online

my house, but instead I drifted as close as I dared to Ian’s house.
    Perhaps ghosts are patient, or they have no sense of time. I watched Ian’s closed door as if it were a riveting saga on TV. I’m not sure if I even blinked. Depression hung heavy over me, and it seemed that I turned in on myself. I only know time passed because one minute it was day, and the next, the sun descended on the western horizon. Had I been standing there all that time, for hours or had I gone somewhere on another plain and just returned?
    I directed my gaze to my own house and noticed a light burning in the kitchen. Monica had shut it off that morning. Her car was parked in the driveway. Fear and worry stirred in my stomach.
    Ian’s door opened, and he appeared. Hopeful, I drifted forward, but I felt the beginning zings of the barrier and backed off. Ian’s cold gaze passed over me as if he didn’t see me. He stuck a key in the lock, turned it, and then pocketed the ring. When he started off down the street, I didn’t know what else to do, so I followed him. We strode several blocks, Ian keeping a steady but swift pace. I’m sure if I were in my body I would be winded by now, even if I did make a habit of jogging four times a week. Ian didn’t appear breathless.
    I studied him as he walked. He wore a button up sky blue long-sleeved shirt and blue jeans. While I couldn’t feel the temperature, I knew from watching the weather forecast early in the week, this time of day was still pretty warm. At around seventy-five degrees, Ian should be sweating. During my evening jogs, I wore shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, and my skin still grew moist with sweat. If he did not sweat, as I knew there were a few people that didn’t, lucky him.
    Some women might feel Ian had a nice rear, and I was inclined to agree. As I followed him, I found myself wondering if he had a girlfriend. Maybe that was why he wouldn’t give the local ladies a chance. I imagined this woman to be a blond with model good looks and a figure to match. Ian, being in love and a faithful man, would never betray the girl who stole his heart. He waited only for her to move down from the city so they could settle into the house and raise attractive babies.
    When Ian turned onto the walk leading into the park, I forgot my fantasy about his love life and hurried to close some of the space between us. Just like last night, shadows reached out to me, inviting me into their depths. I stared hard into them, thinking any second they would come alive and attack, but nothing moved.
    Up ahead, a man strode along carrying a briefcase and chatted on his cell phone. People often cut through the park to get to the south side of town. No one to my knowledge had ever been mugged, so no one feared doing so. Besides, the paths were lit.
    I stopped walking when Ian approached the man, laid a hand on his shoulder, and said something I couldn’t hear. The man stared into Ian’s eyes and nodded. Because of the shadows and the fact that they chose a spot just outside the scope of the nearest lamp, I couldn’t make out either man’s expression. One thought popped into my head. No wonder Ian brushed off the women of Summit’s Edge. There was no beautiful girlfriend in the city.
    “Libby,” I whispered to myself, spellbound by the couple before me, “don’t jump to conclusions. Ian might be saying hello to a friend.”
    At that moment, Ian twisted his head in my direction. I swallowed and drifted back a step. He spoke to the man again and then started toward me. No mistaking the frown marring his handsome face this time.
    Ian stopped short several feet away but directly in front of me. “How long are you going to follow me?” he demanded.
    My mouth fell open. I looked down at myself still not visible. “You can see me?”
    For an instant, his eyes glittered in the dim light like a cat’s, but then they were normal again. “I can feel you.”
    I almost chirped with glee. “But you can hear me,