Free Haunting Leigh: A Paranormal Romantic Comedy (Literal Leigh Romance Diaries Book 4) by Melanie James Page A

could have slithered right out of my bedroom. My stomach wrenched like I had scarfed down a sack of hamburger gut bombs. I wish it was just a case of lousy food. At least that could be remedied with a fit of vomiting. I don’t know of any quick fixes for sheer guilt.
    Millie could sense how I felt and instead of skinning me alive, she pulled me close to her and Max. “We are going to get Hunter’s spirit. Have no doubt about that.”
    “Have you done anything like this before?” I asked.
    “Well, I wouldn’t say anything exactly like this. I’ve been a medium for a long time, and I’ve come across some very strange things. With ghosts, you just never know what you’ll get.”
    “What do they look like? Are they just invisible?”
    “Oh, no, they can be seen. Personally, I’ve never actually seen a ghost, but at a séance one night in 1982 I felt a sudden chill. So I know I can sense them. One thing about ghosts, they are very subtle.”
    “You can communicate with them, though. Right?” I prayed she would say it was the most common thing a medium could do. I really needed her to throw some true ghost stories out there. I was already having some doubts about her skills.
    “Based on my experience, ghosts don’t actually speak to you. You sort of get these thoughts and ideas about what they have to say. Then the ideas grow until you get the big picture.” Millie explained.
    Millie’s psychic résumé was starting to look pretty shoddy. How can you be a medium and not have one credible ghost story? The answer is that you can’t. Poor Millie had been fooling herself for years and probably quite a few good paying clients as well. That didn’t mean she couldn’t be of help. I knew I would have to take the lead on this and gently prod her along—more or less. In any case, everything would need to wait a little longer. The sun wasn’t even up and I was dead tired. Max had settled in an old chair I had in the bedroom and I could see his head bobbing up and down as he fought to stay awake.
    “Why don’t we try to get a little rest?” I suggested. “This could be a long day and a longer night ahead.” Max replied by snoring. Millie lay next to Hunter and her eyes fell shut. I was on the other side of him and did the same thing.
    I woke up to the morning sun coming through the window. I saw that Max and Mille were already awake. I remembered I needed to ask my newfound medium something. “Millie, Marie Laveau said we will need a Ouija board. Do you have one?”
    Max’s ears perked up. “Ouija board? Any specific style? Back at the store we have the best selection of Ouija boards in the greater Chicagoland area. At least that’s what our radio ad says. Every color of the rainbow and made from almost any material you can imagine. We have them in forty two different languages. I even have one in Klingon for the Star Trek nuts. Can you believe those guys?” Max huffed through his beard and shook his head. His beads clinked together and bounced off his tie-dyed shirt.
    Max didn’t really have too much wiggle room when it came to calling someone else a nut. “Marie didn’t specify a model. Isn’t there just a plain base model Ouija board? Can we try that first? If the ghosts speak another language, we can work our way through them.”
    “Sure. We’ve got the regular Ouija boards. Can you zap us over there? We’ll pick one out.”
    “I’ll stay here with Hunter.” Millie gently swept a hair aside on Hunter’s battered forehead. Tears were finally winning the battle, and her eyes were ready to gush at any second. I sat with her and gave her a hug. It was more than a hug. It was like I was holding on to her for both of our sakes. I tried to think of some reassuring words, but everything that came to mind seemed more like something off of one of those theoretical motivational posters.
    A loud crashing sound came from the kitchen. The noise startled us and our embrace was interrupted as we sprang