As Mrs. Freely kept stuttering out excuses about the house being perfectly safe as far as anyone could know, I gave Garrett a significant look and just managed to keep from drawing my finger across my throat so he’d get the hint. We were not about to get ratted out by the guy who had been too scared to even go into the house with us the night before.
But Garrett gave me a nod and a thumbs-up, his hair flopping over his forehead like it did, and I realized that while Garrett might be kind of a coward, he was still loyal, apparently.
Maybe that crush could happen again after all.
When my gaze slid back to Liv, she was watching me with a smirk that was so uncalled for, and if my mom had not been standing right in front of me, I might have given her a hand gesture that let her know exactly how I felt about being smirked at. Instead, I stuck my tongue out, which just made her grin.
In real life, friends were so annoying.
RubyToozday: You know one good thing about everything at Live Oak House?
OliviaAnneWillingham: If you say something mushy about us becoming friends, I’m going to log off.
RubyToozday: Gross, no.
RubyToozday: Also, why did you change your name back?
RubyToozday: Actually NVM, I like this one better. More YOU.
RubyToozday: BUT ANYWAY. No, the one good thing is not our new bestiedom, soon to be confirmed with necklaces and MAYBE matching tattoos.
OliviaAnneWillingham: Ruby.
RubyToozday: MAAAAAYBE.
RubyToozday: It’s that A) we learned we’re SO GREAT that even GHOSTS want to be our friends and keep us in their spooky house forever and evvvvvver, AND B) thanks to Rebecca and Octavia Wrexhall, we now know that you and Emma are NOT the weirdest pair of twins ever.
OliviaAnneWillingham: Ugh, don’t say that. What if they’re not gone and it makes them mad or something?
RubyToozday: They’re totally gone. We destroyed their tree AND their house.
RubyToozday: But you don’t think keeping their doll was a bad idea, do you?
OliviaAnneWillingham: Ruby, I swear . . .
RubyToozday: JOKING JOKING, like I’d take anything from that house of horrors. No, everything Live Oak House is gone, including the ghosts.
RubyToozday: And now you and Emma actually seem normal.
RubyToozday: That was the point I wanted to make.
OliviaAnneWillingham: You know, I think we ARE normal now. Me and Em. Or normaler?
OliviaAnneWillingham: Which is not a word. Anyway, she’s coming home on Friday.
RubyToozday: Nice.
OliviaAnneWillingham: And she wants to hang out Saturday, but I told her we made plans.
RubyToozday: Diiiiiid we have plans?
RubyToozday: Drawing a blank on plans.
OliviaAnneWillingham: No, but I thought we could now MAKE some.
RubyToozday: You are a sneaky gal, Liv, and I love it.
RubyToozday: YES. You, me, bookstore?
OliviaAnneWillingham: Sounds like a plan!
RubyToozday: And then, since we’ll be generous, maybe Emma could meet us at Yo Yo Yo later?
OliviaAnneWillingham: And hang out? All three of us again?
RubyToozday: We could give it a try?
OliviaAnneWillingham: Yeah. Okay.
OliviaAnneWillingham: But I’m not getting the healthy yogurt.
RubyToozday: NO YOU ARE NOT. FRIENDS DON’T LET FRIENDS EAT HEALTHY YOGURT.
OliviaAnneWillingham: Okay, so see you Saturday, Rubik’s Cube?
RubyToozday: See you then, Olivia Anne Willingham, Esquire.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I feel like every time I sit down to write acknowledgments, I’m thanking the same people, which makes me feel very grateful indeed for the wonderful team I have working on these books! Ari Lewin, Holly Root, Amalia Frick, Elyse Marshall, Anna Jarzab, and Jen Besser, you are an incredible team of women, and I am so lucky to get to work with all of you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for me and my books!
Julia Brown and Meg Allen, you’ve both been on the receiving end of many “I THINK I FORGOT HOW TO BOOK” emails, and have always been there to make me laugh or remind me that I say this every time. Finding the two of you is proof that the internet may be dark and full of terrors, but it’s also pretty magical.
Alison Goodman, Alwyn Hamilton, Sabaa Tahir, and April Tucholke, y’all were the best tour mates a girl could have, and had we not gone on “Penguin Teen on Detour” to the Winchester Mystery House, this book would not exist.
I’m always writing pretty great moms in my books, and that has to be because I’m lucky enough to have one myself. Thank you, Mama.
John and Will, as always, you’re the MVPs of my life.
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Rachel Hawkins, Ruby and Olivia
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