Page 51 of You'll Be the Death of Me

Dell glanced at Cole. “Well, the hope is this mess is the wrong turn,and by fixing it, I’ll be reunited with my body, and all this will be over.”

“Okay,” Jason said again with a nod. “This is the weirdest day of my life.”

“You’re telling me,” Dell said. “I died andthenfound out my ex-fiancé and future mother-in-law were planning to murder me.”

“That’s rough,” Jason said like they were talking about something as mundane as Dell getting a parking ticket, and she couldn’t fault him—she too was still stunned by it all. “What are you going to do next?”

“Well, once Tommy and his mom are exposed, I don’t know. I guess I need to... be near my body? Maybe?” She looked to Cole again.

He met her eyes and gave a nod of confirmation. “Yes, we should be by your body when you come back, so we should go to the hospital.” He held up the rule book to indicate he’d found the information inside.

“Okay,” she said. “Cole says we should go to the hospital, so I guess I’ll give Robbie his body back and head there to wait,” she told Jason.

Jason stood up and motioned for her to give him another hug. “Okay. I’ll go to work and keep that ship moving. I hope the next time I see you, it’syouand not a gangly Zoomer.”

“Me too. Thank you, Jay. I wouldn’t be able to do this without you.”

“Always here for you,D,” he breathed over her shoulder.

“Okay, leaving now,” she said with a nod of Robbie’s head. And then internally, “Robbie? I’m leaving now. Thank you for your help.”

Dell didn’t hear anything in response and wondered if Robbie had sunk himself into some Zen state to ease the discomfort of being possessed.

“Okay, bye,” she said, for good measure. Just like she had in the park, she squatted and jumped out of his body. She crashed into Cole; with all the computers, the room wasn’t large enough for four people, even if two of them were ghosts.

“I’ve got you,” Cole said, and helped steady her. “Good job, once again.”

She softly smiled at him, feeling her face heat at the compliment. “Thank you.”

“Whoa,” Robbie said from behind them. He held his hands to his head like the room was spinning.

“You okay, kid?” Jason said, and placed his hand on his shoulder.His voice was void of the usual bite it carried when he talked to Robbie.

“I think so,” Robbie said, and took a step back.

“Good. Thanks for your help. Hopefully it’s the last time,” Jason said, and turned for the door.

“Hopefully...” Robbie parroted, as if he weren’t sure what he was saying.

“Oh, one more thing,” Jason said, and turned around. “What’s your mom’s name?”

Robbie flinched in surprise. Dell watched the realization dawn over his face as he put the pieces together to realize Dell had spoken through him to tell Jason about his request. She silently thanked Jason for remembering to ask, because she had forgotten in the thick of rehashing her story.

“Um, Barbara. Barbara Sanders,” Robbie said with a note of hope in his voice.

Jason nodded and looked in the direction Dell and Cole were standing, as if to make sure they heard.

“Thank you,” Dell said out loud even though Jason couldn’t hear her.

Dell and Cole followed Jason back through the house to the front door. They passed Grandpa Charlie asleep in a recliner in the sitting room, and the sight made Dell smile. She noted a framed photo on the wall of a dark-haired little boy and a smiling woman.

“That must be her,” Dell said, and pointed to it. “Can we really find her?” she asked Cole.

Cole pursed his lips like he was reluctant. “Yes.”

“Great, you can explain it to me while we wait at the hospital. They will have taken me to St.Agnes,” she said, and expectantly held out her elbow.

Cole glanced at it, and then hooked his arm through. “Off we go, then.”