Love, Like Ghosts: A Bay City Paranormal Investigations Story

to shake off both friendly ribbing and real ridicule and laugh at himself. They were adults now. It was about time Adrian accepted his own sensitive nature and stopped envying Sean’s more easygoing one.
Adrian forced a chuckle. “That’s great. I hope I’ll get to meet her one day.”
Excitement lit Sean’s face. “You will! Unless you don’t come home for Christmas either.”
Adrian’s mouth fell open. “She’s coming home with you for Christmas?”
“Yeah, isn’t it great? Mom said I could invite her, and her family was totally cool with it.” In the background, the oven beeped. Sean glanced at it. “That’s dinner. I’ll get it, Mom.” He favored Adrian with a beaming smile. “Talk to you later, bro. Love you.”
“Love you too. Bye.”
Sean dashed out of frame. Their mother shook her head, chuckling. “My God, that girl’s got him wrapped around her little finger.”
“Does not!” Sean protested off screen.
Lee arched an eyebrow. “I’ll go help Sean. It’s good to talk to you, Adrian. Take care of yourself.”
“You too, Lee. Talk to you later.” Adrian waved at him.
Pushing back his chair, Lee rose to his feet and went to join Sean in the kitchen.
Love, Like Ghosts
    Adrian’s mom planted an elbow on the dining room table in front of her and rested her chin in her hand. “Speaking of Christmas, honey, when are you coming home? And where are you planning to stay, here or your dad’s? I don’t want to rush you or anything, and there’s certainly no pressure, since we’re all planning to spend plenty of time together, I was just curious.”
    Behind her, Adrian’s father leaned sideways to whisper something into Sam’s ear. Sam nodded in response, and Adrian thought he heard “I don’t know why not” or something like that.
“Um, I don’t know yet,” Adrian answered when his mother frowned. “I mean, classes end on the tenth, but beyond that I’m not sure. It kind of depends on where we are on Dr. Perez’s project. I don’t have to stay over Christmas, but I might need to hang around just for a day or two to catch up on reports before I go.”
And why didn’t you invite my boyfriend to stay? We’ve been dating longer than Sean and Maia. Adrian bit his tongue to keep himself from asking out loud. He was surprised, not only by his mother’s discrimination—which he had to admit had probably been subconscious on her part, considering her lack of visible guilt—but by how much it stung.
“Oh, okay.” She nodded. “Well, just let me know when—”
“Mom!” Sean interrupted from the kitchen. “Where’s the cranberry sauce?”
She sighed. “In the fridge.”
“I don’t see it.”
“Second shelf, behind that heart-healthy margarine.”
A silent moment passed. Sam hid a wide grin behind his hand, as if he knew what was coming. Sure enough, after a couple of seconds, Lee called out, “It’s not there, honey.”
“Lord, help. I love them dearly, but those two should not be allowed in the kitchen.” Shaking her head, Adrian’s mother smiled at him. “I’ll talk to you soon, sweetheart. I love you.”
“Love you too, Mom. Bye.”
She blew him a kiss, stood and hurried to help her husband and youngest son sort out dinner. Adrian’s dad exchanged a look with his husband, then scooted his chair closer to the table where their laptop sat. “Adrian, Sam and I were wondering if you’d like to invite Greg to spend Christmas here in Mobile with you.”
Adrian stared at the both of them, wondering if they’d learned to read minds. “What?”
“Only if you want to, of course.” Sam leaned forward, his expression open and earnest. “Look, I know it embarrasses you to talk about this relationship, so I’m not going to make a big deal out of it. But it’s pretty obvious that being with him makes you happy, and even though Sean shouldn’t have teased you I think what he said was accurate. You miss Greg right now. Which is only normal.”
“Anyone who’s important to you is important to us as well,” his father added. “Greg is welcome in our home any time, and we’d love to have him here for Christmas if you want to invite him.”
To Adrian’s horror, the backs of his eyelids prickled. He forced the impending tears away by sheer willpower. “I’d really like that. I don’t know how he’ll feel about being away from his family, but I’ll definitely ask.” Watching his father and Sam on screen, he felt a wash of gratitude for these two men who had