The Empty Desk Read Free

moved away. He seemed to accept it without question and became more interested in what was for dinner. Jim was going to be home in time that evening for the three of them to eat together for the first time in days. Work at the hospital was always demanding, and even though they knew what shifts he was scheduled for, he was often delayed as he stayed to care for his patients.
    â€œSomeone told Miss Kelly that you could see ghosts. It wasn’t me,” he said as if he was about to be blamed for letting a family secret slip out. Melinda never tried to get him to hide things from his friends, but he already knew that sometimes it caused less difficulty if he kept some things to himself. “She didn’t seem very surprised. I guess that must be because she was such a good friend of yours.”
    â€œMust be,” Melinda said, though she had no recollection of ever discussing it with Dana. There had been a time when it had been something she had kept to herself, only sharing when she was sure that it would not cause distress or disbelief. Now at least she had the confidence of knowing that she was not the only one with a gift like hers.
    â€œIt must have been good to have a friend you didn’t have to keep secrets from,” Aiden said, stopping when they reached the car.
    â€œSpecial friends are hard to find,” she said as she opened the door to let him climb in. It wasn’t the first time that Aiden had mentioned having to keep secrets.
    â€œEspecially ones who aren’t ghosts,” he said. His face was deadly serious. He turned away and looked out of the window of the car as she made her way around the other side to slide in behind the wheel. One of the other mothers sounded her horn and waved a hand as she drove past. Melinda waved back, then strapped herself in.
    â€œEverything okay at school?” she asked as she pulled the car away from the sidewalk into the slow-moving traffic. The street was busy with parents, but there was no sign of impatience from any of the drivers. They all knew what they were getting themselves into by choosing to pick up their children at school.
    â€œSure,” he said, but Melinda wasn’t convinced that he was telling the whole truth. He knew the difference between the truth and a lie, but like all boys he was learning to avoid giving an answer if he thought that might prevent a difficult conversation. He contented himself with looking at the book he was taking home to read, but Melinda was not sure that he was giving it his full attention. She tried to get him to talk, but he pretended to be engrossed, giving no more than one-word answers. At least Jim would be home soon. Maybe he would get more out of Aiden than he seemed to be willing to give to her at that moment.
    The boys were sitting on the couch watching something on TV that had them roaring with laughter and making them both forget about whatever else might have gone on during their day. Melinda was in the middle of fixing dinner when the telephone rang, but neither Jim nor Aiden showed any sign of making a move to answer it. She wiped her hands on a cloth and picked up the receiver.
    â€œHi,” she said. “Who is this?”
    â€œMelinda? It’s Dana!”
    Before long they were chatting away as if there had not been a break in their friendship, even though it had been years since they had spent any time in each other’s company. More than once Jim stuck his head through the kitchen door, only for her to wave him away as she held up five fingers to tell him how long she thought she was going to be. When he came back a third time, she realized that they’d been chatting for more than an hour, and the evening was fast slipping away.
    â€œI’m going to have to go,” she said reluctantly to Dana.
    â€œDo you think you could get away for lunch tomorrow? Aiden tells me that you have a store in town?”
    â€œThat’s right,” Melinda gave her the