all in order to be with me—my dad. And determined enough to find a way to win that battle. While I knew that we both had things we wanted to say to each other, I asked Zach if I could go first just in case I fell asleep before we were finished talking. I explained what happened during the play—that I only took my ring off at Lucas’s urging and only for the sake of costume consistency. Of course I felt like a fool for listening to him now, but at the time I trusted him and never dreamed that it was all a part of some evil plan to break up my relationship with Zach. The kiss obviously wasn’t something I saw coming, either. But the true nature of Lucas’s scheme didn’t become clear to me until Zach revealed the missing piece—Misty. “I ran out of there before Stacy could finish her story but I think I put the rest of it together myself. I think Lucas having car trouble that day we met him was definitely the truth and I don’t think he ever dreamed that you actually knew his brother. He didn’t grow up with his twin so your reaction caught him off guard. I don’t think Misty knew anything about Lee or Lucas, either, until after Lucas moved to town. His dad is working for Jack Wolfe and I think that’s how he met Misty. If he made even the slightest mention of being at Rosewood, she would have pumped him for information. One thing led to another—he was desperate for cash and she was more than willing to provide it in exchange for Lucas turning your life upside down. If it makes you feel any better, he was using the money to help his dying mother.” No, that didn’t make me feel even the slightest bit better. The whole thing was too much for my tired mind to grasp. There were only two things that could bring any solace right now. First was sleep which was naturally about to overtake me. The second thing was safely tucked in the pocket of my jeans. “I can barely keep my eyes open. Will you do one last thing for me tonight?” I asked Zach, knowing full well that I could ask for the moon and he would somehow find a way to pull it down for me. “Of course I will, what do you need?” “There’s something in the pocket of my jeans that I need. I left them lying on the bathroom sink. Can you bring them to me?” Zach sprang up like a man on a mission and returned with my jeans in hand. I dug inside and found what I was looking for. My ring. The ring that never should have left my finger in the first place and definitely never would again—even if I did decide to make meatloaf. I held it up for Zach to see and made my request. “Will you put this back on my finger for me? I could have done it myself but I wanted you to do it. I thought it would be a nice way for us to mark a turning point in our relationship—kind of like a commitment to starting over the right way. Another reinvention if you will.” “That sounds perfect,” he said as took the ring from my right hand and placed it back onto my left. “There—now everything is back to normal. No, scratch that—everything is better than normal. You are now officially ghost-free and we can start focusing on other things again.” “Ghost-free,” I repeated as my eyelids fluttered shut. The last thing I felt before I drifted into sleep was the warmth of his hand in mine and the wonderful feeling of normalcy that I was so poorly acquainted with. 6. Fifty Shades of Clay The first thought that came to mind when I awoke was the fact that my ring was back on my finger where it belonged. I could feel the metal pressing against my skin the same way it always did except for two differences. One, I knew for certain that it was there to stay. Two, it was cold—ice cold. My room was as warm as it usually was but for some reason that one finger alone was freezing cold. It reminded me of the icy chill that invaded me at the time of Zach’s accident. Could something else bad have happened to him in the middle of the night? My eyes flew open