Prologue
"Sophie, it’s time."
Harold Chase closed the box of white lilies and turned to his fifteen-year-old daughter. She stood a few steps away, gazing at the cherry tree planted beside her mother’s grave. The spring wind played gently with the pale pink blossoms, making them dance like soft, fleeting memories.
Two years had passed since the accident. Since the moment their world cracked open and never quite sealed again.
Sophie hadn’t spoken much since then. She had always been different—quiet, inward. But after the funeral, she had become something else entirely: distant. Haunted, even. Harold knew his daughter saw things most people didn’t. Ever since she was little, she'd seen ghosts—sometimes frightened, sometimes curious. Eventually, she stopped being afraid. Now, she simply lived with it. Sometimes, she even helped local detectives with the unexplainable. Her name was known—quietly, and only in whispers—at the nearest precinct.
Harold, for his part, had tried to move forward. Recently, he’d started seeing someone—Caroline Taylor, a divorced woman with a daughter of her own. Things were going well. He had even arranged a dinner with both families, hoping to ease the idea of a new life. He planned to propose next month.
But how do you ask permission to move on from the dead?
Sophie remained still, eyes fixed on the cherry tree. She remembered everything. The funeral. The scent of cold earth and rain. The way her mother’s spirit had appeared at the edge of the grave, smiling faintly under the branches of that very tree.
“I have to go, sweetheart,” her mother had said. “But your father will take care of you. One day, you’ll be happy again.”
Happy. What did that even mean anymore?
She finally turned and walked toward her father. The two of them left the cemetery slowly, gravel crunching beneath their feet.
“Dad,” Sophie said, her voice calm. “Are you going to marry Caroline?”
Harold hesitated, caught off guard by her bluntness. The wind pressed gently against his coat, and he looked somehow younger and older all at once.
“I’ve been alone a long time,” he said. “It’s not about replacing your mom. But I… I want someone to share the rest of my life with.”
Sophie nodded. That was all the confirmation she needed. He had already chosen his new family.
“I’m applying to schools in Chicago,” she said.
He stopped walking.
“Chicago?” he repeated. “That’s far. There are great schools here in Atlanta.”
“I need to learn how to live on my own.” Her voice didn’t waver. “It’s time.”
Harold looked at her for a long moment. She had his eyes—clear, determined, impossible to argue with. Once Sophie made a decision, there was no undoing it.
“Okay,” he said finally. “Start studying. Do your best.”
She didn’t look up. Her eyes stayed on the gravel as they walked, because if she met his eyes, she might hesitate. And she couldn’t afford that.
This place, this house, this life—it wasn’t hers anymore.
And she wasn’t coming back.
