{"id":1429,"date":"2025-01-23T07:04:56","date_gmt":"2025-01-23T07:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=1429"},"modified":"2025-01-23T07:04:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-23T07:04:56","slug":"medium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=1429","title":{"rendered":"Medium"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cMom, I\u2019d like you to meet Lily. My\u2026girl\u2026friend?\u201d<br><br>Why did he say it like that? Didn\u2019t he know if she was his girlfriend or not? Wood stove tended to, she closed the door and stood, knees popping, and with a small, amused smile, Tess turned to face her guests. <br><br>Dillon, her youngest, lumbered in the doorway. He practically had to duck to enter the rooms of this dollhouse-like Victorian. His hands, usually so busy, were shoved into the pockets of his denim jacket. The corners of his eyes crinkled when he gazed down at the girl standing next to him. <br><br><em>She\u2019s dressed for the funeral, but she\u2019s shown up far too late.<\/em> Tess mentally shook herself for being catty. As if she wasn\u2019t used to the alternative look, three out of four of her own kids had gone through the phase. She was just happy to see Dillon smiling again.<br><br>Lily\u2019s wide, milk-blue eyes washed over Tess, as if she was just another figurine or vase of dying flowers, and with clasped hands, the girl glided slowly around the room. <br><br>\u201cLily,\u201d Tess repeated, and forced herself to sound cheery. \u201cWhat a pretty name. Hello, and welcome.\u201d<br><br>\u201cIt\u2019s short for Lilibet, actually,\u201d Lily replied in a voice that was surprisingly deep. Her fingers plucked at something of interest on the mantle, only to almost immediately be wiped on her thigh, as if to rid her skin of clinging dirt.<br><br>Tess tried not to bristle at that. She\u2019d <em>just<\/em> dusted.<br><br>Pausing before a framed photograph, Lily stared at the print a moment before saying, \u201cI come from old money, too. My parents\u2019 place isn\u2019t quite so loud, though. Yours is downright <em>vociferous<\/em>.\u201d<br><br>\u201cI beg your pardon?\u201d Frowning in confusion, Tess looked to Dillon, who nodded sagely. <br><br>\u201cLily\u2019s a medium, Mom,\u201d Dillon said. His dark eyes were glued to Lily as the girl continued to circle the room. The lace hem of her dress brushed the hardwood floor. \u201cShe can communicate with ghosts.\u201d <br><br>Tess felt her eyebrows shoot up to her hairline. \u201cGhosts.\u201d She hoped her disbelief wasn\u2019t apparent in her tone. <br><br>\u201cI hear them in the ether,\u201d Lily responded sharply, and finally, <em>finally<\/em>, she turned to look Tess in the eye. \u201cThey are whispering your name, Mrs. Wilcox.\u201d<br><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cMom, I\u2019d like you to meet Lily. My\u2026girl\u2026friend?\u201d Why did he say it like that? Didn\u2019t he know if she was his girlfriend or not? Wood stove tended to, she closed the door and stood, knees popping, and with a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/?p=1429\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":291,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1430,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1429\/revisions\/1430"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/self-editing.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}