Stand-In for a Ghost

1
My boss, James Astor, had a ghost. A year after his one true love died, he brought home her replacement.
And the replacement was… paranoid.
All I did was meet James’s eyes across the dinner table.
“I saw that!” she hissed later. “The way you and James were making eyes at each other! I knew you were trouble.”
I just stared at her.

2
Everyone in New York’s elite circles knew that its crown prince, James Astor, was haunted by the ghost of a love lost. Her name was Aurora Leigh.
Plenty had tried to fill the void, sending him women—and men—who bore a passing resemblance to her.
All of them had failed.
Until today. Today, James brought home a girl who was a seven-tenths copy of the original.
When he walked in, Alfred, the butler, and I were already at the dining table, waiting. The moment we saw the face—so eerily similar to the one we’d lost—we both froze. Our eyes met Leo’s, James’s special assistant, who was trailing a step behind.
Leo gave a tiny, almost imperceptible shrug.
James sat down at the head of the long rectangular table without a word. Alfred and Leo took their usual spots to his left. To his right, there was an empty chair, and then me.
The woman moved instinctively to sit in the empty chair beside James.
Faster than thinking, I grabbed the vase of white lilies from the center of the table and placed it on the chair. “This seat is taken.”
Her eyes slid to me, a tight, forced smile on her lips. “Oh? By whom?”
I placed a hand over my heart. “In memory,” I said, my voice perfectly serious.
She turned, her face crumpling into a mask of wounded innocence for James’s benefit.
James stared at the empty chair for a long, silent moment before finally looking away. “Let her sit there, Evelyn.”
The woman shot me a look of pure triumph.
I could feel my face burning. It was James himself who had decreed that no one was ever to sit in that chair. And now he was breaking his own rule, leaving me to look like a fool.
Seeing I had no intention of moving the vase, the woman snatched it herself and unceremoniously dumped it on the floor.
My head snapped up. Alfred’s did too. Leo’s. We all stared at James.
He glanced at the discarded flowers, his expression unreadable, and then looked away as if nothing had happened.
Once seated, the woman smoothed her hair. “Hello,” she said. “My name is Bella.”
Alfred summoned his most professional, formulaic smile. “A pleasure, Miss Bella. I am the Astor family’s butler.”
The two of them exchanged pleasantries, their voices echoing in the strained silence. I was still recovering from my own mortification. I could feel Bella’s eyes on me, but I refused to look at her.
“You must be Dr. Reed,” she said, her voice saccharine. “I hear you’ve been Mr. Astor’s private physician for five years.”
I thought for a moment, then gave a curt nod.
After dinner, James left the table. He was at the elevator when he seemed to remember something. “Alfred, arrange a room for her on the first floor.”
Before Alfred could respond, Bella rushed forward. “James, aren’t I staying with you?”
James didn’t answer. The elevator doors slid shut, and he was gone.
Bella bit her lip, her eyes flashing with frustration.
I caught Alfred’s eye, and Leo’s. All three of us were fighting back a smile. But for some reason, Bella’s anger zeroed in on me.
“Dr. Reed, are you laughing at me?”
“No,” I said, not bothering to make it sound convincing.
Her voice rose, becoming shrill. “Yes, you were!”
“Think whatever you like.”
“Hmph!” She tilted her chin up. “I’ve heard the rumors about the three of you and James, but now that I’m here…”
Rumors? That was three years ago. Was this her attempt at putting us in our place?
Alfred waited for her to finish. “Miss Bella, if you’ve heard rumors from three years ago, then surely you’ve also heard about Miss Leigh.”
“So what if I have?” Bella snapped. “How can a dead woman compete with the living?”
The three of us exchanged a look. Wasn’t a dead love the most impossible rival of all?
But Bella had her own logic. “The dead are forgotten, sooner or later. But you three, you’re with him every day. It’s only natural that feelings might develop.” She was supposedly addressing all of us, but her glare was fixed solely on me.
Alfred was losing his patience. “You’re overthinking things, Miss Bella. The staff quarters are to the left on the first floor. You may choose any of the guest rooms to the right.”
“Aren’t you going to help me choose?” she demanded.
Alfred picked up his chopsticks again. “I haven’t finished my dinner.”
The three of us immediately buried our heads in our food, ignoring Bella completely. After a few minutes of pointed silence, she huffed off and disappeared into a room.

3
Once she was gone, Leo let out a sigh of relief. “It’s been three years since Miss Leigh passed. How can anyone still think there’s something going on between us and the boss?”
Miss Leigh—Aurora. James’s lost love.
As for the rumors… a young butler, a handsome assistant, and a young, beautiful doctor, all living in the Astor penthouse. We were a constant presence. Leo usually accompanied James to public functions, but when they both had too much to drink, Alfred or I, or both of us, would have to go and retrieve them.
The gossip started itself.
But all of that had died the moment Aurora Leigh entered the picture.
The three of us just shook our heads.
“Where did he even find her?” Alfred wondered aloud. “She looks so much like Miss Leigh. Is he really trying the whole replacement thing?”
Leo, who would know best, shook his head. “She’s an intern. Hasn't even been with the company a week.” He paused, thinking. “I just don’t see Mr. Astor as the type to find a substitute.”
“But he let her sit in Aurora’s chair,” Alfred pointed out. “And he didn’t even flinch when she put Aurora’s favorite flowers on the floor.”
We fell into a contemplative silence.

4
Bella settled into the Astor residence and never went back to the office. Her new full-time job was fawning over James.
And James, to our astonishment, seemed to welcome it. He even started working from home.
He had never been particularly gentle with Aurora; he’d even been known to shout at her when his temper flared. But with Bella, he was a different person, almost unbelievably tender.
Bella casually mentioned that some of her clothes were pilling. The next day, the entire new season’s collection from a dozen designers arrived. Her first-floor suite’s walk-in closet was filled to bursting.
She decided she wanted to cook for him and promptly cut her finger. James took my medical kit, personally bandaged her wound with painstaking care, and forbade her from ever setting foot in the kitchen again. Bella beamed.
She tried to pick up Mango, and the cat scratched her. James ordered me to keep Mango locked in my room from now on.
I stood there, holding the fluffy orange cat, utterly stunned as I watched them walk away together.
“What did he just say?” I asked the empty air.
Alfred adjusted his gold-rimmed glasses. “He said to keep Mango in your room.”
Mango was Aurora’s cat. James’s own brother was severely allergic, and even then, James had refused to lock Mango away, opting instead to take his brother out for dinner.
And now he was banishing the cat to my room?
Alfred stroked Mango’s head, and the cat purred, rubbing against his hand. “It’s probably for the best. The way he’s treating Miss Bella, who knows what will happen the next time Mango scratches her. He might get rid of him altogether.”
He had a point.

5
I was in the small rooftop garden, watering the flowers, when I saw Bella clinging to James’s arm.
“James, darling,” she cooed. “I love roses. Can we plant some roses here? Please?”
Their relationship was progressing at lightning speed. She was already calling him ‘darling.’
But roses? James would never…
“Alright,” James said.
And just like that, he called for Alfred and told him to procure the finest rose bushes available.
My jaw dropped. Was this for real? This garden was almost entirely filled with lilies, which Aurora had planted and tended to herself. He was going to replace them with roses?
James left to handle some business, but not before giving me a strange, flickering glance.
I was still trying to process it when Bella suddenly loomed over me. I was sitting on a bench, and from my angle, all I could see was her chin.
“See? I told you the dead are easily forgotten.” Her voice was smug, but it quickly sharpened into an accusation. “And I saw you just now. You and James were making eyes at each other! I knew you were trouble!”
I stood up. I was slightly taller than her.
She took a wary step back.
It was dusk, the sky painted in shades of orange and pink. In this light, if her face were just a little thinner, she would have been the spitting image of Aurora. But their personalities were night and day.
My eyes fell to her neck, where the high collar of her sheath dress seemed to be digging into her skin.
“Is that dress comfortable?” I asked.
“Of course it is!” she snapped.
“Good to know,” I said, and turned to go back inside. It was time for dinner.
Alfred was efficient. The roses were planted the very next day. I raised an eyebrow at the result.
Bella wasn’t pleased. “James, can’t we plant more?”
Aurora’s patch of lilies remained untouched. The roses had been planted in a small, adjacent plot. Compared to the sea of lilies, the roses looked sparse, but they were undeniably more eye-catching.
James was watering the lilies, gently tending to their petals. “This is fine for now,” he said.

6
A major acquisition was underway at the company, which meant James was swamped with meetings. He barely came home, even for lunch. We only saw him in the evenings.
As I was coming back from the garden, I saw Bella cornering the chef by the service entrance. He was holding bags of fresh groceries, clearly just back from the market.
“Does James like cake?” she was asking.
Cake? Oh, right. James’s birthday was coming up.
The chef looked deeply uncomfortable. It was a loaded question. When he saw me, his face lit up with relief.
I gestured for him to head to the kitchen.
Bella glared at me. “What do you think you’re doing?”
“Miss Leigh once made a cake for Mr. Astor,” I said flatly. “He didn’t eat it.”
He’d done more than not eat it. He’d thrown it in the trash.
Bella scoffed. “That was her. He’ll eat it if I make it.”
She marched into the kitchen, full of misplaced confidence. I saw the same pained expression on the chef’s face that he’d worn when Aurora had asked for baking lessons. It was almost comical.
“What’s going on?” Alfred asked, peering over my shoulder.
“She’s making a cake.”
We watched for a moment.
“To be fair,” we agreed, “she seems to have more talent for it than Miss Leigh did.”
Before James got home, Bella commanded us not to say a word about the cake until his birthday. We readily agreed.

7
James’s birthday arrived.
Bella’s cake was, admittedly, a masterpiece. She admired her own handiwork with a satisfied smile.
“Mr. Astor isn’t a huge fan of cake,” I offered, a small act of kindness. “Don’t be too upset if he doesn’t eat it.”
“I made it,” she said confidently. “He’ll eat it.”
Well, good luck to her.
When James arrived home, Bella launched into a breathless rendition of “Happy Birthday” and presented him with a gift. When she brought out the cake, his expression faltered for a fraction of a second.
She placed her hand over his, guided the knife to cut the first slice, and held a forkful to his lips.
James looked at her, and then, slowly, he opened his mouth.
I stared. Alfred stared. Leo stared. We were in a state of collective shock.
He only took one bite, but in life, context is everything. He had thrown Aurora’s cake away.
While we were still reeling, James, holding the gift box Bella had given him, glanced over at us. “Where are my presents?”
We scrambled to hand them over. I’d chosen an earring for him—a subtle nod to a rebellious phase in his youth. The box was small. As I placed it in his palm, his fingers closed around it, and for a moment, it felt like he was holding my hand.
I looked up and met Bella’s murderous gaze.
Great.

8
James’s indulgence had given Bella a sense of entitlement that was growing by the day. After someone let it slip that James had eaten her cake after rejecting Aurora’s, she became utterly insufferable.
With Leo at the office with James all day, it was often just Bella, Alfred, and me in the penthouse. And she seemed convinced that something was going on between James and me.
She was constantly looking for ways to torment me.
“Evelyn! The floor is dirty. Mop it.”
I was sprawled on the sofa. “Miss Bella, I’m a doctor. That’s not my job.”
“James is never sick!” she snapped. “Are you just here to collect a paycheck for doing nothing?”
“Pretty much,” I agreed.
As a doctor, my current job was a sinecure. When Aurora was alive, her fragile health was a full-time concern. My primary duty was managing her condition. James, under my strict orders, hadn’t dared to touch her. Now, Bella was as healthy as a horse, and since James wasn’t touching her either, my medical skills were entirely superfluous.
Alfred adjusted his glasses. “Mr. Astor signs our paychecks, Miss Bella. And there are professional cleaners who handle the household chores. You needn’t concern yourself.”
As if on cue, a housekeeper appeared with a mop.
Bella was determined to make me do something. “I’m craving macarons from La Belle Patisserie. Go buy me some.”
“You know you can have them delivered, right?”
“I don’t want them delivered! I want you to go get them!”
After years of working together, Alfred was protective of me. “Miss Bella…”
“Fine, fine, I’ll go,” I sighed.
Of course, I had no intention of actually going. I’d take a walk, enjoy the afternoon, and come back and say they were sold out.
Alfred stood up. “I’ll go with you.”
Once we were out, he readily agreed to my plan. We ended up at the mall.
While I was waiting for Alfred to use the restroom, a display of sheath dresses in a boutique window caught my eye. One of them was very similar to a dress Aurora used to wear.
“You’ve never worn a dress like that,” Alfred remarked, having returned. He looked me up and down. “I think it would suit you.”
I shook my head. “Not my style.” They were too restrictive.
As we were about to head back, I saw a familiar black car flash by on the street below.
“What is it?”
“I’m not sure,” I said. “I think I just saw Mr. Astor’s car.”
Alfred followed my gaze, but it was already gone.

9
When we got back to the penthouse, Bella was in the middle of tattling to James.
“James, darling! Dr. Reed and Alfred were so disrespectful to me!”
Leo shot us a sympathetic look.
When Bella saw we were empty-handed, she pounced. “They promised to get me macarons! I’ve been craving them all day!”
James’s gaze fell on us, dark and unreadable.
“My apologies, Miss Bella,” Alfred said smoothly. “They were sold out.”
“Really?” she challenged. “La Belle is a thirty-minute walk from here at most. An hour round trip. You’ve been gone for three hours!”
Alfred and I bowed our heads in mock penitence.
“If it’s that close,” a low voice cut in, “why didn’t you go yourself?”
We both peeked up. The words had come from James.
Bella’s mouth opened and closed. Her beautiful eyes filled with tears of disbelief.
“They have their own duties,” James continued, his voice calm but firm. “They are not your errand runners.”
My own guilt pricked at me a little. The words weren't harsh, but for Bella, who had been coddled and protected for weeks, they were a devastating blow.
She burst into tears and ran to her room, slamming the door behind her.
I glanced at the clock. Dinner time.
“Where did you two go this afternoon?” James asked quietly.
“Just for a walk,” Alfred replied.
After a moment of silence, James stood up. “Let’s eat.”
Alfred went to the kitchen to bring out the food, and Leo dutifully went to coax Bella out of her room. For a moment, it was just James and me at the table.
“I am your only employer,” he said, not looking at me. “You don’t have to listen to her.”
I nodded. I hadn’t been.
“Next time,” he added, “you can come to me.”
I nodded again, a flicker of unease running through me. That sounded… a little too intimate.
Leo returned with a report. “Mr. Astor, Miss Bella says she’s not eating.”
James thought for a moment, then looked at me. “Prepare a tray for her.”
I nodded. It was a familiar routine. Whenever Aurora refused to eat, I was the one who would take a tray to her room.
But as I was about to pick up the tray I’d prepared, James took it from me.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “You two go ahead and eat.”
As I ate, I kept glancing toward her room. He knocked, but Bella wouldn’t open the door. I saw him take out a key.

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