Page 78 of Ghost

Whitney

“Where’s Ghost tonight?”

“He has a shift at the Vault tonight.”

“Oh.” Kay pressed her lips together, then asked, “Has he taken you there before?”

“No, not yet, but I’m sure he will at some point.”

“Mmmm.”

“It’s fine,” I assured her. “I’ve been to one before. Several times, in fact.”

“Oh, really?”

“I was much younger, and I was with several of my girlfriends.” I laughed as I told her, “We did all kinds of crazy things back then.”

It was nice having her here. With everything going on lately, we hadn’t had much time to sit and talk. Kay leaned back in her chair, and a playful smile tugged at her lips. “I had a few wild nights like that myself.”

“Oh yeah? Do tell.”

“No, I think that’s a story for another day.”

“Okay.” I adored Bridget, and I thought Jenna and Antonia were great. But there was something about Kay that I just loved. She was older and had this motherly way about her, but shewasn’t pretentious. She was just herself, and I loved talking to her. “Then, how about you tell me more about you and Preacher?”

“I was wondering when you’d ask about him.”

I giggled as I told her, “I was trying to be patient.”

“Hmmm, I don’t even know where to start.” She took a sip of her sweet tea, then continued, “First, you should know that Preacher wasn’t always the hard ass everyone sees now. Back when we were together, he had a romantic side. Not that you’d ever catch him admitting it.”

“No way.”

“Yes, way.” Kay let out a soft laugh, shaking her head. “He used to do these little things that most people wouldn’t notice, but they meant everything to me.”

“Like what?”

“Well, there was this one time when we were out for a ride. It was just the two of us, and he took me to this little diner downtown. We grabbed a bite to eat, and when we were done, he handed me this little box with a ribbon wrapped around it. He didn’t say a word. He just handed it to me.”

“What was in it?”

“The key to his house.” She smiled. “He didn’t want to make a big deal of it, but that’s when I knew he really wanted something with me.”

“Aw, that’s so sweet.”

She barely had a chance to catch her breath before she jumped into another story and then another. I loved hearing them all, but the last one got to me the most. And I could tell it was Kay’s favorite, too. “He didn’t do the whole flowers and chocolate thing. He’d made sure I knew that early on, so I was surprised when I woke up on Valentine’s Day and found a note on my pillow. All it said was, ‘Meet me at the garage at nine.’”

“And did you?”

“Of course I did.” She giggled. “And when I got there, he had his bike parked out front, and he had tied a small picnic basket to the back. He took us out to this secluded spot by the lake, and we just spent the better part of the day there. It wasn’t anything fancy. Just the two of us, sitting by the water. It was simple, but it was everything.”

It was hard to imagine the man who always seemed so intense and no-nonsense being such a romantic. It clearly meant a great deal to Kay, so I had to ask, “Don’t you miss it?”

“More than I care to admit.”

“Then, why don’t you two try and work it out?”

“Things are different now. We’re older, wiser, and we both know our time has come and gone.”

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