Page 22 of A Beach House Beginning

“It’s been four years now. I can hardly believe it’s been that long. It feels like only yesterday. Addie has spent half her life without her father. She hardly remembers him, which I find so sad. Ryan was a wonderful father and adored her from the moment she was born.”

“She won’t completely forget. Ryan is part of her, just as she is part of him.”

“You’re right. I see him sometimes in the way she loves to read every sign we pass on the road or tilts her head when she’s studying something she doesn’t quite understand.”

“He lives on in her.”

“Yes.”

She was pensive for a moment, then smiled. “I’m sorry I kept you from your ride. Thanks for the encouragement with Theo. Don’t be surprised if I become annoying and bring you all my many questions.”

“You shouldn’t expect veterinarian-level answers,” he warned. “I spent a year training puppies. That’s the extent of my knowledge.”

“That gives you a year more experience than I have.”

Her smile flashed in the moonlight, and he had to curl his hands around his helmet to keep from crossing the space between them and reaching for her.

“I’m happy to help with whatever I can do.”

“Thank you. Good night. Enjoy your ride. And I apologize in advance if Theo and I make too much noise going in and out at all hours.”

“Don’t worry about that. I can’t hear anything up on the third floor except the wind.”

“Are you sure you’re not hearing Abigail? If you smell freesia, that’s supposed to be her.”

He raised an eyebrow. “Do you really buy into all the ghost stuff?”

She shrugged with a rueful smile. “Originally I was skeptical when we moved into Brambleberry House. Since then, I don’t know. I’m less skeptical, I guess. I hope that doesn’t make me sound too out-there. I don’t usually believe in that sort of thing, but for some reason living in Brambleberry House leaves you open to all kinds of ideas you might once have thought were unlikely, bordering on ridiculous.”

“I’m surprised there wasn’t a ghost clause in my rental agreement.”

“Did you read all the fine print? There might have been. I don’t know. It’s been more than two years since I signed my agreement, and to be honest with you, when I moved in, I didn’t care if there were adozenghosts living here. Addie and I just needed a safe place, which we certainly found here in Cannon Beach.”

He frowned. A safe place? Why? What had threatened them? Her words did certainly explain her general air of unease, especially around him.

Was she still running? Somehow, he didn’t think so.

Even in the short time he had known her, she seemed calmer than she had in the beginning, when he first moved into the apartment. Maybe that was only because she had come to know him a little.

He wanted to press her, but she certainly looked as if she regretted saying anything at all.

“I hadn’t realized how late it is,” she said quickly, confirming his suspicion. “I should go back in with Addie. Thank you again.”

“You’re welcome. Good night.”

He gave the dog one last pat. “Good night, Theo. Be good.”

“Considering he’s already chewed up one of my flip-flops and a pair of Addie’s socks, I think we’re past that.”

“He’ll outgrow the chewing. Get him a couple of nonrawhide bones he can chomp on. Or you can freeze some wet puppy food in one of those sturdy chew toys you bought at the pet store and give him that. When he’s outside, of course, where he can keep the mess in the grass.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. Thanks. Come on, Theo.”

With that, she hurried back inside the house, leaving the scent of her, strawberries and cream, floating on the breeze. Along with lilacs and...was that the smell of freesia? He wasn’t sure he even knew what that was and didn’t know how to find out. Maybe he would have to make a trip to the garden center to see if they had any of the flowers so he could do a scent test.

The concept made him roll his eyes at himself. Was he really buying the idea that the house might be haunted?

It didn’t matter. He was staying put, no matter how many ghosts the house might hold.

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