Page 25 of Road Trip With the Ghost Hunter

“For sure.” He nodded. “Nothing a strong drink and a good woman can’t cure.”

“What did you say?” I barely got the words out.

“Just an expression my family likes to say.” Both men were looking at me funny.

“But what did you say exactly?”

“Nothing a strong drink and a good woman can’t cure,” he repeated.

I smiled. “My uncle used to say,there’s nothing a large beer and a good woman can’t fix.” A slow warmth filled my chest. “He loved to say that.” I let out a laugh.

“Sounds like your uncle was a smart man,” The bartender said.

“Sounds like you should give him a call.” The other guy followed up.

“He died.” My laughter stopped. “It was my fault. He fell, and I wasn’t there. I should have been there. It should have been me on the roof.”

“You can't control what happens.” The bartender refilled my drink. “You could have been there, and he might have still fallen.”

“Or you both might have fallen.”

“Life is strange.” The bartender put his hands on the top of the bar. “My uncle was cutting branches and fell off a three-step ladder. Three steps. That’s barely off the ground, and broke his leg. The man was in the military. Did two tours in the Middle East and never got a scratch on him.”

“What happened to your uncle wasn’t your fault, and if he was anything like mine, he wouldn’t want you carrying that kind of guilt around. He’d want you to be happy.”

“Hell Roy, your uncle would probably go out of his way to make sure you were happy even from the beyond.” The guy laughed. “He’d haunt you until you were.”

“Oh yeah,” Roy laughed. “Probably send people left and right to tell me to get on with it and let him go.”

The beer in my belly turned. Had Uncle Filip been talking to me this whole time, and I missed it?

I ran through the things Benny had said. The drink I had with Jeremy. Everything that Li said about letting the dead rest in peace, and now Roy and a complete stranger. Were they all the voices of Uncle Filip? Had he sent Li to me to make sure I was happy? Or even as a way to let him go?

“I fucked up.” I tried to stand, but I swayed on my feet.

“Woah there.” The guy beside me helped steady me. “Maybe you better sit back down.”

“I need to get to Rustic Junction.”

“In Colorado?” Roy asked.

“Yep. I have to make things right.” I couldn’t let Li get off that bus without me. She had been right all along.

“I don’t think you’re driving anywhere tonight.” Roy shook his head. “Definitely not to another state.”

I sat back down. I had to get to her. I wasn’t sure how long the bus ride would take. I should have never put her on that thing alone.

“You got coffee?” That would help.

Roy shook his head. “Not here, but let me make a call. My aunt’s just down the street and I’m sure she’ll bring some right over.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s in Rustic Junction?”

I felt more like my old self than I had in months. “A good woman.”

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

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