Page 27 of Ghost of a Chance
“No.Paul was into guys.”
“Sorry, I shouldn’t have assumed,” she said.“Did he have someone?”
“Yes.He and Victor were pretty serious about each other.They met sophomore year,” Jasper said.
Jasper knew he should have talked to Victor before he came back.It hadn’t seemed right that Paul would be haunting him instead of Victor.They’d been so close.Honestly the most solid couple out of their entire friend group.
“Could Paul be trying to get you to take him to Victor?”
“No.”He’d sent the book to Victor once, and Victor had returned it to Jasper.Though Victor hadn’t included a note or anything.Probably because of how Jasper had shut down after Paul’s death.
“What did he say when you told him Paul was in the physics book?”
“Nothing.I never talked to him about it.I sent him the book in the mail and he sent it back.”
She closed the lid to her tablet and put both hands flat on top of it.“Are you kidding me?”
“No.Why would I tell him?It would hurt him that Paul was with me and not him,” Jasper said.
“Or maybe talking about the book with him was what Paul needs,” she stated.
When she put it that way, it made a lot of sense.“Good thought.”
“Ya think?So where is he now?”
He didn’t know.What did it say about him that he hadn’t kept in touch?There had been a bit of guilt, but also the smallest bit of anger.Jasper never wanted the responsibility of shouldering the burden of his friend.Mourning him once had been hard enough.
“I’ll have to find out.”
“Okay,” she said.“Let’s keep Victor on the down-low in front of Dan until we find him.”
“Works for me.Do you think we should have that séance Gia mentioned, to try to talk to him?”
Her eyes went wide and then she opened the lid to her tablet and keyboard and started typing.She looked nervous.“I don’t usually do them.”
“Why not?”
She chewed her lower lip, which drew his eyes to her lush mouth.God, he wished none of this was happening.That there was no ghost or TV segment to film.Just two people on a date, so he could lean over, take her mouth and show her how beautiful she was to him.
“It opens me up to too many spirits,” she said, the words coming out in a low rush, as if she didn’t want anyone to hear anything.“I’ll consider it if nothing else happens when we get back.”
There wasn’t much more to discuss on that.She sipped her espresso.“So the music…even though the book’s with us.Could your phone be on the fritz?”
“Oh…maybe.Hadn’t considered that.”
“You’re probably so accustomed to the book doing freaky things so it makes sense.Has it happened before without the book being around?”
Trying to remember.“This is only the fifth or sixth time.”
“And?”
“Before it was always at home.”
“Good to know.Let’s keep an eye on it.”
“Don’t you mean ear?”
She groaned but he saw a hint of a smile.“That’s a total dad joke.”
