Page 6 of Ghost of a Chance
He’d thrown that damned book out more times than he wanted to count, and it always showed back up.BlastingJudge Judyat all hours, and it was alwaysJudge Judy.Making his phone play random songs at the most inopportune moments.And that shit with the lights and other electronics.Enough was enough.
Today that all ended.
He was a segment producer onLive with Bri O’Brien.A popular syndicated morning talk show that shot before a live studio audience and was shown across the US and in some foreign markets.
They were having author K.L.Henson on their show.The famed mystery writer was also a clairvoyant and could talk to the dead, not unlike Eva Clare, the detective in her popular Satan’s Brook mystery series.
Jasper was taking Paul with him to the studio for the first time and today his ass was moving on.Whatever it was that Paul thought he needed in order to move on to the other side, it was done as far Jasper was concerned.
Maybe he’d give dating a try again.Things hadn’t gone that bad with Kirsty last night.He hadn’t had a girlfriend since Paul died and his ghost had become a major part of his life.
Two
There was a part of her that wondered if he’d figured out who she really was before she left his apartment.The strange incident of the TV going off and on by itself was straight from book three in the Eva Clare mystery series.Add in the lights flashing in the kitchen and last night was hazy but she was pretty sure the blender had been going at one point.
God, had she accidentally hooked up with some superfan?Shots were always a bad idea.
The Uber dropped her at her hotel and thirty minutes later she was showered, had downed two ibuprofen and was now drinking her creamy, sugary coffee delivered by Gia the publicist who was working with her on the tour on behalf of Periwinkle Press, her publisher.
“So a bunch of semi odd things all happened?Were they all ripped from your books?”Gia asked.
“Well, theJudge Judything was new.I mean the guy clearly has a thing for America’s favorite judge.”
Gia Spring was tall with the kind of curly hair that Kirsty wished she had.It always looked perfect, the curls tight and full, cut into a shaped bob that made her friend even taller.She was slim with playful brown eyes and gorgeous medium-brown skin.She didn’t wear makeup except for a tiny bit of eyeliner and sometimes lip gloss.But she didn’t need it.
Really the thing she envied about Gia was how comfortable she was in her own skin.Instead of putting on makeup and straightening her hair like Kirsty.Gia never wore a mask.She was one hundred percent the woman she wanted to be.
They’d met after graduation and had been thrust into each other’s lives at a time when they were both unsure of the future.Gia always had her back and Kirsty did the same.Gia was one of the few people other than her mom who really knew her.
They’d bonded during her first book tour which, without much of a budget for a new writer, was pretty much the two of them driving around in Kirsty’s car, going to a few bookstores in her region and eating lots of fast food.The tour hadn’t been super successful, but it had gotten her books into hands of readers and word of mouth had slowly spread.
Now Kirsty was on book five of her series and readers were living for it.The goth heroine, born out of Kirsty’s own love of The Killers and dark academia, had been embraced.
It also didn’t hurt that her publisher had let readers and booksellers believe that Kirsty had a touch of clairvoyance just like her main character.At first, she thought it was funny, a gimmick, and that no one would believe it.
But once in a while, something unexplainable would happen at a book signing or event and Kirsty would playfully warn that they weren’t alone.The first time she’d been on a local morning news show, the guy interviewing her had asked if she was into creepy guys.Kirsty had let her eyes roll back in her head and “felt” a spirit on the set.That interview had gone viral.
People started to show at events expecting her to be in touch with the supernatural.Which she always delivered.
“Did you feel anything supernatural?”
“No.You know that’s just PR garbage.I can’t really talk to the dead,” Kirsty said as she started to straighten her hair.
“Yeah, I know, but I’ve always thought you must have a touch of ability.Why else would your books be so realistic.”Gia walked around the hotel suite, adjusting the outfit that Kirsty had laid out.
“You know I don’t.I’ve mentioned it a bunch of times.”
“Last time we were here for the Chicago Mystery Lovers reader event, I’m sure there was something otherworldly in the room.”
“There wasn’t,” Kirsty assured her but a chill went down her spine just remembering that room and how cold it had gotten.“Regardless, I’m not into dudes who are into ghosts and shit.That’s K.L.’s stuff not mine.”
“So I guess you’re not seeing him again,” Gia said sarcastically.
“That’d be a definite no.”
“Aren’t you curious about what he would have been like in the sack?”
Curious?
