Page 85 of Ghost of a Chance
“Okay, well, you did hear Paul’s voice on the video.So I believe you, that it’s not his.”He couldn’t tell if he was relieved or heartbroken.“Do you feel like we got anywhere?”
Her skin was paler than usual, her body language subdued.She probably needed space, but he couldn’t resist trying a little harder.“Tomorrow we’ll talk to Victor, and you’re going to the other medium.We have to be close.”
“Yeah.”
“Kirst, you will figure this out.The ghost was probably just startled.I think you were on the right track.Want to try again?”
“No,” she said sounding a little put out.“I just want some fucking answers.”
He did too but life didn’t work that way.Sometimes you just had to settle for moving on.Ironic coming from him—he’d been stuck in the past for years, assuming that this haunting was based in his own mistakes and guilt.
“I do too.I really don’t know a lot of dead people,” he said, trying to lighten things.
“Great, then it should be a short list,” she said.Then she wrinkled her brow.“Though maybe asking about youisfrustrating the ghost.Both times they’ve run away, once when I brought you up.What if they’re involuntarily stuck with you?”
“Kind of like the afterlife version of what’s been going on with me?”It was a thought.One that would completely suck if it were true.But Gia was tracking down the last owner of the book, so perhaps that would answer things before long.
“Yeah, something like that.”
He opened his mouth and she held her hand up.“Don’t ask.I have no idea if that’s possible or not.It’s a theory.”
“What if the book has always been haunted?Then when Paul died I got it when his stuff was boxed up?”
“That’s a good idea.We need to ask Victor about it.You said you thought Paul likedJudge Judybut what if it was the book the entire time?”She hurried to her side of the bed and started jotting things down in her notebook.
He followed her around, sitting down next to her on the bed.That vague feeling of being stuck that had dogged him since he’d graduated was coalescing into a future the more time he spent with Kirsty.
He wanted her by his side.
And she wouldn’t even commit to watchingStar Warswith him after this, let alone something more.But these feelings that she’d brought to life in him weren’t going to disappear.He wasn’t about to run from them.
“Any other ideas?”she asked.
Tossing her hair, she chewed the end of her pen as he contemplated her question.All he could think was about pulling her under him and making love to her.
There was no future or past.Nothing but the two of them together in the present.
“Only one.”
“What?”
He took the notebook and pen from her, placing them on the nightstand before he pushed her gently back on the bed and came down on top of her, careful to keep his weight from crushing her.
She wrapped her legs around him, the tail of her nightshirt falling to the tops of her thighs, and he felt the warmth of her center against his growing erection.The smile on her face was soft, gentle and so open that he couldn’t bear it.When she looked at him like that, the love he’d been hiding from her struggled to stay hidden.
* * *
Judge Judy woke the house at 6:00 a.m.with a loud, “If it doesn’t make sense, it’s not true.”Jasper went down to turn it off and to take Chewie out.Kirsty pulled on her headphones as she got out her laptop.Today, she was writing.Last night had been frustrating.At least Eva always found the answers when she needed them.
In fact, Kirsty had been way too easy on Eva, looking back on the books.She’d used her abilities as a tool.This time Eva wasn’t going to be able to.That would push the character in a new direction.She turned on her playlist, fingers moving over the keyboard as the words just flowed out.
When she finished the chapter she was working on she felt better.Two hours had passed.Jasper had brought her a strong black coffee partway through writing and left it on the nightstand.It felt good to do the thing she was good at rather than trying to play a part.
She showered and got dressed ready for the day.She was meeting with Aza while Jasper and Dan went to get the remaining B-roll they’d been waiting to shoot.Gia had a lead on Peterson’s Used Books, so she was on her way there to investigate.
They all had tasks to do.As she prepared to leave the house, she found herself lingering in her room.She was going to miss this little group they’d formed once this was all said and done.
Though she had more questions today than she had yesterday, the answers were getting close.Like any investigation she could feel it slowly coming to a conclusion.Maybe Jasper felt it too.
