Page 96 of Ghost of a Chance
Pete was a nice older man who claimed he remembered every book he’d sold, which Kirsty felt like was a stretch.But he was kind as he flipped through the old textbook.It gave her something to concentrate on so she wasn’t replaying her love confession on a loop in her head.
Well her half confession.It was harder than she thought to get those words out of her mouth.She textedlove yaand those funny memojis holding up heart fingers to her mom and her friends all the time, but other than that Kirsty had never told anyone she loved them.
She hadn’t even experienced anything like this before.It was hard to think about anything but Jasper.
“I’m guessing this book was on a table that I kept in the front of the store.Everything for $5.I stamped them when they came in just for tracking purposes.But these books never sold.I’m guessing it was out-of-date when it came to me,” he said.“Sorry I can’t be of more help.”
Flipping the cover open he saw the sketch of the tree and tapped it.“Wait.I think a visiting professor picked this up…can’t remember his name but he stayed at the suite hotel out by the interstate for his lecture.He’d used this text as a student and wanted this as one as a refresher.Yeah.This is definitely the same one.”
They were going to have to take a trip to the hotel to see if they’d kept good records.And would be willing to share the information with a couple of amateur ghost hunters.“Do you remember when that was?”
“I brought all of my ledgers with me.They are out in the car.”He got up and Dan went with him to help carry them back.
Gia was on her phone, likely answering work emails.Her friend never stopped working.While Gia was distracted, Jasper came and sat on the arm of her chair.“I want to talk after this.”
“I do too,” he said.“But visiting professor…that might be the lead we’ve been waiting for.”
“Yeah.Maybe.Though I’m not talking about the book.”
“Oh, I know,” he said, winking at her.
She punched his thigh.This was a huge deal for her.There he was all smiles and acting like a man in love.She needed to say those words to him, too.To look into his eyes and tell him how she felt.
But Dan and Pete were back before she could.Jasper got up to help them as there were three more boxes of ledgers.They were old accounting ledgers that had seen better days, full of dust.She and Gia each started going through the books while the men brought in the rest.
“Guy definitely could use some handwriting lessons,” Gia said.
“Yeah, it’s hard to read, but damn, it’s thorough.I think we can rule out these from the ’80s since the book wasn’t published until the 1990s.He mentioned it was out of date when it was on the table and Professor Thompson said late ’90s or he might have been wrong, could be the early 2000s so maybe start with ’95?”
“Yeah.I’ll do them, here’s ’96.”
Forty minutes later Jasper found it in a ledger from 2000.The book had been purchased by Professor Hillerman.He also bought two old John le Carré novels and left his number in case Pete got a copy ofTimelineby Michael Crichton in.
“Hillerman,” Gia said, typing on her phone, no doubt doing a search to find the professor.
They thanked Pete and Kirsty carried one of the boxes back to his car with him.“Do you miss running the store?”
After looking through his journal she realized that he’d done more than just sell books.He knew his customers and their tastes.She’d read some of the notes he made of titles he thought a certain reader would like.
“Some days.I miss the people but not doing the books and dealing with the Main Street collective.They were always having meetings about theming our windows and all of that.”
“I bet.That’s not my kind of thing either,” she said.
“The boy said you were an author.”
“Yeah.Cozy mysteries.My heroine works in a bakery and talks to dead people,” she said.
His grin got bigger.He took her name and she gave him a bookmark with a QR code for a free short story.After he left, Jasper came outside with Chewie.Dan and Gia were in the house and Kirsty took advantage of it.
She tried to rehearse what she’d say in her head.Things just worked better when she had a plan except this morning.He smiled at her.She just rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“I love you.”
“I love you too,” he said.
“I know.”
“You do?”
