Page 71 of Ghost Walk
“Or a menu.” The other guy reminded them. “And I already ate, too, so I’m pissed no one told me there’d be food.”
“I’m a vegan.” Lakers Hat held up a French manicured hand. “So, I’ll probably need to talk to the chef first. Do you have organic flatbreads here? But --like-- authentically Colonial ones? I’m totally serious about honoring the gluten-free parts of history.”
Anita’s eyes nearly popped out of her head. “Excuse us for a moment, folks.” She seized Grace’s arm and tugged her far enough away that the tour guests couldn’t hear. “What the hell is going on?” She hissed as soon as they were out of earshot. “Are you having another breakdown?”
“No, of course not. I’m just…”
“This is how you repay me for giving you a job?” Anita interrupted, disregarding her denial. “By telling our guests that we’re giving them free meals?!”
Grace jerked free of Anita’s grip, an angry look on her face. “I didn’t tell them…”
Anita talked right over that explanation, too. “Do you have any idea what kind of pressure I’m under here? Two tour guides walked --No,ran!-- off the hedge maze assignment today. The irresponsible little slackers took off without notice, screaming about ghosts and probably high as kites.” Her lipspursed in disapproval. “We need to take a serious look at what’s growing in those gardens, because they no doubt had a whole stash of pot in there.”
“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph…” Jamie rolled his eyes skyward.
Grace did, too. “Anita, if you would just…”
Anita kept going. “And now this!” She clasped her palms to her chest, as if Grace had stabbed her through the heart. “No one else would hire the craziest Rivera in town, butIgave you a job. And how do you show your appreciation? You go even crazier! How do you think that makesmefeel? Did you even consider the reputation of the Ghost Walk before you selfishly lost your mind?”
“I’m not crazy and neither is anyone else in my family.” Grace announced for possibly the first time ever. “Maybe we’re not exactly normal, but we’re okay with that. And we’re okay that you’renotokay with that, Anita.”
Those three sentences were all it took for Anita to find Grace guilty. It was a shame she’d been born too late for any witch trials, because she would have fit right in with the crazy zealots throwing stones. “I knew it!” She poked a triumphant finger at Grace’s chest. “IknewI shouldn’t have taken a chance on someone with your lunatic reputation! I knew it all along!”
Grace had finally had enough. “You didn’t hire me out of the kindness of your heart. You hired me because no one else was willing to work this miserable shift. Not at this miserable salary and in this miserable costume. …That you mademepay for!”
“Well, if you don’t pull it together, you crazy bitch, you can find yourselfanothermiserable job.” Anita snarled between clenched teeth.
“Iquit.” Grace retorted, her eyes bright with satisfaction. “And, FYI, you don’t evenneedtroll powder to belong under a bridge somewhere, eating little children and bullying everyone who tries to pass.”
Jamie’s eyebrows soared. For a lass who needed to “peaceful green cornfield” her way through any conversationwith raised voices, she was doing a damn good job of holding her own against her dreadful boss. He didn’t know whether to be worried or proud. “Grace, are you sure that…?”
“You can’t quit!” Anita shrieked, inadvertently cutting him off. “I’m firing you!”
“Either way, you can give your own stupid tours, from now on. I have a real job, trying tosolvemurders, not milk them for tourist bucks.” Turning on the heel of her white Ked, Grace headed back towards the tour group. “You morons wouldn’t know a ghost if he was standing right next to you in a tri-corner hat. Trust me. I know that for afact.”
“I’msoleaving her a bad rating on the comment card.” Lakers Hat decided with a sniff.
“Love,” Jamie hurried after Grace as she marched down the cobblestone road, “mayhaps you should take a moment and consider this.”
“Consider what? You’ve been after me to quit this lousy job since the first night we met.”
“But you have no other way of making a living.” It wasn’t as if Jamie could provide for her. Not with his gold lost and his body moldering in an unmarked grave. The idea of her destitute on the streets did nothing to improve his mood. “Your emotions are high and you’re not thinking straight. You’re doing something you may regret. Do you have any savings?”
“Nope.”
Jamie made an aggravated sound. “You need to go back there and fix this, Grace.”
“Ididjust fix it and I’ve never felt better. I’m getting pretty awesome at confrontations.”
Itwaslovely to see her standing up for herself, but it hardly made up for the fact she was now unemployed. “How do you plan to eat with no money coming in?”
She waved that aside as if starvation wasn’t a concern. “Which other girls did you dance with?”
He tried to catch up with her non sequitur. “What?”
“At the Summer Ball. Who did you dance with that the killerdidn’ttarget?”
“I donea know. Some matronly girls, who no one else was paying attention to.” Jamie always tried to make sure every lass got to dance at a party. “What does it matter?”
