Page 13 of Haunted Ever After

“Okay, I admit it’s been a long time since I’ve had a Publix sub—”

“Are you serious?” Cassie’s eyes flew wide open. “How can you call yourself a Floridian? There is nothing better in this world than a chicken tender Pub Sub. Toss the tenders in buffalo sauce, add some lettuce, peppers, tomato, and onion, a little squeeze of ranch dressing on top. Maybe grab a side of potato salad…the yellow kind that has the egg in it…” She was practically in a trance, drooling at the memory, and damn. What would he have to do to get her to look at him like that? Because he wasn’t above doing some questionable things with buffalo sauce…

He cleared his throat and tried to get back on topic. “It’s not all bad. Sure, we don’t have chicken tender subs, but Poltergeist Pizza, around the corner, delivers till ten most nights, and—”

“Most nights?” Her eyebrows shot up, but amusement danced in her eyes.

“Yep. Most nights, unless the delivery guy doesn’t feel like working late. Or his scooter’s busted. Sometimes they’ll close up early if it’s not busy.” He trailed off as he realized that maybe Cassie had a point. Small-town life was definitely its own thing. He just needed to show her the good parts of it. “If it’s chicken you want, though, you should check out The Haunt.”

“The what?”

“The Haunt.” Nick nodded toward the door. “Down on that corner. Technically it’s an oyster bar, but it’s the place that’s open late year-round. You live close; you probably hear them at night.”

“Ohhhh. The place that looks like it wants to be a biker bar, but just without the bikes?” She made a nod of understanding. “I’ve been meaning to go sometime.”

“That’s the one. Doesn’t look like much. I think they do that on purpose to keep the tourist traffic down. But they do a fried chicken on Tuesdays that will change your life.”

She smiled, and it was like the sun coming out. He wanted to bend toward that smile like a sunflower. It was that smile that made him bold. Made him want to take Elmer’s advice after all. What the hell.

He leaned forward, elbows resting casually on the table. “You know, if you’re not doing anything next week, maybe on Tuesday we could—”

The chime of the bell over the door drowned out the end of his sentence, and he wanted to scream. Cassie raised her eyebrows, her eyes alight, and he could almost see the answer to his unasked question sparking in their depths. But duty called, and he stood, managing to conceal his groan of frustration. “Hold that thought.”

“Holding.” She opened her laptop, but there was a trace of that smile in her voice as he went to the counter. “Hey, Sophie,” he said easily. From the corner of his eye, he could see Cassie’s head jerk up in reaction. “You need a coffee?”

Six

He was about to ask her out. Cassie was sure of it.

Nick had this look on his face. It had been there ever since she’d vocalized her fantasy about chicken tender subs—seriously the biggest thing she missed about Orlando—and sure, maybe she’d gotten a little carried away. But he hadn’t run away screaming. In fact, he’d leaned in closer while they’d been talking, his knees practically touching hers under this tiny table, so close she could have reached his hand. Or he could have touched hers. While they’d talked about fried chicken of all things, his eyes had lingered on her face, and had she imagined it or had his gaze dropped to her mouth, just for a second?

Then he’d cleared his throat, the tip of his tongue touching his bottom lip, and Cassie’s heart fluttered in her chest. He’d leaned in closer. You know, if you’re not doing anything next week, maybe on Tuesday we could—

Then the chime of the bell over the door ruined everything. She’d done her best to be cool about it, but she pressed her lips together to hold in a sigh of aggravation as Nick got up to greet the customer who had just walked in. It was fine. She should let him get back to work.

And she should get back to work herself. Three deadlines on Monday. Ugh.

Cassie opened her laptop reluctantly, preparing to slide back into work mode instead of flirt-with-the-cute-coffee-shop-guy mode, when the name “Sophie” made her jerk her head up, Pavlov style. Sure enough, Nick was talking to a woman across the counter who Cassie was sure she’d seen before. It had been dark and she’d only been lit by the streetlamp in front of Cassie’s house, but the glasses and dark curls were definitely familiar. The newcomer was the ghost tour guide from last week.

Now Cassie’s heart hammered in her chest for another reason. One that had nothing to do with the cute coffee shop guy. She stared at her laptop screen, her eyes slowly losing focus as she paid attention to the conversation instead.

“You here for the sign-ups?”

Sophie nodded, her dark curls bouncing. “May as well get an iced coffee too. How’s it looking for tonight?”

“Let’s see.” After Nick handed Sophie her coffee and her change, he opened a drawer under the register and slid a notepad across the counter. “Looks like you’ve got three for tonight. Not too bad.”

“Are you kidding?” Sophie sighed as she consulted the list. “It’s barely worth doing. Three people?”

“Memorial Day’s right around the corner.” Nick’s voice was consoling. “Just hold out a little while longer.”

Sophie nodded with another sigh, but then brightened almost immediately. “Oh hey. You heard that someone bought the Hawkins House, right?”

Cassie’s scalp prickled, the tingling sensation traveling across her shoulders and down her spine. She took a pull off her iced latte and tried to refocus her attention to her work, while also not making any unnecessary movements. Time to be inconspicuous.

“Yep,” Nick said easily. “She’s right over there if you want to say hi.” Out of the corner of her eye, Cassie could see him gesturing in her direction and Sophie whirling around.

Welp. So much for inconspicuous. She looked up, trying to act like she hadn’t been eavesdropping. “Guilty. You’re the one with the ghost tour, right?”

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