Page 19 of Haunted Ever After

But Nick apparently appreciated ghost-related puns. “Good one.”

They continued around the bend, but Cassie hung back for a moment, gazing at the Starter Home. There was something about it that made her sad. Someone had built that house once. Someone had dreams of watching sunsets over the Gulf from their (probably) cute stilt house on the water. Who had lived there? What had happened to their dreams? Why had they left? She was suddenly very thankful for that somewhat shady flipper who had rescued her house. She hadn’t lived there long, but she hated the thought of it sitting there empty and forgotten for all those years, like the Starter Home here.

When she turned back around, Nick was waiting patiently for her, hanging back while the rest of the group continued around the bend and back to the main street leading into downtown.

He raised his eyebrows. “You okay?” He looked from her to the ruins of the stilt house, and back again, like he had picked up on her train of thought.

“Yeah.” She kept her voice light, fighting against the sudden melancholy that had come out of nowhere. “All good.”

When they caught up to the group, they were stopped in front of her house. Sophie had just turned around, waiting for Nick and Cassie to catch up. Cassie looked at the little gate of her picket fence. Painting it was on her to-do list, and now that she knew the house was a tourist attraction, she mentally bumped it up higher.

She’d heard this part of the tour already, from her balcony last Friday night when Sophie had brought another group by. She’d laughed it off then, but now her heart hammered in her chest. All this walking around in the dark, hearing the history of the town in the places where it happened, was getting to her, and Cassie was starting to see all this ghost stuff in a very different light. What if it was all true? Wasn’t a real estate agent supposed to disclose if a house was haunted?

Cassie tried to focus on Sophie’s words, but she couldn’t hear them over the blood pounding in her ears, so instead she focused on her house. She’d left the downstairs windows open and the porch lights on, which glowed now against the clapboard siding that was painted a soft yellow. Sure, the picket fence needed some paint, and the sod lawn the seller had put in really did look like crap, but there wasn’t anything about the place that looked particularly ominous.

“…She died sometime in the forties.” Sophie was wrapping up the story. “The house sat vacant for decades. But…” Her voice suddenly switched from spooky back to her bright sunny attitude. “A couple years ago it was purchased. It’s been renovated, and now it has a brand-new owner.” She threw Cassie a subtle glance and a smile as she started off down the sidewalk, motioning for the group to follow.

The lot next to Cassie’s house was vacant and surrounded by an old wooden fence, its whitewash nearly worn away. The faux gas lamp here didn’t work, so once they’d left the glow of Cassie’s front porch, they were swallowed up by darkness just in front of that vacant lot. But the darkness was short-lived; there was barely enough time to be creeped out before they hit the warm glow of the next streetlight. They were almost back to the downtown area where the tour had started.

“Now there’s a little path here, between the dunes, that takes you straight to the beach.” Sophie gestured off to the right, and while Cassie tried to follow the movement, the path toward the beach was too dark to make out. “You don’t want to head down there now, though.”

“Why, is the beach haunted too?” One of the patrons made a woooo-style ghost noise, and the group gave a collective chuckle. But Sophie nodded in all seriousness.

“Sometimes. Usually around…” She consulted her smartwatch, which briefly illuminated her face. “Oh, yeah, he might be out by now. Let’s just say if you take a shortcut through the beach walking home from, say, The Haunt? After a drink or two too many? You may have company.” She shrugged. “There’s a ghost out there in the dunes that really wants to hang out with drunk friends. If you’re sober you may be okay.”

“Bring him a beer and he won’t bother you.” Nick had been quiet for a bit, so when he spoke up now, Cassie jumped, her heart in her throat. He tossed her a crooked smile when she looked at him. “That’s what my friends and I always did when we’d go down to the beach to drink. He liked being part of the group.”

Cassie’s laugh felt forced, as she was still trying to get her heart rate to go down. “There’re a lot of rules to these ghosts.” She meant it as a joke, the way the guy a minute ago had made that woooo noise, but Nick nodded thoughtfully and Sophie, who had heard her, pointed at Cassie in recognition.

“There are! It’s weird, right? But you have to remember that ghosts were once people. And just like we all have different personalities in life, those personalities carry on into the afterlife. Now, I don’t know the full story of the beach bum—that’s what I call him. My theory is that he’s someone who was wandering home after a night out and went the wrong direction. Like into-the-ocean wrong direction.”

“That…he’d have to be pretty drunk to do that.” One of the tourists sounded somewhere between impressed and shocked.

“He would.” Sophie sounded way too cheerful to be talking about someone’s possible demise. Cassie stole a glance from Nick to Sophie. Two lifelong residents of this place, they took all this haunting in stride.

But neither of them lived in a house with the ghost of a creepy old lady who’d whacked her husband. At least, she didn’t think they did.

The real estate agent really should have disclosed that.

A slight breeze kicked up, cooling the sweat on her skin and ruffling stray locks of her hair. Cassie shivered and leaned in to Nick, who looked down at her with concern.

“Everything all right?” He put an arm around her, chafing one hand up and down her upper arm.

She forced a smile. “Yeah.” She wasn’t sure if it was the truth. Just like she wasn’t sure if this had really been a date. But if she could keep this guy’s arm around her, and maybe make him laugh again, well. It wouldn’t be the worst night ever. Not even close.

Nine

Nick fished in his pocket for his keys. It had been a long time since he’d been out with a girl, but even he could tell that it hadn’t gone all that well. Sure, he’d enjoyed talking to Cassie; she was smart and really damn clever. He’d wanted her to feel welcome in her new town, and thought that Sophie’s ghost tour would be a great way to make her feel like a part of things. Sophie obviously agreed; she had all but shaken pom-poms in their direction all night, cheering the two of them on.

But as he unlocked the door to Hallowed Grounds, he could tell from Cassie’s face that she had questions. Lots of them. And he was willing to bet that none of those questions were about when she could see him again. So yeah. He’d knocked that shit out of the park.

The ghost tour had come to an end, the trio of tourists sent on their way with a fistful of drink coupons to The Haunt. But Nick wasn’t one for karaoke, and when Cassie’s quick headshake confirmed that she wasn’t either, he’d suggested a nightcap at his closed-up café. Maybe if he was on familiar ground with her, he could salvage things.

“Want a drink?” After flipping the lock behind them, he moved behind the counter and turned on just enough lights that he could see what he was doing. Didn’t want to encourage any late-night customers stopping by. “No liquor license, sadly, but I’ve got some bourbon back here for emergencies. It goes great in hot chocolate.” He looked around the kitchen, mind whirling. What else? “Or I could get some coffee going. What do you think?”

“Hot chocolate sounds great.” She leaned her elbows on the counter. “Since I hit thirty, I can’t do coffee after three or else I’m up all night.”

“You’re over thirty?” The words popped out of his mouth before he could call them back. Christ, Royer. You’re really killing it with the ladies here. He could only hope that Elmer wasn’t listening in; he’d never hear the end of it.

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