Page 27 of Haunted Ever After

“Ha.” It was a good thing this man made great coffee. The puns were terrible.

“I just mean, maybe Nan can help the two of you coexist. Make living in a haunted house not so bad.”

“And then what? We can have sleepovers at our shared house? I can spend my nights gossiping with a lady from the 1940s?” She set down her glass. “I wish I could be as matter-of-fact as you are about all this. You don’t find it weird?”

Nick shrugged. “I grew up here. It’s part of who I am. I’ve had twenty-nine years to get used to ghosts. You’ve had, what, a couple weeks? Have you even finished unpacking yet?”

“Nope.” He had a point. There was still a stack of boxes in the unused second bedroom that she had yet to tackle. But at this rate, was she going to? Maybe she could consider them a head start if she couldn’t handle this whole “haunted town” business and went back to Orlando.

The thought depressed her, made her feel like she was giving up on this fresh start she’d given herself. She picked up her glass and sucked moodily on the straw until there was nothing left but ice. Starbucks had nothing on Nick’s skills. The man knew his way around an espresso machine. And she was pretty sure the baristas at Starbucks didn’t kiss as well as he did, either…Cassie shut down that train of thought. It was going in a weird direction.

Something of her mood must have shown on her face. “I have an idea.” Nick leaned his elbows on the counter. “Have you watched the sun set over the beach yet?”

“I’ve seen the sunset from my back balcony, does that count?” She lived right on the beach, that had to be close enough.

But Nick shook his head. “Nope. I mean on the beach, toes in the sand, sun setting over the water.”

“Ah. Then, no.”

His smile kicked up. “Wanna?”

She should say no. Was it a good idea to let herself get even more entangled with this guy? Even though everything in her wanted to say yes, sway toward him, she knew she should probably lean back. She had serious second thoughts about staying here for the long term. How could she live in a town where hauntings were the norm?

But before she could make the right decision—the smart, pragmatic decision—she was already nodding. “Sure. I’m in.”

“Great.” He straightened up, rapping his knuckles on the counter in front of him. “Meet me at the pier around seven, okay? There’s nothing more relaxing than a sunset over the beach, and something tells me you could use a little more of that in your life.”

She gave a small laugh. “You’re not wrong about that.”

“Good. I’d like to show you some things that I love about this place. Maybe I can change your mind about ghosts being scary.”

“Maybe.” She had her doubts about that, but screw it. She wanted to sway.

Thirteen

Nick got to the pier a little before seven to find Cassie waiting for him, just like they’d arranged. She was turned away, leaning on the railing, her eyes on Cemetery Island in the distance. Nick’s steps slowed as he approached. He adjusted the backpack on his shoulder as he let himself watch her while her attention was elsewhere. She’d changed for their date, her linen shorts and blue tank top practically formal wear on this warm evening. Her hair was caught up in a clip like always, but slight tendrils escaped, sticking to the back of her neck in the evening’s heat. He wanted to take her hair down. He wanted to spear his fingers through it, separating the strands, and spread it over her shoulders. How long was it? If he pulled her over him, would it fall around them both, hiding them from the world?

He was really getting ahead of himself. He couldn’t help it; she had that effect on him.

Nick cleared his throat hard and took a deliberate, heavy step onto the solid wooden boards of the pier, announcing his presence so he didn’t startle her. She turned at his approach, and he could only hope that his fantasies about her hair didn’t show on his face. But she just smiled, pushing her sunglasses up on top of her head.

“I’ll admit, that island’s pretty cool,” she said. “Is there really a cemetery out there, or was that another bullshit story from the ghost tour?”

“It’s really there.” He thought about the big headstone, not far from the center of the cemetery. The one that marked where his great-great-grandparents were buried. The one that reminded him that this town was his family’s legacy. A legacy he didn’t take lightly, despite—or maybe because of—the rest of his family’s indifference.

But he didn’t want to go into all of that now. Tonight wasn’t about that. It was about showing Cassie his favorite spots in town. It was about enjoying a sunset with a pretty girl. “So, you ready?” He nodded back toward the street.

“Sure.” Cassie tucked her hands into the front pockets of her shorts, falling in step with him as they headed up the street, away from her house and the downtown area. He wasn’t taking her on the ghost tour route; she knew those parts already. “Isn’t the beach back that way?”

Nick nodded. “We’re not going there yet. Got a little time before the sun sets.”

“So where are we going first then?” she asked as they passed Jimmy’s bait shack and kayak rental, the ramshackle building locked up for the night. Not a lot of people fishing or kayaking at night, especially this time of year.

“Oh, here and there.” He kept the answer vague, hoping to add an air of mystery to the evening. But as they continued up the footpath on the side of the road, which was all but deserted on this Wednesday evening, he also realized that it was possible he’d added an air of serial killer as well. “Like I said before, I wanted to show you some stuff.”

Okay, that wasn’t much better.

“Stuff?” she repeated with a little laugh, bumping his shoulder with hers. “So specific, thank you.”

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