Page 57 of The Keeper and I

She yanked on her tank top. “That’s not what I’m talking about.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Jordan.”

“Laci.”

“Ugh, you’re infuriating.” She pulled off her jeans and tugged up the flannel shorts she packed, finishing the look with fuzzy socks. She sat on the bed to get them on. “I’m dressed now.”

He still didn’t look.

“Jordan?”

Nothing. She frowned at him.

“Hello?”

Still, he didn’t answer. With a groan, she crawled over the bed and grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to turn around. He looked so anxious that her irritation melted away, replaced with genuine concern.

“Jordan, what’s the matter?” she demanded.

“Is this place haunted?” he replied.

She blinked, taken aback. “What?”

“Is it?”

“I dunno. I’ve never seen any ghosts.” She paused for a beat. “Did you?”

He shook his head and got to his feet. “No, I didn’t see anything. I…I heard…I heard…”

“Heard what?” she pressed.

“Voices. Names, by the sound of it.”

She squinted. It sounded outlandish, but Jordan was so perturbed by it that she knewsomethingmust have happened, something powerful enough to have the strongest man she knew completely shaken. She needed to hear him out.

“What names?” she asked.

“Samuel and—” he stopped short. “Samuel.”

“Two different Samuels or the same Samuel twice?” she joked.

“I don’t need your sarcasm.”

“What was the other name?”

“It’s not important.”

His avoidance only made her more suspicious. “What was it?” she asked again.

“I said it’s not important.”

“Stop dodging the question.”

He heaved a sigh and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You won’t like it.”

“Try me.”

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