Page 53 of Home Between Homes

“Tell me this place isn’t haunted.”

“It is. By Jason and Nick.”

“But theyarealive, aren’t they?”

“Yeah,” Jack laughed uncertainly. “I think so. You should have heard their wedding vows, though. They decided that death would not do them part, and instead, they would haunt anyone who tried to live in this place together. It was strangely sweet.”

“They sound fun.”

“I promise you’ll like them.” He yanked the door open, and I followed his lead. The air outside reminded me to bring my jacket, so I rushed to the back seat to grab it while Jack made his way to me.

I rubbed my neck and pointed at the house. “After you.”

“Theyarenice people. There is nothing to be afraid of.” He leaned in and lowered his voice. “Though I had the same reaction when I first came here.” Jack grabbed my hand and pulled me behind him toward the entrance.

I peered through the glass doors and could see a red carpet but not much else. Jack rang the bell on the right, and five seconds later, a chandelier in the middle of the foyer came on, bathing everything in a bright yellow glow.Turns out, I wasn’t wrong about this being a hotel.Two dark wooden staircases, one on the left and one on the right, led up to the second floor. A reception desk on the right had a golden bell on top and a board with thirty keys behind it.

A guy in his mid-thirties with an eye patch appeared out of nowhere, a big frown on his face when he saw us. He unlocked the door and yanked it open. “Look what the cat dragged in.” The one eye that wasn’t covered studied me, but the frown quickly gave way to a small smile. “You must be Noah. The whole town is in cahoots because of you. It’s already echoing through the trees that there’s a new vet in town.”

“That’s me.”

“I’m Jason. Good tofinallymeet you.” He said with a grin, eyeing Jack. He held out his hand, and when I put mine in, he shook it with the strength of a professional wrestler. “Can we make a deal, Noah? I won’t ask you what brought you here, and you won’t ask me about the eye patch. You must be as tired of explaining as I am.”

I was curious, but I understood where he was coming from. He wasn’t wrong in assuming that every new person I met would ask me why someone as young as me would willingly move here. “Deal.”

He let go of my hand and opened the door wider to let us in.“You know the way, Jack. I need to get back to the kitchen. Nick is cooking dinner, and I don’t want to watch my house burn down tonight.” Without waiting, he turned and walked to the right down a hallway I hadn’t noticed from outside.

“Thanks for letting us use your place,” Jack called after him.

“Anytime,” Jason said without turning around.

Jack headed for the stairs. “Shall we?”

“Shouldn’t we spend more time with them?”

“This is our first date! Maybe after the movie, if you want to.”

He led me through the foyer, up the right staircase, past some paintings of mountains and people who must have been dead for at least a hundred years. The second floor looked completely different from the entrance hall. The part to our left had been remodeled in a Scandinavian style with light wood tones, and the part to our right was under construction, covered with a plastic sheet to protect the wood from the paint.

“They’ve been renovating for a year,” Jack said. “Nick actually does most of it himself. He’s the handiest guy I’ve ever met.”

“So they want to open up the place again?”

“Yeah. They said they might be ready in a year or so. Let’s see if it works out, though. There’s a reason it was closed years ago.”

Jack led me down the remodeled part of the hallway into the second room on the left. The inside of the door was plastered with black acoustic panels. Red curtains adorned the walls, and a fancy new red carpet shimmered in the dim, indirect light. To the right were very comfortable-looking modern reclining seats for thirty people on three levels so that everyone had a good view of the large screen that was the centerpiece of the room.

“It’s arealmovie theater,” I exclaimed. “Who would have thought?”

“Yes. It’s part of the hotel concept. Something about digital nomads and stuff. They explained it to me, but I honestly don’t remember all of it.” Jack laughed. He closed the door behind him, and as soon as we were alone, he grabbed my head and kissed me. “But for now, we have it all to ourselves. That means we can make out as much as we want.”

I grinned. “Is this why you brought me here? First, the make-out spot, and now theprivatemovie theater?”

“Can you blame me?”

“Blame? Put on a movie and take your pants off,” I laughed.

I didn’t have to tell him twice. He walked around the seats and pushed into the wall to reveal a hidden shelf containing at least a thousand Blu-rays. My eyes went wide. I had expected a small basement with a couch—something regular people would call a home cinema—notthis.

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