Page 32 of Trick or Treat with the Mountain Man
If that was wishful thinking on my part, I could still buy my own place on the north side.
“Is Cordelia the reason you want to leave?” Silas asked.
“The ghost? Naw. She doesn’t bother me. I just never got comfortable there. Can’t say why.”
Silas nodded.
Taking another sip of my beer, I asked, “What would you do with the place if I sold it to you?”
“Me? I’d turn it into an artist’s residency. And when no one was using it, I’d use it myself.”
“Like for painting?”
“Yep.”
“And you don’t think the ghost would freak out the artists who come to stay?”
Silas shrugged. “She might even be a draw. But maybe you’ll find her people, and then she won’t need to haunt it anymore.”
That sounded about right.
We slid back into silence. Then we waited for the women to tell us lunch was ready.
Chapter 14
Ava
We were driving back to his place when Tyler took a call.
I tried not to listen in, but it was impossible since we were in the cab of his truck.
“Tyler here.”
“Really. Imagine that.”
“No. I can come to you. Unless you prefer it the other way.”
“I’m driving now. Let me call back with the details.”
When he clicked off the phone, I asked, “What was that about?”
“You want to hear something crazy?” he glanced over with a twinkle in his eye. “That was a man named Ed Myers. Wallace Myers’ son.”
I gasped. “Youfoundthem?”
“Yep, looks like it.” Then he grinned at me. “Feel like taking a road trip? They’re in Saint Louis, Missouri, just like Cordelia thought.”
My mouth dropped open. “Yes! Um, I mean, when? I need to take time off from work. Not tonight, right?”
He chuckled, “Not tonight. You tell me when. We could make it a long weekend. And don’t worry about the cost. I can cover our hotel room and the food.”
I tried to imagine this man off the mountain. It was hard to picture. Even though he was a transplant, he felt like Red Oak Mountain to me.
Taking his hand, I said, “I would love to go to Saint Louis with you, Tyler.”
He squeezed my hand back. “All right then. We’ll start planning.”
Ever since we met, we’d seamlessly slipped right into each other’s lives. Now it seemed like we were spending every day together. But we hadn’t talked about what it meant.
