“Life isn’t always fair.” I thought about what had come between my parents and about my own life growing up in the orphanage. “I wish it was, though.”
He placed my hand against his heart. “I will fight for us to stay together.”
My heart swelled at his gesture to the point my chest ached.
Fighting against the emotions warring inside me, I stared out the window.
Until Roan had entered my life, I didn’t know how deeply I could care for someone romantically. My heart ballooned at the sight of him. I felt lighter around him as if I could dance on puffy clouds.
For him to be taken away from me would be a travesty. I shoved the thought away and blinked back tears.
“Me too.”
I awoke the next morning,made a pot of coffee and opened my computer to catch up on news in the outside world.
I had just fried up a pan of hash browns when my phone rang.
I didn’t bother to read the number before answering. “Hello.”
I wished I had.
“Blissful,” Anita Tucker’s fake sickly sweet voice chirped on the other end. “How’re things going in Haunted Hollow?”
I spewed out the mouthful of coffee I had taken and coughed into the phone.
“Anita,” I croaked. “Hold on.”
I coughed up a lung, my liver and pancreas before I could calm the spasms in my throat. A quick sip of water and a few deep inhales and I was finally ready to speak.
Good grief.I wished I had glanced at the number. I was absolutely not ready to talk to the bimbo who stole my job.
“Sorry about that,” I managed through my dry, scratchy throat. “You took me by surprise.”
“I’m surprised you remember anything about me, Blissful. It’s been ages since we chatted.” She paused. “In fact, I think the last time we talked, you had just convinced me to send you some ghost-catching supplies.”
“Yes,” I ground out, “that’s right.”
So that’s why Anita was calling. She wanted to know when her investment would pay off.
“Any word on when you’ll be able to bring in Lucky Strike?”
Anita had sent me to Haunted Hollow on a mission to catch the infamous spirit Lucky Strike. I’d found him within a short time after arriving and had worked with him on a case. In fact, Lucky had been so kind to me that I’d already sent him to the light.
But Anita didn’t know that.
“Oh, wow. You wouldn’t believe,” I said with an innocent air to my voice, “but Lucky Strike is harder to find than I imagined. I almost had him one time. He was cornered. I had one of the EMF boxes nearby, but the thing short-circuited and Lucky escaped.”
Total lie.
“But I’m working on a new plan to catch him. One that will work this time, I know it.”
“Blissful.” Anita’s voice sliced through my crap-filled story like a hot knife cutting butter. “I get the feeling you’re playing me.”
“Who? Me? Anita, you know I want to be back on the Ghost Team. I only came here because you suspended me.”
“And you were supposed to make short work of a troublesome spirit,” she countered. “You’ve been in Haunted Hollow long enough. If you don’t start showing results, I’m going to come down there myself and take over the hunt.”
Oh poop. I couldn’t have that. Especially since Lucky was no longer on this earth.
