“So you want to tell me why you were flirting with me at the meeting?”
“No. You want to tell me if you tasted anything odd in your champagne?”
“Ah, I knew it. You distract me, and Murphy peppers my Chablis.”
“Champagne,” Mia corrected.
“Chablis rhymed,” Mike explained.
“Oh, cool beans. Actually, I’ve been dealing with an emotional overload. No, I’m not pregnant, and I think things have leveled off.”
“Nice of you to let me know.”
“Mike, I’d like to thank you for being of sound mind when I’m not,” Mia said and threw the football, letting it sail high into the air.
He smiled as he caught it. “It’s totally out of character, but I’m getting used to it.”
“I think it’s the authentic you actually.”
“Uh oh, sounds like you’ve been dipping into Cid’s self-help books,” Mike teased.
“I think it’s something I’ve been figuring out on my own. I’m so screwed up that I’m all over the place, but you’re pretty easy to figure out.”
“Well, Doctor Freud, lay it on me,” Mike said, throwing the football fast and hard.
Mia took the hit with barely an intake of breath. “You’re a good guy, end of sentence.”
“You didn’t used to think so.”
“I was full of myself, and so were you.”
“True. Why doesn’t your husband like me?”
“You have to ask him. I think you deliberately push his insecurity buttons. You’re handsome, well-liked, and a natural ladies’ man. All the things he wanted to be when he was a teenager. Instead, he was too tall, awkward, and ignored by the female populace. Thank God.”
“Mia,” Mike scolded.
“If he wasn’t, I never would have nabbed him. Phew!”
“How’re things going in that department?”
“I’ve put it mostly behind me, but I had help. I think he’s got a ways to go. I’m not giving up though.”
“I respect that. What kind of help?”
“If I said divine intervention, would you laugh at me?”
“Probably.”
“Then I don’t really know. All I know is, any doubts I still carried, any hurt I still had over losing my stuff, and any suspicions regarding Beth have disappeared. I still remember it all, but I can see it for what it was. I’m a lot less angry with Ted.”
“How about Beth?”
“Oh, I’d go out of my way to run her down with an ice cream truck.”
Mike laughed. “Cooper, you are a piece of work.”
“I am, aren’t I?”
Mia’s phone buzzed in her pocket. She set the football down and pulled out the phone. “Oh my god, Jake just sent me a Dick pic.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Mike ran over and grabbed Mia’s phone. There, pictured in a newspaper clipping, was Richard, the man Mia had just crossed over. “Cooper, you are going to get it,” Mike growled.
“You ran pretty fast to see a dick pic. Seems you have some issues,” Mia teased, grabbing her phone back. She took off running towards the grassy slopes.
Mike tackled her, sending both of them rolling down the kiddie slope. When they had stopped, Mia was covered in grass stains and Mike had long grass clippings in his hair. Mike was about to make a comment about the two of them rolling in the hay when he spotted someone making their way stealthily up the hill to the hotel. He pointed the person out and began to follow.
Mia texted Ted, warning him that an unauthorized visitor was nearing the south side of the hotel and that Mike was following.
“Security alerted. Why are you on the south side of the hotel?”
“Rolling in the hay with Mike,” Mia answered.
“Oh.”
“Short story, I’ll make longer later.”
“Promises.”
Mia made the top of the kiddie slope just as the two guards in golf carts cornered the unwanted visitor. Mike aided in the capture, taking the rifle out of the old man’s grasp. Mia walked up, eyeing the man with suspicion.
“Can we help you?” she asked.
The man looked at her disheveled appearance and scowled.
One of the security guards, wearing a tag displaying the name Carl, lifted the man’s wallet out of his pocket. He opened it up and read off, “Cyryl Nowicki.”
“Gee, that’s a familiar name,” Mia said. “Didn’t this place used to be called Nowicki’s Ski Resort, Mike?”
“Yes, I believe the Price Corporation bought it from the Nowicki family.”
“Stole it, more like,” the man spat.
“I think that is something better shared between lawyers. Now, sir, aside from these able-bodied men here, we aren’t part of the Price Corporation. Is there anything we can do to help you?” Mia asked again.
“I just came to look around and see what they have done to the place.”
“Miss, I think you can leave this to us,” Ray, the other security person, started.
Mia lifted her hand. “Cyryl, do you know why this place is haunted?”
Mia saw his face pale. “No.”
Mia nodded to the security guys, saying, “He’s all yours,” and started to walk away.
“They’ll never be able to clear out all of the Nowickis. Some of us were buried in that hotel,” he said smugly. “They’ll rise up and kill all intruders.”
“That’s not neighborly,” Mia said to Mike.
“You and your smart mouth are going to be sorry,” Cyryl Nowicki threatened Mia.
“Call the cops. I think it’s time to look into Mr. Nowicki’s being here armed with a rifle,” Mike recommended to the security guards.
“Yes, sir.”
“In the meanwhile, I and Ms. Smart Mouth are going to return to the hotel.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mia took Mike’s offered arm. She leaned in and spoke to him as they walked, “We need to get ahold of the old and new blueprints. I think this place is built over a family graveyard. With my luck, the graves are under my room.”
“Good thing Murphy came along,” Mike said.
“Good thing,” Mia repeated, not as convinced. “He and I haven’t felt a thing besides Dick and Billy.”
“I wonder why?” Mike said.
Ted walked out to greet them. He took a look at their clothing and shook his head. “If I wasn’t the trusting
