Shirley tossed the invitation in the trash, then dug it out and ripped it to the tiniest of pieces. The gall of the woman. “‘Please don’t feel you have to bring a gift,’” she mimicked in Tina’s too-sweet tone. “‘Your attending will be gift enough.’”
Seriously? Most people in Buckhorn just put an announcement in the local shopper flyer when they were having an event. Since everyone in town knew everyone else and a lot were related, anyone who wanted to come could and would.
But not Christina Mullen. She had to make a big deal out of this with a party so big it required cute little baby invitations.
Shirley hadn’t realized that she was crying. She brushed angrily at her tears. What if Lars was wrong? What would he do if the baby was his? What would he do if it wasn’t? Was it even about the baby?
She realized that she no longer knew what she wanted. But she suspected a man who couldn’t make up his mind wasn’t one of them.
WHILE CASEY HADN’T seen Finn since the tower earlier, she’d gotten a text that the paperwork would be ready soon.
Seeing the text had sent a tidal wave of emotions that had threatened to swamp her. Relief and regret turned in a deep sadness as if she was experiencing her grandmother’s death all over again.
She told herself that she was only doing what she had to. She couldn’t afford to keep the hotel. Now the deal was nearly done. She had no idea what Finn would do with the Crenshaw. Soon it would no longer be any of her business.
But even as she tried to convince herself that this was what she’d wanted, it still hurt. The pain made her all the more anxious to finish this, which meant getting the other things on her grandmother’s list as the first step. One promise at a time, she told herself.
At her room, she saw a note taped to her door. Need your help on the staff wing. Finn.
She couldn’t imagine what he would need her for, but after dropping off a few items in her room, she took the back stairs to the staff wing. Pushing open the door as she came out of the stairwell, she saw that the hallway was empty.
“Finn?” She started down the hall when she caught a sweet and almost cloying scent that made her stumble to a stop. It was so familiar that it blindsided her—just as it had last night in her room. She tried to catch her breath, but each brought more of the overpowering scent. This time, there was no doubt about it.
Gasping, she turned as if expecting to see Megan standing behind her. Surprise! But the hallway was empty. That was when she saw where she’d stopped in the hall. Her heart dropped. She stood in front of room 33. Megan’s old room.
Even as her rational brain argued that ghosts didn’t wear perfume, she rubbed the back of her neck and looked behind her, unable to resist making sure she was alone. The smell wasn’t her imagination. It was strong enough to turn her stomach. Her heart pounded as she tried the knob, but unlike most of the other hotel-room doors, this one was locked.
SHIRLEY WAS GOING out the back door of the motel apartment, anxious to meet up with Jen and tell her the news, when Lars drove up.
She couldn’t believe his nerve. Did he not know that Tina was going all over town handing out baby-shower invitations? Had he dropped by just minutes earlier, he would have run into her.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded as she stomped out to his pickup. He had the window down, his arm resting on the frame. She noticed the hole in his shirt at the elbow. Something about that hole annoyed her about him. Didn’t he own a decent shirt?
“Tina was just here in the motel office,” she said, sounding as upset as she felt. Buckhorn was way too small to keep living like this.
He didn’t seem all that surprised. “What’d she want?”
“To invite me to her baby shower.”
Lars made an angry face. “Why the hell would she do that?”
“Maybe to poison me.”
“I don’t think she’d do that.” He actually sounded as if he meant it.
“It’s obvious, dummy. She wants to remind me in front of all her friends and this town that you’re still with her and that she’s carrying your baby.”
“I already told you that the baby isn’t mine.”
Shirley shook her head. “I have to go.”
“Wait. Can’t we—”
“No. I’m busy.”
Lars let out a curse. “At that stupid reunion everyone in town is talking about?”
She couldn’t argue that it wasn’t stupid, so she merely stormed off. She’d told Jen that she hadn’t mentioned it to Lars. She knew what Jen would have said, so she’d lied about it. She’d been lying about more than some stupid reunion.
Down at Vi Mullen’s antiques barn, she found Jen and Benjamin apparently enjoying themselves, digging through dusty junk.
“I need to talk to you,” Shirley whispered. “Privately.”
“Whatever you have to say, you can say in front of Ben, here,” Jen said.
Benjamin didn’t correct her on his name. He merely smiled.
“Tina invited me to her baby shower.”
Jen raised a brow. “That’s pretty bold of her. Her mother will have a fit.” She laughed. “Sounds like the shower is going to be a lot more fun than I thought it would be.” She turned to Benjamin and gave him a short explanation of why.
“What if it’s his baby?” Benjamin asked.
Shirley just shook her head, but Jen piped up. “It’s more complicated than that. The baby is like a line in the sand. Once that little one comes into this world, well...” She raised her gaze to her friend’s. “Well, someone will finally make a decision.”
“I need a beer.” Shirley looked at the two of them and saw that she wasn’t going to have to go to the bar alone.
MEGAN WAS DEAD. There was no ghost.
