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Then all hell broke loose.

Chapter 15

Trying to shift her purse around while searching through it, Samantha muttered irritably. Wearing a short white skirt, pink tank top, and white flip-flops with big pink stones on them, she was cutely dressed, but the dark circles under her eyes were evidence of her sleepless night. Samantha fumbled about inside her packed purse as her cat, Beatrice, regarded her coolly from the back of the sofa. The gray tabby was stretched out in a patch of sunshine, the white bib under her chin practically glowing in the light.

Finally, Samantha located her sunglasses and house keys. She held up both triumphantly, but Beatrice didn’t appear impressed. The cat closed her eyes dismissively.

“Well, fine. ” Shifting the big pink bag onto her shoulder, she yanked open her front door. “I’ll be back later. Don’t scratch the couch!”

Beatrice ignored Samantha with her usual cat aloofness.

Shoving open her screen door, Samantha nearly whacked Jeff in the face as he stepped onto the porch.

“Whoa!”

“Sorry, Jeff!” She hurriedly shut the door and locked it while he took several cautious steps back onto the walkway. “I’m all crazy this morning. I slept through the alarm clock. ”

“No problem. It was hard for me to wake up, too. ”

Jeff gave her his usual kind smile and she hugged him tightly.

“You’re so sweet!”

“If you insist,” he answered, snuggling her.

Giving him a quick kiss on the cheek, she slid out of his arms, feeling self-conscious. He just smiled and held out his hand to her. Happily, she took it and they walked down the walk to his beat-up Land Rover parked at the curb.

“Did you eat anything?” Jeff asked, holding the passenger door open for her.

“I didn’t. I got up too late. ”

“Good thing I snagged some coffee and some kolaches then,” he said with a grin before shutting the door and circling around to the driver’s side.

A white bag and two large coffees were nestled into the console. Samantha hungrily yanked out a kolache and took a big bite, savoring the warm bread and spicy sausage. Around her chewing, she said, “Gawd, I love you. ”

Jeff grinned at her words as he drove up the street. “I aim to please. ”

“You always think of everything. It’s like you’re magic or something. ” She hesitated, gave him a thoughtful look, and said, “Are you magic or something?”

“Ordinary human. Boringly so,” Jeff assured her.

“Not a secret elf, or fairy, or something?”

“Nope. Human as can be. I promise. ”

“I wonder what I am now,” Samantha said with a sigh.

“A fabulous and very pretty human woman with a little extra flair. ” Jeff lightly touched her hand.

Unexpected tears glimmered in her eyes as she took another quick bite of her breakfast. Jeff had a wonderful way of making her feel good even when things were going horribly wrong.

Traffic was light and they made decent time driving past downtown to the walking trail encircling Lady Bird Lake. The parking lot was fairly empty near the Lamar Boulevard Bridge. They didn’t talk much as they both munched on the warm kolaches and chased the tasty breakfast down with sweet, milky coffee. Samantha enjoyed the camaraderie and her high anxiety mellowed out to a low ping in the back of her mind.

As they climbed out of the SUV, Jeff snagged two sweating water bottles from a cooler tucked behind his seat and shoved them into his messenger bag. Again, he had anticipated their needs, and Samantha was grateful. It was already humid and sticky, the bugs in the trees lining the lake humming loudly. Samantha smiled as Jeff reached for her hand when they strolled onto the path. While they waded through the humid air and enjoyed the beauty of the midmorning sun glinting off the waves, she tried to pretend this was just a nice day out together instead of a ghost hunt.

Rubbing her lips together, she tried not to ruin the moment by saying anything about their true purpose for strolling along the trail. The tree boughs creaked above as the wind played in the leaves. Glancing upward, she saw a squirrel watching them pass with a thoughtful look in its beady eyes. She stuck her tongue out at it.

Jeff must have seen her because he laughed. His fingers tightened on her hand and he gave her a furtive look.