Page 15 of Ghost Business (Boneyard Key #2)

Tristan nodded emphatically through a sip of his coffee.

It was in a to-go cup, which irritated her.

Why couldn’t he take that to-go coffee and…

go? “You can’t manufacture a viral moment like that.

” He sounded positively gleeful. “It’s organic.

And it’s raising interest. My website traffic is way up.

Isn’t yours?” The pointed way he asked the question implied that he knew what her answer would be.

“I don’t have a website.” She’d never needed one. She’d never even considered it. Not till now. Not till this yahoo came to town.

Tristan squinted at her, as though she was speaking nonsense. “Well, maybe that’s not a bad thing. Especially when you hear my offer.”

“Your…offer?”

Cassie cleared her throat. “This better not be anything dirty.”

Tristan’s lips quirked in a smile. “All aboveboard, I promise.” He focused back on Sophie, and she wished he wouldn’t.

She really hated the force of his smile.

The way it made her want to smile back, even though she hated him.

“I don’t know about you, but I feel like this town doesn’t really need two ghost tours. ”

Now it was Sophie’s turn to cross her arms. “No,” she said. She would not smile back at him. “It doesn’t.”

“I try to time my tour so that we don’t run into each other, and we saw how well that went on Friday.” He nodded toward Cassie’s phone, still in the middle of the table. “Like I said, I’m loving the viral moment, but we can’t go on like that.”

“We really can’t.” Something began to prickle on the back of her neck. It felt like…relief? Was Tristan here to let her know he was packing up and leaving town? It seemed unlikely, but a girl could dream.

“So…” He took another sip of coffee, an action that this time felt deliberate. “I want to offer you a job.”

“A…” Sophie’s mouth went dry. The burgeoning relief drained away, but the prickle at the back of her neck intensified. “A job?” She hated how weak her voice sounded. But this was the opposite of what she was expecting.

Tristan’s nod showed that he saw none of her discomfort. “Exactly. You’re obviously good at this, so it would make sense for me to bring you on board. Someone’s going to have to run this tour for me anyway; I certainly wasn’t planning to stick around this backwater forever.”

“Hey.” Cassie’s voice was sharp now. “Some of us like this backwater.”

“Of course,” he said quickly. “No offense. There’s a lot to like about Boneyard Key.” Was it her imagination, or did his eyes cut her way during that last sentence?

Nope. Now wasn’t the time to think about Tristan’s eyes or his smiles. Besides, her fries were getting cold. “What about my tour?” she asked. “My stories?”

He shook his head. “We don’t need them. I get that you’re going for that whole ‘historically accurate’ angle”—the air quotes he made were absolutely enraging—“but it’s not necessary.”

“Why not?” Sophie was puzzled. “It’s what happened. Isn’t that the point of a tour?”

“Not a ghost tour,” he said with irritating authority. “Tourists aren’t exactly looking for a history lesson while they’re on vacation. They’re looking for fun, made-up ghost stories.”

“Not when you’re giving a ghost tour in a haunted town !” Sophie was practically shaking with fury, and her voice had gone up an alarming octave. Was he really mansplaining ghost tours to her?

“Listen, I’ve been honing our scripts for the past five years now. They’re almost exactly the same, no matter what city you’re in. And audiences love them. Trust me. We sell out everywhere. No, if you come work for me, you’d be using my script.”

“So my stories. Everything I’ve been building for the past six years. It’ll all be gone. Like they never existed.”

“Well, that’s dramatic,” he scoffed, but Sophie wasn’t listening.

The roaring in her ears was back, and it was deafening.

Because it was like Theo’s painting of a woman that nobody remembered.

Like her aunt Alice. Probably, eventually, like Sophie herself.

Just another thing that would be lost to history.

Sophie couldn’t speak. She couldn’t trust herself to. But thankfully Cassie was still there. “I think what she’s trying to say here is ‘fuck, no.’?” She picked up her iced latte and took a pointed sip, raising her eyebrows at Tristan.

Okay, Sophie wouldn’t put it like that , but the sentiment was there.

Her lips quirked up, and that gave her the strength to participate in her own argument.

“Thank you very much for the offer,” she said as sweetly as she could manage, “but I have no desire to be part of your little endeavor here, which is—”

“Bullshit.” His lips curved in a smile. “I remember.” He sighed. “Then I guess we’re gonna do this the hard way.”

Sophie stilled. “What’s the hard way?” And why did he make that sound kinda dirty?

“Look, I hate to do this.” His tone of voice said he had no problem doing this. “But we can just let the public decide.”

“The public.” Sophie squinted at him. “Are you wanting to put it to a vote?” Was he insane? Everyone in town knew her. Who was he going to get over to his side?

His chuckle as he shook his head was as irritating as it was condescending.

“You run your tour, and I’ll run mine. Eventually we’ll be able to tell who’s selling more tickets.

Who’s more popular.” He leaned back in his chair oh so casually, as though he weren’t talking about destroying the thing that was practically Sophie’s identity in this town.

Who would she be around here if she wasn’t the ghost tour girl?

Not time to go there yet, though. Focus on the present. “And what if mine is more popular?”

Tristan’s shrug was a slow roll of his shoulders, unconcerned. “Then I’ll close mine down and move on. I have no desire to keep a failing location going. Let’s see how things are on…” His voice trailed off while he thought. “How about the end of September? We should be able to tell by then.”

“Fine.” Sophie was ready for this conversation to be over. She didn’t want to think about closing down her business. But she had to admit he had a point. If people really did prefer his tour to hers, maybe she should pay attention to that.

Tristan extended his hand like a peace offering. “May the best ghost tour win.”

“Excited for you to leave this fall.” Sophie did her best to keep her grip firm. As firm as her resolve to send this guy packing by October.

Cassie remained silent until Tristan had left, taking his coffee with him. “Well. He’s cute.”

“Cute?” Sophie couldn’t believe this. “Were you not listening? He’s trying to put me out of business!”

“Oh, please.” Her dismissive wave reminded Sophie of the way Tristan had dismissed her claim of historical accuracy. “There’s no way you’re going to lose. You’re the hometown hero. Everyone loves you. They’re gonna support you in this.”

“Yeah.” She had a good point. “Plus, I have accuracy on my side. He just makes up stuff. Who wants a tour full of fake information?”

“Exactly.” Cassie gave a decisive nod. “I mean, pirates are great and all, but not if they’re made-up.”

“And he’s wearing a costume , for God’s sake. Turning the whole thing into a…I don’t know. A show .”

“Which just makes the crowds rowdier, and no one likes that.” Cassie’s smile slipped as she chewed on the inside of her cheek.

“The groups that passed the house last week were super loud. Laughing a lot…” Her voice trailed off and then she visibly shook herself.

“But who cares about that, right? Like you said, you have accuracy on your side!”

Cassie was doing her best to sound supportive, but somehow she managed to make accuracy sound like nerdy and boring.

Oh, God. Sophie was totally screwed, wasn’t she?

She crunched down on one of her extra-crispy fries. Cold. Of course.