Page 39 of Ghost of a Chance

T he bookstore was decked out for Halloween with pumpkins in the window, horror and paranormal books on the tables near the front, and fake spiderwebs draping the bookcases.

Tim had space at the back of the store for her. There was a table and chair for her as well as chairs for guests. Some people were already waiting. Nervous tension made her stomach ache for a second. Then she took a deep breath as one of the readers shyly smiled at her.

“We have a few bigger book influencers driving over to see you. I’m going to ask you a few questions about your writing process and then we’ll talk about your latest release,” Tim said.

“Sounds good to me,” she said, taking her place at the front. Her phone pinged and she glanced down to see a text from Jasper.

Jasper: Wish I was there with you. Smash your talk! Love you.

She hearted his text.

Kirsty: Any leads at the hotel?

Jasper: Yeah. Hillerman had a heart attack while staying here. I called his wife and she said he was always loaning out his books to students who forgot theirs. He’d never have gone into a textbook.

Kirsty: Shit.

Jasper: Yeah. We can talk about it more tonight. I think your séance idea is a good one.

Kirsty: Thnx. Love you.

He hearted the text and she put her phone away.

The book signing and talk went really well. She took photos with a few readers who’d come just to meet her and then took them out for coffee after to keep talking. It was fun and didn’t involve the ghost-infested textbook that had been dominating her life recently.

“I saw on your socials that you’re working on the next book,” Jane said.

“I am, it was sort of slow going but recently I made a breakthrough and it’s really flying along now,” she said.

“Do you think Crispin and Eva are ever going to get together?” Lori asked.

Given the scene she’d just written and the underlying tension between the two characters… “Maybe. Neither of them really knows how to be in a relationship. So they’re struggling to figure that out,” she said. Thinking about herself and Jasper. They’d been struggling as well.

Her new friends left a few minutes later. Kirsty noticed that there was a big chocolate cupcake in the pastry case. “I’ll be right back.”

Gia nodded without looking up from her phone where she was posting the photos from the event. The cupcake would be a nice surprise for Jasper. A way to show him she cared even if he couldn’t be there today.

Being in love didn’t mean their lives would magically blend together. Would she even want that?

That had never been her. She liked her silence and her space and doing things her own way. It didn’t seem like Jasper’s preference either.

Love wasn’t the end, but the beginning of a new phase.

She had the cupcake wrapped up in a box. No one was expecting her to have a plan for the future a few hours after Jasper told her he loved her. But that part of her that had moved so much as a child, the one that craved a home, wanted it.

Wanted something more. Star Wars marathons, late-night writing sessions, and what if this psychic thing didn’t go away after they freed the ghost from the book?

“You good?”

“Yeah. Got everything up online. Is the book really coming along?” Gia asked as they walked back to the car. “I thought you said it had stalled.”

“Yeah, being here has helped me write. Also the whole haunted textbook saga gave me new ideas. Like what if Eva’s powers weren’t working. How would she solve the case without her ghost friends?”

“Love that. Keeps the character fresh,” Gia said. “So…”

Gia was the closest friend she had but talking about being in love made her feel a little shy. “So?”

“You and Jasper?”

Her and Jasper. A little thrill went through her. They were a couple now.

She unlocked her car and Gia got into the passenger seat as Kirsty put the cupcake carefully in the back seat so it wouldn’t get crushed. This was the first birthday she was spending with him and she wanted it to be special.

“Are you pretending you didn’t hear me?”

“I heard you. I’m just not sure what to say.”

Gia laughed, a soft tinkling sound that made Kirsty smile as she started the car. Gia wasn’t going to push things. But if she wanted to talk she knew her friend was there.

“Girl.”

The way Gia spoke made Kirsty blush. “I know, right? We’re sort of seeing each other.”

“Naked?”

“Gia!”

“So yes. Great. I like him and you two are cute together,” Gia said.

They were, she thought. Jasper was a nice yin to her yang or whichever way that went. They fit together even though she wouldn’t have expected it after their night at the Dead Boys’ concert.

When they got back to the house there was a new car parked out front. The lights were on which did nothing to distract from the overall run-down slightly creepy vibe the house gave off.

“Who’s that?” Gia asked.

“Might be Jasper’s mom. It’s his birthday tomorrow and she’s here to celebrate,” Kirsty said.

“That why you got the cupcake?”

“Yeah. Maybe we should leave them alone,” Kirsty said. Loving Jasper was still too new to want to meet his mom. That should be something that happens much later in the relationship.

“No way. I mean the way Jasper talks about her I want to meet her,” Gia said. “I know you do too.”

“You don’t know that.”

Gia wasn’t wrong. Kirsty was curious about Jasper’s mom. She wanted to know more about the man she loved and how he’d grown up. Of course, she would hate it if her own mom were here. Her mom never knew when to keep things to herself.

* * *

Jasper’s mom and Victor were in the living room while Dan was in the dining room editing more footage. He’d captured more of the energetic figure moving around the room at 6:00 a.m.

“Why are you here?”

“On the eve of your birth, where else would I be?” his mom said. “I was in labor for six hours.”

“That’s not too bad, right?” Jasper said. Like he hadn’t heard this story every year of his life. But he was understanding of her need to relive and reframe it. This was a hard time for his mom. She’d lost his dad at the same time he was born.

“Dude, that’s not cool. Your mom went through a lot to bring you into the world,” Victor said.

“I’m grateful, Mommy, you know that,” he said, her resulting smile lighting up her face. She loved hearing the childish term of endearment, and it was his way of letting her know he loved her without having to say it. She blew him a kiss.

“So what’s all this about a haunted textbook?” she asked.

“Victor told you?”

“It came up when I mentioned you called me. Which was a total shock to both of us,” Victor said.

“It was,” his mom agreed. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, Mom. I’m fine. The book… I think it was Paul’s. We were working on Dad’s short story trying to finish figuring out the fictional quantum transference. Paul was doing the physics and I was working on the last few pages for you. So it would be complete.”

“Ah, that’s sweet,” she said tears in her voice.

“Dad was excited about his writing. He wanted to find a way to stop working at the hotel for extra money. Make teaching and writing his full-time gigs once he graduated. He always said…” she came over to him and touched his cheek.

“That he wanted you to know making a living wasn’t the only thing to life. You should go after your dreams.”

Hugging his mom, he put his head on the top of hers. “I needed to hear that.”

“Did Paul figure it out?” she asked.

“The theory isn’t provable,” Jasper said. “But since the night Paul died, actually when I got my own place in Chicago crazy stuff started happening. Lights going on and off in the kitchen and every day the TV comes on tuned to Judge Judy .”

“Your ghost you talked about. You thought it was Paul?”

“Who else could it be?” Though he wasn’t sure anymore. Professor Hillerman would have been a solid plan B but his wife was positive he wasn’t hanging around.

They heard a car drive up. A zing went through him as he realized that Kirsty was back. Victor and his mom looked over at him.

“Kirsty and Gia.”

Chewie got up when he heard the front door and Jasper went to the hall wanting to warn Kirsty about his mom.

Not that he was embarrassed for either woman to meet the other, but his mom was his biggest fan and often talked about him in a way that was too oversharing.

Plus, he didn’t want her to think of her as one of those cringey “boy mom” types.

“My mom and Victor are here,” he said. “What’s that?”

“A treat for later. I can’t wait to meet your mom.”

He pulled her against his side and kissed her. Gia just smirked at them as she walked into the living room to introduce herself.

“Missed you,” he said against her lips. Now that he’d told her how he felt, there was no holding back. He didn’t have to pretend that he didn’t want to be around her all the time.

“Me too.”

Holding her hand, he led her into the living room. “Mom, this is Kirsty. Kirsty, this is Tina, my mom.”

“Nice to meet you. You’re the psychic helping Jaz with the book?” she asked.

“Uh, yeah. I mean I’m an author with maybe some psychic ability. He brought his book to the interview and we ended up here.”

“Wow, that must have been a lot. What book is it?” his mom asked.

“Let me go and grab it. I put it upstairs hoping we could have a quiet evening,” Jasper said.

Dan was in the hallway with a can of beer, looking relaxed. “What’s up?”

“I’m bringing the book down for my mom.”

Jasper left him to it and continued upstairs to his bedroom but the book wasn’t where he’d left it. Frustrated at first then sort of relieved—maybe the book had left the house. Lights flickered on and off in Kirsty’s room and he went up the stairs to the attic room.

The book was on the floor in front of the dormer window where Kirsty had done her last séance with it.

“Trying to communicate with her again?” he asked it as he picked it up.