Page 9 of Ghost of a Chance

“Thirty.” Wow, younger than she guessed. She’d matured a lot when she hit twenty-eight. Sure she’d felt all adult at twenty-one but looking back she’d still basically been a kid.

“I knew you were young. How did you sell your first book?”

She shook her head. There was something about him that reminded her of his dog. He was eager and completely unaware of how she spent most of her life preferring to be left alone. “By submitting it.”

He drew to a halt.

“What?”

“Is this seriously how you’re going to be?”

“It’s a legit answer.”

“Just say what you have to say to me,” he said.

“I’m not sure—”

“Really? Even though I don’t know you, I can tell that you want to unload on me for something I must have done to you.”

She took a deep breath and forced herself not to clench her hands into fists. But it really had no effect at all. She’d been chill but the truth was underneath her K.L. calm Kirsty was ticked off.

“ Something? You fucking brought some dumb book on a talk show and then started this entire thing. I was on my last stop. On my way home. Back to my life in which I don’t have to be on all the time. And now I’m somehow the only person who can help you out of an absolutely bonkers situation.”

“You could have said no.”

“You’re totally right.” But she wasn’t going to pass up this opportunity for publicity for her books. She’d worked too hard to let it all fall apart now.

“I’m sorry for that. I thought you did this kind of thing all the time. Bri mentioned that in Chicago—”

“ Oh my God . That was one time. It wasn’t really a big deal. And nothing like…like this.”

Jasper crossed his arms over his chest. Briefly her eyes betrayed her, lingering on how the fabric of his sleeves stretched taut against his muscled biceps. “I’m not going to apologize for wanting your help. I don’t have your experience with the paranormal.”

She was being unreasonable. No one needed to point that out. At this moment she didn’t care.

Even so, she couldn’t help but deflate. He was cute and young. The five years between them felt huge at this moment. Because he seemed still…well, still figuring out who he was going to become. And apparently this ghost was part of what was holding him back.

She was twenty-five when she sold her first book. Her life had changed. Not in a huge way at first, but it had focused her. Propelled her into figuring out what she wanted for her life.

Drums started thumping and a deep voice sang “Oh, you’re bad enough to me.”

Jasper fumbled for his phone, hitting the mute button.

“Was that Paul?”

“Probably. Now that you asked about the music, I wonder if he’s trying to help me.”

“Was that how he was in life?”

“Definitely. He was a year older than me.”

The song playing wasn’t something she could explain.

Maybe his phone had a glitch. She couldn’t talk to the dead but could try to figure out what his relationship with Paul was like.

Why was this incident still weighing on him.

Then Jasper could move on and she could go back home and pretend like this never happened.

“I bet you miss him.”

“I do. But not enough to manifest him into a book or whatever it is you think I’m making up.”

He had a point. It didn’t seem as if he were just making this all up. “I’ll try to be more gracious.”

“That’s all I ask,” he said, starting to walk again.

She fell into step beside him. If she was going to do her best to help, she might as well start gathering information. “What drew you to UVM?”

“They accepted me.”

That cheeky grin of his was infectious. She almost smiled back.

“I got in-state tuition and a scholarship.” There was a note of shyness like he didn’t want to talk about himself.

“I did the same thing. Ole Miss.”

“You’re from the South?”

“Nah. I meant the scholarship. I graduated high school with an AA degree so was a jump ahead.”

Her mom had been working long hours at her job and they both knew that college tuition was going to be a stretch.

So Kirsty had done what she could to ensure she graduated with as many college credits as she could.

It suited her to study all the time. She’d always been a bit of an emo girl after her dad had left, preferring her music and books to socializing with her classmates.

“That’s cool. Were you always into ghosts? Or were they always into you?” he asked, a sly grin on his face.

Ghosts . Everyone had them. Her mom spent most of her life running from the specter of Kirsty’s father cheating and betraying her trust. And Kirsty felt haunted right this very moment by that little white lie she told all those years ago. So…

“Sure. I guess. You?”

“Nah, this is my first. I mean I thought it was pretty much bullshit and people like you…well—”

“Were conning everyone,” she finished for him.

“Uh…”

“I’m not taking money to help you find a ghost. I also don’t need you to leave me anything in your will,” she said, mentioning two common ways scammers who posed as mediums like to be paid.

She’d researched plenty for her series. “Also, you asked for my help. I would have been happy to just go back home and back into my writing cave.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, checking the street before they both crossed it. “Is that where you got the idea for your heroine? Your life?”

Her first book had come from a bouquet of dead flowers in a vase and an ex-boyfriend who she wished would die. Instead of going off the deep end, she wrote about a bloody crime scene and then solved it. It had been cathartic in a way she hadn’t intended.

“Not really. I sort of stumbled into it.”

“Like us.”

She stopped. “What?”

“We stumbled into each other…and look at things now. After years of dealing with Paul, my life’s finally about to go back to normal.” Jasper paused, a faraway look in his eyes. “Maybe it’ll work out for you too.”