Page 12 of Road Trip With the Ghost Hunter (Love Along Route 14 #10)

Lucas

I held the ticket in my hand, but I couldn’t make myself open the door. I knew once I walked in, it would only be a matter of minutes before Li would be gone.

This was for the best. After last night, I couldn’t keep her with me.

As worried as I was about her having someone to look after her, I was more worried about what being around me was doing to her.

I missed the smile that used to cover her face.

If I had to let her go in order to bring it back, then that was what I was going to do.

I took a long breath and let it out slowly. Time wasn’t my friend right now. I needed to get inside.

I opened the door and found her sitting on the bed.

She was dressed and ready, which was good, but I could see a piece of the broken vase in her hand.

The color was so similar to the vase that broke at the ranch, I got a chill.

Maybe this was why she broke down last night. All the more reason to send her away.

“I thought you left me.” Her voice was so light and sad, I almost reconsidered the ticket.

“I wouldn’t do that.” I closed the door behind me.

“We need to talk.” She ran her thumb over the grooves embedded in the vase.

“We do.” I took another breath and held out the ticket toward her.

“What’s this?” She didn’t take it.

“A bus ticket to Rustic Junction.” She looked up at me. “It leaves in forty-five minutes.”

“Excuse me?” She stood up and faced me. “I thought you were going to Rustic too.”

“I was.” There was no way I could stop there now. It was better for her if I put as much distance between us as possible.

“What’s going on, Lucas?”

“You can’t stay.” The words hurt. “Not after last night.”

“What?” She rocked back on her heels.

“I should never have let you come with me to the ranch. Never put yourself in that kind of position. I told you that I would take care of you, and I failed. I always fail.” If I had been with Uncle Filip that day, he never would have been on that roof.

He wouldn’t have had to lie there until one of the neighbors came home and called an ambulance. He’d still be with us now.

“Lucas.”

“I know you don’t believe in any of this, but I can’t stop. I need answers.” I wanted to tell her everything, but after last night, I wasn’t going to burden her with anything else, including my presence.

“What if you never get them?” I could see her eyes glistening and damn it, I wanted to be the man I was before I got that call. Before I rushed to the hospital, only to have a few short minutes with the man who had always been my hero.

That Lucas wouldn’t let her go. He would have stayed up late and made his own playlist of songs to surprise her and make her laugh. He wouldn’t have left her in Heartstone, and he for damn sure would have kissed her by now.

God, I missed him almost as much as I missed Uncle Filip.

“We should get going.” I couldn’t answer her question. Not when I didn’t know what the answer would be.

“So, this is it?” She didn’t mask the hurt.

“This is it.” I walked around her to pick up her bags.

Part of me wanted her to fight me. To tell me that she wouldn’t leave. That she wanted to stay, but she didn’t. Instead, she walked over and started picking up the broken pieces of her vase on my sweatshirt.

“Keep it.” I liked the idea of her having something of mine. Something to remember me by. God knew I wouldn’t forget her.

“Thank you.” She put all the pieces back down and wrapped them up. The sweatshirt was held close to her chest.

I put her bags in the backseat and held the door for her to get in, and drove us to the bus depot. The whole time questioning if I was doing the right thing.

We sat there waiting for them to start letting people on. “Will you be alright?”

“Do you care?” Li didn’t look in my direction. She was still holding my sweatshirt.

“Of course I care.” How could she ask that? If I didn’t care so much, I wouldn’t be able to do this.

“I’ll be fine.” Her voice choked on the last word.

“Li–”

“Attention. Now boarding for Rustic Junction, Colorado.” The announcement cut me off.

“That’s me.” She stood, and I went with her. I walked her to the line of passengers waiting.

“Thank you for getting me this far.” She still wasn’t looking at me.

“You don’t have to thank me.” Not when I felt like I had done more harm than good.

“I do.” She finally met my eyes. “You aren’t the only one who was running or searching for something.

I needed to leave home, and you allowed me to do that.

I’d still be there if you hadn’t agreed to let me come with you.

” She raised up and placed a small kiss on my cheek.

“I hope you find what you’re looking for. ”

The line moved up, and I realized this was it. After she got on this bus, she would be gone. I’d never see her again.

I turned her toward me. My hands were on her face. “Take care of yourself.” My chest tightened at the thought of her all alone. “Don’t get in any more cars with strangers. Make some friends. Laugh and please, smile.” I missed her smile. “Promise me you’ll smile all the time.”

“I’ll try.”

It was now or never. I leaned forward and pressed my lips to hers. Had I ever kissed anyone before in my life? The feel of her mouth tentatively moving against mine was amazing. Her hands went around my waist, and I deepened the kiss.

I could have stayed there for the rest of the day just kissing her, but the woman behind us cleared her throat, and I knew I had to let Li go.

“I’ll miss you.” I gave her one more quick kiss.

“I’ll miss you too.” She let me go and stepped up into the bus, but turned right as she got to the top. “Promise you’ll find a reason to smile.”

“I already have.” I turned my lips up. I’d smile every time I thought of her.

I stayed until the bus drove out of sight, and then I found the first person I could and asked where the closest bar was. Getting drunk wouldn’t solve anything, but right now, it didn’t feel like there was anything that could make my life better.

I dropped the car back off at the hotel and extended my stay another night.

The last thing I was going to be able to do was drive tomorrow, and if I wasn’t going to Rustic then I needed to find another place where I could test out my equipment.

Maybe even go back to the ranch one more time and see if I could make contact.

Or you could just walk away and go after Li.

The voice in the back of my head was tempting, but if I didn’t keep trying, I’d always wonder. I had to find a way to reach the other side. How could I expect my uncle to rest in peace if I couldn’t apologize? If he didn’t know how sorry I was that his death was my fault?

The bar I found was dark and dirty and perfect for what I wanted.

I settled in and opened a tab. I started with a shot of whiskey and followed that up with my first beer.

Two more later, and I still wasn’t close to the oblivion I wanted.

I could still see the tears in Li’s eyes. The hurt on her face.

“Hey there, Roy.” Some random dude said one stool over from me. “Set me up.”

“Sure thing.” The bartender put a glass under the tap and filled it up. “How’s the day treating you?”

“Can’t complain and it wouldn’t do shit for me if I did,” he laughed.

“Ain’t that the truth?”

I wished they’d both shut the hell up. I wasn’t in the mood to hear about some local’s issues. Was he nursing a broken heart? Had he sent the girl he was falling in love with away?

Falling in love? I had to be closer to drunk than I originally thought.

There was no way that I was falling in love.

I hadn’t known Li long enough. I didn’t know her well enough.

We weren’t close enough. Sure, I felt protective of her and a connection that I couldn’t explain, but that didn’t mean anything, right?

When that happens, you don’t waste time with logic. Fuck what society, family, people say. Jeremy’s words came back.

“How’s your uncle doing?” My head snapped toward the guy sitting by me. How did he know about my uncle?

“Broken leg and high blood pressure.” The bartender shook his head. “He’s gonna have to learn to stay off ladders and take his meds.”

“At least it wasn’t anything serious.”

“Don’t I know?” The bartender laughed. “My aunt put him on punishment. Told him he isn’t allowed to do any more housework.”

Both men laughed. “I always liked your aunt. She’ll make sure he gets better.”

“For sure.” He nodded. “Nothing a strong drink and a good woman can’t cure.”

“What did you say?” I barely got the words out.

“Just an expression my family likes to say.” Both men were looking at me funny.

“But what did you say exactly?”

“Nothing a strong drink and a good woman can’t cure,” he repeated.

I smiled. “My uncle used to say, there’s nothing a large beer and a good woman can’t fix. ” A slow warmth filled my chest. “He loved to say that.” I let out a laugh.

“Sounds like your uncle was a smart man,” The bartender said.

“Sounds like you should give him a call.” The other guy followed up.

“He died.” My laughter stopped. “It was my fault. He fell, and I wasn’t there. I should have been there. It should have been me on the roof.”

“You can't control what happens.” The bartender refilled my drink. “You could have been there, and he might have still fallen.”

“Or you both might have fallen.”

“Life is strange.” The bartender put his hands on the top of the bar. “My uncle was cutting branches and fell off a three-step ladder. Three steps. That’s barely off the ground, and broke his leg. The man was in the military. Did two tours in the Middle East and never got a scratch on him.”

“What happened to your uncle wasn’t your fault, and if he was anything like mine, he wouldn’t want you carrying that kind of guilt around. He’d want you to be happy.”

“Hell Roy, your uncle would probably go out of his way to make sure you were happy even from the beyond.” The guy laughed. “He’d haunt you until you were.”

“Oh yeah,” Roy laughed. “Probably send people left and right to tell me to get on with it and let him go.”

The beer in my belly turned. Had Uncle Filip been talking to me this whole time, and I missed it?

I ran through the things Benny had said. The drink I had with Jeremy. Everything that Li said about letting the dead rest in peace, and now Roy and a complete stranger. Were they all the voices of Uncle Filip? Had he sent Li to me to make sure I was happy? Or even as a way to let him go?

“I fucked up.” I tried to stand, but I swayed on my feet.

“Woah there.” The guy beside me helped steady me. “Maybe you better sit back down.”

“I need to get to Rustic Junction.”

“In Colorado?” Roy asked.

“Yep. I have to make things right.” I couldn’t let Li get off that bus without me. She had been right all along.

“I don’t think you’re driving anywhere tonight.” Roy shook his head. “Definitely not to another state.”

I sat back down. I had to get to her. I wasn’t sure how long the bus ride would take. I should have never put her on that thing alone.

“You got coffee?” That would help.

Roy shook his head. “Not here, but let me make a call. My aunt’s just down the street and I’m sure she’ll bring some right over.”

“Thanks.”

“What’s in Rustic Junction?”

I felt more like my old self than I had in months. “A good woman.”