Double Dating with the Dead by Karen Kelley (best fiction novels to read .txt) 📗

“Trent?” Paige asked. “The Trent that just walked out of here looking like he’d been sucking on a sour pickle?”

“The one and only. If he wasn’t smiling, he was laughing. We had some fun times.” Tye smiled, apparently remembering some of them.

“But Celeste changed him,” Selena said.

Tye’s eyebrows rose. “He told you about her?”

She nodded.

“Who’s this Celeste chick?” Paige asked.

“It actually started before Celeste,” Tye explained. “Dad had a massive heart attack. Trent dropped out of college to take care of the family. I was still in high school.

“Trent jumped in with both feet, but it was like dropping into a bottomless pit. He didn’t have a clue what he was doing, and I was too young to help.

“Celeste came along and almost took every bit of his money along with Mom and Dad’s. If the law hadn’t been on to her, she would’ve ruined us.”

“So he set out to make the world a better place by grouping anyone who has different beliefs into one slot. No left, no right, just straight down the middle.” Paige shook her head, then turned her gaze on Selena. “You have to fix him.”

Selena straightened in her seat. “Why do I have to fix him?”

“Because your job depends on it?” Tye asked.

“Because you can’t resist enlightening people?” Paige chimed in.

“Because you like my brother?” Tye said.

Paige rested her elbows on the table and focused her attention on Tye. “You think there might be something going on between them?”

“Well, yeah,” Tye said. “I thought it was obvious. I mean, didn’t you see the way they look at each other?”

“Now that you mention it…”

“People! I’m right here.” Selena bowed up. Damn, now she knew how ghosts felt, everyone talking about you when you were right there to hear each word.

When Paige turned her attention to Selena, Selena had a strong premonition she should’ve just kept quiet and let them talk about her. Maybe even going so far as to slip out of the room.

“So,” Paige began, “is there something going on? Was Barbara’s article correct? Has the old hotel become a love nest?”

That stupid article again. “Barbara is a bitch and you know it.”

Paige leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms in front of her. “We came to that conclusion a long time ago, but she’s also pretty good about gathering gossip, which we also agreed about. Now fess up. Is there something going on here that you might want to share?”

Not on your life, cuz. She just had to put on her innocent look. Most of the time it worked. She widened her eyes and met her cousin’s gaze head-on without flinching.

“Of course there’s nothing going on between me and Trent.” She was just about to waver from Paige’s all-knowing eyes when her cousin relaxed.

“I didn’t think there was,” Paige said.

“How can you be so sure she isn’t lying to you?” Tye asked.

“She can’t lie. I’d be able to tell. I’m a witch, remember?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Selena slowly expelled her breath. When Paige looked at her again, she quickly pasted a smile on her face. “I’ve never been able to lie to you. You’re just too sharp.”

“As a tack,” Paige quipped.

And as long as she believed that, then Selena could get away with a lie or two now and then. Worked every time.

Paige was good.

Selena was better.

“What do y’all do all day long?” Tye asked, still not looking as convinced as Paige.

“Look for bones.”

“Human bones?” Paige asked with a shudder. “Eww…”

Tye looked confused. “Let me get this straight.” He picked up another sandwich and pointed it at Selena before taking a bite and slowly chewing. “You talk to dead people.” He looked at Paige. “And you make weird potions with ground-up who knows what.” His frown deepened. “But the thought of searching for human remains makes you queasy?”

Paige and Selena looked at each other, then back at Tye.

“Ewww,” they said in unison.

“Then why look for them?”

“So that Dixie and Wesley can cross over.”

“Cross over what?”

“Go toward the light,” she explained.

“Ah, now I see.” He frowned. “They can’t go toward the light without their bones?”

It made perfect sense to her now. Some spirits had to know where their final resting place was going to be, according to what Dixie had told her.

“They need a proper burial.”

He nodded as if he finally understood. “Need some help?”

Since it didn’t look as though he was going to leave anytime soon, and she wouldn’t be having hot and dirty sex anytime soon, she nodded. “Sure, you can help.”

“Count me in, too, if it’ll further the cause,” Paige offered.

Could there be a budding romance between her cousin and Tye? Interesting. Paige shrugged when Selena sent her a questioning look.

“So, are there any ghosts here?” Tye glanced warily around the room. “I mean, are there any here right now?”

Selena’s gaze moved to Wesley, who lounged on the counter, leaning back on one elbow, feet stretched out in front of him. He grinned and tugged on the brim of his hat.

“No, they’re not here right now,” she lied and wondered if she really would go to hell for lying. She’d once had an elderly aunt who said she would after Selena had snatched a cookie and fibbed about it.

This was for a good reason, though. She could use all the help she could get, and she didn’t want to scare Tye. Paige had cast a few lingering looks in his direction, so maybe there was something going on.

“So, we going to look for bones or not?” Tye asked as he came to his feet.

“Sure.” And maybe they could pull Trent into the hunt.

Paige was right when she said Selena liked nothing better than opening someone up to other dimensions. But Trent had been burned once, so he wouldn’t be that easy to convince.

Damn, why couldn’t the ghosts cooperate? Once she found their bones, they would have to. There’d be no getting around it. Before they walked toward the light, Dixie and Wesley had to show themselves to