I blink, unsure as to how the hell I resemble a porcupine, and frown at him.
Aiden spreads his palms on the pocked surface of my old table, and I can’t help but notice again that they’re big hands.Really big.
Which is a silly thing to focus on, so I blink and try to listen to the words coming out of his mouth instead of thinking about how those big hands would feel on my skin— when he’s not checking me for a supposed allergic reaction.
He has a puzzled expression on his face, and I fan myself.
“Spicy,” I croak, jerking my chin at the takeout container of noodles in front of me.
“Water?”He pushes a cup towards me and I grip it with both hands.
I have got to stop thinking about hands.His hands, specifically, on my knees.My neck…
“Are you okay?”He has a concerned light in his eyes.“I don’t think I got you milk, but there’s a store that’s open later.Most shops close early downtown, but I bet I can?—”
“Sorry, yes, just got distracted.”By your hands.I don’t say it out loud, though.
Bully for me.
“I don’t need milk,” I rush to finish.“Sorry.You were going to tell me about… ah, New Hopewell?”I wince, fervently hoping that supposition is on the money.
He laughs, a deep, throaty sound that sends a little rush of awareness down the base of my spine.
“Well, the one claim to fame New Hopewell really has is that we’re considered the most haunted place in Texas.”
The hair on the back of my neck stands up.“Haunted?”I repeat.It rings a bell, but my analytic brain must have breezed right past it.
“Yeah, like ghosts and that kind of shit.My partner, Jack—he says he’s seen some things.His wife’s hotel is supposedly really haunted.That’s why he named our place The Salt Circle.”He shrugs a muscled shoulder, and my attention is nearly wholly diverted from ghosts to the very corporeal man in front of me.
“I don’t understand how a salt circle has anything to do with…” I wave a hand.“Whatever.I thought it was like, a margarita thing.”
He laughs again, and I grin in response, feeling warm all over despite the creepy conversation subject matter.
“Apparently Em, that’s his wife, thought her place —and her hotel— were really haunted, and once she even dropped a massive rock salt circle around the house.Used up something like twenty ice cream salt boxes.”He laughs, and my nose wrinkles.I have a feeling this Em and Ivy would get along great.Ivy is always doing weird stuff like that.
“That can’t be good for the environment.”
“Jack said they put gravel in a circle around the house where grass won’t grow as easily now.”He huffs another laugh, then takes another bite.
“And the ghosts?”I ask, fascinated in spite of myself.I don’t believe in ghosts, not really, but there is something to be said for the fact that unexplained shit does happen.Though just because we don’t have explanations for them doesn’t mean ghosts are real.
“That’s why we have the huge fall festival,” he says between bites.
He eats economically, each chopstick full of fried rice a work of neat, precise art.
It’s a pretty big contrast to my messy, greasy, wonderful noodle slurping.Suddenly, I’m self-conscious.
“The fall festival…” I push, attempting to take a tidier bite.
“Yeah, Em’s hotel got written up by one of the big national travel magazines, and ever since, the autumn festival here has been a big draw for ghost buffs and people who just want a taste of fall in Texas… even though I think we’re both adult enough to know that fall in Texas is just another hot day.”
That makes me laugh, and I cover my mouth with my hand to keep from spitting drunken noodles all over the table.
“But yeah.Ghosts, corn mazes, hayrides, pumpkin patches, imported cider because we all know apple trees don’t like the hot weather here, carnival games and tarot readers—people come from all over to hit up our autumn festival.”
“So the sooner I could get inventory in to time the opening with that, the better,” I muse.I’ll need to expedite everything, but with the contractor coming by tomorrow, it might be doable.I have the money, thanks to the trust I somehow inherited.“The one thing I did do instead of deep-diving into this town make a massive wishlist of books to order.”
I grin at him as he continues to eat.
