I gave one sharp shake of my head. “No. As long as I can sing, I’m not going to disappoint my fans. They’re all I have left.”
Chapter 3
Scotty
It had beenanotheroddday out at Willowhope Manor. So the norm. Buck and Stevie had been up to their usual hijinks, haunting the customers with harmless pranks that kept them wondering if the B&B was haunted.
As luck would have it, none of our guests planned on dining in tonight, even though it was included in the price of their stay. They all had plans elsewhere, so I was able to have a quick sandwich and come to the library.
As I jogged up the stairs to the main doors, I pushed aside the fact that no one would miss me at home tonight.
Ending up with a job at Willowhope Manor was the best thing that could’ve ever happened to me. When my asshole of an ex had taken me there, and I realized he’d only booked at the B&B to try and win back his boyfriend before me, Chance, I’d been heartbroken.
Not because I liked the asshole all that much, but because I’d been so excited someone actually wanted to spend enough time with me to take me away. Liked me enough to take me down the shore on a vacation. I’d been so lonely since my big brother died, so it had felt like something good was finally happening. I’dexpected the bliss of going to the beach, for dinner, and drinks. Boy, had I been wrong.
I never would’ve guessed that what Niles did so selfishly was going to open my world to wonders beyond my imagination.
Even more importantly, it gave me my brother back.
Yes, he was in spirit form instead of being flesh and blood, but he was here. An ever-present part of my life—someone I could now see and talk to.
But lately, my brother was creating his own life—afterlife—and I was happy for him. I truly was. Happy that he’d formed a connection with the newest ghost, Trixie, who’d found her way to Beckoning Pond—a place that spirits gathered if they didn’t go into the light or whatever it was after they passed. It almost seemed like a waiting area or something.
But Trixie, the same age as my brother, so lost and unsure, so heartbroken that she’d passed away, had found solace in Stevie’s presence and given him something I hadn’t realized he needed. Companionship.
I didn’t know why I hadn’t realized he still wanted a potential girlfriend or friends his own age who were living the truth of his experience, too. Someone who would understand him, and in Trixie’s case, someone he could be there for. My brother had always been a caretaker, and they needed each other.
It had also become obvious pretty quickly that he enjoyed spending time with someone he could touch. Not that I really understood how ghosts were able to feel each other, but that wasn’t the point.
It took Stevie too much energy to hug me or even touch my hand. I missed my big brother’s bear hugs. I missed them so much, and I knew he missed giving them to me. So yeah, it was good he had Trixie.
As for me? Maybe the spirits at the manor couldn’t touch me, but I had the heartbeaters.
Good grief, I was starting to sound like Buck, the funniest spirit I’d met yet, differentiating between the living and the dead by whether they had a heartbeat.
The point was, I had human contact again and no longer felt so damn touch-starved. Chance and Sky were constantly leaning into me or bumping shoulders with me. Jetty fist-bumped me every time he passed by the desk, and Kingston often patted my shoulder awkwardly when he noticed me getting lost in my thoughts.
And then there was Chance’s mom, Elyse, Jetty’s grandma, Rosie—our resident High Priestess, and the aunts I’d found in the wives, Carli and Cassi, who owned Witch’s Brew coffee shop. Those four women made a habit of hugging on me like it was their job.
Really, I was lucky. The only thing any of them had—the living and the dead—that I didn’t was someone special. My brother was the last person to couple-off, not that he’d admitted anything was happening between them yet, but I saw it. We all did. I’d heard all the wistful sighs as Stevie and Trixie were spotted around the property, spending time together.
As I opened the glass door to enter the library, I shook off my wayward thoughts before they turned melancholy. So what if they all had another half? It was great that they all had someone to spend their evenings with, watching TV or reading or sitting out at the pond and talking. That was no reason to feel sorry for myself.
Besides, the only person left who knew all of our secrets was Ego, and there was no way in hell we were compatible. I’d taken a hard pass on Sky’s famous, gorgeous cousin the second I laid eyes on him—before he opened his mouth and was a complete diva.
Besides, I enjoyed coming to the library, and the last thing I needed was someone digging into why I spent so much time here.
This was my secret.
“Scotty,” Lysandro said as I came around the corner. I approached the large front desk where the librarians guarded knowledge like the shelves of books were their personal dragon hoard.
“Lysandro. Hi.”
I dug into my duffel bag and pulled out the plastic-wrapped double pastrami, Swiss cheese, lettuce, and tomato sandwich I’d made him on the Daily Knead’s sourdough bread.
“I made this for you.”
Lysandro smiled softly. “You really don’t have to keep bringing me dinner.”
