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She groused, but punched his burger order in at the register, then went over to the tap to pull a draft beer for him. She knew what he liked. She didn’t have to ask. She had it in the glass, and he took a seat at the bar. There were only three other patrons inside, and they were in the corner next to the jukebox, not listening to anything that was happening over at the bar, from her conversation with Jace to her earlier conversation with her grandpa.
“It would be nice not have to be at the bar all day every day. If I make some money with the hotel, I can hire more people.”
“Except, it’s a huge additional expense.”
“I know that. I’ve saved up for it. I can afford it. Especially if I can get it to a certain capacity during the high tourist times. But there’s just not much in the way of lodging around here. Yeah, there’s vacation rentals, but the only other hotels are thirty to forty minutes away. Hotel right downtown would really be something.”
“You know, if you need money...”
“I’m not taking your money. I’ve basically been taking your charity since eighth grade, and I have no interest in continuing to do it,” Cara said.
“It’s not charity. It’s friendship. Anyway. When are you fixing to spend the night in the hotel?”
“Tomorrow night. I’d... I don’t know. There’s no real furnishings in there. It’s going to be a little bit... Bracing.” She wrinkled her nose.
“I don’t really like the idea of you staying in a big empty insecure place by yourself. Especially not when some people might know that you’re staying there,” Jace said.
“I stay at the place Iliveby myself all the time.”
“I don’t know. This just feels different to me. I’m not comfortable with it. I should stay there with you.”
“That’s fine,” she said, ignoring the slight jumping in her stomach when he offered that.
She had spent the night with Jace any number of times. Mostly camping. But, what would this be if not camping? They would end up bringing sleeping bags and probably a space heater.
It would just be like all the things they’d done when they were kids.
“Yeah, all right. That sounds good. In fact, now the burger’s on the house.”
“Why? You don’t have to pay me to stay with you. I want to keep you safe.”
“You get a free burger because you’re submitting yourself to going on a ghost journey with me. And I know how much you hate that stuff.”
“Please don’t tell me you actually think that it’s haunted.”
“I think it might be. It stands to reason. It’s historic. There were so many gunfights in this town back in the day...”
“Why are you talking to me about ghosts like there’s anything logical about them? Come on. It’s ridiculous, Cara, and I think on some level you must know that.”
“I do not. It is as reasonable and logical as anything else in this world, Jace. And you know what, you’ll see. I think that we will have a haunting.”
“I don’t think so.”
“If we don’t, it’ll be because he’s scared away by all your skeptic energy.”
“Well isn’t that convenient. An even better reason for you to have me out. Because if you don’t see a ghost, you can blame me.”
“Don’t be silly, Jace. I always blame you.”
Two
“She thinks it’s haunted,” Jace said, looking at his brothers that night as they sat around the table outside at the Carson family ranch.
Their mom had ordered a big spread from the barbecue place on the outskirts of town, and they were all enjoying a meal together. Well, everybody except Buck, who hadn’t been home in nearly a decade. But the rest of them were there, including Chance and Kit and their wives. Callie wasn’t there, because she lived in Gold Valley with her husband, but that was a different sort of absence than Buck’s.
Callie wasn’t home because she had a life. A happy, functional life. Buck wasn’t home because he was a mess.
And what they had around the table was like a strange, evenly divided set of teams. Kit and Chance, settled with their wives, done with the rodeo. Flint and Boone, single, happy about it and definitely not done punishing their bodies on the circuit.
