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“I get it. Having Rose around can be disconcerting.”
“That’s one way to put it.”
I take a deep breath. I don’t want to lose Wally, so telling him to man up and tell the ghost to take a hike probably isn’t the best solution here.
“Let me see what I can do.”
I walk inside and hear some hammering upstairs as well as some movement in the small dining room.
Then I smell the roses.
I know for a fact that Luna hasn’t started the weekly flower deliveries yet, so this is all Rose, the ghost of a woman who died about a hundred and fifty years ago.
“Rose,” I say firmly, trying to sound authoritative. “I need you to stop scaring the workers. I know that you’ve saved our butts in the past, but I promise you that there’s no danger here to anyone. We need to finish up so Luna can finally open for business.”
“People would be nuts to stay here,” Wally mutters behind me, and he’s answered by a loud slamming door upstairs.
“Okay.” I whirl around and scowl at Wally. “I get that she scares you. I’m sorry about that, but we arealmostfinished. If you just put in some earbuds or something and ignore her, you’ll be all finished by the end of the week, and you never have to step foot in here again. She won’t hurt you. Please don’t quit.”
“Thought about it,” he admits. “The music isn’t a bad idea. I’ll try that.”
“Good. Thank you.” I turn back toward the stairs. “Hear that, Rose? He’s going to make an effort. I’d appreciate it if you would do the same.”
“Does she bug everyone like this?”
“Actually, no. I wonder why she doesn’t like you?”
Wally sighs and shifts from foot to foot. “I think I know.”
“Enlighten me.”
He clears his throat while he eyes the stairs. “My great-grandpa worked for her and did some repairs on the lighthouse and stuff. Maybe she didn’t like him.”
Another slam.
“Looks like you’ve hit the nail on the head.” I shake my head. “Get over it, Rose. Wally isn’t his great-grandpa. Please be nice to him.” Then I pat Wally’s shoulder. “Thanks for hanging in there.”
He nods. “I’m going to go find those earbuds.”
While he does that, I walk through to the kitchen and smile to myself. The inn gleams in beautiful, polished walnut and smells of freshly baked cookies.
“You’re just in time,” Luna says and gestures to Mira, who’s pulling out two baking trays from the industrial wall oven.
“I love it when I have good timing.”
“I’m also baking a pie,” Mira says with a wink. “So, save room.”
“You won’t get any argument out of me. How are things at the restaurant?”
Three Sisters Kitchen is owned by Mira and her two sisters, Cordelia and Darla. They also bought into the kitchen side of this inn with Luna, so I know the three of them have to be incredibly busy.
“Hopping,” she says with a laugh and uses a towel to wipe at a little sweat on her forehead. “We hired two new chefs, and even though we haven’t opened here yet, I suspect I’ll need to hire more.”
“Not a bad problem to have.” I reach for a fresh chocolate chip cookie, take a bite, then sigh in absolute happiness. “So good.”
“Sogood,” Luna agrees and takes another bite of her own cookie. “How are you? Did you meet with my brother at the chapel?”
“Yeah.” The mention of Apollo almost ruins the cookie for me. Almost. “He annoys the hell out of me, but we’ll get everything worked out. In the meantime, I’m overseeing the wrap-up on this place, and then I’ll dig into my own.”
