Read Online Nothing to Ghost About by Morgana Best - Free Book Online Page A

conversation, but I’d had
about as much as I could take.
    Tara was already there. “I’ve already
ordered you a latte and a macaroon,” she said, sporting a whipped
froth mustache from her energetic gulping. “What’s wrong? I thought
you’d be a lot happier today. I saw the newspaper article on your
business. Things seem to be looking up!”
    I sat down and wrapped my
hands around my latte. “I am happy about it. It’s great news. By the way, you
have a froth mustache.”
    Tara dabbed at her mouth with a
napkin. “Seriously, you’re pale. Is anything wrong?”
    I shook my head.
    Tara’s expression was skeptical. “Now
spill. You’ve been off ever since we saw Basil and that newspaper
chick together. What’s up?”
    I took a sip of my latte and then set
down the glass. “Okay. Well, you know how I walked home that
night?”
    Tara nodded.
    “ Basil drove past and said
he’d give me a ride home. He walked me to the door, and then he
kissed me.”
    “ He what?” Tara shrieked.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “ Shush!” I looked around
the coffee shop, but no one was staring. “I was too upset. He
kissed me and then said we could never be together.”
    Tara leaned across the table. “You’re
kidding, right?”
    I shook my head.
    “ Are we talking a peck on
the check, or a real kiss?”
    “ A real kiss,” I said. “And
then he said, ‘We can’t be together. I’m sorry.’”
    “ And then what happened?
Why didn’t you tell me?”
    “ I hurried inside and shut
the door, and the answer to your second question is that I was too
upset. I could hardly bring myself to think about it, much less
speak about it.” I took a bite of the macaroon, but all I could
taste was cardboard. I knew it should be tasty. I could smell the
flavor locked in the moist center. I could feel the slight crisp of
the outer shell give way to a warm frosting center. Yet it might as
well have been glue. “And I saw him just now. He said he wanted to
talk about it.”
    “ Basil actually wanted
to talk about it?”
Tara asked incredulously. “Oh, I’m so sorry.”
    “ It’s over with.” I dabbed
at my eyes with a crumpled tissue. “I’m just mad that I let it get
to me at all.”
    Tara waved her hands in the air. “Why
wouldn’t it get to you? It’s not like you waved a neon sign in his
face and said, ‘Kiss me, dum-dum.’”
    I had to laugh.
    “ Seriously though, that’s
so weird. Why would he kiss you if he didn’t want to?”
    I shrugged. I’d replayed the scene a
thousand times in my head, and then a thousand more for good
measure. No matter how I looked at it, I was still no closer to an
answer. Nothing about it made sense. “He probably had someone else
on his mind.”
    Tara tapped a finger against her
cheek. “No, he’s not going to kiss you just because he didn’t kiss
her. That makes no sense. He did have a bad breakup some time back.
Men never seem to get over bad breakups as well as women do.
Perhaps he’s still upset over that. It might not be anything to do
with Anna Stiles.”
    I abandoned my attempt to eat the
macaroon and put what was left of it on my plate. “I don’t know,
Tara. I’d rather not think of what they did and did not do. It’s
not my business, either way.”
    “ I’m just saying that maybe
there is more to everything than meets the eye. He might have a
really good reason for how he’s acting,” Tara mused.
    “ Maybe. But unless he has
an evil twin that escaped from the attic that night, I can’t see
anything he could come up with that would make it okay.”
    Tara laughed. “I think an evil twin
would make it worse. It’s bad enough trying to figure out just one
of him.”
    “ I’ll drink to that!” I
lifted my coffee in a toast, and then took a hearty gulp. “To
change the subject, has Duncan said anything else about the
case?”
    Tara shook her head. “And you said
that you don’t suspect the mayor’s wife anymore?”
    “ I’m starting to think
perhaps it