Haunting Danielle 27 The Ghost and the Mountain Man by Bobbi Holmes (great novels to read TXT) 📕

Nine

“I suppose it’ll keep for another day, won’t it?” Lily asked as she looked into the refrigerator at the two steaks sitting in the bowl of marinade.

“I was looking forward to having steak tonight,” Ian grumbled as he pulled tacos from the to-go sack his sister had left with them. “But I don’t think these are going to keep. We should probably eat them.”

Lily shut the refrigerator door and turned to face Ian. “What’s with your sister lately? First, she practically runs out of here earlier, like she saw a ghost.”

“Maybe she did,” Ian suggested as he unwrapped a taco.

“Evan said nothing happened in there,” Lily reminded him.

Ian shrugged and took a bite.

“And then she randomly gives us tacos when she picks up her checkbook? What is that about?”

“Trying to be nice?” Ian took another bite. “Actually, this is pretty good.”

“So why did she really buy us tacos? She said they’re going to Pearl Cove for dinner. Was she afraid we were going to invite ourselves along, and she didn’t want us coming with Connor, so she figured giving us tacos would keep us from asking?”

“It’s possible they ordered tacos for dinner and then decided they would rather eat at Pearl Cove,” Ian suggested before taking another bite.

“Ian, they ate at Pearl Cove last night. Remember? Who goes to Pearl Cove two nights in a row?”

“I don’t know. Come on, let’s eat together.” Ian motioned to Connor, who sat in his highchair eating dinner. “Before our son decides he’s done.”

With a sigh, Lily walked to the breakfast bar and picked up the sack of food. She looked inside. “So what’s in here?”

“Tacos, and it looks like some chips and salsa,” Ian said.

Lily removed the chips from the sack and set them on the counter. She then pulled the container of salsa from the bag, removed its lid and set it next to the chips. Grabbing a taco, Lily took a seat at the breakfast bar with Ian.

“I wonder where her question about Brian came from,” Ian said.

While unwrapping her taco, Lily said, “I’m not sure why she’d ask if we’ve seen Brian at Heather’s, or why she would even care.”

Ian shrugged. “Brian and Heather seemed chummy last night—more like friends. Which really isn’t surprising considering what they experienced. Brian might have said something to Joe, who said something to my sister, which got that brain of hers spinning.”

It does spin sometimes, Lily told herself, yet she didn’t share the thought with her husband. Instead, she said, “I have to give Brian credit, he seems to be taking this all in stride.”

Joe stared at the prices on the menu and inwardly groaned. Last night he had paid with cash he had saved for the occasion. Tonight would go on his credit card. He looked over his menu at Kelly and found her staring at him.

“What?” he asked.

“We don’t have to stay,” Kelly said.

“Are you serious?”

She shrugged and set the menu she had been holding on the table. “I got carried away having to be right.”

Joe chuckled. “No, I started it. But we could try something instead of the lobster tonight.”

“I’ll just have a bowl of clam chowder,” Kelly suggested.

“That’s not enough,” he said.

“I’m not that hungry. And I love their clam chowder and bread. Anyway, I know you like their steak. Order that, and you can give me a couple of bites.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. Actually, clam chowder sounds pretty good to me.”

Joe smiled and tossed his menu to the table. “Deal.”

Five minutes later, after the server took their order, Kelly asked, “What do you think is going on with Heather and Brian?”

“I don’t think anything is going on with them. I just think they’re friends now. Which I suppose is understandable, considering their harrowing experience. Although, if it were me and I got lost in the mountains a couple of days with Heather Donovan, I can’t imagine myself wanting to keep hanging out with her.”

“Agreed. But he would like Ginny. I wish you would talk him into going on a double date with us,” Kelly said. “Don’t you think it’s sad he’s all alone?”

“He wasn’t all alone tonight,” Joe reminded her.

Kelly rolled her eyes. “You know what I mean. Her family moved to this area around the same time as the Marlows. I think it’s great she donated all those newspapers to the museum. Finally, they have a complete collection.”

“I suspect she just wanted to get rid of them. I wouldn’t want to fill up my attic with old newspapers.”

“She could have just had them recycled, and that would have been such a loss,” Kelly said.

“I wonder if Marie knew her family.”

“I assume so. According to Ginny, her family was close to the Marlows, and Marie’s father was Walt Marlow’s close friend. So I imagine they all knew each other. I never asked Ginny if she knows Adam,” Kelly said.

“What did her family do back then? Did they work for the Marlow shipping line?” Joe asked.

“No. When her family moved here, they opened a livery stable,” she explained.

“Livery stable?” Joe grinned.

“And one of her great-uncles was close to Walt’s father. The original Walt, obviously. Not Danielle’s Walt.” Kelly giggled and then added, “I guess they grew up together.”

“Great-uncle?”

Kelly shrugged. “Well, great-great-not sure how many greats. But one of her ancestors grew up with Frederick Marlow’s son. But not a direct ancestor. It was the brother of one of her direct ancestors. The one who owned the livery stable. Actually, he was the brother-in-law of the guy who started the livery stable. Or it was the brother-in-law of the son of the guy who started the livery stable? Or grandson? Not the friend, the other one.”

“You totally lost me,” Joe said with a laugh.

Brian sat with Heather on her back porch, drinking a beer. Instead of beer, Heather had switched to wine.

“Thanks for the tacos. They were good,” Heather said.

“You’re welcome.” Brian leaned back in the patio chair and took