Page 67 of Trick or Tease

“So, about the barn incident,” she started. “We can’t just pretend it didn’t happen.”

I sighed knowing this was the conversation we had to have but hoping it would just go away. “I can’t stop thinking about it. Do you regret it?”

“No.”

“Me neither.”

“Damn.”

“Yeah.”

That was good. And bad. Because that meant there was a chance it could happen again. And it couldn’t. It shouldn’t. I didn’t want to hurt her but I also knew a long-distance relationship would never work. And how would we ever see each other? After last night, I was dying for another taste of her. If I actually got to bury myself inside her, that was not going to be something I could settle for once a month or every few months.

Something told me she would be addicting. The kind of thing that I need a lot more of.

We continued to walk, neither of us saying anything but her arm brushed against mine. I didn’t pull away. I leaned into the contact. It felt right. Normal. Like we always went for walks. We used to. Fifteen years ago we walked all over, me and her and Billy and Lucy. Back then it had been so natural. Easy. We didn’t have to think about anything.

Did the kissing complicate things?

Of course it did. But maybe that wasn’t the worst thing.

Before I knew it, we were standing in front of the old house. There were some decorations around the front of it. Billy told me they were talking about making the house haunted. I hadn’t been up to see and wasn’t sure what they did or didn’t do.

“The house where love died,” I said. “According to your grandmother.”

“She also said his spirit still haunts the place. Sounds like the love never died at all.”

“If my great grandfather would make an appearance for the hayrides, he’d be doing us a real solid.” I paused, replaying the words that came out of my mouth. Why did I use the word us? The farm and the festival weren’t my thing.

“We could make our own ghosts,” Sabrina said. “If the lawyer will let us kick things up a notch.”

“I hope you didn’t bring me up here to kill me so I’ll be the ghost.”

She nudged my shoulder as she laughed. “Don’t tempt me.”

“Okay, how do we make a ghost? Those goofy sheets you’ve got in the maze are probably not going to do much for the spooky aesthetic.”

“I’m talking about some strobe lights, some gauzy curtains, a box fan, and a cardboard cutout of a person.”

“You’ve thought about this.”

“I have.” She nodded. “When I was doing the tours, everyone kept looking for something. It was a little anticlimactic. I think we need to give them something more.”

“Yeah?”

“We’d have to go in the old house though,” she said. “To set up the ghost.”

I shook my head. “That doesn’t seem like a good idea. I was serious when I said the house could fall down at any minute.”

“It’s fine,” she said.

“Yeah, the place is… just no.”

“Why? You scared of restless spirits?”

“I’m scared of mold and rotted floorboards.”

“Sure,” she said sarcastically. “I saw you in that parking garage. I think you believe in this stuff more than you’ll admit.”