Ghost Layer (The Ghost Seer Series Book 2) Read Online Free PDF Page B

her wide driveway, and she set her drink aside and sighed in relief.
    Zach’s here!
Enzo said, running to the old-fashioned boxed radiators built in around the bottom of the window and sticking his head
through
the glass. A pause.
He’s just sitting there. Why isn’t he coming in?
    She couldn’t prevent herself. “Why don’t you go ask him?”
    Yes! I will. Someday he will hear more than just my barks. Maybe today!
The dog galloped out.
    Clare went to the kitchen, and pulled out one of the Tivoli beers she stocked for Zach. Denver was a microbrew center and she’d gotten other beers the person at the wine store said someone would like if they liked Tivoli. Trying to lure the man to spend more time with her? Absolutely. She didn’t know what they had, but felt deeply in her bones . . . wait, not a good phrase right now . . . Felt their sex and sharing and intimacy could lead to a solid, true, and lasting relationship. Not that she’d tell him that.
    Enzo zoomed into the kitchen, stopped abruptly, and skidded on the tile clear across the room, like a real dog might, a look of astonishment on his face.
    Clare laughed.
    He grinned back at her, complete with wide mouth and draping tongue.
You need to laugh more often.
    “I’ve always been a serious person,” Clare said, but smiled.
    He heard me bark, I’m sure of it. But he didn’t hear anything else.
    “Oh.”
    And he’s still in his truck.
    “Ah.” Clare stared at the bottle of beer in her hands. Her cell phone played a rock tune that reminded her of Zach, so she’d programmed it for his calls—hot, edgy, nearly losing control, but never going quite that far.
    She plucked her smart phone from her pocket and answered. “Yes, Zach?”
    There was quiet.
    “Zach?”
    “Clare, you know that thing I asked you about before I left last week?”
    Her mind scrambled; they’d had only one full day together and that had been a workday for Zach. “I’m not sure.”
    He cleared his throat. “When I drove in today, I stopped in Boulder to see my mother.”
    Memory kicked in. “Of course I’ll go with you to visit your mother.” Mrs. Slade was a resident of a mental health facility in the college town where Zach’s family came from . . . though Zach’s father was career military and Zach had grown up all over the States.
    “Mama was having a good day and recognized me. She asked about, uh, girlfriends, and I told her about you and how you’d visit with me.”
    “Okay,” Clare said.
    “I got a call from the facility just as I left Rickman’s. Apparently Mama thought I’d just gone out to get you and is waiting for us. She’s . . . agitated.”
    “I’ll be glad to visit your mother with you right now.”
    “Good.” She heard him exhale. “That’s good.” A note of amusement entered his voice. “Clare, I don’t dare come into that house or we won’t make it up to Boulder tonight.”
    “Ohhh.” She flushed, with pleasure, with yearning. “I’ll be right out. Keep your hands on the wheel, mister.”
    “I’ll do that.”
    “Do you want some bottled water?”
    “That would be great. I didn’t drink anything at Rickman’s, and I’ve been on the road since early this morning and a lot of yesterday.”
    “Sandwich?”
    “The least I can do is treat you to dinner in Boulder.”
    “Sold. Be right there.”
    “You don’t need to freshen up. You’re gorgeous as is.”
    “Thank you.”
    I’m coming, too!
Enzo said.
    For the first time, Clare hesitated. She didn’t know Boulder, where the historic places were, where she could expect to see ghosts. Maybe even in the residential facility itself.
    Zach said, “Clare, the place is on ten acres with a view of the Flatirons and was built just after World War One.”
    Bless him for sensing what she was thinking. “Thank you.” She glanced down at the ghost Labrador. “I think Enzo is coming, too.”
    “If he must, he must. Get a move on, Clare.”
    “Be right there!” She clicked