Ghouls Just Want to Have Fun Read Online Free PDF Page B

colder, most folks aren't eating much ice cream."
    We both looked down at the remains of gooey cinnamon ice cream on my plate. I resisted the urge to lick the saucer. Hey, I'm not a totally uncouth hillbilly.
    "Ice cream sales have tanked," I acknowledged, "but it's that way every year at this time. But we still sell a lot of ice cream cakes, and all year long the sales of dogs, burgers and tacos are steady. I just hope Uncle Frank doesn't decide to close down during the winter. He's talked about it for years, but he's never done it. Still, now that Frankie is busy with community college courses and courting Dixie the destructor, I'm wondering if Uncle Frank will decide this is the time. If that happens, I'm in deep financial doo-doo." I relied on the income from my job at the Dairee Freeze to take care of my tiny herd of horseflesh and two golden Labs with serious tartar buildup.
    "You've heard the saying 'don't borrow trouble from tomorrow, 'cause it's got more than enough of its own'?"
    I nodded. "Yeah. Sure."
    "Well, that's my advice for you here. When it happens, if it happens, worry about it then."
    I looked over at Townsend--just to make sure it was Townsend. These words of wisdom ran counter to everything Rick had drilled into my head for the past five years. You gotta think down the road, Tressa. Look beyond today. Live with a care for all the tomorrows to come, Calamity. Now, all of a sudden, Townsend was, what--telling me to stop and smell the freakin' roses?
    I put down my cup and swiveled on the stool to face him. "Okay, Mr. Ranger, sir. What gives?"
    Townsend drained the last of his milk and looked at me. He had a Groucho-sized milk mustache, but didn't bother to wipe it.
    "I'm actually really glad we ran into each other, Tressa," he said, and I watched his tongue sweep over his lip to retrieve some of the milk.
    Glad we ran into each other? I felt my cheeks grow warm--and not all because of the tongue thing. "Oh yeah?" I said. "Why is that?"
    The ranger leaned in my direction and put a tanned, lean hand on the back of my stool. "There's something I've been wanting to talk to you about," he said.
    The ranger wanted to talk? I felt my body move not-so-subtly in his direction. Hey, I warned you I was pathetic.
    "Oh yeah?" I managed. "What is that?"
    "It concerns both of us."
    I moved closer, my nerve endings crackling. "Oh yeah? How so?"
    "Because it also concerns our families--people we are very fond of."
    Ranger Rick's milk breath fanned my face. I imagined my cinnamon-coffee breath was assaulting his olfactory orifices, too.
    "Is this about Craig and Kimmie?" I asked. "Because if it is, I'm ready to accept your admission that you were totally out of line taking off with Craig for some dumb moose hunt in Canada when Kimmie was ovulating."
    My brother and sister-in-law had been having some issues relating to parenthood. Craig wasn't sure if he was ready for a child, and Kimmie was tired of living only with one who got a five-o'clock shadow. And Townsend hadn't helped matters by whisking Craig off to the wilds of Ontario with the issue still unresolved.
    He shook his head. "I'm not getting in the middle of that mess, and I'd advise you to steer clear, too. No, this is about other beloved family members."
    Holy-moley. Where was this leading? I pressed closer. I could see light flecks of amber dancing in irises of rich brown.
    "Oh yeah?" I felt my breath catch in my throat. Was the announcement of a permanent truce about to pass Townsend's lips? Maybe, God help me, a real declaration of affection, even? "Like who?"
    "Our grandparents, of course," Townsend said. "Who else? I think they may be moving too fast in the romance department."
    "What!" I thought about Townsend's sermon on borrowing trouble for about as long as it took for my hands to reach out for his thick, clueless neck, but unfortunately my butt had run out of chair. I slid over the side and the stool tilted, dumping me to the floor. I heard a loud rip as