Should've Said No Read Online Free PDF Page B

trying to remember more. “I’m sure there are others, but I’m a little foggy on what they were.”

    “A mortuary?” Lindsey asked.
    “Way back when.” Holly gestured toward the middle section of the building. “Right where the real estate office is now. I worked in there for a while and I used to get creeped out late at night when I was alone and the place started creaking and moaning.”
    “For real?” Lindsey had slept like the dead last night, but this conversation might have her blanching at every little noise in her cabin come nighttime.
    Holly nodded. “I’m sure it was the wind, the weight of the snow on the roof, or just normal expanding and contracting with the temperatures, but my imagination worked overtime trying to convince me that someone from the mortuary still had unfinished business.”
    Lindsey shivered as she imagined Holly alone in the building late at night, frightened by strange noises. “Did you ever see anything…ghostly?”
    Holly shook her head. “But I didn’t rent space in that building for long. I opened a little office on the second floor above one of the shops on Snowberry Street. But first I made sure the place had never been a morgue,” she grinned.
    “Good thinking,” Lindsey said as they passed the Mexican restaurant. She glanced at the faces of her new neighbors—or tourists—dining in the charming outdoor seating area festooned with terra-cotta pots overflowing with flowers and party lights strung from a trellis. It was as if everyone had hurried outside as soon as the storm had passed. The sidewalks were also busy with people strolling, but still comfortable for an easy walk. Families, people with dogs, young couples. “So you’re a real estate agent?”

    “I’m a real estate attorney,” Holly said, as if it was no big deal. “I was really interested in criminal law, but I also wanted to live in Thistle Bend. I would’ve gone broke here with the low crime rate. Check the police blotter in the newspaper and you might see that someone got busted for painting graffiti at the school, or nabbed for being drunk in public if they were super-obnoxious.”
    No wonder Dean hadn’t minded leaving the door to Lindsey’s cabin unlocked.
    “I’d imagine there’s plenty of real estate work to keep you busy,” Lindsey said. “Not only with locals, but also with the tourists.”
    Holly nodded. “Especially the tourists. They come and stay at the ski resort on Paintbrush Peak, or here in town. This time of year, lots of people come just to see the wildflowers. They fall in love with the place, and end up buying a house or a vacation condo. Business is good.”
    Lindsey wasn’t sure about falling in love with Thistle Bend, but she had to admit that the town had a certain appeal. “I can see why they’d come to check out the flowers,” she said. “They’re beautiful. I’d like to learn to identify some of them.”
    “I’ve got a guidebook I can loan you.”
    “That’d be great.”
    As they approached the next intersection, Holly asked, “Have you heard about the homemade ice cream at Get the Scoop?”

    Lindsey gazed up into the clearing sky and pressed her hand against her stomach. “You’re killing me. This storybook town has homemade ice cream, too?”
    “What kind of story do you have in mind?” Holly grinned mischievously. “Because this town is full of temptations.”
    Like Carden Crenshaw. But Lindsey knew better than to be tempted by a guy like him. Two years ago, she’d made the naïve mistake of dating Hopper—one of D.C.’s celebrated bachelors. Turned out there hadn’t been much about him to celebrate. After a wasted year of heartbreak and that sex-on-the-couch incident with him and her roommate, she’d finally accepted her spot in the parade of women who’d thought they were special to him, but been woefully wrong.
    Lindsey blinked away the bad memories. Not sure whether thoughts of Hopper had left her cold, or if the temperature was