Sleep Stalker (Ghosts Beyond the Grove Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

you shopping tonight.”
         What?  Was this his misguided attempt at an apology?  If so, one essential word was seriously missing—sorry.  While the note he left was more positive than our interaction the night before, it still wasn’t right.  It still wasn’t Zach.  I had to get him and his weird behavior out of my mind for the day.  Today was the first day at my new job—I needed to concentrate on that not on him.  But before I got home tonight, I needed to call Crimson.  Maybe she could shed some light on Zach’s odd mood swings. 
         Since Zach so thoughtfully drove our only vehicle to class without asking if I needed a ride, I walked two blocks to the nearest bus stop.  Already filled with first day job jitters, my anxiety level soared as I rode around town on a dirty bus with complete strangers until we made it to my new home away from home. 
         Poe’s Corner was a small coffee shop/used bookstore on the corner of Overton Boulevard and Rockview Drive.  I applied for several jobs a few weeks ago but this was the one I really wanted.  Since the owner was out of town at the time, he conducted an online interview with me via Skype.  Two days later, the job was mine.  Walking into my new job without ever having technically met my boss was nerve wracking.  I wanted to ride that terrible little bus right back to our apartment but I knew that I couldn’t.  What if he totally hated me in person?  What if I totally hated him ?  At least I knew Rita before I took that job at her candle shop.  Ugh.  Welcome to Ohio and adulthood.  Right now I despised them both.
         As I approached the counter, I looked around for Chad Stanton, the man who interviewed me.  I had very little recollection of what he looked like.  I was far too nervous during the roughly ten minutes of awkward internet interview time.  My anxiety level was reaching near critical.  Not finding anyone who remotely looked like the man I barely remembered, I asked the girl feverishly fighting with one of the cappuccino machines behind the counter.
         “Um…today’s my first day here.  Where can I find Chad Stanton?”
         “Beats the hell outta me, girl!” she shouted in a sugary southern accent loud enough to be heard above the screeching noise emanating from the machine.  “Probably Vegas or Rio—who knows!  He only shows his face around here about once a month and only long enough to take a look at the financials.” 
         The girl released a quiet string of curse words meant for the equipment before finally getting it to stop making such terrible noises.  She filled a paper cup to the brim then made a swirly design in the cream on top.  Once she was finished with her customer, she wiped her hands on her apron and introduced herself.
         “The name’s Addie, Addie Lafay.  I’m the manager here.  You must be Ruby.  Glad to have ya.  We always get busier at the start of the fall semester.”  She extended her hand in greeting and I nervously did the same. 
         Addie was not what I was expecting.  I was expecting to be greeted by the intimidating man on the other side of my Skype interview.  Addie was barely older than me and her hair was a combination of cotton candy pink and platinum blonde, choppy and cut at an angle.  Her voice didn’t match her appearance at all.  She looked like more of an emo punk princess than a southern belle.  But so far, she seemed friendly, though, and less daunting than Chad. 
         However, what I found to be super intimidating was the ghost lurking near the first bookshelf, poking her head around the corner to get a better look at me.  She looked harmless enough, floating there silently in a lavender Victorian-era gown but I wasn’t about to judge a bookstore ghost by her cover, so to speak.  Innocuous or not, even good ghosts could get me into an awful amount of trouble.  I learned that the hard way with Clay.  No,