The Ghoul Next Door Read Online Free PDF

diet.
    Abruptly, I remembered the gold charm bracelet. “Yeah? What’d she say?”
    “Well,” Gil said, picking away at the pastry, “it seems your dad has a girlfriend.”
    I choked on my coffee.
“What?”
    He smiled wickedly at me. “It was only a matter of time, M.J.,” he said. “Or in your daddy’s case, twenty-three years.”
    I coughed for a bit as Heath patted my back. Mama Dell even rushed over with a glass of water. At last I felt I could breathe without sputtering. “Who is she?”
    Gil shrugged. “Ma doesn’t know much other than that her name is Christine Bigelow, originally from Jacksonville. She moved to town about three months ago and took up with your daddy soon after that. Ma says she bought the Porters’ old place and there’s nothing but construction crews up there day and night.”
    My brow shot up. The Porters had been a prominent family in Valdosta since before the Civil War. Their home was one of those great big plantation estates with Greek columns, grand porches, and lush rolling lawns. Over the years the Porter family had left the area one by one, venturing to more bustling communities like Atlanta, Jacksonville, and the like. I’d heard that the Porter mansion had been all but vacant in recent years, but I was still surprised to learn now that the house had gone up for sale.
    I imagined that although the place might be grand, it’d likely need some major renovation to make it livable. “She bought the Porter place?” I repeated. I was still stunned that my father had taken up with someone. To my knowledge he hadn’t so much as looked at a woman since my mother died. I guess I’d taken it for granted that he never would.
    Gil nodded. “She’s got some bucks apparently.”
    “What does she do?” I asked next.
    Gil smiled slyly. “Do? She doesn’t do anything, M.J. Her husband died and left her a boatload of money. Now she spends that and hangs out with your daddy.”
    “How . . . how did they meet?” I didn’t know if I was happy or upset about Daddy dating again. I was bordering on upset because, even though it’d been well over twenty years since Mama died, it still felt a bit like he was cheating on her.
    “She went to see him to help set up a trust fund for all the money her husband left her,” Gil said easily.
    I wasn’t surprised Gilley knew all these intimate details. The gossip vines in Valdosta are like kudzu—they’re everywhere and cover everything.
    “This is good news, right?” Heath asked, peering at me as if he couldn’t understand why my eyes might be watering.
    I swallowed hard. “It is,” I said, already wondering if I could send back the charm bracelet.
    “Hey,” Gilley said, sitting forward. “Your daddy has been alone for a really long time, honey. It’s okay to let him have some company, right?”
    “Sure,” I said, but my voice sounded flat. “Yeah. It’s a good thing.”
    Gil and Heath exchanged a look, and it irritated me. It said they thought I might be taking all this a little too hard. I cleared my throat and stood up. “It’s going on three. I’ve gotta get showered and changed for tonight.”
    Gilley and Heath got up too. “What’s going on tonight?” Gil asked.
    I completely forgot that I hadn’t told him yet. Heath beat me to it. “Sable stopped by the office this morning.”
    Gil’s eyes bulged. “Oh. My. God!”
    “He asked us to dinner,” Heath went on. “With his fiancée . . . the neurosurgeon.”
    It was Gilley’s turn to choke on his coffee. “Whoa,” he said when he could speak clearly. Then his gaze shifted to me. “Awkward . . .”
    “Steven has a job for us,” I said quickly, trying to make light of the fact that my ex had gotten engaged mere months after we’d broken up. Also, I knew I’d have to try to rope Gilley into helping us if we decided to take the job. “The fiancée has a brother who’s having some trouble.”
    Gil cocked his head. “Trouble? What kind of