Chapter 21
Chapter Twenty-One
SKYE
It’s not at all creepy to walk into the office behind reception and find seven ghosts waiting for me in a line.
“Uh… what’s going on here?” I stop just inside the door and eye them warily. Joe’s pretending to look disinterested, but he’s here, manifested, which means he’s interested.
“Nothing,” they all say at once, amping up the creep factor by about a million. I take a step back.
“Yeah, I don’t believe you. Why are you all manifested, anyway?
I thought you were going to help out again today?
” It’s Saturday, so I won’t be taking off to cruise around in search of spirits, but putting the ghosts to work has cut down on the headaches they cause with the overnight guests, and Kieran and Josh want that to continue.
“We wanted to talk to you.” Surprisingly, it’s Carter who takes the role of spokesperson.
“Oh-kay…” I stay where I am. If they’re going to keep being all weird like this, I want the option of an easy exit.
“It’s about Daniel.”
I sigh. “That’s none of your business.” I’m not sure whether they know he stayed over—tingles rush through me as memories rise—or if this is still about the fake dating that they’re convinced is real, but I’m not arguing with the ghosts about my private life. Not again, anyway.
“If you’re just playing with him, stop now,” Maisie says, her voice firm and missing its usual dramatic tone. Come to think of it, she’s dressed almost soberly for her, with only a few necklaces and no bracelets at all. “Don’t hurt him.”
I laugh at the idea that I would be the one doing the hurting in this scenario.
Not that Daniel would ever hurt me if he could help it, but let’s face it, I’m the one who’s been in love with him for years, and he’s the one just discovering his bisexuality and probably planning to experiment with it.
“Nobody’s going to hurt anyone,” I insist. Denial is a wonderful thing, and anyway, if I’m already prepared to have my heart broken, the impact will be less. Right?
“Are we having a meeting?” Josh asks from behind me, and I turn to him in relief.
“I think it was more like an intervention.”
“Now, dear,” Hattie chides, “don’t be like that. We’re just looking out for you—all of you. Nobody wants to see you and Daniel breaking each other’s hearts.”
“Oh boy,” Josh mutters, then raises his voice. “This sounds like the kind of conversation that doesn’t belong in the workplace. Let’s all show Skye and Daniel some respect and let them handle their personal lives as they see fit. It’s not our business.”
I swallow a snort, knowing perfectly well that if Josh finds out Daniel spent the night, he’ll be the first in line to ask questions. But I appreciate him handling the ghosts, so I’m not going to point that out.
“I’d say it’s our business when they’re cavorting on the premises,” Norval huffs, and my face gets really hot.
Josh raises an eyebrow. “Cavorting?”
“There was no cavorting,” I protest weakly, though there might have been. I’m not completely sure what that word even means.
Johnny leers at me. “That ain’t what we heard.”
Oh my god! No way did Daniel talk about last night with the ghosts. Nope. I won’t believe that. Maybe he talked to Ewan and they were eavesdropping?
I narrow my eyes. Or maybe this is a bluff.
“Oh yeah? What did you hear?” I challenge, and sure enough, Johnny’s expression turns abashed. His hair is a soft lavender shade today and looks oddly incongruous with the skull tattoo on his left cheek.
“Norval saw Daniel leaving your room this morning,” he accuses.
“Norval saw what?” Kieran’s voice asks… because of course he arrived just in time to hear that. I look past Josh and see him standing there with Connor, whose expression is unabashedly interested.
I take a deep breath. “Yes, Daniel spent the night in my room. No, I won’t be sharing any details. Could we get to work? Visitors will start arriving soon.”
Josh moves out of the doorway, and Kieran comes through. “That sounds like a good idea to me. We’ve all got a lot to do. Ghosts, I hope you’re not wasting your energy.”
A low grumble runs through the assembled ghosts, then they begin popping out until only Freddie and Hattie, who’ll be helping here at reception this morning, are left.
“Thank you,” I mouth to Kieran, and he nods. I head in the direction of the front desk, but Josh grabs my arm.
“We’ll talk later?” he whispers. I sneak a glance at the ghosts, who are busy with Kieran.
“I need to talk to Daniel first.” And that’s not going to happen until we close late this afternoon.
How am I going to get through the whole day wondering what’s going through his head?
He might have sent me a good-morning-last-night-was-great-talk-later text, but was that just good manners?
Is the “talk” going to be “thanks for the intro to gay sex, you’re an amazing friend, I can’t wait to add men to my string of casual partners”?
Taking things beyond kissing last night might have been my idea, and fuck knows it was incredible, but maybe I didn’t think things all the way through.
Josh eyes me, and I think he might be about to say something, but instead he smiles and lets go of my arm. “Sure.”
I watch on the monitor as the last visitor car exits through the gate and barely stop myself from cheering.
As Kieran hits the button to close the gates, Josh and I begin the process of shutting down reception and making sure things are ready for tomorrow—cash out the register and POS machine, back up the computer, restock the brochures and informational pamphlets, tidy the guest lounge.
“You know,” Josh says as I print off the POS daily tally, “I can handle all this if you want to go… for a walk.”
Aww, he’s sweet… but not at all subtle. I’m tempted to take him up on it and go tearing down to the barn in search of Daniel, but while my workday will be over in about ten minutes, Josh’s is not.
He still has to oversee the guests’ dinner and be on call for them tonight.
It’s hardly fair for me to leave him with this too.
“I’m good,” I assure him. “We’re nearly done.”
The museum staff come out in a bubble of chatter just then, all of them excited to finish the day. Kate, the manager, pauses at the desk.
“Rumor says you’ve got a new man, Skye.”
I chuckle weakly. I guess I’m lucky I managed nearly four days between the scene in town and any of the day staff mentioning it. “Not really. I’m not sure what you heard, but it’s just a fake thing while my mom is in town.” That’s not as true as it was yesterday.
She rolls her eyes. “Yeah, they said you’d say that. Seriously, Skye, it’s okay to set boundaries. If you tell people you and Daniel want some privacy, they’ll respect that. You don’t need to make up complicated lies.”
Beside me, Josh ducks his head, his body shaking with silent laughter. I hate my friends.
“No, really—” I cut myself off. She’s not going to believe me. Nobody else in town does, according to Dad. “Yeah. I gotta get better at doing that.”
Kate smiles and pats my hand. “I’m so happy for you. And Daniel—I can’t say it wasn’t a surprise, but when I think on it, there always was something special between you two.”
“Mmm. Thanks, Kate.” What the fuck else is there to say? “Have a good night.”
“You too. Bye, Josh.”
Josh murmurs a choked goodbye, and Kate follows her team out. The door’s barely closed before Josh explodes into gales of laughter.
I shove him. “Thanks so much for supporting me in my time of need.”
He doesn’t reply, too busy trying to breathe and laugh at the same time.
I finish what I’m doing and stick my head into the office, where Kieran is updating the daily ledger. “I’m going off the clock. Did you need anything else?”
He looks up. “No, but thanks. If you happen to see Connor, tell him I’ll be ready to go in fifteen minutes.”
“Will do.” I don’t bother to ask why he thinks I’ll see Connor between here and my room upstairs. We all know I’m going to find Daniel. In fact, I’m not even going to change first. I can’t wait that long.
“Come and find me later!” Josh calls after me as I head to the door, and I flip a wave over my shoulder. I’m still not sure how much I want to tell him, but since I’ll either be celebrating or nursing a broken heart, it’s going to be something.
Outside, it’s hot as balls, and I hesitate. Should I go upstairs and change after all? This whole shirt-vest-coat combination isn’t fun under the scorching summer sun, and I might have to walk around for a while before I find Daniel.
Compromise.
I go back inside, stripping off my coat, and Josh looks up. “Back already?”
“Stick these back there, please.” I pass him the coat and attack the buttons on my vest, then hand that over too.
“Thanks!” I start rolling up my sleeves as I head back outside.
I probably should have taken off the cravat too, but I don’t want to risk someone seeing the hickey on my collarbone.
It matches the one on my pec, and another on my hip.
Daniel must have been a vampire in a past life.
I decide to start with the barn, since it’s on the way to the cottage and less messy than the fields.
As I approach the little square of outbuildings around their courtyard, I hear someone whistling off-key.
It’s an oddly comforting, cheerful sound and makes me smile.
It’s not Ewan, because I can see that the smithy is already locked up, so I track it to the barn.
Inside, I pause to let my eyes adjust. The barn is well-lit, but after the searing sunlight outside, it seems shadowy and even a little cooler.
I follow the whistling to the little room where Daniel keeps his bladed farming implements.
This room is kept locked anytime he’s not in it, since things like scythes can do a lot of damage to the foolish or unsuspecting.
I’ve only seen the inside once before, and I look around in interest. Everything is neatly in its place, all those places labeled, and even though we’re in a barn and these tools are used to farm, it’s surprisingly clean.
Not brand-new shiny, but I feel like there should be clumps of dirt on some of these things, at the very least.
“Hey,” Daniel says, a smile breaking across his face.
“Why is everything so clean?” I blurt.
He stops midway through moving toward me. “Because I keep it that way?”
I wave that away, feeling like an idiot but determined to forge on. “No, I mean, you use this stuff in the dirt. Why do you clean it? I’m pretty sure most farmers don’t clean their tool thingies.”
“Ohhhh. Yeah, you’re right. But some of this stuff has to be specially made, since most manufacturers only do modern equipment.
So it’s expensive, and if I want to get the best life from it, I need to make sure to keep it well-maintained.
It’s harder to check for nicks and weaknesses when it’s covered in dirt, so everything gets a light clean after use—or if I use it regularly, once a week.
I’ve also gotta make sure it’s in top condition because we let visitors use these things, and if the equipment fails and someone gets injured, we’re liable for that.
So the insurance company has a clause about maintenance.
I have to keep a log showing I check the equipment before and after every use. ”
Huh. None of that ever occurred to me.
“Why? Did you think they were clean because I’m secretly a serial killer and I was destroying the evidence?”
My jaw drops, and I sputter. “What? No! I—Why—Oh my god, Daniel!” I look around at all the tools with their sharp, sharp blades and see them through a very different lens. “Are you done in here? Because suddenly I want to be anywhere else.”
His laughter bounces off the walls and makes me grin. “Yeah, come on.”
I hover outside while he signs something in a book, then locks the door and checks it twice. “Who else has a key?”
He side-eyes me. “Kieran.”
“That’s it?”
“Yep. When I was on sick leave, Kier had to supervise the sign in and sign out of everything that was used.”
“Is it because we’re a tourist place?”
He nods and leans against the wall. “Yep. We can’t risk that anything is left in a place where a visitor might injure themselves with it.
The owners decided years ago, before my time, that only the farm manager and the general manager would have access, and we haven’t seen a reason to change that yet.
” He studies me. “But I don’t think you’re here to talk about farm safety and insurance liability. ”
I look away, shaking my head, then make myself meet his gaze. “No. I… Do you have some time to talk? About… last night?” My fingers itch to reach out and touch him—just a light touch, something to reassure me. I curl them into a fist instead.
“I don’t know,” he says, surprising me. “Depends if I’m gonna like it or not.”