Erin Hayes - Ghosts and Gifts

Ghosts and Gifts

Their Paranormal Tales, Book Five

by Erin Hayes

Cover art by Daqri Bernado at Covers by Combs

Editing by Lindsay Galloway of Contagious Edits

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, organizations, places, events, and incidences are either products of the authors imagination or used fictitiously.

Originally published as How to Talk to Ghosts

Copyright 2017, 2019 Erin Hayes

No part of this book may be reproduced or stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without express written permission of the publisher.

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T heres a phone call, Ryan told me as I was trying to do my homework. He always seemed to pop in when I had to concentrate on something. He gave me what I knew he considered to be a dashing, debonair smile.

Too bad for him, it never worked on me. Even if he did look like a punk rocker from the 80sbecause thats what he was when he died. It also didnt help that I listened to punk rock from the 80s.

I heard it ring, I said, trying to ignore him.

You should listen in.

So? I asked as I looked up from my laptop. And, as always, when I looked at him, it was hard to keep an annoyed, straight face. With his dark hair and intense eyes, Ryan was distractingly good looking. Unfortunate for me, since I had to deal with him all the time.

Id heard the phone ring downstairs, even with how big the house was. Heard it cut off when Mrs. Jenkins, our housekeeper, answered it.

And I asked myself, Why do we even have a landline these days? Oh yeah, because Dad liked to live in the past.

Its an important one, Ryan told me as he leaned on the edge of my desk. I had to force myself to not shift away from him. Hed see that as a sign of weakness and laugh at me. One that should beconcerning to you, Lita.

Cryptic, as always. I didnt rise to the bait. And Im sure you know exactly what makes it important, huh?

Ryan shrugged. Only bits and pieces. But He frowned, as if listening to the conversation that was happening somewhere in the house. It made me wonder just how good his ears were. Your dads been on it for a long time.

I hadnt realized that my dad had come back from his business trip. Dad always traveled to places without telling me where he was going and when hed come back.

I wanted to groan in frustration. Youre about as helpful as a fortune cookie.

He grinned again. And as delicious as well, I bet.

And now I regretted telling him that I loved fortune cookies. I could care less about the fortunes inside thembut I could eat the stale cookies themselves by the truckload. When my dad went out of townwhich was frequentlyMrs. Jenkins spoiled me a bit with Chinese takeout or whatever food was easiest for her to prepare.

If youre not going to help, I said, then why are you here?

He crossed his arms as he raised a dark eyebrow. Be still my heart. No one, dead or alive, should be that good looking, even if they were stuck in the 80s. Because Im worried about you, thats all, he said simply.

Gee, thanks, I muttered as I turned back to my homework. I had a report due tomorrow, and the sisters at the Spencer Academy of Houston would be none too happy if I didnt turn it in. Again. I think the only reason why they still kept me at that college preparatory high school was because I was in the top 10% of my class and my dad gave them a grant for a new swimming pool. He always liked having the illusion of money and power.

So they put up with me missing a few assignments. Which was fine with me, because I tended to have extracurricular activities that took precedence over doing homework. Would I rather solve for x, or help a widows husband find peace in the Afterlife?

You dont need to worry about me, I muttered as I started typing away. My involuntary yawn punctuated my statement. I really should find a way to get more sleep.

Ryans hand shot out and closed my laptop in one swift movement. Hey! I cried, getting to my feet. I was working on that!

Seriously, what a dick move.

Yet, as Ryan leaned over, I spotted something fearsome in his eyes. Something begging me to take this seriously. Lita Marie Stevens, he said in a low voice. I flinched at my full name. You have to listen to me.

Why?

I watched as he straightened to his full height. I didnt get my answer, because the knock at my door startled both of us. Before I had time to even blink, he disappeared.

Ghosts. Always appearing and disappearing.

And Ryan was one of the worst for that. Maybe he forgot his manners after being dead for nearly thirty years. He died when he was a junior at Rice University, getting hit by a drunk driver on his way home from a concert. Its a sad story that I got out of him late one night. Finding out how someone died was a real eye-opening experience.

Or maybe he was flighty like this when he was alive.

It had been this way ever since I met him two years ago, when I was fifteen. He never hung around for very long. Only enough to annoy the crap out of me.

The door immediately opened after Ryan vanished, revealing my father. And I blinked up at him in surprise, because this was totally unlike my dad, coming into my room when he would have just had a butler come in.

Dad? I asked, noticing that he was huffing slightly.

Dads eyes met mine. Its your uncle, he said gruffly. He just passed away.

My great-uncle Neptune. If that had really been his name.

I never knew him all that well, meeting him once or twice when I was a baby. It had been so long ago that I didnt even have a mental image of what he looked like. Like, I imagined him as something along the lines of King Triton from The Little Mermaid. Crazy white beard, weird six-pack abs, a teal mermaid tail, and, of course, a triton.

Probably not the most accurate depiction of what he looked like, but if he did look like King Triton, I wish my dad would have let me hang out with him more.

I knew this much at least: he was my dads uncle and had been a bit of an eccentric old man. He owned his own aquarium somewhere out in Florida and had been the owner of it for years. I didnt know the details very well, having never been there myself. But I knew that he and Dad had been in a feud for years.