Total pages in book: 146
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 138588 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 693(@200wpm)___ 554(@250wpm)___ 462(@300wpm)
Sawyer shrugged. “Electricity’s fine. It’s haunted. Marie left out the haunted part in her description, didn’t she? See, I thought we should disclose the whole haunted thing, but Marie is a tricky one. The valley cabin hadn’t been occupied for a while, so Marie didn’t tell you. Also, I haven’t gotten any complaints.” He turned to Wyatt, his eyes narrowing. “Have you gotten complaints?”
Wyatt simply smiled. “I bet they’re on my desk at the bar. I’m so sorry. I’ve been swamped lately. I will absolutely get someone on it.”
Was he lying to her? Why would he lie to her?
“Sure,” Sawyer said under his breath. “But it won’t work ’cause there’s nothing wrong with the electricity. It’s the ghost. Happens a lot around here. Nothing to worry about. My grandpa told me it’s a friendly spirit. It likes to play around. That’s all.”
Was he freaking kidding? “You’re saying my cabin is haunted?”
Sawyer nodded. “Yeah.” He seemed to think of something, and his expression brightened for a moment. “You want to move? Because I’ve heard there are some nice places up in Creede.”
She felt her eyes narrow. Now he was pushing all her buttons. If he thought he could scare her off, he was in for an awakening. Normally she was polite and tried to be charming, but she knew how to deal with a bully. Every teacher did. “Or I could sue you for nondisclosure of alien life-forms.”
“What?” Wyatt asked, his angelic eyes widening.
She wasn’t about to get lost in those eyes. No way. She focused all her mad-teacher energy on Sawyer. “Check it. It’s on the books. In the town of Bliss, Colorado, it is illegal to sell or rent property without a full alien life-form disclosure. They have a form and everything. Did you file with the city?”
In this case the “city” was Cassidy Meyer, who kept impeccable records.
He stared at her for a moment. Yes, he was definitely giving her a you’re-a-moron frown. “It’s a ghost not an alien. Granddad thinks it’s probably the guy who originally built the place back in the eighties. Definitely a ghost.”
He needed to understand she was not playing this game with him. “Oh, it’ll be an alien by the time I’m done. Blinking lights? Alien interference. The crackling sound I keep hearing? The alien ship must not have all its sound dampeners on. The fact that the lights go out for precisely two minutes every day at 7:02 p.m.? Aliens keep a tidy schedule, my friend. I will type up a report, and I assure you my new dad will take you down. I’m not joking. I’ll tell my dad you sold me an alien stronghold and he will never stop.”
Sawyer actually took a step back. “Mel? Are you talking about Mel Hughes? He doesn’t have any kids.”
Wyatt sent him a what-the-hell look. “Do you listen to anyone? The new deputy is his bio kid, and Mel’s adopting this one. I mean in theory. I don’t think he’s legally adopting her. You need to get on Nextdoor sometime.”
“What is Nextdoor?” Sawyer seemed deeply confused. “I don’t have a next-door neighbor. The closest I had was Michael, and now he lives in the valley. Hey, we could probably get to his cabin.”
“We are not taking her to that ramshackle piece of crap. It doesn’t have heat, and I’m pretty sure it’s got a nest of possums living there,” Wyatt countered.
She was not staying with possums. Though they would likely be nicer hosts.
She needed one good thing to come out of this debacle of a day. Her car was wrecked, and she was stuck with this duo of temptations reminding her of just how school-marm wallflower she’d become. “Are you or are you not going to fix my electricity? I can have my future brother-in-law do it, but you are going to pay him because you are the landlord, and fixing things is your responsibility because the cabin is your asset, not mine. You should understand if you do not live up to your end of the bargain, beyond bringing my new dad into the scenario, I’ll bring in my friend Nell, who will help me protest your many infractions of the Bliss County code.” She gasped, exaggerating it for the drama. “You know, I’m almost certain I saw a Reticulan Grey in the backyard, and he was obviously dumping toxic waste in the river. And all because of you.”
“You are really fucking mean. I did not expect you to be so mean.” Sawyer seemed to think the problem through. “Well, put like that I suppose I will pay for someone to tell you there’s nothing wrong with the electricity, but you have to promise not to sic Mel on me. Or Nell. Those two are a team up no one needs.”
So at least she’d won one thing. “Excellent. Now I’m going to take a shower and then I will lock myself into whatever spare room you might have, and you won’t see me again until I walk out of this place. Call me when the snow melts, asshole.”