Nothing to Ghost About by Morgana Best Page B

back, I had to get my head around the fact that
I’d inherited the business, and then there was Tiffany’s murder,
and now there’s Preston Kerr’s murder. I’ve been so busy that I
haven’t had any time to think.”
    The waitress came back, pen and paper
in hand, ready to take my order.
    “ Nothing to eat, thanks,” I
said. When she left, I added, “After last night, I’ve lost my
appetite.”
    Tara nodded. “Is there much to do in
the apartment?”
    I groaned. “Dad used it as a storage
area for years, so it needs cleaning out. It has a ghastly
old-fashioned bright orange bathroom, with those hideous sixties
tiles. You know, the orange tiles with yellow concentric circles
drawn on them?” When Tara nodded, I pressed on. “The kitchen is
tiny and has laminate countertops, but it’s okay, I guess. The
plumbing isn’t connected, so I’d have to get a plumber. The
apartment was half built when Dad bought the funeral home, and it
was never finished. I wasn’t born then.”
    Tara tapped her chin with a finger.
“Why don’t you ask Basil if you can claim it as a tax
deduction?”
    “ Good idea.” I chuckled.
“Is that your way of bringing the subject back to
Basil?”
    Tara laughed. “Well, no, and yes. You
still haven’t told me what happened.”
    “ It was a nightmare dinner
with Mom, Ian, and John. Like I texted you last night, Mom invited
Basil over to try to fire him. Can you believe that? The nerve of
her! I put my foot down, and Ian and John were shocked. Mom was,
too.” I laughed, remembering the looks on their faces.
    Tara laughed, too. “I wish I’d been
there to see you tell off your Mom.”
    “ She wasn’t game to say
anything to me for the rest of the night, but I bet she said plenty
after I went to bed. Gosh, it’s so hot!” I picked up a napkin and
fanned myself.
    Tara followed suit. “I thought there’d
be a breeze with the storm coming. Anyway, get to the point!
Basil?”
    I scratched my neck where a mosquito
had just bitten me. “He was tense at first, but he did seem happy
that I don’t share Mom’s views. I wonder if he thought…” My voice
trailed away.
    “ That you would try to
convert him with every breath?” Tara filled in, looking skeptical.
“If he hasn’t figured out that you’re nothing like Thelma by now,
then he’s a pretty hopeless cause.”
    “ I don’t know.”
    Tara chewed on her bottom lip
thoughtfully. “Come to think of it, I think his ex-fiancée was
fairly religious. Don’t quote me, though. It wasn’t like I hung out
with her crowd. He keeps to himself pretty much. Maybe he’s into
something that he thinks you’ll frown upon.”
    “ Like what?” I
asked.
    Tara shrugged. “I’d be happy for you
if it worked out, Laurel, but don’t get your hopes up too high. If
I knew why his fiancée stormed off the way she did, maybe I could
offer better encouragement than that. But just deal with this with
eyes-wide-open. Okay? I don’t want you to get crushed by those mood
swings of his again.”
    “ I wouldn’t call them mood
swings,” I began, but Tara cut me off.
    “ No, but it sounds nicer
than multiple personalities. I doubt you could compete with voices
in his head.” Her tone was light, but I knew she was serious.
“Relax and take it a day at a time. If he really likes you, he’ll
spell it out eventually.”
    “ How long is
eventually?”
    Tara fanned herself again. “Who knows?
Men are hard enough to read at the best of times. But what I’d
really like to talk is about is how you put your foot down on your
Mom.”
    As I recounted the events to Tara, my
mind was still on Basil. It didn’t sound like much when I told
Tara, but there was something about the way he had looked at me
when he asked me if I shared Mom’s views. And what was up with him
and Anna? Were they really dating? I did not want to think of the
possibility that they were having any sort of relationship. At the
same time, part of me wanted to wash my hands of the