Ghost Moon

“There’s still a barbecue out back, isn’t there?” Jonas asked.

“Oh, Lord, if there is, God knows what’s in it,” Kelsey told him.

“We have an old portable barbecue somewhere,” Sean said. “Why don’t we dig it out? I mean—if you want an army trampling over on Saturday. I’m thinking Saturday would be the best day?” He looked at Katie and the others. “Katie, you don’t start until nine or ten on Saturday night, Clarinda can come in late, and Ted and Jaden can close early. Liam, you take Saturday off, don’t you?”

“Unless someone calls in with a real problem,” Liam said.

The pretty blonde at Sean’s side—Vanessa—cleared her throat. “Excuse me—we’ve all just invited ourselves over, you realize.”

Kelsey laughed. “It sounds great. Sean, you can bring the barbecue, but I’ll supply the food. If you’re cleaning the house for me, the least I can do is supply the barbecue.”

“It’s not that bad. The weather should hold,” Liam said. “We can clean—then wash all the spiderwebs off by taking a dip. The water is a little cool right now, but not that bad.”

“Hey…I’ve got to get started,” Katie said. “We have a group of coeds looking at the suggestion books, and I’m not sure they’ll like the choices.”

Kelsey glanced over to the stage area. She smiled, as well—it looked as if the cast of a college comedy had just walked in. They were beautiful people; three girls who were blonde and slim and wearing tiny shorts and belly-baring ripped-up tees had come in with two young men who looked like linebackers—young ones. They still had baby faces.

Katie slid behind her computer, politely salvaging her songbooks and apparently telling the crew that she probably had what they wanted right on the computer; they just needed to name their songs. She made an announcement using the microphone.

“This is O’Hara’s, and it’s Katie-oke here, four nights a week. Sometimes, it’s actually Clarinda-oke, but it’s all the same fun. O’Hara’s offers twenty-five beers from the cleanest taps you’ll find from here to Canada, so enjoy—responsibly, please.” Katie said the last with a hopeful but ironic twist in her tone. Key West and responsible drinking weren’t really known for going hand in hand. Luckily, partygoers usually stayed within walking distance of the bars on Duval, while a lot of the major-chain hotels farther around the island sent shuttles to drop off and pick up their guests in the Old Town area.

Katie started the music. The college crew whooped and hollered and began dancing energetically to the music.

“It really wasn’t that long ago, but I don’t ever remember being quite so young,” Liam said, his grin wry as he seemed to echo her thoughts.

“It’s a good-looking group, and they seem friendly and ready to have fun,” Kelsey told him.

Liam nodded. “Cheerleaders,” he said solemnly. “You can tell.”

“A bit too happy for me,” Jaden said. She yawned. “Ted, feel like calling it a night?”

Ted nodded. “We’re still working on a lot of treasure recently brought up from that film shoot.” He shuddered. “Ugh. We’ll tell you all about it at the barbecue, Kelsey.” He stared at Vanessa. “It was bad. Very, very bad.”

“Hey!” she protested. “We did capture a pair of truly deranged murderers.”

“That’s true,” Jaden said happily.

“Oh! I did hear about that!” Kelsey said. She stared at Liam. She had been so caught up in her own situation, she had forgotten that she had seen their names online, and one night on the news. Sean O’Hara and the Becketts had gotten involved with a film crew, recreating the situation in which two people had been brutally murdered on an uninhabited island. A documentary would air sometime the following year.

“And it’s over,” Vanessa said with a shudder. “Next week, I’m filming dolphins for a public-service feature. I’m much happier!”

“That sounds great,” Kelsey said.

“Okay, we’re really out of here,” Jaden said. “It’s wonderful to meet you,” she told Kelsey. “And thanks for letting us get in the place on Saturday.”

“My pleasure. If anyone is allergic to dust, they’re in trouble,” Kelsey warned as Ted and Jaden left.

It was a warm group, and she was apparently accepted.

Sean and Vanessa decided to brave the bouncing coeds and dance; Liam looked at Kelsey. “Want to try it?”

Dance. He was asking her to dance. Just dance. And yet…

“Do you remember grade school? Mrs. Miller insisted we have something like a cotillion!” she said, grinning.

“We can probably still manage.”

Clarinda was busy taking drink orders at another table; Jonas and David were deep in conversation. She still hesitated.

It was a dance, just a dance. She wasn’t being sucked back into this actually being her home.

“Sure,” she said with a shrug.

By the time they reached the floor, however, Katie was singing at the request of the coeds—she was doing a Shakira number, and Liam told her, “Salsa!”

“Oh, Lord!” she said.

“You’ve been gone too long. We have a major-league Cuban influence down here—everybody salsas. You’ll be fine!”

Oddly enough, it all kicked in. Maybe it was like riding a bike.

Liam knew what he doing. She remembered in ballroom dance, her job was to follow. He led well. And it was fun, exhilarating. She didn’t remember the last time she had been out like this.

By the end of the number, they had the floor. The bouncing coeds came over and hugged them enthusiastically, then decided to drip their inebriated adoration on Katie.

It was too easy to have too much fun. To feel his hands on hers, and his arms around her, and feel as if time had evaporated. They’d never taken a step past friendship, but then, they’d still been so young…

“This has been wonderful,” she said. “I think, though, Liam, if you don’t mind, I should get back home.”

“Hey, I can take you,” Jonas said. “I’m a stone’s throw from you.”

“Clarinda is still working,” David pointed out.

“I’m fine taking Kelsey home,” Liam said. “I want to walk around the place a bit, too.”

“The new locks are on, right?” David asked.

“Yes. I just want to take a walk around the place,” Liam repeated.

“Sure, but, Kelsey, don’t forget—the Salvage Inn, right across from you. Clarinda and I are in room one—it’s the left half of the house. Our breakfast chef and server are in at five-thirty in the morning, and we have a bartender at the tiki bar until two a.m., so if you’re ever nervous at all, someone is there. And, of course, don’t hesitate to wake us up!” He rose.

“Thanks,” Kelsey said. “That’s really nice. Especially since I was such a pain in the ass as a kid!”

He laughed. “Hey, David, tell Clarinda I’ll be back. I’m just going to go home and check on the B and B for a few minutes. Make sure we don’t have any calamities going on.”

“Will do,” David said.

When they walked out to Liam’s car, the coeds decided that they were all best friends, too. Kelsey endured a round of hugs from the cheerful cheerleaders and their bruiser dates.