Chapter 3

Lucas wanted to bang his head off the desk he was sitting at in their temporary headquarters. The Paranormal Encounters crew had taken over the small parlor of the B&B, and all manner of production paraphernalia, laptops, and the like were strewn around the room.

It was days like this when Lucas temporarily thought about a career change. There were equipment issues, some of the crew were arguing, and his assistant researcher, Austin Strong Bull had disappeared. He’d called the kid five times but hadn’t yet received a response.

As Lucas pulled up some production notes on his laptop, his phone rang. “Finally!” He hit the answer button without looking at the caller ID. “Where the hell have you been? I need you, so get your butt back here, pronto!”

“Lucas?”

His eyebrows rose at the female voice, and he looked at the caller ID. It said unknown. “Uh, yeah. Who’s this?”

“It’s Leanne Gladstone.”

Lucas sagged a little as embarrassment stole through him. “I’m so sorry, Leanne. I thought you were my research assistant calling. I’ve been leav—never mind. It’s good to hear from you. I didn’t recognize your voice at first. How are you?”

Her chuckle told him that she wasn’t offended.

“I’m good. You sound like you’re having a bad day, though.”

He rubbed his forehead as he groaned. “You have no idea. It’s like a three-ring circus some days. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”

“Well, I was wondering if your invitation to dinner still stood.”

A grin spread across his face. “It sure does. When?”

“Tomorrow night?”

“Tomorrow night, it is. Around seven-thirty?”

Leanne said, “Fine with me.”

“Great. So, how’s the diner?”

“The diner is the diner.”

He hated the way her voice went flat. “Jimmy mentioned yesterday that you have three culinary degrees. It’s a shame you don’t have your own restaurant.”

“Yes, it is, but I’m working on that.”

He raised an eyebrow over her angry tone. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you. It’s really none of my business.”

“No, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. I’ll see you tomorrow night. I’m looking forward to it,” she said.

“Me, too.”

“I hope your day gets better.”

Lucas didn’t want to end the conversation, but he knew she was busy, and he had to get back to work. “Same to you. See you later.”

“Okay. Bye.”

Lucas hung up and saved her number to his contacts. The sadness in her voice bothered him, and he decided that she needed some cheering up. He closed his laptop and went out to the lobby where the owner, Harry Gladstone, was working behind a computer.

“Hey, Harry. How are you?”

Harry looked up from the computer with a smile. “I’m good. How about you?”

“Doing fine, thanks. I was wondering if you have the phone number for a florist here in town?” Lucas asked.

“Sure. I’ll look it up.” Harry got out his cellphone and scrolled through his contacts. “Here you go.”

Lucas put the number in his phone. “Thanks.”

“Who’s the lucky lady?” Harry asked.

Although he was a little anxious about informing Harry that his little sister was the intended recipient, Lucas wouldn’t avoid the issue. “Leanne. I just talked to her, and she sounded a little down, so I’m going to send her flowers.”

Harry narrowed his gray eyes. “You’re interested in Leanne?”