The Stroke of Winter(69)

“It seems like that’s the whole point,” Tess said. “The ‘why.’”

“Agreed,” Jane said. “I think the spirit wants you to know. That’s what it’s all about. And all the smudge sticks and ceremonies in the world won’t get that restless spirit out of there until you do.”

Tess nodded, her stomach tightening into a knot. “Now what?”

Jane leaned back in her chair. “I’ll rally my ghost-hunting crew, and we’ll try to contact it.”

Taking another sip of tea, Tess had a thought. “Wyatt says you do ghost tours of Wharton in the summer.”

“I do,” she said. “It’s a hoot, and tourists love it. But everything I tell them is true, from the haunting at Harrison’s House to the passers-through at LuAnn’s. Then there’s the library and the high school and . . . well, most of the old buildings in this town have a story. Certainly, all of the inns do.”

“I’d rather La Belle Vie not end up on your tour,” Tess said, wincing. “Depending on what we might find out. This might look very bad for my family, and my grandma specifically tried to hide it away. I feel like I’m going against her wishes already. I couldn’t bear to betray her any more, just to entertain tourists.”

“Understood,” Jane said. “And I agree. We need to honor your grandmother in all of this.”

Tess pushed herself out of the armchair. “I should get back,” she said. “Wyatt is waiting at my house for me.”

Jane raised her eyebrows and grinned. “So? Do tell? What’s going on with the handsome Mr. Wyatt?”

Tess could feel the heat rising to her face. She put a hand to her cheek but couldn’t suppress a grin.

“That good?” Jane said, gathering up the teapot and leading Tess out of the room.

“It’s something, but I’m not sure what yet,” Tess said. “It’s been a lifetime since I was in the first stages of a relationship.”

Jane gave her a mock scowl. “Oh, you’re sure. I can see that as plain as day. But is he? That’s the question.”

“I think he is,” Tess said. “Put it this way, I’d be really surprised if he wasn’t.”

Walking together down the hallway toward the kitchen, Jane squeezed Tess’s arm. “Me too. You two seem like an old married couple already. You’re so comfortable with each other. It was obvious to me yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Oh, definitely,” she said, setting the teapot and mugs onto the kitchen counter. “Jim noticed it, too.”

Tess smiled as she pulled on her coat.

“I’m happy for you,” Jane said. “You deserve someone who loves you as much as you love everyone else.”

This stopped Tess short. Tears stung her eyes. “What a lovely thing to say.”

“It’s true,” Jane said, pushing her white, angled bob behind an ear. “You are a very kind, loving person. That’ll come back to you. It always does.”

Tess grinned. “It’s taken its sweet time.”

“Or maybe just waited for the right time,” Jane said, enveloping Tess in a hug. “Now, go on and enjoy the day with your man. I’ll call my ghost crew and set up a time. Is tonight too soon?”





CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO



Back home, Tess filled Wyatt in on the latest with Jane, omitting the parts about him.

“They might be able to come tonight,” Tess said. “Tomorrow at the latest, she said.”

Wyatt took a deep breath. “There it is, then,” he said. “We’re climbing onto the roller coaster and getting belted in.”

“I think we’ve been on it since we opened that door,” Tess said with a grin. “I know I have. But now we’re at the top, waiting for the drop.”

“You know something?” Wyatt said. “I hate roller coasters.”

Tess laughed at this. “I do, too. I hate all rides, actually.”

“Me too,” Wyatt said. “All I ever think about when I get on a ride is somehow flying off and dying, and what a terrible way that would be to go. ‘Flew off Space Mountain,’ the obit would read.”

They stood there, smiling at each other for a moment, when Wyatt said, “Do you have outdoor gear?”

What an odd question, Tess thought. “Gear?” she asked. “Of course I have gear. Well. Wait. What do you mean by gear exactly?”

Wyatt chuckled. “Like, pants that aren’t jeans that you can wear in the snow. Long underwear. Preferably wicking. In other words, stuff that will keep you warm and dry if we go out and play in the snow.”

Tess grinned at him. “What do you have in mind?”

Half an hour later, with Tess and Wyatt suitably geared up and the dogs on leashes, they were making their way down to the frozen lake, Wyatt carrying two sets of snowshoes.

The entire big lake rarely froze over, but the channel between Wharton and Ile de Colette froze solid most years. Islanders would plow an ice road so cars and trucks with supplies could go back and forth—a lifeline for year-round residents of the island.

Every day, several times a day, people from a family who had been maintaining the ice road for generations would check the thickness of the ice before opening the road to cars. The lake was too temperamental, too unpredictable and would make that road dangerous, thin, and tenuous on a whim. That was what longtime residents thought, anyway.