Saturday Sample

My sample today comes from Rest Thy Head. In this excerpt my hero and heroine have taken a group of guests from Rest Thy Head on a camping trip. They're sitting around the fire telling ghost stories.

Mrs. Feldman slid a little closer to her husband. “Have you
ever actually seen a person, I mean an apparition?”

Jake hesitated and the thoughtful look on his face made
Peyton think he wasn’t trying to scare anyone now. “Maybe.
Several times I’ve been outside working, and when I looked back at
the inn I thought I saw a face watching me, but the moment I
blinked it disappeared.”

“Why does it surprise you to see someone looking out the
window?” Feldman scoffed. “You do run an inn.”

Jake struggled to explain himself. It seemed to Peyton that
he wanted to understand what he’d seen as much as he wanted his
guests to understand. “That’s true, but…well, it didn’t look right
some way or other. I know that isn’t a good description, but it’s the
best I can do.”

“Would you say that perhaps it looked a bit insubstantial?”
tiny Lucille Chastain broke in.

“Yes, I think so.” He nodded. “Yeah, that’s a good
description.”

Lucille smiled. “Most of the time you can see through them.”

“You sound as if you believe in ghosts,” Nanette the teacher
observed.

“Oh, I do. In fact, I’ve written several books on the subject.
Jake, you said you saw a swirling mist on the landing, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Her voice was so matter of fact it lent credibility to her
words. “I’m not surprised. Some people think spirits take a
vaporous form before they become full apparitions.”

Peyton repressed a grin when one of Jake’s men looked over
his shoulder and stared into the darkness with a wary expression
on his face.

“Why would a spirit hang around Rest Thy Head?” Feldman
snorted. “Honestly, Lucille.”

“Honestly, Morris. Apparitions often haunt older homes.
Hotels, theaters, and cemeteries too.”

“What do you think ghosts are?” Peyton asked, playing
along. She knew good and well there was no such thing as a ghost.
If there were, she’d have seen one by now. Hadn’t she lived in an
older home her entire life? She’d been to plenty of cemeteries and
theaters too. Besides that, her room at the inn was supposed to be
haunted.