44 Book Five Read Free Page B

chills through me and as I looked at him, those tingling feelings inside rose up in waves. He reached across the table and took my hand.
    “Sorry I can’t hang out with you tonight,” he said. “I feel really bad about it.”
    We were supposed to be going out, but he had gotten called into work. He was learning about brewing and they were starting a new batch later.
    “Don’t feel bad. It’s a great opportunity.”
    The waiter came over and put down the beer that Ty had ordered on the table.
    “Okay,” he said, nodding his head. “You’ve gotta try this. On tap it’s totally different and I think you’ll like it now.”
    I took a sip of the foaming liquid. He was right. It was a lot better than the bottled version. But I still liked the pale ales best.
    “Not bad,” I said.
    He smiled as he stuffed the rest of his elk burger in his mouth. I finished the last of the sweet potato fries on my plate and drained my Coke.
    “So all your groups on the river were all right today?” I asked. “I noticed some exuberant types with you there at the end.”
    “They weren’t too bad,” he said.
    Ty never minded the rowdy teens and they usually wound up in his raft. He was pretty good with them and was able to keep the young punks in line.
    “How about your groups?” he asked.
    “They were all fine. Those ladies from the photography workshop in the last run were really nice. I got some serious tips from them, too.”
    “Money tips or photography tips?” he asked.
    I held up my hand and rubbed my thumb and fingers together.
    “That’s what I’m talking about,” he said.
    I watched as a large group walked behind Ty and headed over to the empty table at the far end of the balcony. I recognized a few of them from soccer, players on some of the other teams. I waved when one of them looked over at me. He waved back.
    “It’s so busy in here tonight,” I said. “I’m surprised we haven’t bumped into any of our rafting customers.”
    “That’s no coincidence. I always tell them to go over to Ten Barrel, that we have the better product. Which is true, you know.”
    I smiled.
    “Then why are we here?”
    “Research,” he said.
    I sat back.
    “Oh, so Kate said she’ll come to The Shins with us. She’s writing a story on people who go to the concerts for free while they float on the river.”
    “Good,” he said, smiling. “It’s about time she gets in the canoe and does a Schwab concert right.”
    The river ran right by the outdoor venue and some people floated in watercrafts, listening to the concerts.
    “What is she up to these days?” he asked.
    “Working on some big story. She seems like her old self again.”
    I loved all the work Kate had done on the house, but I was glad when she started putting in extra hours at the newspaper again. Journalism was in her blood and it was where she belonged.
    “I’ll be right back,” Ty said.
    I stared out at the street. Some girls wearing bikini tops drove by and honked at a group of guys walking down the street. They whistled and started punching one another on the arm.
    As I glanced over at the soccer players a few tables away, I noticed someone standing behind one of them. He was an older man, maybe a grandfather or uncle. He was smiling as he watched her eat. 
    I looked away quickly, even though there was nothing wrong, nothing that the old man ghost wanted from me. I saw these ghosts occasionally, but I always heard Jesse’s voice in my head, telling me to focus on this world, not the ghost world.
    Ty and I still didn’t talk about it, and I wasn’t sure how I felt about that. Sometimes I hated it because it felt like there was an elephant ghost in the room that nobody spoke about. And if something came up, like a problem, I knew that Ty wasn’t the one I could go to for help.
    But at other times, I kind of liked that he wasn’t all that interested in ghosts. He was unusual that way. Most people had a strong opinion about it one way or another.