The Ex Who Saw a Ghost (Charley's Ghost Book 4) Read Free Page B

impossible.
    “I’ll check the entire place while this dirt bag is wasting time playing Mr. Macho.” Charley disappeared through the door.
    Maybe the intruder would have a special bullet that could slay a ghost. If silver killed werewolves, surely some kind of metal could kill a ghost. Did they make bullets out of pyrite, fool’s gold? That would be appropriate.
    Jake eased the knob then kicked the door open. “Police!”
    A high-pitched scream came from inside Amanda’s apartment.
    Charley rushed back through the door, a horrified expression on his face.
    What terrible creature could horrify a ghost?
    “It’s your sister!”
    “What?” Charley’s words didn’t make sense. Amanda only had one sister, and they were not close. Jenny was pregnant and was surely home with her lawyer husband Davey in their cozy house in Highland Park this late on a Saturday night.
    “I’m unarmed!” a little girl voice shrieked.
    It couldn’t be.
    Amanda stepped toward the open door. “Jenny?”
    Jake stood in a classic Weaver stance, poised to shoot. He looked really hot that way, but one glance at the short, dark-haired, very pregnant woman in the middle of her living room doused all those thoughts even more effectively than Charley’s presence did.
    Jenny waddled toward her, and Jake stepped aside.
    “I thought you’d never get home!” Jenny wrapped her arms as far around Amanda as she could with her baby belly in the way.
    “Uh...” With seven years difference in their ages and a thousand years difference in their temperaments, the two had never been close. Certainly they’d never been affectionate toward each other or hugged each other. Until now.
    Jenny burst into tears. “I’ve left him!”
    Amanda patted Jenny on the back and stared at Jake helplessly. He holstered his gun and shrugged, looking as helpless as Amanda felt. “Who have you left?” Surely not Davey , her soulmate. confused
    “Davey’s so mean to me!”
    Mean ? Amanda couldn’t wrap her mind around the concept of Mean Davey. Perhaps he could be stern in dealing with tax matters for his clients, though she couldn’t swear to that. For sure he was a total softie when dealing with his wife. “What did he do? Did he hit you?”
    Jenny pulled away. “No, of course he didn’t hit me. Why would you think something like that about Davey? Oh!” She turned toward Jake. “I didn’t realize you had company.” She extended a bare hand toward him. The glittering diamonds that usually covered her fingers were missing, and the hand looked surprisingly small and vulnerable. “I’m Jenny, Amanda’s sister.”
    Amanda stepped forward. “Jenny, this is my, uh, friend, Jake. Jake, my sister, Jenny.”
    Jake’s hand swallowed Jenny’s in a brief shake. “Pleased to meet you, Jenny.”
    “Very nice to meet you, Jake. I’m so sorry to interrupt your evening.”
    Jake sidled toward the door. “No problem. You didn’t interrupt anything. We were just saying goodnight. I’ll call you tomorrow, Amanda.”
    She nodded. “Okay.” Well, that took care of what she should do about him.
    Jake opened the door and Amanda stepped over to close it behind him. He turned, leaned toward her and gave her a brief kiss, a quick peck. “Later,” he whispered.
    The kiss…the promise...was enough to lift her spirits.
    “I saw that!” Speaking of spirits...
    Amanda closed the door. She was alone with Jenny and Charley.
    Again she’d been wrong about the evening not getting any worse.
    Jenny once more burst into tears and sobbed on Amanda’s shoulder. “You’re so lucky you got rid of Charley before you got pregnant because it’s not fun! Look how fat I am! I can’t sleep at night and I have to go to the bathroom every few minutes and I can’t wear my rings because my hands are swollen like a boxer’s and I can’t wear high heels because I’m unbalanced, and I need to wear high heels because I’m short! You know I’ve always worn heels so people would look